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“I’m wondering if you can help me. Do you know where I can find Rose Lonneman?”
The young woman blinked large brown eyes up at him, surprised that he’d asked her anything, keeping her from the school textbook spread out in front of her. “I think Rose is here today. They were planning to do some pruning in the Tropical House, but you might want to check in the visitor center.”
“Thanks,” Shane said with a wink and then led the way into the atrium. Warm, humid air immediately hit him, a sharp contrast to the crisp October temperatures outside. Shedding his light jacket, he looked back to find Quinn standing in the middle of the atrium, his eyes wide and a little sad as they swept over the tall structure and up to the shining windows blocked in places by thick, dark green leaves. He just looked…lost.
“Have you been here before?”
Quinn flinched as if Shane’s voice snapped him out of whatever memory his mind had become locked in. “Yeah.” The single word came out rough and he cleared his throat, flashing Shane an embarrassed smile. “Years ago, with my mom. She loved to come here to see the seasonal exhibits. I liked the butterflies during the spring.” He turned to the exhibit hall on his right and took a tentative step forward. “I’d spend hours in that room with her, trying to get one of each of the kinds of butterflies to land on my hand. But Mom loved the Christmas display. We’d come at least once a week to look at the decorations. It was…peaceful.”
“Sounds wonderful,” Shane said, tamping down memories of his own mother. He didn’t want to think about her now. Not when Quinn was sharing some little bit of himself.
“Did you come here as a kid?”
“Maybe once or twice.” Shane gave a small shrug, and then his smile widened into something a little more wicked. “Came here a couple of times on dates.”
If Quinn caught his innuendo, he never showed it. His eyes were once again turned to the exhibit hall and…“Is that a train?” he asked, already walking toward the room.
Shane grinned because he just couldn’t stop himself. They were there to question Rose Lonneman, but they could take a few minutes to wander through the conservatory if it made Quinn happy. Shane strolled across the atrium, following Quinn into the exhibit hall that was a medium-sized room with a ten-foot glass ceiling. The middle of the room was open while along the walls were plants and trees with little trains running around them. A stunning replica of the Roebling Suspension Bridge made of tree branches spanned the room with it set high enough that they could easily walk under it as trains crossed from one side of the room to the other. And interspersed among the train tracks were handmade replicas of the city’s most well-known buildings.
“Whoa,” Shane breathed. He turned slowly in the middle of the room, trying to take in the arrangement of flowers and trees and trains all set against the soft burble of water from somewhere within the room as if a little stream was just passing through.
“I love these trains and the buildings. Look!” Quinn rushed over to a miniature version of the P&G towers. The arbor was missing from the display, but Shane knew that Quinn was also thinking of their first kiss there when he glanced up at Shane with a little smirk.
“This is really amazing.”
“How long do you think it takes to set this up?”
“A few weeks…but it feels like you’re never really done, even after the exhibit opens,” replied a soft voice behind them.
Shane and Quinn turned at the same time to find a short, slender woman with steel-gray hair pulled back in a loose bun on the top of her head watching them. She was wearing a smock covered in tulips over a dark green T-shirt with the logo for the Cincinnati Parks Commission.
“Mrs. Lonneman?” Shane asked.
“Rose, please.” Her smile spread as she descended the two stairs leading into the exhibit room and walked toward them.
“How did you know?” Quinn asked.
“Word travels fast through the grapevine,” she said with a jaunty smirk. Then she added, “Kelley texted me from the ticket booth that someone asked for me. How can I help you?”
Shane pulled a business card from his wallet and handed it over to the older woman as he shoved his wallet back into his pocket. “My name is Shane Stephens, and I’m a private investigator with The Merleau Detection Agency. We talked briefly on the phone. This is Quinn Lake with Ward Security. We’ve been hired by Gerald Spring to look into a minor matter.”
Rose’s head popped up from where she was looking over his business card. “Oh, is he okay? Did something happen to the children?”
