Secret Keepers and Skinny Shadows: Lee and Miranda (7 page)

“Okay, thanks, Miranda.”

She stopped and poked her head back in the door. “That’s better. I like my name.”

He looked up from his suitcase, nodded, smiled, and went back to unpacking. After putting his things away, he stretched out on the king-size bed. It was just right. He was staring at the ceiling mulling things over in his mind.

He got up and shook his head to clear his brain, then made his way down the hall where he found Miranda. She was fast at work on a computer in a spacious office and library combination room. She looked up at him. He stopped in his tracks and stared at her. He was thinking she had become more beautiful with age. Miranda broke the silence.

“Adrian will have dinner ready in about thirty minutes. It’s getting late. We waited so we could eat with you.”

“Thanks. That was considerate.”

“It was Adrian’s idea not mine. You can sit in this chair.” She shoved a computer chair in his direction. He pushed it over beside her and sat down.

“Well, my curiosity is way beyond ready to learn what you’ve found out,” he said. “When are you going to let me hear all about it?”

“I know you want to hear all about the research, but it’s getting late. I’m tired. All I want to do is eat and go to bed. I have exercise classes in the morning, and I need to get my rest. I think you should wait until tomorrow. You look pretty tired to me.”

“I might have trouble sleeping thinking about everything.”

“Tomorrow, after you’ve finished going over what I’ve learned, we should look into everything Lilly has to say to see if the people she talked about really did exist. Or for that matter who she was. All we know about her is what’s in the letters. We don’t even know where she’s from.”

“After I review the information you’ve dug up, I think we should visit Joan’s sister Jane to see what she can tell us about all of this.”

“That’s a good idea. It’s been a couple of months since I’ve seen Jane. We’ve both been too busy to get together.”

Lee stood, “Oh, I didn’t know you spent time with Jane.”

Miranda stopped typing long enough to shoot an irritated look in his direction. “There are many things you don’t know, Lee, Jane and I go way back. She’s single now, so we go out for dinner every now and then.”

At that moment, Adrian called for them to come to dinner.

After eating, Miranda turned to Lee and said, “Good night. See you in the morning.”

He smiled and said, “Sleep tight, Miranda. If you get lonesome, you know where I am.”

She glanced at him, shook her head in frustration, and stomped upstairs. Lee chuckled to himself on his way back to his room mentally and physically tired. He was about to flop on the bed, but his attention was drawn to the photo on the dresser. He picked it up, studied it, and then placed it back in its spot. He ran his finger around the edge of the frame. I’ll make it right, I’ll solve this murder for you, Joan.

              CHAPTER 13

                                    Present Day

F
or the last twenty years Lee, like F. Scott Fitzgerald, put into practice training his mind to operate while holding two opposing ideas at the same time and still retain the ability to function.

When Lee was faced with a situation that appeared to be hopeless, he never gave up. He became more determined to turn it around. His big weakness was being a sucker for the underdog and a beautiful woman.

At sunrise the next day perched on a stool in Miranda’s kitchen resting his elbows on the counter, Lee scanned the local morning newspaper. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Miranda standing behind the counter next to Adrian, reading the other side.

Miranda grabbed the paper. “Give me that,” jerking it from his hands her eyes fixed on the front page.

“What the heck Kid? Please, here, have the paper.”

She ignored him and flopped it onto the counter. Her eyes darted back and forth on the page then she stopped, looked up at Lee while tapping her finger on a picture on the page.

“Lee, this is the man who was here yesterday trying to buy the letters.” She turned the paper toward him. “That man, right there.”

He gave the article the once-over, making comments while reading it.

“It looks like James Robinson was killed on impact, hit by a train when his car stalled on the tracks at Blake’s Crossing. Sure enough, says he was the local historian in Bridgetown, had a wealth of knowledge about the area and the people.”

Lee glanced up.

“I guess it wasn’t my life that was in danger after all, it was his,” Miranda said.

“At least now we know the man’s name,” Lee said, twisting a few strands of his hair while pondering this development.

Miranda interrupted Lee’s thoughts.

“Okay Lee, the guy was killed after coming here. Could his death be tied to his interest in the letters? And what about the people he said were watching him? Who are they and why would anyone want those letters? This gets more intriguing by the hour.” Miranda crossed her arms and leaned back against the counter gazing at Lee.

“Listen Kid, it could be a coincidence, just a car-train accident, as the paper said. It happened at night maybe this Mr. Robinson drove onto the tracks his car stalled and he couldn’t get it started.”

Miranda glanced at Lee with a confused look. “Okay, so why didn’t he jump out before the train hit him?”

Lee got up from the stool and shook the kinks out of his legs. “I don’t know the answer to that one, but there must be a good reason, it looks like this is going to be dangerous to be involved in, maybe I should do this on my own. I can stay in a local hotel so you won’t be connected.”

Miranda glared in Lee’s direction and scowled. “Oh come on Lee, this hasn’t scared me. I could protect both of us. Right now we should finish up here and get started with everything we have to do. We have a busy day ahead of us.”

Adrian handed Miranda a glass with a red creamy smooth drink in it. She took a sip. “Hum, thank you, Adrian. It’s just the way I like it.”

Lee watched her lips as she sipped the smoothie.

“Don’t tell me that smoothie is all you’re having for breakfast?”

“At my age I need to be on a diet and working out all the time. And from the looks of you, you should as well. What are you, two hundred and fifty pounds? That graying hair around your temples shows your age and working out might be good for you. Speaking of, I have to be at the gym pretty soon.”

“Hey now, wait a minute. I’m in great shape,” Lee said as he fingered his slightly bulging belly. “I’m all lean muscle, getting a little pooch here, that’s all.”

