Clearing the Course by Diane Weiner

Author:Diane Weiner [Weiner, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cozy Cat Press
Published: 2018-07-08T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Emily finished her morning coffee at the kitchen table, while editing the previous day’s writing. The table was half-littered with plates and dishes they’d removed from the cabinets. Somehow, sitting in the kitchen with the TV morning show playing in the background seemed less like work than sitting at her desk. She had envisioned spending all day all summer on her new book, but the allure of the present mystery pulled her in like a magnet. With the deadline fast approaching, she still hadn’t finished the revisions of her current book her editor requested. Henry had left for the hospital, and Maddy was still asleep.

Back to work. She set aside the new book and pulled up the immediate task. She actually enjoyed the editing process, when she didn’t feel rushed. Once the words were there on paper, she could relax and revel in the words, not worrying about keeping the facts and sequence straight. She’d lost track of time when there was a knock on the door.

“Hi, Dallas, come on in.” He followed her into the kitchen. She scooped up her laptop and notes. “I’ll get out of your way. Can I get you some coffee?”

“No thanks. Already had my limit for the day.”

“That’s right. I bet you were up half the night with Alexandra. Or is she sleeping through the night already?”

“Yeah, you were right the first time. Still wants her bottle a couple of times a night.”

“I run on a lovely path down to the river. Lots of shade. You should tell your wife it’s a nice place to take a stroller, and there’s a little play area with toddler swings and a jungle gym. I guess she’s too young for that.”

“She gets around pretty good. She climbs up on the dresser and gets into my wife’s necklaces. Already likes to play dress up.”

Emily had no idea at what age babies started doing that sort of thing. Then again, at the last baby shower she attended for her work colleague, she remembered a basketful of safety latches and outlet plugs, so she supposed they got into things fairly quickly.

“Did you make any headway on the clues we found?”

“We’ve looked at the first four. There’s the clue about the river, then we think the clue about chimes could mean a church. I recognized the third clue as an excerpt from Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.”

“This is only my second summer here, but on the way here I pass an old church down by the river. And there’s a cemetery next to it with an old-fashioned iron fence around it.”

“That would be a great start. The fourth clue is a mish-mosh of letters.” She put down the laptop and tore a sheet of paper from her notebook. “Does that mean anything to you?”

“Did you try unscrambling it? Or maybe each letter stands for something.”

She scribbled some versions of letter arrangements. “Yeah, but doesn’t ring a bell.”

Dallas took the pen and scribbled. “Gre, Tad…”

“When I have time, I’ll look at a map and see if any of those make sense.

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