Smith's Monthly #16 Page 10

  And damn angry at whomever did that photo.

  Duster had said he was done with this investigation. But it all still bothered him.

  And it honestly worried him that he had made Kelli mad at him. He found her amazingly attractive and smart and more than likely funny, if the situation allowed. He hoped that they could patch this up enough to at least get to know each other a little better. Not the investigator know, but the personal knowing.

  After staring off into space for a moment, she turned to him. “Your clients and their friends are some amazing people.”

  He nodded. “That they are, and even more amazing in real life when you meet them.”

  “You like them, huh?” she asked, staring into his eyes with those intense dark eyes of hers.

  “More than I sometimes realize,” he said. “That’s why this photo stuff has me so damn bothered. It’s not at all like them.”

  “So call them,” she said. “Let’s meet them in Portland and find out just what the hell this is all about.”

  He nodded. “I was hoping you were going to say that.”

  “Why?” she asked, “you get a bonus if I sign on or something?”

  “I think I deserved that,” he said, shaking his head and working to get his laptop going to make a connection. “I have no idea what they are going to offer you. And I sure don’t need their money.”

  “Sorry,” she said, looking worried.

  “No reason to be sorry,” he said. “I’d be pissed off as well in this situation. I just wanted to not have to wait until Boise to figure out what the hell is going on.”

  She laughed. “And I thought it was because you wanted to spend more time with my biting personality.”

  “Well,” he said, smiling at her. “That too.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  July 14th, 2016

  Oregon Coast

  KELLI WATCHED AS Jesse got the computer going, made the connection, and then said, “Hello.”

  “She still there or she slap you and drive off?” Duster asked, laughing.

  “I’ve been a perfect gentleman,” Jesse said, smiling. “And I wouldn’t have blamed her if she did, but she’s right here.”

  He turned the computer to Kelli, who was smiling.

  “I was angry enough that I almost did just that,” Kelli said. “But had to wait for my fantastic and huge piece of pie and read what you sent.”

  “Are you talking banana cream pie?” Bonnie asked, her eyes wide. “Are you at the Whale Port Diner?”

  “We are,” Kelli said, glancing at Jesse who just shrugged and mouthed the words that he didn’t tell them.

  “Say hi to Betsy for me,” Bonnie said.

  “And I hope like hell you had the chicken fried steak,” Duster said.

  “We both did,” Kelli said. “It was heavenly.”

  “Always is,” Duster said.

  At that moment, the large woman from the back came out. “Did I hear my name?”

  Kelli swung the computer around and the large woman lit up. “Bonnie! Duster! When the hell are you two going ta drag your sorry asses back out here for a dinner and some cards?”

  Kelli heard both Bonnie and Duster laugh. “We’ve been hoping to do just that very soon.”

  “Got your favorite stools ready for ya,” she said. “These two computer geeks sitting at my counter with ya?”

  “They are,” Duster said. “Or at least one of them is and the other we hope to meet with soon.”

  “Figures,” the large woman said, smiling. “You two always attract the brainy kind. See ya soon.”

  “Bye, Betsy,” both Bonnie and Duster said as Betsy turned the computer around.

  Both Bonnie and Duster were smiling like she had just given them the treat of the year. Who in the hell were these two mathematicians, anyway?

  “I’ll meet with you in Portland,” Kelli said.

  Both Bonnie and Duster kept smiling, but there was a serious note behind the smile suddenly.

  “It will take you about three hours to drive and get across Portland to the airport,” Duster said. “There’s a good restaurant near the airport on Airport Way called Bill’s Steakhouse. How about we meet you there in three hours. I’ll have a back room reserved so we can talk in private.”

  “That sounds fine with me,” Kelli said.

  She glanced at Jesse who just shrugged and nodded.

  “We’ll both be there,” Kelli said.

  “Call if either of you have traffic problems.”

  And then the screen went dark.

  She pushed the computer back to Jesse who shut it.

  “They have their own jet, huh?” she said.

  “I honestly didn’t realize that until right now,” he said.

  At that moment Betsy came out from the kitchen again. “Dinner is on us.”

  “No need to do that,” Jesse said a moment before Kelli could.

  “See that new grill back there,” she said, pointing back into the kitchen. “And when ya go outside, notice the new roof on da place. All Bonnie and Duster. And they fixed up our home too and funded us enough capital to keep goin’ without worry. Only deal was that we keep on doin’ what we were doin’ and serving great food.”

  “You have any idea why?” Kelli asked.

  Betsy shook her head. “This place had been in operation for goin’ on one hundred and twenty years and without them, it would be shut down. They wanted nothing in return. No other strings, no loan, nothin’. Amazin’ people. And they did the same thing for da historic hotel down the street. Helped them remodel and get back on their feet and stay open as well. It started just ahead of this place opening. And they would never tell us why.”

  With that, Betsy turned away, smiling.

  Kelli glanced over at Jesse, who was shaking his head and watching Betsy walk away.

  “Didn’t know your own client that well, huh?” Kelli asked.

  “Clearly not,” Jesse said. “And in about three hours I want to start remedying that situation.”

