Howard found Demitra sitting by the pool when he arrived. The sun was beginning to set and there was an amber glow to the sky. A rumbling thunder rolled from miles away, and sharp displays of heat lightning crackled above. The timers to the landscape lighting clicked on to illuminate the pots along the pool deck wall.

  “Summer’s ending soon,” Howard observed. “It’s getting darker earlier now.”

  “Yes, it is,” Demitra said, patting a chaise lounge chair for her friend to accompany her. “It must be Friday dinner again.”

  “Yep, been looking forward to it all week,” Howard said, taking a seat on the chair opposite. “Guess I better get all I can while I can. Soon Artemis will have a restaurant to look after. Doubt we’ll get too many Friday dinners.”

  Demitra stood up, unable to contain her excitement. Her hand flew to her mouth, covering her smile until she heard him actually say it. “Does that mean you have news for me?”

  “Not much,” Howard teased. “Just that I bought a restaurant for you this afternoon.”

  Demitra was ecstatic. “Oh, Howard that’s wonderful! Artemis will have the best birthday ever!”

  “It wasn’t easy keeping this from Yasmine. She handles all the contracts for me you know. I had to tend to this one myself. I figured you didn’t want her to know.”

  Demitra sat back down on the lounge chair, scooting closer to Howard, “Not until Artemis’ birthday. It’s in a few days, so this is perfect timing.”

  Howard smiled. “And I hear Yasmine has big news of her own. It’s all she talked about at work. She and Seth. I have known for a while how crazy she is over him. Glad to see he feels the same. She’ll have her hands full now, working for me, going to school, and a husband at home.”

  “I’m sure she’ll still find plenty of time to loaf around the house with Fable and Seth.”

  Howard kicked his feet up on the lounge chair and crossed them as he put his hands behind his head. “Aren’t you going to ask me how much you paid for The Cobblestone?” Howard asked Demitra.

  “Did I have enough?”

  “Plenty,” he said. “I managed to get a pretty sweet deal on account of the previous owners having to sell quickly to expedite their divorce.”

  Demitra frowned. “I hate to profit from someone else’s misfortune.”

  He leaned up in exasperation, “Demitra, if it weren’t for other people’s misfortune no one would ever profit from anything at all.”

  When Howard and Demitra went inside for dinner they took their respective chairs at the large dining table. Both were a little surprised to see a newcomer seated with the family. Fable had a guest. The table was brimming over with food: pot roast with creamy gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, field peas, squash casserole, fried green tomatoes, and freshly baked cornbread.

  Fable introduced her guest, Patric, to everyone at the table. He nodded graciously and complemented the delicious looking spread laid out before them.

  “We are glad to have you, Patric,” Artemis acknowledged with a nod.

  The family dove into the meal placing spoonfuls of food onto their plates. For a few moments the only sounds around the table was the clanking of serving spoons, plates, and utensils.

  “Are you from Daihmler, Patric?” Howard asked. “I thought I knew practically everybody around here, but I don’t believe I know you. What is your family name?”

  “I don’t have any family,” Patric answered. “Only a sister.”

  Silence fell over the table in response to the bizarre answer. Howard was just about to say But you do have a last name don’t you? when Yasmine accidentally dropped the serving spoon from the pot roast into the mashed potato bowl, splattering Howard with gravy droplets. He wiped them off and forgot to ask.

  “Patric and I met in the park the other day,” Fable told the family.

  “Which park?” Demitra asked.

  “Yerby,” Patric answered. Suddenly Demitra felt a chill down her spine.

  “He helped me find a lost dog’s home, and afterward we spent the rest of the day together, and the day after that as well,” Fable informed them.

  “That was kind of you to help find a poor lost dog’s home,” Olympia said with an approving smile. She shifted into interrogation mode. “Patric, what is it that you do?”

  “At the moment, I am not working. I moved here to be close to my sister.”

  “Do you have any plans?” Demitra asked. “Do you have any hobbies?”

  “I hunt.”

  Demitra did not like the way he said it. He seemed to be saying something else beneath every question he answered. It frightened her a little. He frightened her a little. Yasmine broke the awkwardness by informing Howard that she expected him to give her away at her wedding on Halloween. Howard was truly touched by the request and immediately agreed.

  “Should I be searching for a new assistant after the ceremony?” he asked.

