“Dot’s not done playing games with us.” She handed him the book. “She bookmarked ‘Strange Jest.’ Do you know the story? Agatha Christie.”
“I don’t think so.” He skimmed the pages to see the end. “No. Are you kidding?”
“I am not. Miss Marple helps a young couple find their uncle’s hidden treasure in his mansion.” A thought occurred to her. “Dot started planning for us to look for clues before she died. She marked this page on our last visit and told me to remember.”
Wes tossed down his drink. “Normally I would say this is too incredible to believe, but after our recent discoveries, I’m feeling very open-minded.”
“We should give Brent a call,” said Nadine. “See what he says.”
They were in luck, and Brent picked up the phone. Nadine put it on speaker and gave him a quick summary.
Brent laughed heartily. “That would be just like her,” he said with anadmiration Nadine shared. Dot was something else. “It makes sense. Maria had been complaining about my aunt reorganizing over the last month when she should have been resting.”
“Then we’re not imagining things?” asked Wes.
“No, you might be onto something,” said Brent. “She’d always wanted to write a mystery.”
“She mentioned that,” said Nadine. “Did she say anything about what we should be looking for?”
“Sorry,” he said. “Nothing that I remember. Too bad you can’t talk to Maria, but she’s visiting her parents in Portugal on some remote island without email or cell service for a month.”
Figures. Wes leaned over Nadine, and she looked up to see that perfect bone structure softened in the lamplight. “By the way, Brent, do you know where the door to the basement is?” he asked.
Brent paused. “There’s abasementin that house? I had no idea. God, the Realtor is going to have a fit.”
“There is, but we can’t find the door,” said Wes.
Brent couldn’t help but promised to try to find some floor plans and wished them luck.
Wes sprawled out on the couch, Erma perched on the back behind him. “I have to admit, this is a new situation for me,” he said. “I’m more used to investigations that are a little less adventurous.”
Nadine laughed. “Beats looking at court documents for hours.”
Wes folded his arms and looked at the ceiling, gifting Nadine with a view of a jaw that could cut glass. “What do we do next?”
“Are you asking, or is that rhetorical? Because I’m going to play her game.” Nadine might suck at mysteries, but she still loved them. “We assumed we only had to search the attic because that’s what she told Brent to show us. We were wrong. I think she was planning to do this for us, but she died before she could finish setting it up.”
Both of them instinctively looked around. It was a big house, and Dot had not been a fan of minimalist design. “We have three weeks,”said Wes.
“Two,” corrected Nadine.
“Right, thank you.” Wes sat up and fixed Nadine with a narrow look. “I have an idea.”
Nadine wasn’t sure why that made her heart hammer. His voice had gone low and challenging. “What?”
“I work better under pressure, don’t you?”
“Maybe.” She wasn’t going to commit until she knew where this was going.
“I have a proposal.”
“I’m open to listening.”
“What if we make this into a competition? When one of us finds something, a clue, they get a point.”
Nadine put a considering expression on her face so he didn’t know how much she loved this opportunity to smash him into the ground. They may have put their past grievances to bed, but that didn’t mean Nadine’s competitive spirit was asleep. “What does the winner get?”
“I would be happy with the sweet satisfaction of victory, but we can figure something less refined for you.”