  “Yeah,” Kelli said. “Some answers would sure be nice.”

  With that they both left a twenty-dollar tip near their pie plates, and with laptops in hand, headed for their cars.

  Outside, in the fresh ocean air, Kelli glanced over the top of her car at the handsome face of Jesse. “Since you’ve been following me for some time now, how about I follow you to Portland?”

  “Seems more than fair enough,” he said, smiling at her.

  And that smile she could get used to, if first she got some answers.

  PART TWO

  An Offer

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  July 14th, 2016

  Portland, Oregon

  JESSIE WAS IMPRESSED that Kelli stayed right behind him all the way from Whale Cove into the west side of Portland and then through Portland to the airport on the east side.

  They made the drive in just under three hours.

  He would have been much happier if they had been riding together, but after a while he was glad they weren’t. The drive gave him time to think and calm down.

  And more than likely it gave Kelli the same thing. Bonnie and Duster had always been full of surprises for him, and clearly others around them as well. Now he needed to know why they had had him investigating all these people over the years.

  And how that picture of him standing in Roosevelt, Idaho, in 1908 could even have been done. Especially a year ago, as Kelli claimed it was.

  Because that wasn’t possible.

  What he hadn’t told Kelli was that the metal bracelet on his wrist, the one that could be seen in the picture, he hadn’t got as a gift until last Christmas. A year ago he didn’t have that metal on his wrist.

  So either she was lying about when she got the picture, or something else really ugly was going on.

  Kelli pulled up and parked beside him in the large, paved parking lot of Bill’s Steakhouse. The heat of the July evening in Portland was a strong contrast to the cool ocean breeze on the c
oast. He could hear the roar of a jet taking off over the traffic sounds of the nearby five-lane road.

  The wonderful smell of steaks being grilled filled the air around them. The steakhouse was dark wood with a ton of plants around it, almost hiding it from the parking lot and road. It had a dark, low-pitched roof and dark-tinted windows.

  Since it was almost nine in the evening, the sun was starting down over the west hills and there were only about ten other cars in the parking lot.

  Kelli got out, a notebook in hand, and smiled at him as she headed for the front door of the restaurant. “Sorry to be in a rush, but that coffee on the coast has been demanding an exit for the last hour.”

  “Yeah,” he said, following her. “Thought about stopping and then just got thinking.”

  He got to the door ahead of her and held it open.

  “Thinking about me, I hope,” she said, brushing past him, smiling, then turning and heading for the restroom sign.

  “Who else,” he said, laughing and following her.

  “Right answer,” she said as she pushed open the women’s room door and went in.

  After clearing out the coffee from the previous meal, he headed back into the dark, wood and plant restaurant. Everything was made of dark wood planks and the floors were stained a lighter oak color. Plants of all sizes and forms seemed to be filling every nook and cranny in the place. All the sounds in the place felt muffled from all the plants.

  The place smelled of steak, almost so thick it was amazing the walls and the leaves weren’t coated in steak grease.

  He went back to the wooden front desk where a young college-aged girl with pixie brown hair greeted him with a bright smile.

  “Duster Kendal party?” Jesse asked. “Are they here?”

  “They are,” the young hostess girl said. “Follow the main aisle all the way to the back. Door labeled Stetson.”

  “Find them?” Kelli asked, coming up to him as he was about to head for the back.

  “They are here,” Jesse said, nodding. “Follow me.”

  “Twice in one day,” she said, laughing.

  Clearly she was in a much better mood after calming down and the drive.

  When they had wound their way to the Stetson room in the back, Jesse opened it for her and she went into the small banquet room ahead of him. It also looked like the rest of the restaurant, with wood planks on the walls and plants hanging from high rafters, as well as sitting in corners.

  A table for six was set. Duster and Bonnie sat at one end, with Duster at the head of the table. Dawn Edwards and Madison Rogers sat in the middle on one side.

  All of them stood as they came in.

  Bonnie was dressed in her casual look. Dark slacks, a light-blue silk blouse, and she had her long brown hair pulled back. Bonnie was tall, just a few inches shorter than he was. She had a classic beauty that was hard to ignore.

  Duster had his long coat hanging up on a coat rack to the right of the table near a tall tree-like plant and his cowboy hat on the stand as well. He wore his brown hair cut short and had on a simple blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He was as tall as Jesse, but seemed to command a room more than any person Jesse had ever met.

  Madison was about Bonnie’s height at around five-foot-nine, had dark hair, and also was dressed casually in dark slacks and a dark blue shirt with the sleeves buttoned.

  Dawn was the shortest one of the group by a long ways, but looked thin and strong. She had long brown hair, also pulled back, and wore the same casual style as the rest with dark jeans and a silk blouse with no jewelry.

  “Glad you made the drive from the coast safely,” Bonnie said, coming forward first to shake Kelli’s hand. Then Duster shook her hand, then Bonnie turned and introduced her to Dawn and Madison.

  From what Jesse could tell, Kelli was stunned to meet them here.

  “Honored,” she said to both of them. “I am such a fan of your books.”

  “And we are of yours as well,” Dawn said.

