Fade-out: Take 2 of the Kanyon and Daylen Series, page 11
“Open it,” Kanyon ordered.
They both peered into the empty drawer. “No!” Miranda pulled the drawer out further. “Oh, my god, it’s not here. We keep it right here!” She felt around the bottom of the drawer even though it was obviously not there. “The pen and inkwell were bad enough, but if this gets out… I didn’t even think to check this when the cops were here. With the broken glass and nothing else missing, I didn’t even check the desk as we don’t keep anything of value in it.” Miranda stood abruptly, spinning to look around the rest of the room, fearful she may have overlooked other missing artifacts. “Why would someone take her diary? It’s just a bunch of senseless ramblings of a crazy woman.”
Kanyon grabbed her shoulders. “It’s okay. We’re going to find it. Just stop for a second.” When Kanyon had Miranda’s attention again she continued, “First things first, who has access to the key?”
“It’s kept in the office, so really any of the staff, I guess. Usually whoever is making the rounds, greeting the visitors, and handling the tours takes the key. Today I’m doing it so that’s why I have it.”
“Okay, before we go too far down this path, why don’t we start by asking your team if anyone maybe moved the diary to a different location for safekeeping after the break-in.”
“Right. Okay. Good, yes.” Miranda threw herself at Kanyon, wrapping her arms around her neck. “Thank you so much for being here and helping me with this.”
“No problem.” Kanyon patted Miranda on the back trying not to add to the full body contact. After a long moment and no signs of Miranda loosening her hold, Kanyon softly prompted, “Miranda, time is really important here. We need to ask the others about the diary and if they don’t have it then we’ll need to call Lt. Boston so she can add it to the list of stolen items.”
Miranda tightened her hold even more. “Right. Thank you.” She finally released Kanyon. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you for everything you are doing for me.”
Kanyon was pretty sure Miranda had several suggestions but there was no way they were going there. “No need for thanks, let’s go talk to your staff.”
After getting all the ‘No, I didn’t move it’, “No, I don’t have it’ answers from the staff, Kanyon called Lt. Boston to notify her of the new development.
As the call ended she turned back to Miranda, who was pacing in the office behind her. “Miranda, Lt. Boston will be back out here in about thirty minutes. You wouldn’t have copies or any more photos of the book that we could use for identification or reference that would give us any clue as to why the thief would be interested in the diary?”
“No, no… I have nothing.” She paused. “But, there is… I mean, I don’t know if it would help but there was a book. I think we have a copy in storage.”
“What book?” Kanyon asked, following Miranda down the hall and into a small closet next to Doris’ office.
“There was a book that was written back in the fifties by one of my second…” She opened the door, stepped in, and started searching shelves. “Maybe my third, heck, maybe fifteenth cousin. It wasn’t successful. The only copies sold were the ones my family bought to try and hide their dirty little secrets.” She turned around to check the other shelf. “I could have sworn there was a copy in here. I read it years ago when I knew I was going to take over this place.”
“What’s the name of it?” Kanyon asked, stepping into the closet to help Miranda search.
“Hoyt Dynasty? Doris’ Dynasty? Or something to that effect. It’s been so long since I read it.”
“You remember any more about it?” Kanyon asked as she scanned row after row of book spines.
“It has photos of pages from Doris’ diary, I remember that. I don’t remember which ones, just the stories about how the family was so mad that this cousin had taken the diary. It had always been locked in the desk. I don’t think it’s here.” Miranda straightened. “Maybe I was mistaken but I swore I had a copy in here.”
“Didn’t you say Bea has a complete inventory of all the items in the museum? Would the items of this room be included?”
“Yes, yes of course.” Miranda turned to the door only to have it shut in her face.
“What the…” Kanyon pushed past Miranda to try the door handle. Locked.
Miranda nearly crawled over Kanyon’s back to get to the door. “I’m sorry but, I’m claustrophobic!” She announced as she started to beat on the door with both of her fists adding a kick every other fist cycle.
