Eve sighed and glanced at Lila. “He could be useful to us.”
Lila raised an eyebrow and glanced at him. “Or a spy from his grandparents, who are obviously some sort of police for William.”
Brian laughed, the sound genuine and warm. “Trust me, I am now even more intrigued by what’s going on.” He leaned forward. “I once broke into William’s brother’s house, as the kids in the neighborhood have always speculated about it.” He grinned. “One rumor was that William’s nephew was badly hurtas he was some sort of spy for the Navy. He lived there badly disfigured and unable to care for himself.”
“That’s horrible,” Eve told him. “Good grief, what’s wrong with kids?”
Brian shrugged. “I nipped that story in the bud. There was absolutely no one in the house. Just very highly polished furniture. There weren’t even photos on the walls.”
“Seriously?” Lila said, intrigued. She looked at Eve, her eyes sparkling. “Can we break in there, too?”
“What?” Eve looked at her in shock. “No.” She shook her head firmly. “We’re not breaking and entering anywhere.”
“Not even to find some clues?” Lila tried to sweeten the crime.
“Ah-ha!” Brian stated triumphantly. “You are trying to find something.”
“You did that on purpose,” Eve accused a smug-looking Lila. “I was going to loop him in anyway.”
“But I do want to get into that house,” Lila pushed. “And William’s house.” She turned to Brian. “Have you been into William’s house?”
Brian nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been into every house in Circle Pond.”
“Of course you have,” Eve said with a smile. “I hope legally and invited, though.”
Brian laughed good-naturedly. “Yes. It was just William’s brother’s house that I broke into and got into big, big trouble for.” He glanced from Eve to Lila. “So what are we investigating?”
“We’re trying to find out if this is where my mother grew up,” Lila told him. She glanced at the photo. “But I think we’ve just established she did thanks to this photo.”
“Now we need to find out why she can’t remember she grew up here and why...” Eve started.
“People are so adamantly trying to cover the fact up,” Brian guessed.
“Exactly,” Lila said. “My mother doesn’t remember her childhood here. She didn’t even remember ever being in Florida.”
“That’s weird,” Brian said, frowning. “And intriguing.” He sat back. “So where do we start?”
“We’re going back to the historical society,” Lila told him. “Want to tag along?”
“I’m off the whole day,” Brian said, his smile widening. “So, yeah, if you don’t mind?”
“Not at all,” Eve told him. “Are you sure you can get us into the records room?”
“Yup.” Brian nodded. “Just in case we run into problems…” He patted his backpack. “I brought my grandfather’s skeleton keys. They get into all the cool places like that.”
Eve sighed and sat back. This was going to be tough, trying to keep two highly intelligent teens who were now completely engrossed in this mystery from committing crimes. She feared Brian’s grandparents would most definitely hold her accountable should their kids end up in juvenile detention.
Ten minutes later, they’d finished eating.
Brian and Lila stood as Eve signed the bill, charging it to her room, then her phone rang. It was the hospital.
She stood and quickly turned her back to answer, looking out the window as she listened to her assistant ask about a patient file location.
“Check the blue binder on my desk,” Eve said. “Third drawer down on the right.”
As she spoke, she felt the table knock against her thigh.
Eve turned to see a waitress she hadn’t seen before stumbling backward from their table. Lila’s and Brian’s phones went flying onto the floor, along with all of Brian’s photos, which scattered across the tiles.
