Book 3- Annie Adams-College Years

Annie Adams-The College Years

                                                                                       Chapter 4

                                                          What happened to the "Cooing Dove?"

     "What happened here?,"  Clare, Len's mother said, looking around at the chaotic mess before her.  Her husband Richard just viewed the state of the living room with a look of confusion.  Before Len or Annie could answer, Beth and Eric, Zack and Trish and Patti and Jamie came through the open front door.

     They gasped in unison and after a moment Zack said, "I just know that you two didn't get this carried away with another pillow fight."  Len and Annie laughed heartily along with everyone else.  "No," Len said, looking around the room and narrowing his bright green eyes.  "Someone stole our Painting of "The Cooing Dove."

     "I love that Painting," Beth said.  "What else did the thief take?"  "Nothing,"  Annie told her, while setting an end table back on it's legs again.  "Well, at least the painting wasn't valuable in the money sense.  You said it only cost two dollars."  Patti reminded Annie, then suddenly she cast an apologetic look at Len's mother, because a second after Patti said it, she thought it was rude of her to mention the price of the painting.

     But Len's parents didn't look insulted, instead Len's father Richard groaned, turned a bit red and wiped his sleeve across his head in embarrassment.  "We did get the painting for two dollars at a garage sale that's true.  But after we got it home we were curious as to who painted it.  It was an unsigned work you know.  So we google it," then he paused and looked at his wife.

     She sighed deeply and then said, "It was painted by a Mr. Thomas Clark in 1776.  It was the only piece he ever painted," she heaved another sigh and continued, "It's estimated worth is 20,000.00 dollars."  At this point Annie felt faint and dropped down onto the sofa.  Trish immediately ran to get a cold cloth and Len and Claire sat down, one on either side of Annie; Len with his arm around her and Claire patting her hand.

     Trish was back in a few moments with the cold compress and handed it to Claire, who placed it on Annie's forehead.  "Before anyone else gets too upset, you all should know that we had the painting insure," Len's father Richard explained. " We didn't tell you two," he said, glancing at Annie and Len, "what the painting was worth because we didn't think you would accept such an expensive gift."

     "You're probably right about that Dad," Len admitted, glancing at Annie who grinned and nodded in agreement.  Then she sat up and breathed a relieved sigh and the color returned to her cheeks.  Len took out his cell immediately and called the Sheriff's department while walking into the kitchen.  "Well, thank God it was insured," Trish said, falling into the opposite sofa.

     Obviously, the thief or thieves did some googling too,  Zack said, looking over at Trish.  He had said it with a straight face, but everyone laughed anyway.  In a few minutes Len came walking into the living room, calling for his deputies Steve and Dale who were checking out the upstairs for any damage.

     The two men started back down when they heard Len's call; Steve, tall and slim with dark hair, and Dale, just the opposite, short, blond and heavy set.  "Yeah Boss," Steve said, coming to stand at his side, with Dale right behind him.  "I just put in a theft report for "The Cooing Dove,"  So you two can get back to the station now," he said, giving them a wave as they started out.  But then Len added, "Did anything look disturb upstairs?"

     "No Chief.  But you might take a look and see if anything's missing.  We obviously wouldn't know that," Steve told him.  "I'll run up really quick.  You two can leave.  If I find something missing I'll call you at the station and you can put it in your report."  Steve and Dale both gave him a nod and left, and Len hurried upstairs.

     "I'm alright now," Annie said, laying the wash cloth on the coffee table, while Claire gave her a squeeze.  "Well, it looks like our mystery solving days are not quite over yet,"  Zack said with a gleeful gleam in his eyes.  Len had heard him, having come back down the stairs.  "Nothing's missing upstairs,"  Len told them.  And then he got poised to say, that the former Mystery Club Detectives should leave this case to he and his deputies to solve.

     But then he saw the excited look on his bride's face and knew there was no point trying to persuade Annie and the others from being involved in the solving of this crime.   So he heaved a great sigh as he went over and sat on the arm of the sofa next to Annie.  "At least I'll be able to keep an eye on you during this one,"  Len said with a smirk at her.  "I wouldn't have it any other way," she said, grinning back at him.

     The lab boys arrived at the house within a half an hour and begin to dust the whole place for fingerprints.  They did find many prints that didn't belong to Annie, Len, his parents or their friends.  The team leader promised Len as they were leaving, to get the results as soon as possible.

     "Well.  Let us help clean up this mess," Claire said, giving her husband a look that told him, this means you too dear.  The two of them, Annie and Len and the rest got busy putting the living room back in order.  The group ended the evening enjoying Chinese take-out, and discussing the theft of "The Cooing Dove," and just how to get it back.

     Annie and the other girls hurried off to their classes the next day, wondering what interesting activity Professor Stanton had planned for them in their Criminology class.  But first they had Abnormal Psychology with Professor Smith.  She didn't lecture the class as the day before, instead Professor Smith organized the students into small groups to discuss and take notes on the second chapter of their books, regarding the mental and emotional make up of the "mock" criminal presented to them in the chapter.

     The class was given forty five minutes for this exercise, then they were to return to their desks where Professor Smith would asked them questions on the text they had read.  Annie and Patti were in the same group along with five other students who introduced themselves as soon as they were seated.   The last one to do so was a girl called Harmony Jones.

     Annie thought she was one of the most beautiful girls she had ever seen.  But she was very soft spoken, and the others had to lean in to hear what she was saying.  Harmony had long, red curly hair and aqua colored eyes, and freckles just over her nose.  She was dressed in upscale clothes that fit her tall slim figure perfectly.  Annie thought she looked like a top model right out of "Elle" magazine.

     But Annie saw a sadness in her eyes, and Harmony hadn't smiled as the others did when they had said "Hello."  Annie wondered what someone who was so blessed with good looks and obviously money, had to be sad about.  But for some reason Annie was drawn to this stranger.  And she told herself she would find out more about Harmony Jones.

                                                                                 End of Chapter 4