Page 56 of The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street
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We dropped Jayne off at her house, then drove the short distance home, fighting over the radio station, more out of habit than out of any desire to listen to music. I didn’t recognize the car parked at the curb in front of our house as Jack pulled into our driveway. “Is Lindsey or Alston driving already?” I asked as we walked around the house to the piazza.
“Not that I know of. They all just have their permits.” Jack walked toward the unassuming sedan, stopping behind it to read the bumper sticker. His lips pressed together in a firm line. “Citadel,” he said curtly.
I knew to tread lightly. Alston’s older brother, Cooper, now a senior at the Citadel, was a frequent visitor to our house, but always with hissister or a group of friends. His visits had been less frequent over the last year due in part, I was sure, to Jack’s frostiness. I actually liked Cooper. He was tall and good-looking, and he was also polite, smart, and nice to his sister and his mother. I’d always thought the latter was an indicator of good-husband material, my opinion solidified by watching Jack with his mother. Not that Nola was looking for a husband, or that Jack would allow her to date before she was thirty, but I was fairly confident that Nola was safe with Cooper. The craziest thing they’d ever done together was binge-watch all eight episodes of theStar Warsfranchise over a weekend in our upstairs TV room. Jack had insisted on leaving the door open and then brought up fresh popcorn and drinks at regular intervals to make sure they weren’t sitting too close.
“Cooper probably drove Alston and Lindsey—he’s a good brother, you know.”
“Humph.” Jack stomped up the piazza steps. “He’s a guy. That’s all I need to know.”
I rolled my eyes, waiting until he unlocked the front door and held it open for me. As we stood in the foyer, taking off our coats, we heard Nola’s laughter from upstairs, followed by a male voice. We waited for another moment, anticipating hearing the sound of other female voices. When we didn’t, Jack took the stairs two at a time while I followed at a more sedate pace.
I passed the three dogs at the top of the stairs, staring at a corner of the hallway. Stopping short, I followed their gaze, hoping I wouldn’t see anything, and then worrying because I didn’t. General Lee let out a low growl to let the unseen intruder know who was boss, then immediately ran behind me, quickly followed by Porgy and Bess. It was a good thing they were cute, because they were complete failures as protectors.
I continued to stare at the corner, willing myself to see whatever it was, aware suddenly of the scent of roses. I relaxed slightly, knowing that whatever was there, Louisa was there, too, protecting us. “Thank you,” I whispered, backing away slowly toward Nola’s room and Jack’s raised voice.
“You know the rules about closed doors, Nola.”
I stood behind Jack in the doorway, his hands on his hips just like Mrs. Houlihan’s when she’d find me in her kitchen stealing cookies. Nola sat on her bed with her laptop and scattered books, and Cooper stood in front of the armchair he’d apparently been sitting in before Jack threw open the door without knocking.
“The dogs were acting weird, but they didn’t want to go out and weren’t interested in any treats, but they kept distracting us, so I just shut the door.”
“Distracting you from what?” Jack asked. I couldn’t see his face, but I imagined his eyes were narrowed in a perfect interpretation of the avenging father.
Cooper offered his hand to Jack. “Good to see you, sir. We were brainstorming about those words you gave Nola earlier, trying to see if we could interpret them.”
After a brief hesitation, Jack shook the young man’s hand. “Um-hm,” he said. “I told her she could invite a few friends over for pizza.”
“Yes, sir. But my sister wasn’t feeling well, and Lindsey is in Pawleys Island this weekend with her parents. So I volunteered to come help and keep Nola company.”
“Well, isn’t that convenient...” Jack began.
I elbowed my way past Jack to greet Cooper. “That’s wonderful. Thanks so much. And were you two able to figure anything out?”
Nola gave me a relieved look. “Nothing yet. We can’t find anything that connects these things, so Cooper thought that we should make identifying lists of each object, starting with color, since three of them—just notkitchen maid—can be identified with specific colors.”
Jack looked at Cooper with grudging admiration. “I hadn’t thought of that. You might be onto something—although I have no idea wherekitchen maidwould fit into that equation.”
“That’s the same conclusion we reached, sir. But until we think of something else, we’re creating four lists—since we’re working with four items—of descriptive words, beginning with colors, to see if we can come up with anything. It’s a process. Like writing a book, I would assume.”
Jack actually smiled at Cooper. “Yes, you could certainly say that.”
“Did you find anything at the cemetery?” Nola asked, looking a lot more relaxed now that Cooper and Jack had shared a cordial exchange of words.
“We’re not sure,” I said, pulling out my phone. “Jayne and Anthony will be sending me theirs, but basically we took lots of photos, including pictures of two rows of bricks with odd markings on them. If we print them individually, we should be able to put them together like a puzzle. It’s going to take forever since I’ll have to find a way to print every brick exactly proportionally and then find a surface large enough to put the puzzle together.”
Cooper cleared his throat. “I might not be able to find the floor space for the actual puzzle, but I have access to some pretty cool software that should make the sizing-and-printing part a little easier. I’d be happy to take a look if you want to send the pictures to me.”
Nola and I both beamed at Cooper, but Jack narrowed his eyes. “And what would you expect in return?”
“Dad!” Nola cried out as I punched Jack in the shoulder.
“Nothing, sir,” Cooper said, his cheeks blazing red. “I’m just wanting to help. I think this whole puzzle thing is really cool—especially when I think it might end up in one of your books. I’ve read them all, by the way. I’m a huge fan.”
“Hmm,” Jack muttered.
I grabbed hold of his elbow and began pulling him out of the room before he could say anything else. “Thanks, Cooper,” I called from the hallway. “I’ll have Nola forward all of the photos to you to see if you can come up with anything. And we really can’t thank you enough, can we, Jack?”
