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“Didn’t you say it was marital stuff?”
“Yes. That was her reason for coming here, but I think there’s more to it.” Luna squinted her eyes as if it would help her think harder.
“Do you think she was the one who sent the trunk?” Cullen was intrigued.
“No. Not her. But there is a connection somehow.”
“Well, I don’t know when you’ve been wrong about something intuitive.”
“That’s the whole point of intuition, dummy.” Luna shook her head and smirked. “But somehow there is a connection here.”
“Oh boy.” Cullen looked up at the ceiling. “What was her demeanor?”
“It was obvious she was nervous. She kept twisting her napkin in her lap. There was a sadness about her.”
“Aren’t most of your clients sad about something?” Cullen was being serious.
“True, but . . .” Luna got a wild look in her eyes. “The coffee cup.”
“What coffee cup?” Cullen was now talking to the back of her head.
“Be right back.” Luna ran to the sink where she left the coffee cups. She was relieved that for once she hadn’t compulsively washed each of them out. It had been a little hectic between Tori, the delivery, and Rita. She pulled the cup with the pink lipstick. Now, who could she get to run a DNA sample? She sent Cullen a text to come to the café and bring the drawings.
“What the heck is going on?”
“Here is the cup from Tori.”
“So?” Cullen was very confused at this point.
“So, what if we can match the DNA on the cup with fingerprints from the things that were in the box?”
“I’m not sure that’s how it works.” Cullen looked doubtful.
“Well, maybe the fine marshal can suggest something. He said he would help. Well, kinda. Sorta. But it wouldn’t hurt to ask him.” Her eyes lit up as she dug into her apron pocket. “And I have this.”
“What is it?
“A note she wrote.”
“So what of it?”
“More tools for my research.” Luna winked.
* * *
The weeks that followed, Luna was busy cramming clients into her schedule and making sure she ordered enough supplies. Sabrina was thrilled to cover for her at the café. Luna gave her specific instructions in case anyone asked for a reading. Take their first name and phone number and give them one of her cards.
She finally had an afternoon when she was able to sit down and go through the diary. The handwriting looked familiar. On one of her hunches, she pulled out the note the woman had left for her. Luna’s eyes almost popped out of her head. She would swear the handwriting was similar. She would have to show this to Gaines and get his take on it.
Luna went into Cullen’s workshop and asked for the box that was also wrapped in the blanket. She brought it back to her café and carefully took out the contents and spread them on the table. There were several movie stubs, but none had any specific information as to what theater they were from, but when she turned over one of the stubs, the wordOtherswas scrawled on the back. It didn’t look like the same handwriting from the diary.Huh. Another piece of the puzzle,she thought.
There was something that resembled a dried daisy and a few coins that appeared to be used for game machines. Or rides, perhaps. There were two flyers from traveling carnivals. Both said Brinkley Entertainment, but neither had a year. Only the month. One was from July, the other August. She jotted down the name of the company. Maybe they could give her some information as to when the flyers were made. If she got lucky, maybe they could give her their usual locations for those two months.But for how many years?
She went over to the corner workstation, where she kept her laptop and printer. She carefully uploaded the images of the flyers and ticket stubs to her laptop and printed out copies.
When she finished, she looked up Brinkley Entertainment on the Internet. Up came a website with a phone number. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed.
A pleasant Southern drawl answered. “Brinkley Entertainment. Y’all bring the people, and we’ll bring the fun. How can I help ya today?”
