The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance Katherine Logan (no david read aloud TXT) 📖

“I thought ye said five,” David said.

“I’ll get to that.” Paul pulled out a book. “This book about Theodore Roosevelt was only slightly out of alignment with the others. All the books in this bookcase, as you can see, are the same distance from the edge. Anytime JC shelves a book, he’s very particular about keeping the edges straight. I tease him about his OCD.”

“He gets that from his mother,” Elliott said. “Although I’ve never heard either one of them admit it.”

David pshawed.

Paul pushed the book back into alignment. “The second thing I noticed was an out-of-place photograph.” He stepped over to the credenza. “JC has tons of friends, but his closest buddy is George Williams.” Paul picked up a picture of George and Ensley. “Until this morning, this photograph was on JC’s desk.”

“For how long? A week, a month, a year?” Elliott asked.

“As long as I’ve been around,” Paul said.

“Other than George and Ensley’s photograph and a book about Theodore Roosevelt, was there anything else?” Elliott asked.

Paul crossed the room to the coffee table. “The third item is this book about MacKlenna Farm. It’s always been here. But it’s never been left open before.”

“What’s on the page?” David asked.

Paul didn’t even look at the book. “A chapter on the history of the farm and the long line of Sean MacKlennas.” Paul then stepped over to a shorter bookcase on the opposite side of the room. “The fourth item is this train.” He pointed to the top shelf. “It’s turned in the opposite direction.”

“What direction is that?” Elliott asked.

“South,” David said.

“Teddy Roosevelt, a photograph of George and Ensley Williams, MacKlenna Farm table book, and a train facing south…” Elliott let his statement trail off, waiting for Paul to volunteer more. When he didn’t, Elliott asked. “Ye mentioned five items. What’s the last one?”

“Open the top drawer in the middle. There’s a copy of a page from The Washington Post about the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in the Badlands. Underneath the news article is JC’s cell phone.”

Elliott opened the drawer, removed the newspaper article, and scanned it before passing it to David. Then he asked Paul, “Why’d ye leave James Cullen before his ride arrived?”

“He told me to leave. And I learned early on not to argue with him. Sometimes I can make a suggestion, and he’ll listen, but that’s rare. He sets his mind on doing a task a certain way, and there’s no changing it.”

Paul had James Cullen nailed. “Did ye see James Cullen leave the stables?” Elliott asked.

There was zero hesitation in Paul’s voice when he said, “No.”

“Did ye find any other clues ye’re not telling us about?” David asked.

“No,” Paul said.

“Where was the reenactment? And what were they reenacting?” Tavis asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask, and JC didn’t volunteer the information.”

“Did James Cullen send ye a text or call ye to do a task before he returned from Cambridge?” David asked.

“He wanted me to get a hundred thousand dollars in gold nuggets and find him some late-nineteenth-century clothing.”

“And ye did both?” David asked.

“I did.”

Elliott walked over to the bookcase and removed the book Paul had pulled out. It was David McCullough’s Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt. Elliott made a note of the table of contents then returned the book to its place on the shelf, aligning it carefully.

“Did James Cullen ask ye to come back and pick him up in a day or two?”

“No. I assumed he’d call.”

“But he left his phone in the drawer.”

Paul chuckled. “If JC wants to make a call, he’ll find a phone.”

“Ye’ve got that right.” Elliott walked over to the coffee table and picked up the MacKlenna Farm table book. On the two facing pages were pictures of Thomas MacKlenna I and II, and Sean MacKlenna I, II, III, IV, and V. Kit had painted the portraits of Thomas MacKlenna II and all the Seans. Elliott closed the book. “We’re done here.”

“I’m sorry I don’t have more information, but I’ll call you as soon as I hear from JC.”

“I’d appreciate that.” Elliott sent a hand signal to David before walking toward the door.

On his way toward the door, David struck like a rattler, grabbing Paul by the throat. “If ye lied to us, I’ll find out. Got it?” David released Paul, giving him a shove.

Paul straightened, holding his throat and coughing. “Yeah, I got it.”

There was no fear in Paul’s expression or body language. Either James Cullen had assured Paul that David wouldn’t hurt him, or Paul had ice in his veins. Either way, Elliott found that very disturbing.

Elliott, David, and Tavis left the house and returned to the car. As they drove off, Elliott said, “He didn’t tell us everything he knows.”

“What’s he hiding?” David asked.

Tavis clicked on his seatbelt. “If he lied about leaving JC at the stables and watched him disappear into the fog, he wouldn’t mention it to us. He might believe it’s classified information.”

“If JC went back for Ensley, how’d he travel?”

“He must have found her brooch, assuming hers has the same properties as Penny’s,” David said.

“Either that or James Cullen went to a reenactment, and he’ll be back in a few days.”

“I didn’t know JC was interested in them,” Tavis said.

“He went on a few with Charlotte and Braham, but I didn’t know he was still participating. But that should be easy enough to verify.” Elliott uncapped his bottle of water and took a big gulp. “There’s another possibility. JC found a brooch while in Asia and is traveling with one of his own.”

“Then where’s Ensley’s?”

“She has it with her.”

“Then she’d be in the same position as the others. She’d just have to wait for it to warm up again.”

“JC wouldn’t have used an untried brooch,” David said. “If he found one in Asia, he would have locked it up.”

“Where?” Elliott asked.

“A home safe?” David said.

“No. If James Cullen found a brooch, he would have put it with