“Uh, wasn’t going to?”
“You’re exuding sex vibes. I so don’t want to associate the flavors,” Alex replied.
Jesse picked up his tablet from the kitchen table. “I’ll find some bland article to read to tone it down. Get myself nice and bored.”
“Got something that will help with that.” Alex swung the fridge door shut and went over to the couch where he’d left his messenger bag. He shoved the rest of the string cheese in his mouth and then took out his laptop and a USB cord. “Found more articles you wanted.”
“Any chance one of them happens to be a ‘surprise, we caught the arsonist’ article?” Jesse asked.
Alex swallowed the cheese. “No luck on that.”
“Damn.” Jesse handed over his tablet. After a couple minutes, Alex handed it back to him and he started skimming through the files.
Most of the articles were additions to Jesse’s files on UFO sightings. He scanned past them to find a society piece on Ronald Valless at a charity event.
Alex sat down at the table and leafed through the journal in front of him. “So, this is the infamous Ephraim Dawes account?”
“Yes. Be careful with it,” Jesse said as he read through the article.
“This claims his sister could see the future.” Alex pointed at the page in front of him.
“Unfortunately, we’ll never know the truth. My grandfather destroyed any trace of her correspondence. If Uncle Ephraim had his stashed anywhere, I haven’t found them.” Jesse stalled when he reached a photo of Ronald Valless at the event. He was pictured with his wife, Megan. She looked vaguely familiar. “Alex, do a search for me. Find out what Megan Valless’s maiden name is.”
“I would love to, but how? That laptop’s not connected to the internet.”
“Bryce’s phone is on the nightstand in the bedroom,” Jesse replied.
“I’m not going in there.”
Jesse groaned and got up from his seat. He went into the bedroom, plucked Bryce’s phone off the nightstand, and typed as he wandered back into the kitchen. “Ainsley. Her name was Megan Ainsley. Why do I know that? Bryce! Damn it, why does he take so long to shower?”
Jesse went back to the bathroom and opened the door. “Bryce! Does the name Ainsley ring any bells?”
“Ephraim went to a wedding. ’53, Fourth of July.”
“A wedding in St. Louis?”
“Back east.” Bryce shut off the water. “He got pissed at Matthew and left early.”
“Where’s the journal?”
“Second in the stack for you to reread, on the TV stand.” Bryce opened the shower door. “Did you find something?”
Jesse tossed Bryce his towel. “Following a hunch.”
Too impatient to wait for Bryce, Jesse went to the living room and started combing through the journals until he found the right entry. He read through it out loud. “‘I told Matthew that my attendance was a waste of my time, but he claimed he wouldn’t allow me to miss every social event on the Eastern Seaboard simply because I chose exile in the Midwest. As if I chose this. Hilarious how, in a few short years, he’s rewritten our history’… blah, blah, blah. Here. ‘I have no doubt that VC will continue scheming her way through life, and consider myself lucky Matthew didn’t try to force a marriage to her on me. Poor Ainsley…’”
“I don’t see where that comes in,” Alex said.
“I remember VC. Ephraim references her almost any time he reminisces on his college years. Stands for Victoria Crowley. Came across it when I started my Crowley Construction research,” Jesse said. “And that makes her Megan Ainsley’s grandmother. And she’s now Ronald Valless’s wife.”
“Which could give him more access to Crowley Construction,” Bryce added in.
“What if the Valless statue works like the one from the museum?” Jesse asked. “What if part of that bad psychic vibe the building in Soulard is throwing out is because they’re trying to gather more artifacts to strengthen a tie to the other place?”
Bryce folded his arms and leaned against the wall. His brow scrunched, as he was in deep thought. “Why? And why steal it?”
“Renee Valless freaking named her statue. I bet she thinks of all her art as weird quirky pets. She probably wouldn’t hand it over, so Ronald had to come up with a plan to steal it.” Jesse paced as he spoke. The pieces were clicking into place. “Lawson mentioned a woman. That could be Megan Valless. She pushes him into stealing the statues for the sake of worship. Then Ronald hires someone to take care of him and take the statue out of evidence when it goes wrong.”
