Free Home to Walnut Ridge by Diane Moody Page B

the
magnifying glass from his hand. The capital letters were in script
and rather swirly, but she had to agree. “CJC. Has to be one of my
ancestors, wouldn’t you think? The last C most likely stands for
Collins.”
    “ Probably. No way to know
for sure, but it’s a place to start.” He leaned back and folded his
arms across his chest. “Do you have some kind of record of family
names?”
    “ There’s an old family
Bible with that sort of thing, but I think it’s up in the
attic.”
    “ Probably not the best
time for us to be rooting around up there,” he said, carefully
picking up the note again.
    “ I guess you’re right.”
Tracey hopped down from the stool. Maybe I can look for it in the
morning.”
    “ Have you got a Ziploc bag
we could put this in? We should probably try to keep it as sterile
as possible.”
    She pulled a plastic bag from a drawer
and opened it for him to drop the parchment in. “Hey, I bet Mrs.
Sadie over at the library would have some old records. She’s quite
the historian.”
    He followed her out to the back porch.
“Should we take her the cup and saucer?”
    She sat back down, tucking her feet
under her as she picked up her laptop. “I suppose. But I’m not sure
I can wait. Let’s see if we can find out something about the
china.” She looked up at him. “Are you in a hurry?”
    “ No. Are you sure you
don’t mind me sticking around?”
    “ Not at all. We’re in this
thing together, right?”
    “ Yes, I suppose we are,”
he said, smiling. “In which case, do you mind if I‍—‍?” He motioned
to the sofa beside her so he could see the laptop
screen.
    “ Have a seat.” As he sat
down, she caught a whiff of his cologne and decided it suited him.
After powering up her laptop, the screen came to life. A chat
screen popped up. Morgan: Trace, are you
there? She quickly closed the chat and
felt her face warm.
    “ If you need to answer
that, I can go,” Noah said, starting to get up.
    Tracey grabbed his sleeve and pulled
him back. “No need. Now let’s see. What should I
Google‌—‌teacup?”
     

     
    Noah leaned back,
wondering why she hadn’t answered the chat notice from her boss. It
seemed a little odd that a U.S. Senator would use chat to
communicate with his staff. Then again,
what do I know?
    “ Try using Google Images
first,” he said. “That way you’ll see the pictures, not just a
listing.”
    “ Okay.”
    “ And type in ‘teacup with
eagle crest’ and see what you get.”
    The monitor filled with pictures of
all kinds of teacups, teacup-sized puppies, crests, and even a
teacup-sized piglet or two.
    “ This is going to take
forever,” Tracey mumbled, scrolling through the images.
    “ Stop,” Noah said, placing
his hand on hers over the mouse. “Scroll back up.”
    “ Why? What did you
see?”
    “ Do you mind if I take the
mouse for a moment?”
    She took her hand off the device.
“Sure. But tell me what you‍—‍”
    “ There,” he said, clicking
on an image. As an enlarged image filled the screen, he slowly
turned his face toward hers. “We’re going about this all
wrong.”
    “ What?” she asked, meeting
his eyes.
    Intensely aware of her closeness, he
reached up and gently turned her face back toward the screen.
“That.”
    “ Okay, it’s a‌—‌oh
my gosh, ” she
croaked, turning to face him again. “It’s a presidential seal ?”
    He smiled. “Yes, it is. Now keep that
thought. If the note we found from your
great-great-great-uncle-Craggie is authentic, and the date is
right . . .” He arched his eyebrows encouraging her
to connect the dots.
    She gasped, both hands flying to her
cheeks. “It’s . . . it’s‍—‍”
    “ It’s entirely possible
that teacup and saucer over there came from the White House.” He
paused. “Which was occupied at the time by‍—‍”
    “ ABRAHAM
LINCOLN!”
    He laughed out loud, cupping his hand
over her mouth. “Well, yes, but must you announce it to the