Chapter 16 Tay

CHAPTER 16

TAY

Tay stared at the paper Luke had given her this morning, every letter written in his strong, clean handwriting. So, Sarafina, you made a puzzle out of another puzzle. Kudos.

Smiling, Tay glanced over at Luke. He sat at his desk, his dark head bent over his notepad. Unaware she was watching, he dropped his pen and adjusted the sling's shoulder strap, wincing when he pulled it too tight.

A twinge of regret hit her. When he'd fallen from that tree yesterday, time had frozen. If she closed her eyes, she could still see him flailing wildly as he crashed through branches large and small, bark and twigs flying before he landed on the ground in a heap.

That was why she'd hardly gotten any sleep last night. He'd seemed so confident about his climbing abilities that she hadn't thought he was in the least danger. I mean, if he'd felt unsafe, he would have said something. Wouldn't he?

She forced herself to turn her attention back to the notepad in front of her. Luke was unlike any man she'd ever met. He was smart, had a great sense of humor, and—oddly enough—seemed to love research. In addition—bless his heart—he was certainly willing to go to extreme lengths to help with their current project.

That last one really caught her attention. Why is he so enthusiastically helping? She refocused on her notepad, where just this morning she'd scribbled a myriad of words while solving the anagram. At the bottom of the page, she'd written the answer and had it neatly circled. After the complexity of the original poem and the difficulty they'd had getting a view of the graveyard, the anagram hadn't been all that difficult.

She realized that Luke had swiveled his chair in her direction. "Solved it, didn't you?"

Tay had to smile at the satisfaction in his voice. "A while ago. I was waiting to see how long it would take you to figure it out."

He flashed his usual lazy grin. "I told you I'm good at puzzles. I do the weekly crossword and word scramble in every newspaper I find."

Ah. She should have known. "You figured it out last night, didn't you?" At his nod, she added, "I've never had the patience to do crosswords." She tapped her finger on the circled answer on her notepad. "The anagram spells out ‘town fountain.'?"

He tossed his pen onto his notepad and pushed his chair back from his desk. "Should we go look?"

She found his enthusiasm—mustered even when he was wearing a sling and sporting various bruises from his fall—appealing. "I'm surprised you haven't already visited the site."

"Without you? I'm not that type of partner." He tilted his head to one side and eyed her suspiciously. "Wouldn't you have done the same?"

"Me?" Her gaze dropped to her notebook. "To be honest, I hadn't thought of us as partners exactly."

His happy-go-lucky expression vanished. "You would have gone without me?"

She might have. "Sorry. I'm used to working alone."

Luke shook his head as if deeply disappointed. "Don't you think I deserve equal billing in this little enterprise? I've been here for every challenge. I figured out the poem, and then I got this." He pointed to his wrist brace. "Doesn't that count for something?"

"You've helped a lot." When he just continued to stare at her incredulously, she grinned and added in a generous tone, "You've helped me so, so, so much, and I'm deeply grateful. But , I feel I should point out that I could've climbed that tree by myself."

"Really?"

"Really. It was pretty tall, so I might have had some difficulty getting up on that first limb, but I'd have been good after that. I'm not afraid of heights either."

"So if I hadn't been here, you would have gone to the cemetery and climbed the tree alone?"

"And probably fallen alone, too," she admitted.

He chuckled. "You should be glad I see us as a team. I solved that anagram last night and could have gone to the fountain by myself, but I didn't because I'm loyal."

"I appreciate that. I do. It's just that I've never liked group projects. I've had some bad luck with that experience."

"Ah yes, that bull pizzle guy. Hey, don't let one bad guy define all the rest of us."

Tay grinned. Bull pizzle guy. Ha! It was odd, but the lost and dazed feeling she'd been fighting since she'd returned home had faded a little after the day she'd gotten so mad at Richard.

There was a brisk knock, and Grace Parker stuck her head around the door. The mayor was dressed as usual in a neat suit and heels and looked as if she belonged on Wall Street rather than Dove Pond's quaint Main Street. "Hello, you two!"

