Janet Evanovich owns several of these characters. I'm just borrowing them.
Time Out
Ch25
The next few days were pretty uneventful, compared to the symphony party incident. I RSVP'd for the art gallery reception. It was a fundraising deal, so I'd have to fork over some money for Ranger and I to attend, but that was okay. I'd already decided to part with some of my new wealth to make donations to the art museum and gallery, the symphony society, and the public library.
I'd fielded a few phone calls in the days after "The Incident" as I called it. Most people were shocked at Jane's behavior and it seemed like I had a few new followers in my camp. I started getting calls from people I'd never met, filling me in on Jane's movements around town. Jane was still talking smack about me, but it seemed she hadn't yet crossed the line into obvious threats. I even got a call from a member of the Price family. The woman had been Elizabeth's sister-in-law. She told me that while she didn't approve of me inheriting the estate, she really didn't approve of Jane's behavior and that most of the family felt the same way. She actually apologized to me for Jane's words. I told her that she didn't need to apologize for something she herself had no control over, but I did appreciate her call. It wasn't a friendly conversation exactly, but it was nice to know the whole family wasn't out to get me.
The searches that Ranger had ordered the Rangeman Trenton office to do on the various members of the Price family supported my theory that Jane was the only one acting out. The in-depth, invasive nature of the searches showed that most of the family was pretty normal, relatively speaking. Jane, on the other hand, had been seeing a psychiatrist off and on for most of her life. She saw someone in Peoria, which was far enough away that most people around here probably never knew she had any problem. The psychiatrist part wouldn't normally make me suspicious of someone, lots of people needed a little help at some point in their lives. The fact that she was driving a few hours away for her appointments was a little odd, plus her recent behavior towards me is what stood out.
Steve had the bright idea to hunt down the original blueprints to the house. If we found them, maybe there would be some discrepancy between how the house was originally laid out and how it existed now. That might help us discover if something was really hidden in the house. I spent more time researching at the library, historical society, and the county records office. Unfortunately, I was not able to locate blueprints. I did, however, learn that the house was rumored to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad back in the years leading up to the Civil War. There were several homes in Jacksonville that were known to have been used to help hide escaping slaves. Not all of the homes had secret hiding places in the house, some people were hidden in barns and other outbuildings, but some homes did actually have little hidey holes located in the house. I could only hope that my house was one of them.
Steve was disappointed at the lack of original blueprints, but perked up at the Underground Railroad rumor. Since he was a history buff in addition to being a contractor, he was itching to try to find any hiding places in the house. The garage was out as a possibility, since it was only about fifty years old. We all knew there wasn't anything upstairs on the second floor or in the attic, and he was doubtful we'd find anything on the ground floor based on the work he'd done in the past several days. That left the basement.
Ranger, Steve, and I spent time exploring the basement. There wasn't much to see. As I had noted when I first explored the house, it was a good sized space. I thought it looked like a full basement, but Steve shook his head. "This basement is big, but the footprint of the house is bigger."
We all looked around again. Steve whipped out his ever present measuring tape and took some measurements. He went outside and walked all the way around the house. Ranger and I hung out in the basement, waiting. Steve was the expert here, Ranger and I would just get in the way. When Steve clomped back down the basement steps, I asked impatiently, "Well, what's the verdict?"
"If, and that's a big if, there is anything down here, it's going to be along that wall." He pointed to the far wall and continued talking some construction mumbo jumbo that I didn't understand, so I tuned him out and walked towards the suspect wall.
"It's a concrete wall, just like all the other walls and the floor," I stated the obvious.
"Yeah, but the basement walls are likely fitted stone blocks, just like the exterior foundation. This isn't new concrete. It's possible that they poured a concrete floor and covered the stone walls in an effort to keep out moisture. Since it isn't original to the house, it could be that when they added the concrete, they closed off part of the basement. Maybe." Steve was trying not to get excited, but I could tell he was working hard to convince himself.
"So what do we do? Can I take a sledgehammer and start demo on the wall?" I asked. I wasn't trying to talk myself out of excitement. I was already there. Ranger shook his head and smiled at me.
"No! Absolutely not! We need to be careful. I have to make sure this whole place stays structurally sound and if I just turn you loose with a sledgehammer without any preliminary work, who knows what happen." Steve actually shuddered at the thought. "I'm going to drill a little hole in the wall and put a scope through to see if there's anything on the other side."
I was almost bouncing up and down. "Can we do it now?"
"No, probably tomorrow. I need to call a buddy of mine to borrow the scope. I don't own one myself." That was a let down, but I guessed that one more day wouldn't make a big difference.
After Steve left for the day, Ranger and I curled up on the couch together. "Babe, I've got a plan forming in my head to get this investigation wrapped up. I want to run it by you first before we put it into action." I smiled and nodded at him to continue. This was new. In the past, Ranger would come up with a plan and just tell me how it was going to be, without asking for my input. "I want you to use your new network of contacts. Tell everyone we are going to be at the gallery reception, because we will be. Also let it casually drop that we discovered something big in the house during the construction. I know we haven't actually found anything yet, but no one else needs to know that. I want to sneak in a couple Rangeman guys to stay in the house while we're gone for the evening. Hopefully we can get it so that word will get back to Jane about the discovery and the fact that we will be out of the house all evening. Basically, I want to lay a trap for her."
"That is an excellent plan," I said with a grin. "I can't think of anything right now to improve on it. Can it be Lester and Hector that come out? They've been here before so they know the layout of the house, not to mention I miss them."
"I don't know about that. I'll talk to Tank and see what the schedule looks like out there. It may not be possible for Lester and Hector to make it. It may have to be some of the other men." He ruffled my hair and then wound one of my curls around his finger. "I know you miss the guys, Babe. I'm going to have to go back to Trenton for a couple days soon to take care of some business in person. Maybe you could come with me and do some visiting." That sounded like fun.
I got off the couch and went in search of my phone. The sooner we got this Jane mess cleared up, the sooner we could move on with other things. I started my round of calls, dropping a few tidbits of preselected info to a variety of different people. Jane was sure to hear about it from someone. The next morning I planned to call Holmes' office. I wanted to make an appointment with Holmes and tell the receptionist at the same time about the 'discovery'. I figured Jane probably had her informants in her husband's office so this could be another way to get Jane the information quickly. I rubbed my hands together in glee. I love it when a plan comes together.
Ranger and I finished the night with pizza and beer in front of the TV. We made it an early night when things started getting hot and heavy on the couch. We decided the bed would be more comfortable, so Ranger did his security check and I cleaned up our mess before we met upstairs in the bedroom. Clothes disappeared quickly and soon we were under the covers where Ranger worked his usual magic.