Lin leaned close to the long-forgotten cupboard and looked down inside the wall where part of the wood had fallen.  “There’s something in here.”

The handyman reached his arm inside past the broken shelves.  When he removed his limb, his fingers held a small leather pouch which he placed in Lin’s hand.  “This must have been on the shelf when it gave way and slid down inside the wall space.”  He smiled.  “A gift from the past.”

Cool air enveloped Lin and when the pouch touched her skin, her vision dimmed and the room began to spin.  Holding tight to the item from the cupboard, she took shaky steps to the sofa and sank onto it.

The man eyed her with concern.  “You okay?”

Lin gave a little nod.  “I haven’t eaten since breakfast.  I’m just feeling a little light-headed.”  She pushed herself up.  “I’d better go get a snack.”

Lin stumbled into the kitchen and gently set the leather pouch onto the counter.  She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead.  Not wanting to open the pouch without her cousin with her, she sent Viv a text urging her to come home as soon as she could get away from the bookstore.

Is the pouch a clue to why Greg Hammond wanted this house so badly?

Lin took a glass of orange juice and a muffin outside to the deck with Queenie and Nicky following her.  Lin sat at the table and stared across the small backyard to the high white fence that separated Viv’s property from the large house on the next street that Sebastian Coffin and his wife Emily Witchard used to own.

Everything seemed like a messed ball of yarn with the strings wrapped and twisted together.  She needed to clear her head if she and Viv were ever going to figure it out.

The metal click of a bicycle chain caused Lin to turn just as Viv parked her bike next to the shed.  She dismounted and hurried toward the deck.  “What’s wrong?  Did the handyman find termites or something?  Is my house about to collapse?”

Lin couldn’t help a smile from forming.  “It’s nothing like that.”

Viv sank onto one of the deck chairs.  “Thank heavens.”  Relief passed over her face, but it was quickly replaced with an expression of concern.  She narrowed her eyes and her tone was cautious.  “Why did you tell me to come home then?”

Lin took a deep breath and spent the next twenty minutes telling her cousin about their ancestors, the hand-drawn interior layout of Viv’s house found in Anton Wilson’s possession with Greg Hammond’s name written at the bottom of it, the living room cupboard with a message scrawled under one of the shelves, and the pouch that was found inside the old cupboard.  Each new revelation caused a gasp to slip from Viv’s throat and when Lin was done relaying the latest discoveries, Viv’s cheeks were as red as cherries.

“What does it all mean?  I can’t even process all of this.”  Viv’s hands gripped the sides of her head.  “Why would Anton Wilson have the layout of my house?  My name was written on the paper, but he claims not to know who owns the house now?  Is he going to break in?”  Viv’s face went from red to pale in a single beat.  “Was he working with Greg Hammond?  Did they have a disagreement?  Did Wilson murder Hammond because of my house?”

Lin shrugged and lifted her hands in a helpless gesture.  “My head is spinning.  We need time to go through all the things we know.”  She tried to gauge her cousin’s level of distress.  “Do you want to see the leather pouch or do you want to wait and see it later?”

Viv swallowed hard.  “Can you go get it?  All my energy is drained.  If I get up, I’ll fall down.”

Lin didn’t doubt the statement.  “It’s in the kitchen.”  She went inside and as she lifted the item from the counter, her fingers received little jolts of energy.  Carrying it outside, she placed the pouch on the table in front of her cousin.  Viv’s face softened when she saw it and she reached out and ran her finger over the little treasure.

“From so long ago.  Our ancestors held this.”

The two girls just stared at the item for a minute.

Lin said, “It feels like there’s something in the pouch.”

“Open it,” Viv said.

“You should open it.”  Lin gave the leather pouch a tiny push with her finger so that it slid closer to Viv.  “It was found in your house.”

“But the house belonged to our grandmother and our great, great, great ancestors.  The pouch belongs to both of us.”  Viv eyed the item.  “Anyway, I’m afraid to open it.”

Lin tried to ease Viv’s concern.  “It’s probably only some coins or something.”

“It’s the or something part that worries me.”  Viv gestured and nodded for Lin to do the honors, so Lin reached for the pouch.

“Okay.”  She put her index finger inside the opening at the top and pressed to nudge the material to move along the two tiny drawstrings that had been pulled to keep it closed.  She tipped the pouch and a metal skeleton key slid onto the table with a clunk.

The cousins’ eyes widened.  Lin lifted the key and the now-familiar jolt of electricity bit at her fingers.  She inspected the old metal object and then passed it to Viv who held it gingerly for only a second and then laid it back on the tabletop.

The cousins made eye contact.

“What does it open?” Viv whispered.

“That is a very good question.”

The girls heard soft footsteps approaching from the driveway and turned to see Libby Hartnett walking around the corner of the house.  She wore a crisp white blouse and softly flowing caramel colored slacks.

“Libby.”  Viv stood up, surprised to see her regular early-morning bookstore-café customer.

“Hello, Viv.”  Libby nodded.  “Carolin.”  She stepped up the stairs of the deck.  “Sorry to interrupt.  I was about to ring the front doorbell, but I could hear the sounds of a saw inside the house and was afraid no one would hear me if I rang, so I came around back.”

“Would you like to sit down?  Have something to drink?”  Viv had no idea why Libby would come for a visit.  “Is everything okay?”

The older woman remained standing.  “I can’t stay.  I was walking home from town and passed by your house.  I saw Carolin’s truck parked at the curb.”  Libby placed a folder on the table.  “I noticed this on the grass next to your truck.”  She made eye contact with Lin.  “I assumed the folder must have fallen from the cab when you got out.”

Lin was horrified to think she’d nearly lost Anton Wilson’s folder of information and she thanked the woman profusely.

For several seconds, Libby’s eyes lingered over the leather pouch on the table and then she said, “I must be on my way.  I’ll see you at the bookstore in the morning.”  Libby smiled and walked down the steps.

“Thank you again.”  Lin called after her.

As she was heading around the corner of the house, Libby looked over her shoulder at Lin with a serious expression.  “One must be very careful with sensitive information like that.  You don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands.”

A cold breeze rushed over Lin’s skin and was gone as soon as Libby disappeared around the corner.

Chapter 15

The overcast morning was a pleasant respite from the week of hot, sunny weather and Lin hoped the cloud cover would remain for the day to keep the temperature a bit cooler.  Before heading off to the first gardening job of the day, she drove to Anton Wilson’s house to drop off the family tree papers she’d borrowed in order to show Viv.  She conveniently did not return the interior layout drawing of Viv’s house with the other information contained in the folder.

Just as her finger was about to push on the doorbell button, the door flew open causing Lin to let out a little gasp of surprise.

“You’re bright and early.  Come in.  Have a coffee?  Some breakfast?”  Wilson had an apron slipped over his head and tied behind his back.  The smell of bacon floated on the air and Lin’s stomach growled.