Fellowship & Fairydust

“What is it Nancy?” said Emily. 

“Hurry up and open it!” said Helen excitedly. 

“OK, OK, hold on, this is old and I don’t want to mess anything up,” said Nancy. Her heart was beating wildly as she carefully pulled back the secret compartment. She reached into the compartment and pulled out a piece of paper. 

“Another clue?” said Helen disappointedly. 

Emily shrugged. “Josiah did like making treasure hunts.”

“And I guess he wanted to share that joy with the four families he named as his inheritors,” said Nancy. She shot Emily a grin. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like you do share that.” 

Emily chuckled nervously. “No, I’m afraid not. I mean, I didn’t mind the treasure hunts, I just don’t have the brain power for them, not like you.” 

“But what does it say, Nancy?” said Helen impatiently. 

Nancy glanced at the paper in her hand and handed it to Emily. “I think Emily should have the honors of reading it. She is one of the inheritors.” 

Emily nodded as she took the paper. “Thank you Nancy.” She let out a breath as she opened it. “OK, here goes.” Her eyes widened as she read the paper. 

“Well? What does it say?” blurted Helen. “I’m dying of suspense!” 

“Oh, um, sorry, I just, I can’t make heads or tails of this.” 

“Nancy might, if you read it out loud,” said Helen, sounding more and more impatient. 

“Helen, relax, if Emily wants to have a go at it first, that’s fine.” 

“But what does it say?” 

“OK, I’ll read it out loud. Maybe I’ll see it differently.” She cleared her throat and read the paper. “‘When four quarters become whole; And the whole is in one; Check in at twelve o’clock; Your hunt has just begun.” 

There was a moment of silence before Helen blurted, “What?”

Emily shrugged. “Hey, you wanted to hear it. Told you it was odd.” 

Nancy was thoughtful. “Yeah, that is a bit odd. But the last line is pretty clear. Our hunt has just begun. Maybe once we’ve gotten the hints from the other clocks, this one will start to make more sense.” 

“I hope so,” said Helen, “because it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever right now.” 

“You’re telling me,” muttered Emily. The two glanced at Nancy. 

“What?” 

“You tell us, miss detective, you figured that out in like,” Helen paused to glance at her phone, “thirty minutes. Now what?” 

Nancy grinned as she pushed the hidden compartment back into place and put it back on the mantle. “We can help Jane with whatever needs to be done here before heading out to the Archers.” 

Helen groaned. “Oh fine.” 

“Unless you have a better idea?” 

“Well, we could take a walk around the garden,” said Emily slowly. 

“To check for clues!” said Helen with a smile. 

Nancy chuckled. “We could, but the other guests have been up for a while now. Who knows if they’ve already trampled anything we could have found.” 

“We can still try,” said Helen as she stood up. 

Nancy nodded. “Alright, we’ll try. And if we don’t find anything, we’ll help Jane until it’s time to go.” 

“Sounds good to me,” said Helen as she grabbed each girl by the hand. “Let’s go!” She practically dragged the two outside where they began a thorough search of the property. But, as Nancy had figured, they didn’t find any more than the typical signs of the usual traffic. Nancy led the way back into the inn, Helen mumbled and grumbled the whole way. She was more upset about not finding any clues to the ghost. But, with everything that Jane gave them to do, the hour passed rather pleasantly. 

With a quick goodbye to Jane, the three girls dashed out to Nancy’s car and took off for the Archers’ house. Helen gave Nancy directions using her GPS, and before long, they were pulling up to a lovely, two-story house with green trim and surrounded by a lovely garden. 

“Wow, it’s so pretty!” said Helen with awe. 

Emily chuckled. “The Archers have put a lot of work into it. They have a gardener who’s been working for them for years. He’s worked on Lilac Inn’s garden every now and then.” 

“Well, if the outside is anything to look at, then the inside must just be as lovely,” said Nancy as she parked the car. 

“Oh yes! Though it has been a while since I’ve been here, they could have changed a few things,” said Emily. 

“Do they have any children?” asked Nancy. 

Emily nodded. “A daughter named Jenny, who’s a year younger than us, and a son named Madden, who’s in seventh grade, I think?” 

“Well, if they’re anything like my parents, we’ll find out soon enough,” said Helen before she got out of the car. Emily and Nancy followed suit, and all three girls walked towards the house. Nancy reached it first and rang the doorbell. There was a moment before the door was opened by a middle-aged woman. She glanced over the girls, and gasped with delight when she saw Emily. 

“Oh, Emily dear! How are you doing?” she said as she wrapped Emily up in a hug. 

“I’m getting better, thank you, Mrs. Archer,” said Emily. “Not quite well yet, though.” 

“Of course not! How could you be? It’s only been three months, I wouldn’t expect anyone to get over it that quickly! Unless you have a heart of stone, which we all know you don’t have.” 

Emily chuckled. “Thanks, Mrs. Archer.” 