She came into the office and set her briefcase on the corner of the large desk. "Tay, I brought you the items you requested."

Luke's eyebrows rose. "What's this?"

"I texted Grace," Tay admitted. "Right after I solved the ana-gram."

Grace reached into her briefcase and removed a red folder. "Tay asked for copies of the town meeting minutes from Sarafina's day."

Tay eagerly took the folder. She really liked Grace. Businesslike to the max, the mayor was a huge improvement over the previous one.

Grace pulled out some more folders. "I also brought all the documentation we have about the town fountain as well."

"Wow." Luke sent Tay an appreciative look. "You're fast."

"So is Grace." Tay jerked her thumb toward the mayor. "She's efficient, isn't she?"

He nodded mutely.

Grace opened the top folder. "The fountain was built in 1920, the maintenance fund appearing in 1925. It was established by an anonymous gift."

"How anonymous?" Luke asked.

"Completely. Don't know to this day where that money came from. There's no mention of it in any of the town minutes, although"—she frowned at the folders she'd just placed on Tay's desk—"there's one set missing, so perhaps that information was mentioned there. According to some notes I read, the maintenance fund was established because the fountain construction was faulty from the beginning, which was a bit of a scandal. The fund allowed the town to redo the fountain's plumbing so that it worked effectively."

Tay absently tapped her fingers on her desk. "The missing meeting minutes wouldn't have been from April of 1925, would they? That's when Sarafina and her husband, David Tau, visited Dove Pond."

Grace's eyebrows rose. "You think the fountain fund was a gift to the town from the Taus?"

Tay nodded. "I do."

Grace made a face. "Personally, I hate that fund. It's unnecessarily complicated."

"How so?" Tay asked.

"According to town bylaws that were written a few months after the donation, only a thousand dollars a year can be spent from the fund, and it must be used to improve some aspect of the town, with an emphasis on the fountain upkeep."

Luke frowned. "A thousand dollars? Where did that amount come from?"

"I don't know. But I'd bet the answer is in that missing meeting record."

"Hmm." Tay tapped her fingers on the folder, her gaze unfocused. "A thousand dollars in the 1920s was a very generous annual allotment."

"True," Grace said. "Back in the day, the funds were used for a lot of things beyond the fountain upkeep. But because of the specific wording, we've never been able to spend more than that thousand a year, which isn't much in today's dollars."

"How much is in that account now?" Tay asked.

"A lot," Grace admitted. "I don't remember the exact total, but Zoe would know."

Tay sighed. "It must be frustrating that there's money just sitting there, but no one can touch it."

"Can't you change the town bylaws to free it up?" Luke asked.

"Oh, we've tried," Grace said with a wry grimace. "The process to alter the town bylaws underwent a drastic overhaul in the sixties, and now it takes a town-wide vote. Sadly, there's a large portion of our town that believes the word ‘change' is synonymous with ‘cultural rot.' Every time I've gotten it on the ballot, it's been voted down."

Tay shot a curious look at Grace. "How much was the original donation?"

"I'm not sure, but it's now in an investment account, so it's been growing quickly. If the original intent of the donor was simply to keep the fountain in good shape, then they'll be happy to know that their gift has been quite successful, although the last mayor let the maintenance lapse so that the fountain sat empty for years on end."

"The fountain runs now," Luke said.

"Of course it does," Grace said sharply. "As if I'd let the fountain or anything else in this town sit around broken."

Tay had to grin. She glanced over at Luke. "See what competent management can do?"

"Impressive!" he returned.

Tay turned back to Grace. "May we see all the financial documents surrounding that account? If the Taus made that original donation, then it may be of importance in some way."

"I'm always happy to share the town records with anyone who wants to see them. I'll have Zoe Bell bring those financials to you as soon as possible. I—" Grace's phone beeped, and she pulled it out of her pocket, glanced at it, and then returned it. "That's Zoe now. We're meeting about the next town festival, so I'd better go."