Kanyon wrapped her arms around Miranda before she could hurt herself. Holding her arms close to her sides, she spoke calmly into Miranda’s ear. “I’ve got you. It’s okay. I can get us out of here. Just breathe.” Kanyon took in a slow breath then released it. “Breathe.”
Miranda tried to mimic Kanyon’s calming rhythm. When she relaxed and stopped fighting, Kanyon slowly released her. “It’s okay, just keep breathing and I will have us out in two seconds.”
Miranda nodded, breathing in and out.
“Good.” Kanyon turned to the door, tried the doorknob again, and gave it a good shoulder. Nothing. She saw Miranda’s eyes start to go wild again. “It’s okay.” She tried two more times with the shoulder before she moved back ready to boot the door open, when the knob simply twisted and the door opened.
“Good heavenly lord, what is all this racket?” Rodney asked from the doorway. “Sounds like a mad cow in a trailer up in here.”
Kanyon pushed Miranda forward.
“Sweet Jesus,” Rodney grabbed Miranda’s hand and began to pat. “It’s okay Sweet Pea, Rod Rod’s here.”
“Your presence is convenient Rod Rod.” Kanyon sneered. “Why don’t you give us a minute?”
Rodney looked at Miranda for permission to go.
“I’m fine. Thank you.” It was Miranda patting Rodney’s hand this time.
“Why don’t we take a walk outside and get you some fresh air?” Kanyon hoped the walk would clear Miranda’s head because she had several more questions to ask.
“That sounds good.” She turned to Rodney. “Could you ask Bea to send me the last inventory list for this closet please. Also could you and Bea make another sweep and see if you can find anything else that we might have missed during our last inventory check?”
“Consider it as done as grandma on a three-day bender.”
Miranda smiled. “Thank you, Rodney.”
“Sure, Sweetie.”
There was one more patting of hands between them, then Kanyon and Miranda started for the front door.
“I’m sorry that I kind of freaked out back there,” Miranda offered.
“It’s okay. Do things like that happen a lot around here?”
“It’s an old house, odd things happen all the time. Though things do seem to be happening more often lately. Rodney and I joke that it’s Doris’ ghost.”
“So how about Rodney?”
Miranda paused on a stair. “What about him?”
“How long has he worked here? What do you know about him?”
“He is wonderful.” She started descending again. “If you are thinking he had anything to do with anything, then you would be wrong. Rodney wouldn’t… well, he just wouldn’t.”
“Just wanting to get to know the players,” Kanyon offered with a smile to set Miranda at ease. “How about the last inventory? When did you complete it?” Kanyon asked.
“We did one after the break-in. Well, mostly Bea did. She is extremely organized and she knows where everything is located within the museum. She checked all the display items and things of value; everything was accounted for. I handled the items that we don’t have on display, things that are in storage, at my residence or elsewhere on the estate. I should have told her to inventory everything, but I never thought they would take things that didn’t have any value.”
Kanyon shrugged. “Maybe it’s of value to them for some reason.”
When they reached the front door, Kanyon unlocked it and held it open as Miranda walked through. “You up for a couple more questions while we wait for Lt. Boston?”
“Sure.”
“Why don’t you show me around the grounds while we talk?”
Miranda nodded in agreement and began to lead Kanyon down a paved path to the reflecting pond. “What would you like to know?”
“Tell me about Doris. From what we’ve found she was a very interesting person, driven and very successful. I’m curious about that but I’m also curious about her personal life.”
