“They’re worthless!” Andrea Glenn slammed a large stack of Sunday papers on her desk. “The best article I’ve ever written, and now it’s a joke!”
The Edenbury Chronicle newspaper office had been at the same location for three generations. Andrea was the young editor-in-charge of the small team that published five issues weekly. Her father had recently retired and handed the family business down to his only child.
“Didn’t see that one coming,” Eric Finch said as he looked out the front window and across the town square. “Still the best-selling issue we’ve had in a long time.”
As the official news source in town, being in the middle of the action near the town square was always helpful. But if folks wanted real-time news, they would just ask Cheryl at the diner. Eric sold advertising and handled the classifieds. The grocery store was their biggest account, and although Eric wasn’t as ambitious as Andrea, he managed to keep revenue flowing into the paper. Andrea had bigger dreams. She could see the writing on the wall for the print industry and hoped to one day get out of Edenbury and find a job at a much bigger media outlet.
“Can you believe they already have a signed copy of this photo up at the diner?” Andrea held up a copy of the front page. “It’s right next to that smug picture of Zeke Hughes.”
“Yeah, I can believe Cheryl would do that,” Eric replied.
“Cheryl is calling them the Famous Four. How ridiculous.” Andrea flopped down in her chair. “I’m going to get to the bottom of why that strange insurance man came here."
Eric walked over to a faded article hanging in a frame on the wall.
"Have you considered the possibility that all these things could have something to do with this?" he asked.
Eric pointed to the picture of Stephanie's father as a boy at the Warren farm under the headline: Warren Farm Trees Cut Down.
“Gosh, it’s been years since I read that article, and I walk by it daily. My grandfather used to talk about it. The controversy around those trees really helped launch this paper.”
Andrea looked around the office at all the years of papers and equipment she had grown up around.
“What if you interviewed this kid for a follow-up article?” Eric asked. “This is Sheriff Stephanie’s father, yes?”
“Another connection I failed to make,” Andrea replied in disgust. “Good God, I’ll never get out of this town with my lousy investigative skills. That’s a great idea, Eric. The Famous Four have made me look like a fool for the last time. Wait till they see the next headline.”
—
The Famous Four sat at a booth for Sunday brunch, their stomachs filled with Jake’s hearty pancakes. It seemed half the town was there, and Zeke was enjoying the energy of his new home.
Father Vance finished clearing his plate. “So, what did your books have to tell you, Zeke?”
“You first, Padre,'' Zeke replied. “I heard your interpretation of today’s scripture was intriguing.”
“You’ll have to come for a first-hand experience one day. We have the paper to thank for the full crowd today at church, but maybe we’ll see you next week.” Father Vance sipped from his coffee cup. “I couldn’t think of a better passage to help make sense of what happened this week. Of course, there are still more questions than answers, but the congregation seemed to find it helpful.”
Zeke could tell it was his turn to share. “Well, the reason I went over to the Clemmons’ house wasn’t as exciting as the crowd at your church. The two open library books seemed to have just one thing in common—water. One book had definitions like water table, water hazard, etcetera. The other talked about a case involving a drainage pipe. In light of these things, I wanted to see what I could find on the property. When I pulled up the drive, I felt the ground shake and saw the barn come up from the ground, much like how Mr. Clemmons described it going down. He ran out of the house, and we went and inspected the barn together. It was like it had never disappeared. He was really beside himself, running up and down the street. He jumped in my car, and you know the rest.”
“How bizarre that the books led you to go over there. But with the barn reappearing, there’s no need for an insurance claim. What do you make of that, Zeke?” Lucy asked.
“I suspect my library was trying to communicate any way it could,” he replied as Cheryl approached the table.
“Another round of pancakes for the Famous Four?”
“No!” they all groaned together.
Cheryl removed a few of their plates and moved on.
“If these things continue, I think we’re all going to end up more famous than we want to be.” Stephanie pushed her plate away. “I can understand why the three of you are sitting here, but I’m not sure why I am. Lucy, you’re the special girl who seems to have something going on with nature. Zeke, you’re the super insurance guy with the mystical library. And Father Vance here is our spiritual guide who uses the Good Book to interpret ancient agendas, as well as current events.” She paused, “Why am I here again?”
“We need your connections,” Zeke replied.
“I need transportation sometimes,” Father Vance added.
The last to respond, Lucy threw the boys a mean look. “Don’t listen to them. You are a great investigator, Stephanie. And you don’t need a special library or a chauffeur.”
