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“She’s ninety-one. Sharp as a tack and still walks the hills. But she has her ways,” Annie said.
“Some say she’s got the sight, but she never talks about it,” Betty Raines said. “And I wish someone would please explain to me why we’re even here.”
“All in good time, Betty,” Aaron said.
“Do you know?” Marcus Glass asked, then got sidetracked when he saw Cameron and Rusty coming up the street with her. “Here they come,” he said, and went to open the door.
Cameron and Rusty entered with a tall, thin woman walking between them. She wore her age without excuse or regret, considering every wrinkle in her face as a battle scar to the past. Her shoulders stooped only slightly, and her white hair was wound up in a bun at the back of her neck. She was wearing a gray shirtwaist dress with long sleeves and a hem that fell way below her knees. Her shoes were shiny black leather flats. But in spite of her appearance, her eyes were dark and flashing with an inner light and an intelligence impossible to mistake.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. Miss Ella lives a far distance,” Cameron said, then winked at her.
The old woman smiled, revealing a set of perfectly white false teeth.
“He means I live in the boonies, for which I make no apologies,” she said.
Aaron liked her on sight. “We’re all good here,” he said. “If you’ll please follow me, Chief Warren will explain everything,” he said, and then led the way through the building and down into a conference room. Aaron immediately pointed to a table set up against the wall with cold drinks and coffee. “Feel free to get your drink and take it to the table. Miss Ella, could I get a drink for you?”
“You’re one of Helen’s grandsons, aren’t you?” Ella asked.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m Aaron. The oldest.”
“I take my coffee sweet. Two sugars,” she said, and then let Cameron and Rusty help her into a chair.
Aaron set the coffee cup on a napkin in front of her, and then because Betty was there on her own, seated her. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
Betty shook her head. “I’m fine, but thank you for asking.”
It didn’t take long for people to get their drinks and find a seat. As the last ones were sitting down, Sonny Warren walked in carrying the evidence bag with the journal inside, and Sheriff Woodley was right behind him.
“Thank you all for coming,” Sonny said. “I know you’re all wondering what this is about. We have in ourpossession a vital piece of evidence in the shooting of Charlie Raines, and Sheriff Woodley will be sitting in on the meeting.”
A low murmur moved around the table, and then they were silent.
He held up the evidence bag. “There is an old journal inside this leather wrap that pertains to Charlie Raines’s shooting. We know the man who shot Charlie had this in his possession, but we don’t know how he came by it, or how it pertains to his presence here. There are fingerprints on it, but the prints are not in the system. We have security footage of him in Jubilee, but we’ve also learned the man registered under a false name, drove a rental car that’s since been turned in. Gave false information to the rental agency and has since disappeared.”
“But if you don’t know him, then how did you get the journal, and why ask us?” John Cauley asked.
“I can’t speak to the details, but suffice it to say, the man lost it here in Jubilee, and we know that for a fact.”
“What’s so special about the journal?” Betty asked.
“The man who it originally belonged to is your ancestor, Brendan Pope.”
A gasp of shock rolled around the table.
“Are you serious?” Annie asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Sonny said. “And I want to know if any of you knew of its existence, and if you did, do you know who had possession of it?”
To his dismay, they all shook their heads, except for Ella.
“Oh my, oh my,” Ella said. “Is there an inscription that says,In the year of our Lord, 1833, inside?”
Sonny frowned. “I’m not sure if I remember—”
Aaron flinched. “Yes, there is. I saw it when it was turned in.”
Ella’s eyes welled. “It’s the storybook! Granny’s storybook. She used to read it to us when we were little. I thought they were fairy tales. I didn’t know it was real accounts of Brendan’s life.”