  “Hell, no!” Seth blurted. “This girl is gonna work. I’m still in school, and it’s already hard enough getting any pocket money out of the aunts. I need a wife bringing home some dough. Besides, sitting around here all day eating Aunt Artemis’ cooking isn’t a good idea. She’s got a wedding dress to fit into.”

  Yasmine elbowed him in the ribs, “Are you calling me fat?”

  “No! Of course not,” Seth answered. “You look great. Seriously. I’ll love you no matter how big you get.”

  “Seth!” Beryl exclaimed.

  “I can’t imagine your bride-to-be could ever be anything other than beautiful,” Patric said smiling at Yasmine. She smiled back.

  “You’ll have to excuse these two, Patric,” Artemis explained. “I’m afraid they’ve been cousins a lot longer than they’ve been a couple, so old habits die hard.”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Demitra wasn’t paying much attention to the banter going on between Yasmine and Seth. She’d heard these same kind of playful insults from all of the children their whole lives. Her mind was focused more on Patric. There was something not quite right about him. She couldn’t shake the feeling.

  “I suppose it’s a little disturbing, Patric, to have come here to visit your sister just at the time we have a serial killer roaming around town,” Demitra said.

  “Frankly, I haven’t thought much about it.”

  “Really?” Artemis questioned. “It’s all Daihmler is talking about.”

  “People are killed every day,” Patric noted. “I suppose in a small town it’s shocking.”

  “My ex boyfriend said the same thing recently,” Yasmine noted. “But it still frightens me. I bet your sister is a little afraid too.”

  “My sister has nothing to worry about,” Patric remarked. “Not with me around.”

  Fable clutched his arm and pressed her cheek to it, “I hope that includes me too?”

  Patric gave her a small kiss atop her head, but said nothing.

  After dinner, Beryl, Yasmine, and Seth decided to take an evening swim while Fable and her guest went off by themselves. Olympia asked Howard to discuss something privately with her in the study, so Demitra helped Artemis with the dishes.

  Artemis attempted to make conversation, but it fell on deaf ears. Her sister was much too preoccupied, spying through the window on her youngest daughter as she and Patric sat under a tree in the meadow—he, stroking her hair as she laid in his lap.

  “Look Dee, Fable has brought home losers before. Don’t worry about this guy. He’s a little weird, but still an improvement from that guitarist she dated in the spring. Remember him? The one that smelled like he bathed in patchouli. Patric sounds like he is pretty transient anyway. Doubt he’ll be around long.”

  “It is more than that, Artemis,” Demitra confided. She kept staring at them through the window as she mechanically dried the same dish twice. “Something about him…something I can’t put my finger on. Or maybe I can. Maybe that’s what scares me.”

  “All right then, over-protective-momma. Use your powers to peep inside his head and see what he’s about.”

  “I tried,” Demitra confessed. “All through dinner I tried. I couldn’t do it. He is like a steel vault. Very guarded. What’s more, I think he could tell I was trying. I think he knew the entire time.”

  Meaning it to be a lighthearted poke at her sister’s overprotection, Artemis suggested, “Maybe he’s a witch.”

  Demitra continued staring outside. “Or something much, much darker.”

  Inside the study, just off the foyer, Howard nestled into the comfy leather chair opposite his client. Olympia sat at the desk. The chair was much too tall for her small frame and she squirmed a little in the chair before speaking.

  “I always feel ridiculous at this desk,” she said. “I’ve thought about changing out the chair or the desk itself, but I can’t bring myself to do it.”

  “Understandable,” Howard replied. “After all this was Sinclair’s office. House wouldn’t seem right if you changed it.”

  “Did you bring the papers I asked for?” Olympia requested.

  “I did,” Howard said, opening his briefcase. “And as you requested, I didn’t say anything to anyone, and I didn’t let Yasmine see these. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately it seems.”

  Olympia took the papers from Howard and looked them over for a moment. She seemed to approve everything she read and began initialing and signing the proper lines.

  “If I am perfectly frank, Olympia,” Howard began, “I’m more than a little surprised by this transaction. You are actually using some of Sinclair’s estate after all these years, for some personal use. You’ve never done that before.”

  “A little out of character for me, is it?”

  “Frankly, yes. I’ve spent years trying to get you to enjoy your fortune—ever since I took over your accounts after Dad died. And you’ve remained adamant that Sinclair’s money and his lands only be used for conservation and charitable purposes.”

