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

Penny nodded. “Yep.”

“Did he give you any information about the woman?” Kit asked.

“Yep, her name,” Penny said. “She’s Ensley Williams. JC’s friend.”

“Jesus!” JL said. “I met her when she and her cousin came here for the Fourth of July celebration. She was in graduate school at the time, I think. She’s beautiful, and, man, can she ride. Did you see her race JC around the training track?”

“I saw it,” Cullen said. “Reminded me of Kit racing that cavalry officer at Fort Laramie.”

Kit laughed. “You mean the time you almost killed me with the steam coming out of your ears?”

Braham howled. “That was the best race I’d ever seen. I bet the fort commander a five-dollar gold piece based on Cullen’s opinion of Stormy. I couldn’t figure out what the hell was wrong with Cullen. It turned out he was in love.” Braham laughed again. “It was a great race.”

“And you were so sweet to me.” Kit threw a side-eye at her husband. “But Cullen was in an awful mood.”

“In my defense,” Cullen said, “that wasn’t long after I had to lasso you in the Kansas River to keep you from drowning.”

“Let’s not go there.” Kit turned her attention back to the group. “Anyway, Ensley had JC beat at the three-quarter pole, but he overtook her. Then, coming down the stretch”—Kit shot her arm out in front of her—“I thought she’d beat him, but it was a photo finish. After that, I thought for sure something was going on between them. Guess not.”

Elliott knocked on the tabletop. “If we can return to Ensley’s disappearance, I’ll pick up the story. When Penny told me about the phone call, I tried to reach James Cullen, but the call went straight to voice mail. My next call was to George Williams.

“According to George, James Cullen was in Cambridge Thursday night for a Friday morning meeting. They met by accident at the Porcellian Club, and George invited James Cullen to go to dinner with him and Ensley.

“They took an Uber from the club to George’s family home where Ensley was staying. When they arrived, she was gone, and a peat smell was stinking up the place. James Cullen searched the upstairs and found evidence that she’d showered and changed clothes. George searched downstairs. When he didn’t find her, George called the police to report a missing person, and two detectives came over to interview them. George said James Cullen went back to DC Friday morning, promising to return after a short business trip.”

“Have you talked to Paul?” JL asked. “Maybe he heard from JC.”

“David, Tavis, and I flew to DC this morning to look for James Cullen. We didn’t find him, but we talked to Paul. According to him, he picked James Cullen up at the airport Friday morning after running errands for him.”

“Anything particular?” JL asked.

Elliott shot JL an impatient look. “I’m getting there.”

“Well, get there faster, will you?” JL said.

“James Cullen asked Paul to find two sets of men’s nineteenth-century clothing and purchase a hundred thousand dollars in gold nuggets. Paul also said he drove James Cullen out to the stables in Maryland this morning, where he keeps Mercury.”

“I thought JC bought a Morgan for pleasure riding around Maryland’s rolling hills and forests,” JL said.

Elliott glowered at her, reacting to her tone more than the comment. She rarely used her former NYPD detective voice anymore, but tonight, she was in rare form, and worrying about James Cullen had Elliott on a short fuse.

“The horse wasn’t sound,” Elliott said.

JL’s eyebrows hiked. “Oh. I didn’t hear that part.”

Braham laughed. “JC was embarrassed because he didn’t notice the horse was almost blind in one eye. He believes he knows as much as an equine vet.”

And that was Elliott’s fault. He’d started out teaching James Cullen everything he knew about horses, and James Cullen had a good feel for the animals, but that wasn’t enough. If he wanted the knowledge of an equine vet, he had to go to veterinary school, and James Cullen had turned up his nose at that suggestion.

David sent Elliott a hand signal to get back to the topic of the meeting. “Let’s get back to what Paul told us about James Cullen. He told Paul a friend was picking him up to go to a reenactment but didn’t mention which one it was. Paul left James Cullen at the stables and returned home, where he found five items that were out of place.”

“Like what?” JL asked.

Elliott snapped. “Jenny Lynn O’Grady Fraser, yer impatience is getting on my last, best nerve.”

Kevin laughed. “You better watch out, sweetheart. Dad used your full name. That’s a good gauge of how much trouble you’re in.”

She rolled her eyes at her husband. “What’s he gonna do? Ground me?” Then she looked at Elliott, grumbling, “Please do. I need a vacation.”

Elliott came close to snapping at her again, but Meredith shot him a loaded look. JL was the daughter she never had, and Meredith was overly protective. Then he remembered that Austin had released his surgeon to discuss surgery options on his foot with his mother. The impromptu call must not have been good news.

He and JL were both worried parents. Elliott should cut her some slack. “If ye need a vacation, Meredith and I will watch the kids. Ye and Kevin can go to the condo at the beach.”

“Thanks for the offer. I’ll take you up on it next week.”

Meredith shot him another look that said to drop it. And he did.

“Back to Paul…” Elliott said. “The first item Paul found in James Cullen’s office that appeared out of place was a picture of George and Ensley. James Cullen had moved the photograph from his desk to the credenza.”

“What’s so weird about that?”

Elliott reined in his first reaction, which was to yell at JL, and instead went for an understanding tone. “As long as Paul has worked for James Cullen, the picture’s always been on his desk.”

“Okay. Got it.”

“The second was a book about Teddy Roosevelt,