A Last Gift by N L Cameron

Author:N L Cameron [Cameron, N L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Adele Niles
Published: 2019-10-16T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Helena spent much of the weekend sitting on the front porch with Bettina sipping warm homemade apple cider and luxuriating in the first of the cold weather. Already the neighbors were beginning to gather their dead leaves into black sacks that sat squat on their front lawns as if guarding the houses. Birds chittered restlessly in the evenings and formed vast flocks that darkened the evening sky. It would have been thoroughly enchanting if there hadn’t been a tinge of something ominous in it.

“Everyone loves the fall,” said Bettina. “To me, it’s just another reminder of how much older I’m getting. Another year passed and my hair’s slightly grayer. You start to wonder how many more of these you have left.”

“Let’s just pray that we make it to our next fall,” Helena replied.

Gerry’s death had affected her more than she liked to admit. She had suffered the deaths of aunts and in-laws and parents with admirable composure, but the loss of first Arthur and now Gerry seemed to have marked the beginning of a new stage in her life. There would be more funerals in the years to come; if she didn’t go first, she would have to watch as her closest friends were lowered into the ground. There wasn’t much to look forward to at this point in one’s life, which was what made the prospect of finding the jewel so tantalizing.

“I’d like to know how much the stone is worth,” she told Jess as they drove to Oliver’s shop on a gray and overcast Monday morning. “Given how many people have been looking for it, I imagine it would fetch a pretty hefty sum, even if we split it four ways.”

“I keep thinking of the treasure in The Hobbit,” said Jess, who was a lifelong fan of Tolkien. “The kings of many lands were seeking it, but it brought only misery and death to the owner.”

They pulled up in front of a trim two-story building with skeletons and paper bats in the windows; Oliver had obviously been decorating for Halloween—that, or he just enjoyed being spooky all year round. A “closed” sign was hanging out front, but he had emailed Jess the night before and told her she was welcome to come in when they arrived. Nevertheless, Jess opened the door gingerly, cautiously, as if half-expecting one of Oliver’s festive decorations to leap out at them.

What they found when they entered the room, however, was worse, much worse, than that.

Oliver lay motionless at the bottom of the stairs, his glasses askew, blood leaking out of his open mouth. It looked as though his neck had been broken. When Jessamine saw the body, she let out a dreadful shriek; the air of the room seemed to vibrate subtly and at almost the same instant, a hawk flew past the window.

As she stood there clutching her stomach, Helena felt her suspicions hardening into a certainty. Oliver hadn’t been a large man, and it wouldn’t have been difficult even for a person of modest strength to overpower him.

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