  Olympia gave a great smile across her face, “My, your father was a great man. And a great friend to me.”

  “He thought a great deal of you, Olympia,” Howard admitted.

  “I almost married him once,” Olympia revealed, startling Howard. “You never knew that, did you?”

  “No,” he replied. “When?”

  “Oh, it was before he met your mother and you were born.”

  “I never knew you two were once in love,” Howard said.

  Olympia laughed to herself, as if remembering something personal and private, but dear. “I don’t think you could have called us in love. We were familiar. Friends. It seemed as though we should have been in love, and perhaps at the time we may have assumed we were.”

  “What happened?” Howard asked.

  “Your mother happened,” Olympia smiled. “Your mother came along, and Nate Caldwell was head over heels.”

  “Did you resent my mother for that?”

  “Your mother?” Olympia scoffed. “Oh Heavens, no. Howard, your mother was one of the most radiant and giving people I have ever known. I am truly sorry she died before you had a chance to know her. She loved you very much.” Olympia gave a slight sniffle and wiped a stray tear from her eye.

  “You okay?”

  The old woman nodded her head and said, “Yes. I am fine. It was a heartbreaking time. You can’t understand what pain it caused her to know she wouldn’t be around to see you grow up.”

  “It’s still painful for you, isn’t it?” Howard asked, appreciating how much the old woman must have regarded his mother. He liked having someone remember his parents. They’d been gone so long that most people had forgotten he ever had any. But Howard thought of his father quite often, and he always felt a pang of sadness over not knowing his mother.

  “Lost friends are always difficult,” Olympia replied. “Lost family you think of practically every day. Your heart has all the time necessary to mourn and heal. But lost friends are different. You tend to forget about them more easily. Days go by. Then months. Sometimes years. And when they creep back into your mind, it surprises you. And you can’t believe you almost forgot to keep remembering them.”

  “Why didn’t you and Dad rekindle things after Mom died?”

  “No, by then I held too much respect for your mother to marry her husband. Besides, I was in love with John Windham by then.”

  “Well,” Howard said. “Let’s get back to the business at hand, shall we?”

  “Let’s.”

  “So, tell me Olympia, why after all this time have you chosen to do something with this Butler County land?”

  “You recall my sister, don’t you Howard?”

  Howard thought for a moment. He did, actually. It had been some time since he had heard anything about her, and he’d only met her once or twice in his youth. It seemed odd to him now to have put her completely out of his mind. He always just sort of thought of Olympia as some kind of perpetually old sage, guiding her family through life. It took him a moment to stop and remember that she’d been young once, and there was another Blanchard of her generation still alive.

  “Her name is Patricia?”

  “Pastoria.”

  “Well, what does she have to do with land in Butler County?”

  “Nothing, yet,” Olympia said. “Pastoria lives in Mobile with her family. Her husband is deceased now, but he was a fine hard-working man in his day. They lived here at Blanchard House for the first two years of their marriage. He wanted to open a hardware store. I tried to give him the money, but he refused. Proud. He said he and Pastoria would earn their own way. He planned to open a chain of stores, but only ever succeeded in opening a few in Mobile.”

  “I am not following what this has to do with anything.”

  “I’m getting there my boy,” Olympia cautioned. “Pastoria had three boys, of course they are all grown now—just like my girls. Poor Henry left the hardware store in debt when he died and the meager amount of money he left his family has long been used up. It has been brought to my attention that my sister is struggling.

  “I want you to move the Butler land into one of Sinclair’s minor corporations that will not be tied to me. Its natural gas land—very profitable. Then I would like you to manipulate some documents which make it appear as though my brother-in-law…his name was Henry Dorance, owned the mineral rights to the land. Contact whichever energy company would want to drill for the resource and they will approach my sister’s sons for the rights to drill. That should provide quite an income for my struggling sister and her boys.”

  “Why can’t you just give your sister some money?” Howard suggested.

  “No, she would never take it. This must give every appearance of being something her husband invested in long ago and has only recently come to light.”

  “I cannot believe you would allow drilling on any of your land. It’s so unlike you.”

  Olympia mused a moment and smiled. “I suppose I am breaking one of my own rules. But if you sell the land, and then they drill, it’s not really as though I’m doing anything against my principles. What happens to the land after I sell it is out of my control? Besides, I’d do anything for my baby sister.”