“Thanks, Lucy,” Stephanie said.
“Stephanie, have you given any thought to what you're going to say to your father?” Zeke asked.
“I've been putting that off, and I think I'm going to wait. My father did say that I shouldn’t be bothering my grandfather about what’s been happening. He doesn’t want me to upset him. So far, I don’t see that it has. My father is the one I’m worried about.” Stephanie pulled the old Chronicle article out of the pocket of her uniform shirt. “You can’t run from the past forever.”
Father Vance looked over the picture in the article. “Your father may be more concerned about the future, Stephanie.”
“And how do we avoid the mistakes of the past?” Zeke asked.
“Good question,” replied Father Vance.
They all slid out of the booth and headed out of the diner.
—
Zeke and Lucy pulled up to the house, right behind Sheriff Stephanie and Father Vance. They exited their vehicles and walked to the porch together.
“Well, if it isn’t the Famous Four,” Grandpa Wilkes called from his rocker. “I get all of you at once.”
“Is there a secret intercom system in this town?” Zeke asked as he looked around the porch. “News sure travels fast around here.”
Grandpa Wilkes replied, “We don’t get many new folks around here, but I’m pleased to meet you, Zeke.”
Zeke extended his hand. “It's my pleasure, sir.”
“I also heard about the message at church today,” Grandpa Wilkes continued. “It sounds like you gave them quite a bit to think about, Father Vance.”
“Good to see you, sir.” Father Vance shook his hand.
“Let’s sit here on the porch if you don’t mind.” Grandpa had his wooden box in his lap. ”I brought out something I think you’ll find interesting.”
They all sat down, and Zeke took out his notebook. "Mr. Wilkes, we don’t want to take much of your time. Just a few questions, if I may. I assume you expected things to start happening around here again because fifty years ago, someone closer to the dirt told you they would.”
“My son, actually. Said it back then, but he hasn’t spoken of it since,” Grandpa Wilkes explained.
“I see. And can you tell us anything about any relationship between the Warren wood and water?” Zeke asked. He could tell Grandpa Wilkes was intrigued by the question.
“How did you know to ask that, son?”
Zeke looked around at the others and then back at Mr. Wilkes. “I would say that you won’t believe me, but—”
“His library is made from the Warren wood, and some of his insurance books fell off the shelves and showed him,” Lucy interrupted, smiling at Zeke.
Grandpa Wilkes grinned as he reached into his box. “You can keep this for your records. It explains the severe drought we had that year.” He handed Zeke an almanac page from a popular farming magazine.
Stephanie had been quiet until this point. “Zeke, maybe your books weren’t trying to tell you something about the present but about the past.”
“It appears that way,” he replied. “But what?”
They all sat quietly as the almanac page was passed around.
“I have one other thing for now.” Grandpa Wilkes returned to his box and extracted a small, ornate wooden locket. He held it up for all to see.
“Hey, that’s just like the one I have!” Lucy exclaimed as they all watched her pull a chain from around her neck, revealing an identical locket.
“Lucy, where did you get that?” Zeke asked.
Lucy carefully rubbed the locket and then opened the hinged halves revealing tiny pictures. “My father gave it to me,” she said as she showed the pictures of her parents around to the others. “They died in a car accident when I was a teenager.”
Zeke looked at Grandpa Wilkes. “Warren wood?”
“Yep,” Grandpa Wilkes replied as he closed the box.
Stephanie connected the dots quickly. “That might explain your connection with the natural elements around here lately, Lucy.”
“While I agree, I believe there’s something more to Lucy,” Zeke said. He quickly realized those words were intended to stay in his brain.
Both he and Lucy blushed as Grandpa Wilkes looked at them with raised eyebrows.
“You’ve brought me a very discerning young man today, Stephanie. Zeke is right about Lucy being special. But he won’t find out how and why in any of his books.”
Chuckling in the corner of the porch, Father Vance appeared to be enjoying the conversation.
“By the way, Stephanie, I’ve saved this one for you.” Grandpa Wilkes handed her the locket.
Lucy was excited. “Now you’ll have supernatural powers too, Stephanie!”
“Or at least maybe someone will flirt with me now,” Stephanie replied as she cut her eyes around to Father Vance, who abruptly stopped chuckling.
“Thank you all for coming today and sittin’ a spell.” Grandpa Wilkes grabbed his cane and made his way to the porch steps. “See you next time.” He hugged them all, then waved goodbye as they pulled out of the driveway.
