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“About an hour ago.”
“I must have been sleeping because I don’t remember hearing anything.”
“You were out like a light. Ha. No pun intended.”
“We seem to do that a lot, don’t we?” Luna observed, and let go of her affectionate death grip.
“We do. So, what would you like for breakfast? Bacon and eggs? Scones? Croissants?”
“I’ll start with coffee for now.” She took the cup from him and sat at the dining-room table. She looked at what she was wearing. His shirt. So much for the $500 she had spent on silk pajamas. She peered through the two-by-fours. “What’s on your agenda today?”
“Whatever you want.” Gaines brought his coffee into the dining area.
“I didn’t want to monopolize your day.” Luna was testing him.
“You are here. You are my guest. You have my undivided attention.”
“I appreciate that muchly.” And she did.
“Do you think we could spend a little time talking over my project?”
“You mean the mystery trunk?”
“I do.”
“Absolutely. By the way, you can stay as long as you want. If you want to go back tomorrow, that’s OK with me. I don’t have to be in until ten.”
Luna thought about it for a quick minute. “I need to get back.” She really didn’t, but she also didn’t want to overstay her welcome. They had finally reached a new level of intimacy, and she wanted to keep him wanting more. She remembered her mother’s favorite expression, “Don’t make yourself too available. Keep them chasing you until you’re ready to catch them.” As much as she wanted to spend more time with him, she didn’t want to come off as clingy. So many women do that after they cross the line of a sexual encounter. Especially if it was mind-blowing sex. Which it had been.
“Like I said, whatever you need to do.” He kissed the top of her head and took a seat across from her. It was as if this was something they did often.
Her tote bag was on the mismatched chair next to her. She immediately went into recounting her meeting with the woman named Tori. She described the rough sketches, too. “Wish I had brought them with me, but I do have this.” She put on the pair of latex gloves she carried and took the diary out of the plastic bag, followed by the note.
“How was her body language?” Gaines asked.
“She was nervous. Kept twisting her napkin. But she seemed sweet. Kinda innocent but troubled. There was a sadness about her. Something in her past is haunting her, and she has a lot to think about for her future.”
“About how old?”
“Late thirties I’d say.”
“When are you going to see her next?”
“Within the next two weeks.”
“I can hear your wheels turning,” Gaines teased her.
“Yeah. Yeah.” Luna smiled up at him. “But I would bet there is a link here. Somewhere.” She opened the diary, got up, and walked behind him. Leaning over his shoulder, she continued, “There are very few entries, but there’s a similarity in the scrawl.” Luna then went on to explain how she had tracked down the carnival company and narrowed down the time frame. “Ellie and I are going to go to the library this week and check the newspaper archives for fires that took place back then.”
“You are becoming quite the detective.” Gaines squinted at the note and the diary. “It’s really hard to tell. TheRand theTlook similar, but the diary is signed with aV. And the note is signed by someone named Tori.”
“Yeah, that’s one thing that is throwing me off.”
Gaines was reading her mind again. “Do you want me to recommend a handwriting analyst?”
“How did you know?” she asked coyly.
“I wouldn’t expect any less from you.” He grinned. “I have a guy in the office who does this for us. I’ll make a copy of both the page and the note.”
