Saturday, January 28, 2012

A Secret Revealed~Part 2



Andrew Lane had heard folks buzzing about the stranger in town and the fact that he had been questioning people about the Lane family of years ago. Andrew didn't have anything to hide but he had made a promise to his grandfather that he would find out all he could about the Lane brothers and the woman who seemed to be so important in their lives. Andrew was happy being a history teacher in the local high school and was a content family man. He had never had the time or the desire to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his ancestors. Maybe it was time he paid a visit to J.K. Ellingsworth. Andrew had discovered several years ago that his favorite mystery author wrote under the pen name of J. K. Ellingsworth. As was typical of Andrew, he never did see any reason to reveal to anyone Mr. Harcourt's true identity. He had heard Mrs. Wharton's tale of finding a threatening note on Max' door that morning. Andrew decided it was time to confront Mr. Harcourt. He was beginning to worry that his beloved daughter might be falling for Max. He honestly didn't think that was such a bad idea but he did need to find out for himself whether Max was a charlatan or just an interested writer who was as smitten with his daughter as she was with him. Andrew arranged for Mrs. Green to oversee his classes for the remainder of the afternoon and set out to meet with Max.
Max wasn't totally surprised to see Andrew turning the corner and heading toward the park. The two men greeted each other cordially. Andrew confessed he knew about J.K. Ellingsworth. Max explained that he had submitted dozens of manuscripts under his own name before he became J.K. Ellingsworth. He decided since Maxwell Harcourt had worn out his welcome with every publishing company he would try another name and it worked. Andrew questioned Max about his interest in the Lane disappearances of long ago. Max explained finding the newspaper article hidden in the reference book. As a writer, he couldn't let the matter go without investigating. He did promise Andrew that he would do nothing to embarrass the Lane family and had already decided he was not going to make it the basis of his next novel. Andrew let Max know about his promise to his grandfather. He thought maybe now was the time to make good on that promise. They both went to see Oscar Crowley and let him know that Andrew's grandfather had asked him to find out what happened to his family and that Charles Lane had been left on the doorstep of an orphanage. Max left the law office to meet Sarah as she would be closing the library shortly. Andrew and Oscar were still deep in conversation.
Sarah was just walking down the steps of the library when she spotted Max walking toward her. Her heart skipped a beat as he took her hand. Although there was a chill in the night air, the couple found a bench by the lake where they didn't think they would be disturbed. Max explained that he didn't mean to deceive Sarah but he was the author, J.K. Ellingsworth. Sarah's heart skipped another beat. She was silently fearing she would call Max by her hero's name Delmartin. Max thought maybe he had lost any chance with Sarah because of his dishonesty.
Sarah then turned to him and exclaimed “I can't wait to tell my book club friends that J.K. really is a man.”
Max filled Sarah in on all that was known about the Lane brothers. She remembered when she was young, she and her friends would go into the woods behind the Camden Hill Ski Lodge looking for the Lane cabins. Although the days were getting shorter, the couple thought they would have about an hour to explore the location before the sun set for the day. They borrowed Andrew's horse and buggy and were off into the woods to see what they could find.
Sarah could feel the excitement building inside her. She felt she was off to solve a mystery with her favorite fictional character, a living, breathing Delmartin Trent. It was a much shorter ride to the old cabins than Sarah recalled. Both cabins were barely standing. They walked to the first cabin, it was rather small with a fairly large area combining a cooking, eating and sitting area. Beyond was a room with a large bed and chest of drawers. The bed was covered in a handmade quilt that, although covered in dust, looked lovely on the hand carved bed. There were two very tiny beds in the corner of the room. Max wondered why after all these years, someone hadn't torn down the cabins or at least taken the furniture out of them. In spite of the dust and cobwebs, it appeared to be in the same condition as the former occupants left it so long ago. Max carefully examined every piece of furniture in the cabin. He discovered a journal secured to the underside of the chest in the bedroom. Carefully, he removed the journal from its hiding place. At the same time, Sarah was examining the quilt. There was a small tear on the left edge of the it and Sarah could tell something was inside.
She carefully felt around with her fingers and pulled out a piece of paper in shaky handwriting, it said “Something is happening to me. I am afraid Sylvia has been poisoning me with one of her potions. Simon will not believe me. I fear for my boys. With all the strength I have left in me, I have buried the treasure in the hollow of the old evergreen tree at the edge of the woods. I want my precious little boys, Charles and Seth to have the treasure. Please tell them how much their mother loves them.”
It was signed Hannah Lane.

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