Grace closed her briefcase. "One last thing. It's exciting, what you two are doing. I'm always thrilled to learn more about the history of our town and all of that. But I worry how many people are talking about William Day's lost gold. It's just town gossip now, but if it goes viral for some reason, we could end up with a media nightmare on our hands."

Tay grimaced. "Rose is worried, too. But we're not looking for gold. It's obvious to me, at least, that Sarafina's family secret isn't going to be a treasure of some sort, but information."

"Are you sure?" Grace asked.

"Sarafina married a very wealthy man. So Lucy was very well-off because of her parents. She married well, too. A French nobleman who had extensive properties in southern France. Why would Sarafina go to such lengths just to deliver something to her daughter that she already had?"

"So you don't expect to find a pot of gold at the end of this little quest. That's good to know." Grace picked up her briefcase. "I'll start telling people that, but I have to warn you, there's a lot of talk already. I'm not sure I can staunch that flood."

Tay wished people would just leave it alone until she knew what was what. "Still, I appreciate your help."

"Sure." Grace headed for the door. "I'll speak to Zoe for you." With a final wave, the mayor left.

Tay picked up her sweater, which had been hanging on the back of her chair, and pulled it on. "Shall we go look at the fountain?"

Luke grabbed his coat and stuffed a notepad and pen into his pocket. "So… people are talking about the gold. It seems like everyone is warning us about that today. Maybe we should search the fountain at night? No one would see us then."

She had to laugh. "?"If you think there are a lot of rumors now, imagine how many more there would be if we were seen digging around the town fountain at night. People would think that was proof positive that we're hunting gold and planning to keep it for ourselves." Tay pointed to his arm. "Because of that, I'm a hundred percent sure we've already had our tea spilled on every gossip chain in town."

He shook his head. "I guess it's best that we stick to doing things out in the open."

"I wish people could understand that there're bigger things to find in this world than gold. If we figure out Sarafina's mysterious family secret, it'll be like discovering a slice of history that no one even knew existed."

He sent her an amused look. "You really love your job, don't you?"

"It's a big part of my life. I suppose that's not true for you, though."

He shrugged. "I enjoyed my job at times, but not as much as I've enjoyed taking care of Lulu."

She couldn't fault him for that.

"Look, treasure or secret or whatever else we find, I'm in. I haven't had this much fun since I was in college."

That was oddly gratifying to hear. She eyed him curiously. "Can I ask you something? Why do you want to help?"

"It's fun, as I've said. I love puzzles, too, as you know. But to be honest, I also like the company." His blue gaze met hers. "That's okay, isn't it?"

What it was was awkward. Her face felt hot, as if she'd stayed in the sun too long. Don't overreact. He said like , which doesn't mean that much. Trying to rein in her self-protective instincts, she managed a casual shrug. "So long as that's all it is, you may officially join my crew." There. That hadn't cost her anything, had it? Not yet, anyway.

He didn't look all that thrilled with her answer, but he nodded. "Then let's go." He went to the door and opened it for her. "After you."

For the weirdest moment, she felt a flash of—was it disappointment?—at the ease with which he accepted the line she'd just drawn between them. Surprised at her own reaction, she collected herself and headed into the bookstore, buttoning up her cardigan as she went. She waved a quick goodbye to Rose before stepping out into the cool mid-March breeze, Luke following.

Honestly, between their success in solving some of Sarafina's more obscure puzzles, the amount of original materials Tay was finding, and the sweet office she was occupying in the most charming bookstore on God's green earth, Tay was living the researcher's dream. The thrill of her search was all she should be thinking about. And yet… and yet… Sheesh. Stop it already! She needed to focus on her work and nothing else.

Which was what she'd do from here on out. That decided, she turned down the street in the direction of the town fountain, her mind firmly locked on what they might find rather than the man who was walking beside her.

Oh, Sarafina, where are you taking us?