Chapter Seven
Everything was set up around 1:00 P.M. local daylight savings time, which was a few minutes before Apparent Solar Noon.
As everyone waited sixteen feet from the Arabian tent, their attentions were drawn to Mrs. Frederic and her chauffeur/bodyguard as they drove up in a black luxury car and parked behind the four vehicles that were already there.
After the two exited the car, the chauffeur/bodyguard remained with the car as Mrs. Frederic made her way to the group.
"What is going on here?" Mrs. Frederic asked while she was walking up.
Artie gestured towards Ronnie while saying, "Ronnie can see the sundial and she described to us how it was set. In fact, the sundial is set correctly to be shut down, but it's not shutting down because Agent Thomas had set up the sundial for our local daylight savings time when he should have set it up for Apparent Solar Time. Since we can't physically touch the sundial to reset it, we came up with a plan on redirecting the sunlight over the sundial by curtaining off the sundial and using mirrors."
"Plan B is to find an artifact that can slow down or speed up the earth's rotation," Ronnie joked.
"No," Artie quickly said. "There's no plan B. There's only plan A and if it fails, the sundial stays out of sync with normal time for eternity."
Ronnie slightly chuckled before saying, "I'm joking."
"You think it's okay to misuse artifacts or make jokes about them, Ms. Mendes?" Mrs. Frederic quickly asked in a tone as if the wrong answer would result in a swift death.
Ronnie picked up on the tone and quickly said, "No, Ma'am. I would never misuse an artifact, and I'm sorry for my inappropriate joke. I do that sometimes—make inappropriate jokes or comments, and I now know that jokes about artifacts are off-limits. Anyway, I prefer to be called either Ronnie or Veronica over Ms. Mendes."
Mrs. Frederic nodded with a hint of a grin before saying, "Ronnie, I'm Mrs. Frederic and it's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Frederic," Ronnie replied.
"Ronnie, I heard all about your ability to see auras," Mrs. Frederic began. "But how are you able to see the sundial when no one else can?"
Ronnie took a breath before explaining her psychic ability.
Once Ronnie had finished her explanation, Pete added, "Ronnie's a human Durational Spectrometer."
"What's a Durational Spectrometer?" Ronnie quickly asked.
"It's a device that displays the after image of anything that has been in an area in the previous five hours," Mrs. Frederic informed. "And unlike your ghostly vision that only you can see, the Durational Spectrometer displays ghostly images for everyone to see."
"I would like to see that work and see how it compares to my visions," Ronnie replied.
"Perhaps one day you will," Mrs. Frederic said.
"Less than seventy seconds to Apparent Solar noon, everyone," Claudia announced.
"Should I stand behind the sundial and let you know if the mirror needs readjusting?" Ronnie asked.
"No," Artie quickly said. "I had been told that the sundial will scorch the ground around it by ten feet when it syncs up with time; so I want no one within sixteen feet of the tent until we know for sure that our experiment had either worked or failed.
"Which we will find out soon if this experiment works or not," Claudia said as she looked at her watch. "Less than forty seconds to Apparent Solar noon."
As the seconds slowly ticked away, everyone was quiet as he or she stared at the Arabian tent, except for Claudia.
Claudia was focused more on her watch, and once it was Apparent Solar noon, she announced, "Time."
After a brief moment of no one moving or replying or seeing anything different from the moments before, Ronnie asked, "Should someone look into the tent and see if it had worked."
"Hold on," Artie quickly requested just before the flourishing green grass at the edge of the Arabian tent quickly turned brown. "It just might take the sundial a little time to…"
"There," Myka uttered while gesturing towards the grass as it turned from brown to charcoal black. "The grass is dying beneath the tent."
Before anyone else could reply, a device from Artie's pocket sounded an alarm.
Artie quickly pulled out the device and looked at it before announcing, "A trespassing alarm went off at the warehouse."
"Jinks and I will go check it out," Pete quickly announced. "Let's go Jinks."
"Alright," Steve replied before he and Pete moved towards one of the vehicles.
"Should one of us look in the tent?" Ronnie asked. "I would, but I can see it when no one else can."
"I'll look," Myka replied as she cautiously moved towards the opening of the Arabian tent.
