Secret Sisters - an LDS cozy mystery

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven  

The presidency took turns keeping an eye on the Dunns. For a whole week nothing much happened. Tansy reported that the baby had a diaper rash, but it cleared up quickly. 

Ida Mae was beginning to wonder if they had imagined the whole thing. She concentrated on her other tasks, helped arrange a canned food drive, and kept an eye on Rose Hunter, who was due to be released from the hospital in a few days. She'd recovered nicely from her fall, and the doctors were pleased with her progress. Rose credited it all to Ida Mae's cookies. 

Ren had added some new gadgets to his laptop. As they took their turn at the Dunns' that evening, he plinked away on the keyboard while Ida Mae immersed herself in the latest Whitney Awardwinning novel. Both of their heads snapped up as they saw a black car drive past, then slow and turn at the Dunns' gate. 

"That was a Jaguar," Ren said, accentuating the "u" like a radio announcer. "Those things don't come cheap." 

"I've never even seen one before," Ida Mae said. 

Since the evening was unseasonably warm and bright, they decided to get out and take a little stroll to stretch their legs, but also to see what was going on. As they neared the turnoff to the Dunns', they slowed and took to the trees. Ida Mae was starting to give serious thought to Ren's previous suggestion of camouflage.  

The Jaguar wasn't parked at the house. 

"That's weird," Ren said. "Where'd the car go?" 

"This is the only house down this lane," Ida Mae said. "They couldn't have been heading somewhere else." 

"Stands to reason they'd have to come back this way. Why don't we watch for a minute and see what happens?" 

They didn't have long to wait, as it turned out. Within minutes the Jaguar was back, coming from behind the house and up the lane. Ren and Ida Mae tried to see the driver from their concealed spot in the trees, but couldn't make out anything but a dirtspattered license plate that lost a chunk of wet mud as it drove past them.  

"What was the car doing behind the house?" Ren wondered. 

"I think there's an old shed or something back there." 

"Can we get to it if we keep to the trees?" Ren asked. 

"I think so." 

He checked his laptop-handy thing fit right under his arm. "Mary's in the living room right now, and Nick just came in. They're talking to each other, finally. They're going to sit down and watch a movie. If they stick to the living room and kitchen, we can't be seen. If they go into the bedrooms and happen to look a the window, we may be sunk." 

"Well, let's get a move on while they're in the front part of the house." 

They eased through the trees to the back of the property, the old shed placed much as Ida Mae remembered. They slipped out of the tree line and made their way to the door of the shed. Ren opened it slowly. Ida Mae shut her eyes tight, worried that the hinges would let out a screech and give them away, but the door opened silently.  

It took a moment for Ida Mae's eyes to adjust to the dim, dusty light inside. Old rusty tools hung on the wall, and a push mower stood in the corner. Nothing else was in there. 

Well, almost nothing. 

Ren's shoe crunched as he stepped down. He backed up and stooped, picking up a foil hamburger wrapper between two fingers.  

"This is from Wendy's," he said. "We don't have a Wendy's in Omni." 

"And the Dunns don't eat meat," Ida Mae pointed out. "I bet whoever was in that Jaguar dropped this." She did not accentuate the 'u.'