The Room Upstairs by Ida Linehan Young

Author:Ida Linehan Young
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flanker Press
Published: 2023-03-06T19:47:16+00:00

23

* * *

“Tom was a bit miffed today,” Ben said.

“Tell me more,” Matty said as he leaned in across the table.

“I would call it mad,” Erin said. “He said we ruined everything. He even got down on his knees and begged me to give him that strip of land. He offered a lot of money for it.”

Ben nodded. “A lot of money.”

“Maybe there was something to the rumour that he’d have a sizable windfall if Hope Harbour Shores Development did go through,” Ada said.

“There were men going into his office when we left. They had the logo from the company on their nylon jackets,” Erin said.

“No mention of Georgia?” Matty asked.

“No, he said something about backstabbing, but we can only guess what he meant,” Erin said. “To think he had them all the time.”

“When we showed up with the papers, Tom was getting on with ‘impossible,’ then he pulled out the shredder,” Ben said. “I believe he must have thought he had destroyed them, but somehow Georgia found the original.”

“I guess we’ll never know,” Erin said. “We dropped by there today, and her place is closed up. I guess she really had somewhere to be.”

“I heard at the post office that she’s gone to her sister’s. Something sudden happened,” Matty said, and Ada nodded.

“All this talk around the table, and nobody is eating my Irish stew,” Ada said.

“There’s pie, too,” Matty said. “Apple, at that.”

They dug into their bowls. Ben and Matty had seconds. Ada got up to go get the pie warming in the oven. “I assume you all want pie and ice cream,” she called over her shoulder.

“I’ll help,” Erin said as she collected Ben’s bowl. She was in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room when she thought of the book.

“Ben, now that we have the deed straightened away, we only have the key left to find. Oh, and we have to put back that journal.”

Ada turned from the oven. “Journal?” she asked. She cleared her throat. “You found a journal?”

“Well, really we found a lot of them. Remember we told you we were looking at them,” Erin said as she laid the bowls on the counter and left to go back for the others.

“Oh, yes. I thought you meant you found more,” Ada said as she bent to pull the pie from the oven using her apron to grab the hot edges.

“Oh, yes, we did,” Erin said.

She continued into the dining room and picked up Ada and Matty’s bowls. When she turned, Ada was standing in the doorway. Ada glanced at Matty.

“Erin said she found another journal.”

Matty perked up and stared at his wife.

“Actually, I didn’t find it,” Erin said. “Ben did. It was behind a big desk in what we assumed was the old office downstairs.”

Ada sat down and cooled herself by waving the hem of her apron.

“Are you all right?” Ben asked as he rose from his chair and came around the table. He squatted beside her.

“Just warm,” she said.

“You’re doing too much for us,” Erin said.

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