“You’re obviously talking about the affairs,” Miranda mused. “She had a few, but…” She stopped at the reflecting pond, true to its title, it did its magic on Miranda as she stared into it and began to tell Doris’ story. “Doris had many men, but she only had one love. It’s our family’s dark secret. Doris had two sisters; one sister, which is my direct line, Edith and the other, Aunt Eleanor. The Hoyt sisters were known for their great beauty, but each of them also had their own special qualities. Of course Doris had the head for business and drive equal to any man’s they said.” She chuckled. “Or at least that’s what they said back then. Anyways, Edith was known for her brains, she actually went on to be one of the first female doctors in the area. Eleanor was known for her kind and generous heart. Eleanor had simpler plans than her sisters; she didn’t share the same drive for career or success, but she did work just as hard. She volunteered at the orphanage and was always delivering food to the sick or the elderly. She took over the family farm when their parents died and she was barely eighteen at the time. Anyways, Eleanor turned a large portion of the farm into a garden that she managed herself. She used what she needed, sold what she needed, and then gave the rest to the sick, poor, and hungry. She fell from her horse one day and broke her wrist. That’s when a man named Claude came into the picture. Claude had just come back from a short stint in the military to find that his parents had fallen on hard times. His father was ill and his mother was doing the best she could, but it was Eleanor who kept his family fed while he had been gone. He went to see Eleanor, to thank her, and as the story goes, it was love at first sight.” She smiled, looking up from the water to glance at Kanyon.
“Sweet, but how did we go from love at first sight to…” Kanyon half turned, pointing a thumb to the roof of the house.
“You’ve done your research.” Miranda turned to face the house. “So that,” she started, as she began to walk toward the front gardens, “with Claude in love and Eleanor with a cast on her arm, Claude started coming to the farm every day to help with the garden, a gesture of appreciation for all she had done for his family and, of course, to be close to her. Eleanor was smitten with Claude as well and they married within the year and had a daughter. All was going well until Doris stopped long enough from conquering the world, building all of this-” Her words died off as she plucked a flower and began swirling it around in her fingers. “She took time out to go home to meet her niece and her new brother-in-law for the first time. I don’t think Doris was a bad person necessarily, she just wanted what she wanted and unfortunately for Eleanor, she wanted Claude.” Miranda came to a stop in front of a huge rose bush and stared at it for a long moment.
Kanyon stood silent too, letting Miranda tell her family secrets in her own time.
“No one really knows why she set her sites on Claude. Sure he was handsome and kind, but he wasn’t anything like the men Doris usually went for.” She ran a gentle hand over a rose bud. “Heck, maybe that’s the answer right there, he wasn’t like all the other men that seemed to throw themselves at her feet.”
Kanyon smiled as she, in this single point, could relate with Doris. “But Claude was in love with Eleanor, so what happened?”
“He was or at least that’s what everyone said but one day Claude just picked up, left Eleanor and his daughter, and moved here with Doris. There were family rumors of course, but I think Doris just put her spell on him, like she did with everything and everyone else. In her diary she wrote ‘Claude will fall in love with me’ over and over again. That’s part of the crazy I was talking about. Like her writing it over and over again would make it come true.” Miranda ran a careful fingertip over one of the rose’s thorns. “I guess it worked as she did end up getting Claude, even if it was only for a couple of months.”
“A couple of months?” Kanyon asked.
“Yes. He was only here a couple of months before he ended everything. Doris had this planted here, a marker I guess of sorts, just before she passed away.”
Kanyon looked at the rose bush, then up toward the roof of the house. Long way down, she thought and it was well planned out. This is one of the few spots where he would miss the terraces, the overhang of the entryway, and a multitude of railings, statues, and waterfalls that were all along the base of the house. Kanyon did another up and down. Definitely strategic, she thought, which meant it wasn’t likely a heat of the moment push.
“If he wasn’t happy why didn’t he just try to win Eleanor back? Or maybe, he tried and she wouldn’t take him back?” Kanyon mused.
“I don’t know exactly. He might not have been able to find her. When he left, Eleanor sold the farm and took off with their daughter. The family never heard from her again. I know Edith searched her whole life for her, sending letters when she thought she had found her, but she never heard back. When Doris died, her lawyers tried to find Eleanor too because of Doris’ estate and will. Doris left a significant amount of money to her sister and to her niece, but after fifty years of no response they assumed she had died and all the holdings rolled back into the trust to maintain the house. It’s what partially keeps this place going.”
