Free Secret Keepers and Skinny Shadows: Lee and Miranda by Mary A Russell

would have liked to see this finished,” she said, pulling away from the moment, “let’s move on to other things.” She pointed to the closet. “You have plenty of space to put your clothes. I’ll leave you so you can unpack or I can have Adrian do it for you if you like.”
    “That’s okay, I can handle it on my own.” Yeah, right. I don’t want Adrian handling my underwear, he thought. “I’m sure Adrian is busy getting dinner ready.” He placed his suitcase on the bed, then opened it and started to unpack.
    “When you’re finished, come out to the computer room, it’s down the hall on the left. We’ll have a few minutes to look at some things before dinner.” Miranda moved to the door and was closing it behind her.
    “Okay, thanks, Miranda.”
    She stopped and poked her head back in the door. “That’s better. I like my name.”
    He looked up from his suitcase, nodded, smiled, and went back to unpacking. After putting his things away, he stretched out on the king-size bed. It was just right. He was staring at the ceiling mulling things over in his mind.
    He got up and shook his head to clear his brain, then made his way down the hall where he found Miranda. She was fast at work on a computer in a spacious office and library combination room. She looked up at him. He stopped in his tracks and stared at her. He was thinking she had become more beautiful with age. Miranda broke the silence.
    “Adrian will have dinner ready in about thirty minutes. It’s getting late. We waited so we could eat with you.”
    “Thanks. That was considerate.”
    “It was Adrian’s idea not mine. You can sit in this chair.” She shoved a computer chair in his direction. He pushed it over beside her and sat down.
    “Well, my curiosity is way beyond ready to learn what you’ve found out,” he said. “When are you going to let me hear all about it?”
    “I know you want to hear all about the research, but it’s getting late. I’m tired. All I want to do is eat and go to bed. I have exercise classes in the morning, and I need to get my rest. I think you should wait until tomorrow. You look pretty tired to me.”
    “I might have trouble sleeping thinking about everything.”
    “Tomorrow, after you’ve finished going over what I’ve learned, we should look into everything Lilly has to say to see if the people she talked about really did exist. Or for that matter who she was. All we know about her is what’s in the letters. We don’t even know where she’s from.”
    “After I review the information you’ve dug up, I think we should visit Joan’s sister Jane to see what she can tell us about all of this.”
    “That’s a good idea. It’s been a couple of months since I’ve seen Jane. We’ve both been too busy to get together.”
    Lee stood, “Oh, I didn’t know you spent time with Jane.”
    Miranda stopped typing long enough to shoot an irritated look in his direction. “There are many things you don’t know, Lee, Jane and I go way back. She’s single now, so we go out for dinner every now and then.”
    At that moment, Adrian called for them to come to dinner.
    After eating, Miranda turned to Lee and said, “Good night. See you in the morning.”
    He smiled and said, “Sleep tight, Miranda. If you get lonesome, you know where I am.”
    She glanced at him, shook her head in frustration, and stomped upstairs. Lee chuckled to himself on his way back to his room mentally and physically tired. He was about to flop on the bed, but his attention was drawn to the photo on the dresser. He picked it up, studied it, and then placed it back in its spot. He ran his finger around the edge of the frame. I’ll make it right, I’ll solve this murder for you, Joan.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
                  CHAPTER 13
                                        Present Day
     
    F or the last twenty years Lee, like F. Scott Fitzgerald, put into practice training his mind