"Don't touch it if you see it," Artie quickly ordered. "We need to spray it with the neutralizer first."
"Right," Myka quickly agreed before taking the few steps she needed to look in. As Myka was making a thumps-up signal, she continued, "Good news. It worked. I can see the sundial."
"Good. Neutralize it so we can get it back to the warehouse," Artie told her.
"Well done, everyone," Mrs. Frederic praised as Myka moved towards the large tank of neutralizing goo. "And while Agent Bering and Claudia secure the sundial, I would like to talk with the rest of you."
"Yes," Artie replied as he gave Mrs. Frederic his full attention.
"Let's go inside where it's more comfortable," Mrs. Frederic urged as she glanced around, as if looking for something or someone.
"Alright" and "Okay" were the responses that Mrs. Frederic received before everyone moved towards the lodge.
Ronnie led the way, followed respectively by Valerie, Shayne, Mrs. Frederic and Artie.
"I don't see Kelly," Mrs. Frederic pointed out. "Is she inside?"
"Kelly stayed in Saint Louis and moved in with her boyfriend," Valerie informed.
After reaching the common room they each took a seat. Ronnie, Valerie and Shayne sat on the couch as Artie and Mrs. Fredric sat on the chairs.
"Valerie, Myka had told me about her strong hunch about you being related to Leena, and I had looked into it," Mrs. Frederic said soon after sitting down.
"My mom was adopted days after she was born, Mrs. Frederic, and I told Myka that," Valerie began. "So I hope you didn't waste too much of your time after running into that roadblock."
"As warehouse director, I have resources that most people don't have access to, so I very rarely run into roadblocks, Valerie." Mrs. Frederic began. "And I didn't run into any roadblocks this time either. Your mom and Leena's dad are half-siblings; they have the same mother."
"You learn who my mom's mom was?" Valerie asked incredulously.
"I did," Mrs. Frederic replied.
"Who was she?" Valerie quickly asked.
"Her name is Florence Williams," Mrs. Frederic began. "And she resides in Detroit, Michigan with her husband Andrew Williams."
"I didn't expect her to still be living," Valerie commented. "Although, she has to be around ninety years old, so I guess it's not surprising that she's alive."
"Valerie, your grandmother is eighty years old," Mrs. Frederic informed.
"Eighty?" Valerie echoed curiously. "Are you sure you have the right woman? Because my mom is sixty-five, and for Florence to be my mom's mom, she would have to have given birth to my mom at fifteen years old."
"Your grandmother was raped and became pregnant with your mom at the age of fourteen," Mrs. Frederic began. "At the time, Florence's mother was a widow with two sons and three daughters; Florence was the oldest. So I suspect that after Florence had given birth to your mother, Florence and her mother felt that putting the baby up for adoption was the better choice at the time."
"You wouldn't know how Florence had felt about giving my mom up for adoption, would you?" Valerie asked.
"That information can't be found in my research nor have I met Florence," Mrs. Frederic replied.
"Right," Valerie said. "I was just hoping that you knew and that she hated giving my mom up for adoption."
"I understand," Mrs. Frederic replied. "I do know though that Florence—while in her twenties—had three sons and another daughter. So I would like to think that Florence would have kept your mother if Florence was old enough to care for her."
Valerie nodded with an appreciative grin.
"Mrs. Frederic, was the man who raped Florence ever caught and prosecuted?" Ronnie asked.
"I don't believe so, Ronnie," Mrs. Frederic replied. "Anyway, I wanted all of you to know what I discovered."
"Mrs. Frederic, would you have any objections for me to reach out and contact Florence… my grandmother and my mother's siblings?" Valerie asked.
"Of course not," Mrs. Frederic began. "However, I believe that you should start with James Williams—Leena's father. James and I have spoken with one another on a few occasions and I'm certain that he would believe me when I tell him that you are in fact his niece. And to make things simpler, I will invite him here before I tell him about you."
"I'm okay with you doing it like that," Valerie assured Mrs. Frederic.
"Good," Mrs. Frederic replied. "Anyway, how is everyone settling in?"
"Okay" and "Good" were the responses Mrs. Frederic received.
"But right now, being here just feels more like a vacation," Valerie continued. "It might take a few days for realization to set in."