“That’s quite a story.” Kanyon took another glance at the rose bush and then up at the roof. As she did she caught a flash of movement on one of the terraces. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she searched the area but didn’t see anything more. She looked back at Miranda. “Lt. Boston should be getting here any minute, let’s head back to the front.”
“Okay,” Miranda said absently twirling the flower again.
“So Doris, she died a few months later, correct? Do you know how?”
“The doctors have no idea, they just listed unknown natural causes. The romantic conclusion is that she died of a broken heart, but who knows?”
They were just reaching the front porch as Kanyon saw Lt. Boston’s car pull into the parking lot. She turned back to Miranda. “I’m curious, do you know the last entry that she made in her diary?”
Miranda sighed heavily. “Please do not let me live another day knowing what I have done. It was dated the day before she died.” She looked up at Kanyon and gave her a sad smile. “So I guess in the end she truly got everything she ever wanted.”
“High price to pay it sounds like to me,” Kanyon offered.
Miranda nodded. Then in an effort to shake the somber moment the story had created she asked, “Speaking of wanting things… I don’t have a chance here, do I?”
Kanyon, knowing what she meant, plucked the flower from her fingertips and placed it in Miranda’s hair. “I’m sorry.”
“I figured. Daylen?” Miranda asked touching the flower in her hair as she smiled at Kanyon.
“Daylen,” Kanyon answered.
“I think you’ve made a wise choice, she seems like a really amazing and very kind person.”
“I think so too,” Kanyon confirmed.
“Well, if you have learned anything from my family’s dirty little secrets, it’s stick with the nice one.”
“Working on it.” Kanyon smiled back.
Miranda moved in to embrace Kanyon. “Course if you ever want to be stupid like Claude then you know where to find me.”
Kanyon hugged her back this time. “Will do.”
Miranda released her, adding a quick kiss to Kanyon’s cheek. “Thank you.”
“We’ll find Doris’ diary, pen and inkwell, and you can thank us then.” Kanyon winked then stepped away from Miranda, meeting Lt. Boston as she came up the path toward the house.
Kanyon admired the Lieutenant’s perma-grimace, which accessorized her equally dark black on black, size short pantsuit so nicely. “Nice matchy, matchy outfit. Armani or Garanimals?” Kanyon asked.
The Lieutenant lowered her mirrored shades. “Funny. What did you learn?”
Kanyon gave her a quick download about the diary; finding it missing, asking the staff, and the fact that no one had any information.
Lt. Boston nodded her understanding, somewhat painfully Kanyon could tell, then asked, “What made you ask her about the diary?”
Kanyon could barely resist prodding the pint-size crime fighter a little, making her think she had missed some big clue, but it was getting late and she didn’t want to set her off then wait for her to re-enter the atmosphere. “No real reason, just curious after seeing it in a couple of photos with the inkwell and pen.”
Lt. Boston nodded sharply. “Thanks for calling me.”
Daylen glanced down at her watch for the hundredth time in the last hour. “That’s great, Mr. Steele. I really appreciate your time and the factory tour was really… um, interesting.”
“And the testing facility?” Steele asked.
“That was especially fascinating,” Daylen said with a forced grin.
“You swear those were actual, like actual, actual life-size replicas?” Theo asked disbelievingly.
Steele turned to Daylen to answer. “Cross my heart. I’m happy to prove-”
“No, no that’s quite all right,” Daylen replied, grabbing Theo’s arm as she backed toward the door. “Thank you again, we can show ourselves out.”
When they were in the car Theo asked, “Do you really think those were actual-” He was holding out his two hands as if he was showing her the size of a fish he just caught.
“I don’t want to think about it. All I want to do is get back, take a shower, and wait for Kanyon to return.”
“So how did I do on my first mission?” Theo asked, bringing Daylen out of her thoughts of Miranda all over Kanyon.
“Good, you passed. You were quiet, you listened, and you were respectful and followed direction very well.” The exact opposite of what Kanyon would have been if she would’ve gone on the tour with Mr. Penis through his little before and after display. “So tell me what you think of Mr. Steele?”