Miranda strolled over to the garage door. “Okay Lee.”

Miranda had once told Lee that her family often accused her of being flighty or hyper, with the attention span of an ant, which he knew wasn’t true. He figured her family saw her this way since she took on new projects constantly and handled multi-tasking with ease. That was one of her greatest assets. She was a Pisces. She often looked and acted like she couldn’t make up her mind when in reality she was focused and choosey.

“I was hoping,” Lee said, “to hear what your thoughts were on Lillian and the letters.”

“You need to read what I have so far. I did a lot of research, but not a lot of investigation. I thought I’d wait to do that with you.” Miranda shifted from one foot to the other and turned around and faced Lee. The tone in her voice changed.

“Here’s what I think so far. The letters to Elizabeth are a journal of Lillian’s struggles seeking the truth about Bert Grayson’s murder. She was trapped in a marriage with a man who ruled with an iron fist. He hit her and shoved her around when he was drunk. To me, the letters revealed this woman’s journey through a not so forgiving world, trying to change hearts and minds in a desperate attempt to seek happiness.”

“Oh come on, I read the letters too. It sounds like you’re agreeing with her even before we find out if she’s telling the truth or making up all that stuff we read.”

“Not at all. As a woman I can empathize with the situation she found herself in.”

“Now what do you mean by that? Are you saying as a man I can’t empathize with her?” Lee squared his shoulders.

“Yes and no. As I read each letter she sucked me into her world by exposing her raw feelings, explaining how each person, place and event changed her life, driving her to the actions and reactions of the narcissistic, disturbed person she in the end became.”

His eyes widened in surprise to hear her talk about feelings in such a natural tone.

“So… are you saying you think she was nuts?”

A frown formed at the corners of her mouth. “That’s not nice. Make no mistake about it, I wouldn’t say she was as disturbed and confused as she appeared to be. I think she was a victim of events manipulated by a corrupt police department, mafia figures, and the other people involved. I think cold calculating men worked to cover up the truth that Lilly knew and they tried to silence her by making it look like she was a crazy woman.”

He shook his head. “If what you’re saying is true why didn’t these people just kill Lilly?”

She gave him a half smile.

“I thought about that as well. The conclusion I came to was, there were already too many bodies piling up. Any more would attract the attention of the federal government. Nothing brings in the FBI faster than an extraordinary amount of murders in a given time period in any town. They track that kind of information.”

He nodded in agreement, “you would know that better than I would.”

“At the time Joan gave me the letters, she said the people in her family didn’t think Lilly actually knew her Uncle Bert. The family unjustifiably accused her of being one of those nut cases who read about a murder, then would try to get involved with it somehow. Joan said her family knew the woman was a mental case.”

Lee took a couple of steps in Miranda’s direction. “I don’t think you should just assume that what this woman says is true. She could very well be crazy.”

She took a couple of steps back while holding his eye contact.

“In my opinion as an FBI profiler, I think all of the incidences she mentions worked together to drive Lilly to live on the edges of her own psychosis. I think it’s evident as you read each letter.”

He smiled and touched her elbow. “So you’re saying that she drifts in and out of reality?”

“I know after all these years it’ll be difficult to prove what she says, but what kind of detectives are we if we can’t dig up the evidence?”

He nodded.

“I have to run or I’ll be late for my appointment at the gym, you should have enough time to look at that material while I’m gone. It’ll be interesting to hear what you think.”

“One thing before you go, after I read the newspaper clippings and letters, I placed a called to the Bridgetown police to make an appointment with someone to go over the case with me. That was weeks ago, and I haven’t heard back from them.”

She shot a wide-eyed glance at Lee and pushed his hand away. “That isn’t unusual, murder cases are considered open until they’re solved. I can understand their reluctance to talk with you, but they should give you something.”

“I gave my number to the secretary where they could contact me, it would be nice if they would call while I’m here saving me a trip back to this town.”

The look in Miranda’s eyes softened for a second.

“You can stay with me as long as you want to, and as long as you remember your place. I now have all the time in the world since I retired.” She said.

Lee returned the smile, ran his fingers through his hair.

“Thank you,” he said as he cleared his throat. “Now I have all the time in the world as well.”

“Why? What do you mean?”

“The day before I received your envelope in the mail, the publishing house fired me.” Lee looked down at the floor as he spoke. He couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact.

“What? Why?”

He looked up in time to see her put her hand on her hip cocking one leg out slightly.

“My good friend Ray is the one who axed me. He said I was the only editor who still wrote everything out on paper. They invested in expensive computers for me and I never even tried to use them.”

Miranda threw her hands into the air. The keys in her hand jingled on the way down to her side. “What did I tell you? Years ago I told you, you should learn to use a computer but, oh no, not you. You could get by without learning to use one.” Lee looked back down at the floor. Miranda stepped forward, and with her finger gave a gentle tug under his chin lifting his head up. Lee moved back a couple of inches.

“As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted, Ray told me they were combining my job with two others and Sally Parker would replace me.” He watched Miranda’s eyes grow to the size of quarters.

“Your assistant? How humiliating. They really stuck it to you. It almost makes me feel sorry for you.” The corners of her mouth turned down.

Miranda reached out and took his hand in hers patting it trying to comfort him.

“Lee I’d like to say I’m sorry, but I did try to warn you. Someday you’ll learn to listen to me. But that did have to hurt.”

“Is that a bit of sympathy I detect? Thank you but I’m past it all now and what’s important is this murder case.”

She pulled her hand back from his, moving back to the door.

“Maybe a bit, but being computer savvy in this day and age is almost a necessity in any business. I’ll be back in an hour or maybe sooner. I have to go. Try to finish reading that stuff before I get back so we can discuss our plans and lay out a course of action going forward.”