"Fair enough," Mrs. Frederic replied. "Anyway, Shayne, are you ready to meet your two deputies, and see your office?"
"I am, and I was wondering when we were going to get to that," Shayne replied.
"No time like the present," Mrs. Frederic replied while standing.
As Shayne stood, Ronnie asked, "Artie, when were you going to show me the warehouse?"
"Soon after Pete and Steve make sure that there are no intruders at the warehouse," Artie replied.
"Do you have problems with break-ins at the warehouse?" Shayne asked.
"Luckily break-ins are very rare and far between," Artie quickly said.
"I saw everyone's reaction earlier, Artie," Shayne began. "You and your agents weren't surprised that the trespassing alarm went off. In fact, they seem well verse on how to handle it."
"Before a year ago—when Leena shelved the artifacts—the trespassing alarm very rarely sounded," Artie began. "Leena had a very good record on knowing exactly where the artifacts should be shelved. I, on the other hand, have a very poor record on knowing where to shelve each artifact, and when I shelve the wrong two artifacts together, the two artifacts don't play nice with each other. In the best case scenario, the two conflicting artifacts that were shelved together will only spit static electricity towards one another, and in the worst case scenario the two artifacts will whip up a devastating tornado inside the warehouse. Either way, most of the time the conflicting artifacts will cause the alarm to sound."
"And you're hoping that I can solve the problem of putting the two wrong artifacts together," Ronnie commented.
"I am; however, I don't expect you to solve that problem overnight," Artie replied. "In fact, originally Leena's job wasn't to shelf artifacts, but after being around artifacts for several months, she picked up the ability of knowing which artifacts would act badly towards other artifacts."
"So, Shayne; shall we?" Mrs. Frederic urged.
"We shall," Shayne replied before giving Valerie a short kiss. "I'll be back at some point."
Valerie grinned before saying, "I'll be here."
Shayne nodded before moving towards the door alongside Mrs. Frederic.
"Ronnie, while you are waiting on word that it is safe to go to the warehouse, you should go upstairs and put your clothes in the drawers," Valerie suggested.
"I might as well," Ronnie replied. "I have nothing else going on."
"I'll go put away my clothes and your dad's clothes too," Valerie said as she and Ronnie moved towards the stairs.
"I'll go out and check on Myka and Claudia's progress," Artie said as he followed Mrs. Frederic and Shayne by a few steps.
It didn't take Ronnie long to put away her clothes and her laptop. Her purse was on her bed and after leaving her room, she went back downstairs to the bookshelf.
Most of the books on the bookshelves were old to fairly new fiction novels of different genre and how-to books. There were several up-to-date sets of paranormal fiction novels on the shelves as well, and Ronnie pulled out the first book to a set of books on witches and warlocks.
"I see someone else like paranormal fiction besides me," Ronnie said slightly above a whisper. She then turned and carried the book to the couch.
After Ronnie made herself comfortable, she began reading from the prologue.
Once Valerie was done putting the clothes away, she went to the kitchen with a pen and a pad of paper in her hand.
Ronnie read ten pages of the book before Artie re-entered the lodge.
When Ronnie looked up at Artie when he stepped in, Artie told her, "Pete and Steve found what had caused the alarm to sound, so I can now take you to the warehouse."
As Ronnie closed the book, she asked, "So what had caused the alarm to go off?"
"Agent Andrew Thomas had set off the alarm," Artie replied. "When the sundial returned to normal time, so did he."
Ronnie cringed before saying, "I'm glad I didn't find him."
"I'm glad of that too and I hope that you can go a long time —if not your entire life—without coming across anyone's remains," Artie replied.
"I second that," Ronnie replied as she placed the book on the coffee table.
"I speak from experience when I say it's not fun," Artie continued. "Anyway, we should find your mom and let her know that you and I are going to the warehouse."
"I think she's in the kitchen," Ronnie said before standing and moving towards the kitchen.
Artie followed Ronnie into the kitchen, and when Valerie saw them, she asked, "What have you five been eating around here, Artie? There's hardly any food here."
"Yes, well, after Abigail had gotten called away we've been ordering a lot from restaurants that delivered or driving through a drive-thru ourselves," Artie replied.