  Jesse shook all their hands as well, even though he knew them all. He had investigated both Dawn and Madison at one point. But he hadn’t seen them for almost a year.

  Then Jesse went to a spot beside Bonnie so that Kelli could have the place at the end of the table, facing Duster.

  As they all got seated, Madison said to her. “I hear you discovered you were being vetted before you should have discovered it?”

  Kelli laughed. “Yeah, an accident. I just never forget a face and I had seen Jesse’s face in a picture from Roosevelt Idaho in 1908 and knew that couldn’t be. At first I thought he was a ghost or something.”

  “He is such a good investigator,” Duster said, smiling, “I’ve often wondered if he was a ghost.”

  “So how could he be in that picture?” Kelli asked, getting right to the point.

  Jesse watched as Bonnie and Duster and Dawn and Madison all had to suddenly look down at their plates or straighten their napkins or something.

  Kellie glanced at Jesse with a puzzled look and he just shrugged. He had no idea what was going on. Not a clue.

  After a moment a waiter wearing western jeans and a cowboy red and black plaid shirt came out of the back with menus and some drinks for the four of them, then he took Kelli and Jesse’s drink order and left. Both of them once again ordered coffee.

  “Before we try to even begin to explain all this,” Bonnie said, “can I ask what you were doing at our favorite all time historical diner on the coast?”

  “Been following a trail for my research,” Kelli said. “The diner was just a lucky find.”

  Madison and Dawn looked at Kelli and then at Jesse. “Don’t tell me you guys had dinner at the Whale Cove Diner?”

  Jesse laughed. “We did, and yes, we had the chicken fried steak and banana cream pie.”

  Madison turned to Duster. “What the hell are we doing here? We should be over there eating.”

  Both Bonnie and Duster laughed. “We figured that if we gave Doctor Rae here too much time to think about all this, she would bolt.”

  “Call me Kelli,” she said. “And you might have been right.”

  “So can I ask what you were researching?” Dawn asked. “Another past crime I hope?”

  Kelli glanced at Jesse. “You know, don’t you?”

  He just shook his head. “I just vet a person’s past stuff, criminal actions, that sort of thing. I don’t snoop into e-mails or private research or anything like that.”

  “Oh, sorry,” she said, looking at him with a worried expression.

  He nodded back at her that it was all right. Again he didn’t blame her at all.

  She turned to Dawn. “I’ve been following the possible theft of about 30 Season Medals that Lewis and Clark gave out to Native American leaders during their trip.”

  Jesse had no idea what she was talking about, but clearly Dawn and Madison did.

  “Season Medals?” Dawn asked. “I thought Lewis and Clark gave away all fifty-five of them that they had on that first expedition.”

  “They did,” Jesse said. “But starting around 1880 or so, a man by the name of John Simon Bushnell started a quest to buy or barter from the Native Americans as many of the medals as he could get back.”

  “He did?” Madison asked. “Wow.”

  Kelli nodded. “He is rumored to have managed to get thirty or more of the Season Medals by 1906. He was shot in Roosevelt, Idaho, at some point, no one is certain by who or why. His name is on the plaque there in the Roosevelt cemetery.”

  Jesse was fascinated. He liked her books and this sounded like she could make this story riveting.

  “And the medals vanished with his death?” Duster asked.

  “They did,” Kelli said, nodding. “But since he was shot, there is speculation that the medals were stolen from him. He had been along the Oregon Coast before going to Roosevelt, so I was tracking any evidence I could find along the coast before heading to Roosevelt.”

  “Do you remember the man’s name s
he is tracking?” Duster asked Dawn and Madison.

  “No,” they both said at the same time.

  “But I do remember,” Dawn said, “that someone was shot in a small cabin near Roosevelt in late October one year, after the valley had already closed up for the winter because of snow. It never crossed my research as important, so I paid it no attention.”

  “So these medals would be worth something if found today?” Jesse asked.

  “Besides historical importance,” Kelli said, “a great deal of money. A few that have surfaced that are authenticated that Lewis and Clark gave away have sold at upwards of hundreds of thousands each.”

  “A million dollar lost treasure,” Jesse said, nodding.

  “A fascinating crime in my opinion,” Kelli said. “Great history that most don’t know about wrapped into a crime. A perfect book.”

  The other four at the table nodded.

  Jesse couldn’t agree more.

  At that point the waiter came back with his and Kelli’s drinks, then took all their orders and left.

  “Since you won’t explain the picture, what’s this offer?” Kellie asked Bonnie and Duster as the waiter left.

  Jesse loved how Kelli just dove right at the point.

  But again, just silence filled the room.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  July 14th, 2016

  Portland, Oregon

  KELLI STARED AT the silent four, then said, “Let me make this simple for you. First tell me how I found a picture of three of you and me standing on a wooden sidewalk in Roosevelt, Idaho?”

  Duster laughed. “That’s like the hardest question you could ask.”

  Kelli noted that Dawn and Madison both nodded.

  “Let me start a little before that,” Bonnie said. “I will tell you that the photo is accurate, taken by the photographer who is credited for the picture. I know that without looking at it because none of us here have any reason to doctor any pictures for any reason.”