—
The office was already open when Zeke arrived on Monday morning. He could hear Lucy sorting through papers in Angus’ office and stuck his head in the doorway. He watched as Lucy hastily tossed folders and binders into a variety of boxes on the floor.
“Angus has me clean his office every year when he goes on vacation.” Lucy threw a stack of papers into a box labeled TRASH. “Good morning,” she said sarcastically.
“Good morning.”
Zeke was intrigued by the dynamics in the office and how different they were from the complexities and drama of the Heathrow Insurance corporate office he had been a part of for so long.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how long has this been going on?” he asked.
“Do you mean the cleaning routine?”
“Actually, I was referring to how your talent and abilities have gone unappreciated.”
Lucy stopped what she was doing and gazed out the window. “Long enough for me to forget about those things, I guess.” She turned to look at Zeke. “The joke’s on him, though. I usually finish by lunch on Monday and enjoy some peace and quiet the rest of the week.”
“Hardly a consolation for holding you back all these years,” Zeke replied.
Lucy seemed eager to change the subject. “The contractors are out at the Warren farm today. They’ve already called twice this morning. Once to confirm that the tree is not to be touched and the porch is to be repaired around it.” Lucy turned back to her pile of papers.
“And the second time?” Zeke asked.
“Oh, right. It seems the little girl of the house is insisting that windows be installed so they can see the tree from inside the porch,” Lucy replied. “I told them to do it.”
“Good call. There’s not much Angus or anyone else can do once they’re installed.” Zeke turned to head down the hall. “If you need me, I’ll be digging through our oldest client files.”
With the big cases closed, Zeke was eager to get to the bottom of why the corporate office had sent him there. Fortunately, Lucy’s organizational skills had been well utilized, and things were easy to find in the records room. Towards the back, older filing cabinets were filled with typed memos and faded policies of all sorts; agriculture, government, commercial, and residential records that went back almost seventy years.
After about an hour and several pages of notes, Zeke heard Lucy in the doorway.
“Find anything interesting?” she asked.
“Yes, I found this old file labeled Warren. It was empty, except for this.” Zeke held up a familiar, yellowed newspaper article.
“The article Sheriff Stephanie showed us.”
“Not exactly. The headline and picture are the same, but the details are different.”
Lucy took the article from him. “Could it be that this version of the story was used for insurance purposes?”
“That could mean fraud,” Zeke replied. “There’s nothing else here to support that, but the folks at the Chronicle have some explaining to do.”
“They’re closed on Monday,” Lucy said.
“In that case, do you want to get out of this stuffy office and get some coffee?”
“I thought you’d never ask. The cleaning can wait,” Lucy replied.
“But first, we need to make a stop at Henry’s. I’m hoping he has a list for us.”
—
Zeke and Lucy took the long way around the square. They watched as kids were glad to be out of school and playing in the park.
“Lucy, did your father tell you anything about the locket when he gave it to you?”
“Just that it was special, and I should try not to lose it,” she replied. “I hadn’t given it much thought before now, to be honest.”
“And you’ve never seen any others like it?” Zeke asked.
“No. What are you thinking?”
“I’m wondering how many more are out there. If I’m right about the corporate office sending me here, I suspect the Warren wood didn’t get far out of town, but Henry should know.”
When they made their way to the store, Zeke and Lucy found Henry in the back, stocking some shelves.
“Good morning, Henry,” Lucy said. “We came to see if you had anything for us.”
“Yes, good to see you both. Right this way.” Henry led them to the front of the store and pulled some notes from under the counter. “I have good news and bad news. But first, I think you’ll find it interesting that the lumber mill that used to process the Warren wood burned down and didn’t reopen. Also, all of the Warren wood was sold out of this store.”
“Very interesting,” said Zeke. “We’ll have to look into the mill fire. Do you know who purchased it or how the wood was used?” He pulled out his notebook and read from his list. “So far, I have the Warren side porch, Arthur Clemmons’ barn, my library, and an unknown quantity of wooden lockets.”
Lucy pulled out her locket to show Henry.
“I haven’t seen one of those in a long time.” Henry admired the work. “I made them and sold them here in the store.”
“Henry, how many lockets did you sell?” Zeke began writing in his notebook.
“Only about half a dozen, I believe,” Henry replied. “As far as the rest of the Warren wood goes, I’m afraid the trail goes cold. The records are missing. Fifty years is a long time.”
“And the good news?” Zeke asked.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Henry replied. “I still have some Warren wood in the back.”
Read Chapter 10 - A Different Department
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