"Okay, well, I'm going to change that," Valerie announced. "Is there a car I can use so I can go grocery shopping?"
"The grocery store will actually deliver to the lodge," Artie replied. "All you have to do is call them, give them our account information and then tell them what you want."
"You five would rather order from a restaurant that delivers than having groceries delivered?" Valerie incredulously questioned.
"We wouldn't rather do that, but most of the time we are on the move and don't have the time to put together a grocery list; let alone place an order for one and be here when it arrives."
"Which was why I was brought in," Valerie concluded. Artie made an agreeing face. "Okay, where is the phone number to the grocery store and the account information that I need to give to the store personnel?"
"Over here," Artie replied as he moved towards a drawer that held the information. "The second year Leena was here, she had put together a binder with service and delivery numbers."
As Artie was pulling out an inch-wide white binder that was partially filled with papers, Valerie asked, "Does anyone have food allergies or food restrictions?"
"Not that I'm aware of," Artie replied before shutting the drawer. "However, Pete—and I as well, admittedly—would love it if you would add cookies and pastries to your grocery list."
Valerie amusingly grinned while saying, "I'll make sure I add some to my order."
Artie grinned as well before holding out the binder for Valerie to take and saying, "Anyway, here's the notebook that you'll need to order food, along with any other services that you might need."
"Thank you," Valerie said while taking the binder.
Artie nodded before saying, "Valerie, I actually stepped in to tell you that Pete and Steve had found what had caused the alarm to sound and it is safe for Ronnie to go to the warehouse. So while you order the groceries, Ronnie and I will go to the warehouse."
Valerie nodded while saying, "Okay."
"I'll see you later, Mom," Ronnie told her.
"See you later," Valerie told Ronnie.
"Come, young one," Artie told Ronnie as he began walking away.
Ronnie muffled a chuckle before following and saying, "Coming."
"And leave your purse here at the lodge," Artie quickly added. "Small items in the warehouse have a nasty habit of finding their way into carrying bags and women's purses."
"Okay," Ronnie replied in an uncertain tone as she followed Artie from the kitchen. "My purse is in my room anyway."
"Good," Artie said as he continued to walk towards the front door.
Univille City Hall, Univille Sheriff's Office and Univille Firehouse shared one large building, and once Mrs. Frederic's chauffeur/bodyguard dropped them off outside the shared government building, Mrs. Frederic led Shayne to Mayor Connie Dawson's office.
Connie was thirty-five years old and while wearing three-inch pumps, she stood 5' 6". Recently she became one of the regents and she was mildly relieved to have a sheriff who was privy to the warehouse's purpose.
Connie spoke with Shayne and Mrs. Frederic for several minutes before Connie swore Shayne in as sheriff and handed him his sheriff's badge, three sets of uniform shirts in his size, three sets of uniform pants in his size and a gun. Connie then lent Shayne a small carrying bag to put everything in.
Once Shayne had everything in the bag, Connie led Shayne through winding corridors and into the sheriff's office. Mrs. Frederic returned to her chauffeur-driven vehicle and drove away.
The sheriff's office was one large room with two moderate size prison cells, three desks and everything that could be found in a small police station; however, the three computers were five years old.
The acting sheriff—Deputy Claire Spiros—was the only one there at the moment while filling out an incident report, and she stood up when Shayne and Connie stepped in.
Claire was twenty-eight years old. She stood 5' 8" while barefooted and although she was slender, she was somewhat muscular. Her long blondish brown hair was in a French braid and her unpolished fingernails had barely extended past her finger tips.
"Deputy Spiros meet your new sheriff; Sheriff Shayne Mendes," Connie began as soon as they gathered. "Sheriff Mendes meet Univille's acting sheriff, Deputy Claire Spiros."
"Nice to meet you, Sheriff Mendes," Claire replied while offering to shake hands.
"Likewise, and you can call me Shayne," he replied while accepting the handshake offer. He gripped the carrying bag in his left hand.
"And you can call me Claire," she replied as they were ending the handshake. "Anyway, welcome to Univille, Shayne."
"Thank you," Shayne said before glancing around. "So is your partner out on patrol?"
"Toby and I hadn't had a chance to eat yet, so Toby is out getting food for us," Claire replied.
"Has it been a busy morning, Deputy Spiros?" Connie asked curiously.
