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“My grandmother had hired your father to research something for her years
ago. It had to do with a journal she found and our family tree. I know that sounds a little strange, that she’d hire a private investigator for that kind of work, but it’s complicated. She really hoped to find living relatives of my grandfather’s. She’s since passed on, but I wanted to finish this for her since she never got the chance. I was hoping your dad may have had some of his old case files, notes, research, anything that might be of help on where to look for family. Before my grandmother died, she had mentioned him finding something of importance.” Abby shook her head, glancing at the clasped hands in her lap. “But I didn’t get the details, and now...” She cut herself off, letting her words linger in the air. She tried to force tears to her eyes, but she had so little practice displaying her emotions, it was like trying to milk a bull.
Leanne nodded. “I understand why you’d want to do that. Our family was small, and Dad kept to himself after my mother ran off years ago. It was the two of us, and he focused so much on work.” Leanne swallowed, her voice thick with tears.
Abby waited, hoping for an offer, but Leanne remained silent.
“Do you think there’s anything that can help us?” Kaden asked.
“Oh,” Blinking, she snapped from wherever her thoughts had taken her and stood. “Do you know how my father died?”
Abby offered a tentative nod.
“After the detectives closed his case, they gave me back his things, minus anything they needed for his report and case file, of course. They’re messy, but his files are all there. You’re free to have a look,” she said.
Excitement spiked her veins. “That would be fantastic. Thank you.”
She turned to Kaden, trying to get his approval but found he was engaged in a staring contest with a Persian.
“Right, Kaden?” she asked, elbowing him in the ribs.
“Oh, right,” he muttered as he jerked his head away from the cat, which hissed at him.
Stifling her smile, Abby stood and followed Leanne through the living room into the hallway.
Leanne shuffled over the worn hardwood floor. “You might as well come into his office. I never had the heart to get rid of his stuff in here. He loved his job so much.”
The narrow hallway opened up to an expansive room off the back. In the center was a large oak desk, flanked by bookshelves, filled with periodicals and hardbacks, and dotted with the occasional picture frame. Dozens of boxes crowded the floor by the desk, stuffed full of papers, dust coating the surface like a layer of fine fur.
Leanne motioned to them. “Those are what’s left of his files. Feel free to have a look.”
She watched as Abby and Kaden settled themselves in front of the boxes while Cammie took a seat in the leather desk chair. “It’s so nice to have company,” she said, smiling. “Would you like some lemonade?”
“No!” Kaden and Cammie said.
“Sure,” Abby said at the same time, and she glanced to Kaden, then to Cammie, lifting her brows and imploring them to accept since Leanne hovered between them, seemingly in no hurry to leave otherwise.
“Uh, yeah. Lemonade’s great,” Kaden said between gritted teeth, while Cammie shrugged.
“Fabulous.” Leanne clapped and turned to leave. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she hollered behind her.
Once she was out of earshot, Cammie leaned toward them. “You’re welcome.”
“For what?”
“For breaking the ice, you goon.”
“Fine. Thank you.” Abby smirked.
“And why do I get the feeling there is more you’re not telling me. Like your family tree? You never mentioned anything about that. You just said your grandma was trying to find the journal’s owner.”
“I didn’t?” Abby asked, her tone innocent like it had slipped her mind.
“Uh, no.”
“Augh!” Kaden groaned, interrupting her as he flung a lid off a box, sending a cloud of cat hair billowing into the air like a nuclear bomb. He waved furiously as if it might kill him, karate chopping the cat hair away. “When was the last time this place saw a vacuum?”
“Shhh. She might hear you,” Abby hissed.
