A/N: I know this has been a long break on this story, and I do apologize. Life tends to get in the way of fun. But remember these characters are not mine.

Chapter 8

Getting Some Answers

Rick picked up on the faint smell of lilac as Janet handed the envelope to him. His stomach slightly churned as he opened the envelope. He quietly cleared his throat as he began reading the response.

My dear Detectives Simon and Simon:

Our son's name is Charles Stephen Dresdan. My maiden name is Warren. My family comes

from North Carolina. I grew up in Monroe, but after Stephen and I were married, we moved to

San

Diego. We have lived in San Diego about three years before he was murdered.

I hope this helps in your search.

Mrs. Stephen Dresdan.

Rick paused, pushing back his hat. "Well, that's a start, but I don't know how much that will help."

A.J. frowned. "No, not much help, unless," He paused looking at the sheets that Janet brought. "Well, here's something interesting," he glanced at the others. "There is a Charles Dresdan listed along with about 20 other names, but that's it." A.J. flipped the page over to see if anything was on the back.

"What do ya mean, 'that's it'? That can't be it! What happened to him?" Rick reached for the paper Andrew was holding hoping that something had been overlooked. He slowly shook his head. "No middle name, no mother or father listed, nothing, not one thing to indicate what happened to him."

Janet had been standing next to the counter with her back to them, slowly flipping through the papers from Miles Mosley. She turned and looked at the brothers. A.J. was staring at his shoes, deep in thought as Rick waved the piece around in frustration. "There's one thing to consider." She said quietly.

Andrew didn't look up. "I know, but I don't want to." He said quietly. Rick dropped his arm to his side. "No." His one word reply was gruff.

She continued. "There is a small cemetery…" Rick's hand closed around the sheet of paper, crumpling it. His eyes glared at her and towards his younger brother. "No!" He repeated more emphatically.

A.J. looked at his brother. "Rick, Rick, even if Charles is still a live, he wouldn't be able to help us to discover what happened to his dad. There are no direct lines to link us to what happened to either the son or the father. Nothing, nada. Don't you get it?"

"That's not, that's not …" Rick stopped, lost for words.

"You want a better ending for a terrible story?" Janet looked at Rick as she dabbed her eyes with a tissue. Rick nodded. "He deserves to know, as well as his mother."

"Mother." A.J. shot a look at Rick and Janet. "Mother!" A smile had crossed his face. What has been the one constant push, the one significant thing in this whole case?"

All three simultaneously turned toward the living room and stared at the desk.

Before they could take a step towards it, there was a soft knock on the door. The sound startled Janet and she jumped slightly towards A.J. Rick grinned as he walked towards the door, relieved that the tension in the room had been interrupted. "That desk has that effect on people." He peered out the door's window. Swinging it partly opened, Rick leaned against the door. "Hi there!" His smile had widen.

Kendall smiled. "Hi voice." She glanced around him. "Is Andrew here?"

Hearing a female voice ask for A.J., Janet's hands automatically went to her hips. She raised an eyebrow as she looked at the guilty party."

Andrew cleared his throat. "Over here." He quickly stepped around Janet avoiding her swipe and smiled as he approached Kendall. A.J. quickly introduced Janet to Kendall explaining her connection with the case to Janet. He stood between the women and asked, "Is something wrong Kendall?"

'I'll say!" She laughed lightly. "You forgot to sign your check." Opening a satchel, she pulled out the document and handed it to him. "How do you like the desk?"

"Very much." But I have a few more questions about the desk." He quickly signed the check and handed it back to her.

"Well, I'll do my best. It's from France, made of mahogany," before she could continue A.J. interrupted her. "Yes and you mentioned that Wendell Peterson was one of the previous owners. How do you know that?"

Kendall tilted her head in thought. "Well, when we, 'Old Oaks Furniture' came into existence we went to a lot of sales. One of those sales was antique store that was closing. The owner of the store was Wendell Peterson."

"But, do you know who owned it before him?" A.J. waited patiently as she responded.

She cleared her throat uneasily. "Well, well, it was actually my great grandmother's desk. Funny thing, my great Aunt, received it as a wedding gift and according to my grandmother, she just loved it. Wrote letters, paid bills, helped her husband with some of his book work while sitting at that desk. But it never seemed to fit into my decor." She smiled nervously whispering so only A.J. could hear. "And I think it's possessed."

She continued. "I thought I was free of it when we traded it and a couple of dressers to Wendell Peterson for a canopy bed, but he died unexpectedly and when the sale for his shop came up, we purchased everything." She bit her lip, looking at A.J. apologetically. "Sorry."

"So your store had an auction and this was one of the prizes." Rick's voice held a bit of sarcasm. "What did the other guy win? A desk that could fetch slippers?"

Kendall smiled woefully at Rick. "Sorry. It's just that it made me feel uncomfortable having it in the store and rather than destroying it, we thought we could possibly auction it off."

Janet had been listening quietly to the conversation. When Kendall paused for a moment she quickly asked, "How did Laura help Stephen with his book work."

Kendall laughed. "Dad said grandma use to say that Laura wasn't the prettiest thing to look at, but she knew her math! But, I think he was pulling my leg, as her photos as she appeared nice looking but shy. Anyway, I heard stories that there had been some concerns about Great Uncle Stephen's workplace, that the money wasn't adding up. I really don't remember much.. Grandmother didn't like talking about it because of the sadness around the whole thing and I don't think Dad ever pushed for more information."

A.J. raised one of his brows. "Sadness, you mean the death of your Great Uncle, Great Aunt and Charles?"

Ms. Warren pursed her lips, "Well yes, on Laura and Stephen, but I am not following you on Charlie. How is it sad with what had happened to him?

A/N: This is where I will stop. With Christmas vacation upon us, I will have more time to write the next chapter or two.

Meanwhile, I have read the story and need to do a bit of clean up on some of the chapters. They are some errors that need to be adjusted. Thank you for your patience!