"Not really, Madame Mayor," Claire began. "We were out looking for a missing nine-year-old boy. The mother thought that her ex-husband had taken him, but it turned out that Nathan—the nine-year-old boy—was at a friend's house and it took us three hours to locate him. I was in the middle of typing out the report when you two came in."
"Claire, what is a typical day like for a law enforcement officer in the town of Univille?" Shayne asked.
"Well, most days, Toby and I are mere referees for two disputing individuals or groups—whichever the case might be," Claire began. "In most cases, the two individuals or the two groups would exchange a few unpleasant words and then move on. But on rare occasions, citations were issued or arrests were made. Also, being that we are a small town, traffic violations are not as high here as you would see in other cities or towns, so we don't issue too many traffic citations either."
"What about crimes from break-ins and thefts?" Shayne asked. "Are those crimes not a problem here?"
"We do get the occasional break-ins and thefts, and we do have about five unsolved cases that had occurred over the last two years," Claire began. "But for the most part, crimes from break-ins and thefts are typically something that we don't get called too."
"So crimes from break-ins and thefts are either low here or they're not being reported," Shayne verbally concluded.
"I would like to think that it's the former," Claire replied.
"Yes," Shayne replied with a grin. "Me too. Anyway, how long have you been in law enforcement, Claire?"
"Total, slightly more than nine years," Claire began. "I became a military police officer after completing basic training at Fort Jackson, and I joined the army right out of high school. I served four years in the army and after getting out, I was hired as a police officer in my home town of Rapid City, South Dakota. I worked in Rapid City as a police officer for four years and a deputy here for two years. Since the sheriff position in Univille is an appointed position and not an elected position like in most towns, I had considered applying for the position, but then decided quickly against it."
Connie gave Claire a curious look as Shayne asked, "Why did you decide against it?"
Claire pursed her lips and glanced at Connie for only a second before saying, "This town has a reputation of bizarre activities and I wasn't up for those challenges as sheriff."
"Sheriff Mendes and I are aware of the bizarre activities that could take place in Univille," Connie assured Claire.
"Being aware of them and witnessing even just one of them firsthand are two different things, Madame Mayor," Claire began. "Four months ago, Sheriff McHale couldn't leave town fast enough when he saw whatever it was that he saw."
"You didn't see what he saw?" Shayne asked.
"I did not. My sister and her husband died in an automobile accident a week before that incident," Claire began remorsefully. "So I was actually in Rapid City and attending their funeral that day."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Shayne quickly said.
"Thank you," Claire said.
"Did your sister and brother-in-law have any kids?" Shayne asked.
"Yes," Claire began. "Fraternal twins; a girl and a boy. Their names are Jeanette and Jason. They are seventeen and they do live with me."
"My youngest daughter had recently turned seventeen," Shayne shared as Toby came through the door while carrying a carry-out bag and two drinks.
"They were out of…" the twenty-five-year-old deputy got out before weakly saying, "Cat fish." Toby had light brown hair and stood 5' 10", and as he looked between Shayne and Connie he continued to say, "Mayor Dawson. I didn't realize that you were here."
"It's quite alright, Deputy Sykes," Connie told him. "And I'm here to introduce you to your new sheriff—Sheriff Shayne Mendes. Sheriff Mendes meet Deputy Tobias Sykes."
"Nice to meet you, Sheriff Mendes," Toby said before indicating to the carry-out bag and drinks. "I would shake your hand, but my hands are full at the moment."
"It's fine, and you can call me Shayne," he replied. "And it's nice to meet you, Toby."
"Now that the introductions are done, Deputy Spiros can bring you up to speed around here, Sheriff Mendes, and I'll return to my office," Connie said.
"Have a good day, Madame Mayor," Shayne told her.
"Good day to you all," Connie said before turning and walking away.
"Good day, Madame Mayor," Claire and Toby said before Connie could leave the sheriff's office.
Connie waved without looking before leaving.
"I guess the first thing I need to do is change into my uniform," Shayne said. "So where would the facilities be?"
"Through that door," Claire said while pointing.
"Thank you," Shayne replied.
As Shayne moved towards the facilities, Toby moved towards one of the desks with the food bag and drinks.
