Secret Sisters - an LDS cozy mystery

Chapter Five

Chapter 5 

Aunt Ida Mae?" 

Ida Mae put down her feather duster and walked toward the sound of Ren's voice. She found him in the garage, taking some of his equipment out of his car and placing it on a shelf. 

"What is it?" she asked when she saw the look of concern on his face. 

"Well, you know the Dunns?" he asked, as if she hadn't had them on her mind every minute of every day-well, practically-since the starving baby scare the week before. 

"Yes?" she said patiently, reminding herself of her New Year's Resolution. How long did a body have to keep one of those things, anyway? 

"Can we talk?"  

She nearly asked him if he was doing a Joan Rivers impersonation, but she could tell he was serious and in no mood for her rare show of levity. She squelched it as quickly as it had come up, and they went into the kitchen, Ren with his laptop under his arm. 

"I was delivering a DVD player to the old Palmer place, you know, that shack clear out there," he said, waving his hand in the wrong direction, but Ida Mae knew where he meant and didn't correct him. "Well, there are two ways to get there, and I drove past the Dunns' on the way back. My laptop was on because I was working on a spreadsheet."  

This she could not ignore. "You were typing and driving at the same time?" 

"I was driving slowly, and there was no one around for miles," Ren protested. "It was perfectly safe."  

She clamped her mouth down. Hard. She winced. 

"Anyway, as I was driving past, I picked up a transmission from the camera on the Dunns' fridge. I was going to ignore it, but then I decided to record it instead." He turned the laptop toward her. "I need to show you something." 

"Oh, Ren, I don't want to spy on those poor people anymore," Ida Mae protested. "I've got my temple recommend interview coming up in two months, and I've already got enough repenting to do as it is." 

"But you've got to see this," he said. He reached out and pushed the play button. Unable to contain her curiosity, Ida Mae watched. 

Nick Dunn was talking to a large man in a black leather jacket. "Isn't that a sweet jacket?" Ren said. "I've always wanted one of those." 

"Hush," Ida Mae said, even though the clip had no sound. 

Nick waved his hands, looking upset. The man in black reached inside his jacket, took out an envelope, and handed it to Nick. Nick shook his head, but the man waved a finger in his face and set the envelope on the table. He left, and Nick sank into his chair, putting his head in his hands. The clip ended. 

"What happened after that?" Ida Mae asked. 

"It was time to make dinner. The wife came in and started to chop celery." 

"Hmm." Ida Mae rested her elbows on the table. "We have no idea what's in that envelope, but whatever it was, Nick was sure upset by it." 

"I think it was more money," Ren said. "It looked just like the envelopes of money they use in mobster movies." 

"So, all mobsters shop at the same office supply store?" Ida Mae asked. 

"Sure. I bet they get a group discount." Ren grinned, then closed the lid of his laptop. "What are we going to do, Aunt Ida Mae?" 

"What do you think we should do? All we know is that the boy was given an envelope he didn't want. Maybe it was a bill from his dentist. Or a letter from an exgirlfriend. You can't go leaping to conclusions, Ren. I think we've had ourselves a bit of excitement, and now we're craving more. The fact is, we did our job, and the children have food. That's all we set out to accomplish. End of story."