“Now come on in! Jim, Jenny, and Madden will be so glad to see you!” Mrs. Archer led the girls into the living room, where the rest of the Archer family was sitting. Introductions were quickly made before talk turned to the old clock. 

“Did you find anything in the clock Mr. Crowley left at Lilac Inn?” Madden asked excitedly. 

Helen grinned as she glanced at Nancy with pride. “Nancy definitely did.” 

“Well, at least Emily helped.” 

“All I did was read the poem! You figured out that we needed the numbers in the poems!” 

“What?” said the Archers. The whole story came out and Emily showed them the piece of paper they had found in her clock. 

Mr. Archer read the paper. “This is an odd poem.” 

“But wasn’t Mr. Crowley always kind of odd?” asked Madden. “In a good way,” he quickly added when his parents shot him a reproving look. 

Mr. Archer chuckled. “Yes, he was odd in a good way.” 

“Which is why it was so much fun having him over,” said Mrs. Archer. 

Her husband nodded. “Right, and reading this really makes me miss him, a lot.” Mrs. Archer rubbed his shoulder reassuringly. 

“So, shall we let Nancy open our clock?” asked Jenny. 

Mr. Archer rose from the sofa. “Of course! Maybe the clue Josiah left in our clock will help clear this message up.” He walked to the mantle and took the clock off it. He walked to Nancy and handed it to her. 

Helen rubbed her hands. “Time to work your magic!” 

Nancy shook her head as she chuckled. “It’s not magic, silly, just good old reason.” She turned to Emily. “Can you read the numbers off the poems?” 

“Of course!” 

“Except, of course, the one that was used on your clock,” said Helen. “Do you remember which one it was?” 

Emily grinned as she turned to a page and pointed to a poem circled in red ink. “That one.” 

Nancy grinned. “Emily’s got it, don’t worry Helen. You’re her cousin, don’t you know this?” 

Helen scoffed. “It’s not like we spent almost every day together, like I did with you.” 

“Besides, Helen doesn’t have the greatest of memories,” said Emily with a smirk. 

“Hey!” 

Nancy chuckled as she sat on the ground. “Alright you two, let’s focus. Emily, start reading me those numbers please.” 

“Right!” Emily sat down next to Nancy and opened the book to the first poem. She rattled off the numbers, and Nancy rotated the hands into position for each number. Nothing happened. 

“Next one,” said Nancy. 

Emily rattled off the numbers and Nancy moved the hour hand to each number. She gasped when she heard a distinct click. The Archer family quickly crowded around her with baited breath as she opened up the secret compartment and pulled out a piece of paper. She handed it to Mr. Archer. 

“Would you like to do the honors, Mr. Archer?” she asked. 

“I would be honored to!” He opened the paper, and blinked. 

Helen groaned. “Another odd one?” 

“Even odder than the first, I should say,” said Mr. Archer, clearly mystified. 

“What does it say?” asked Emily. 

“Nine lives for every cat; And twelve for every dog; Unlock the box at six o’clock; Three is the key through the fog.” 

“Say what?” blurted Helen as Mr. Archer handed the paper to Nancy. 

Nancy shrugged. “That’s what it says.” 

“How can you make heads or tails out of that?” asked Jenny. 

“Wowee, Mr. Crowley did a number on us this time!” blurted Madden. 

“Madden!” berated his mother. 

He grinned nervously. “Sorry mother.” 

But the statement gave Nancy an idea. “Of course!” They glanced at her expectantly. “It’s just like with the poems! We need to pay attention to the numbers! Mr. Archer, did Mr. Crowley have any safes, or anything, with number combinations?” 

Mr. Archer snapped his fingers. “Why, you’re absolutely right! He had a safe at home and a deposit box with the bank, I know both could only be opened with number combinations!” 

Mrs. Archer hugged Nancy. “Oh my dear, you’re brilliant!” 

“But, how do we know which of these poems go to which safe?” asked Emily. 

“Oh, that’s easy, the safe at Riverview Manor requires a four number combination, the one at the bank has five.” 

“Great! That means that the combination for his safe deposit box must be nine, one, two, six, and three!” said Nancy. She handed Mr. Archer the paper. “You might need this.” 

“But, what if Josiah left another message in the poems and you need all four to figure it out?” asked Mrs. Archer. “He was known to have multiple clues hidden in one place like that.” 

Nancy grinned as she took out her phone. “That’s what pictures are for, Mrs. Archer. Speaking of, I should get a picture of both poems.” Emily held the poem found in her clock and Mr. Archer held the one they just found while Nancy snapped a couple of pictures. “There, that should do it.” 

“Wonderful! Now, you must tell us everything,” said Mrs. Archer as she led them into the dining room. They sat around the table and chatted away about everything. At eleven o’clock sharp, lunch was served and they ate and continued to talk. They were horrified to hear about the ghost. They were surprised, Mr. and Mrs. Archer in particular, that Emily didn’t trust Jane, but believed her when she mentioned the incidents that caused such doubts, and were beginning to doubt Jane’s good reputation as well. 

“But, there’s still no proof that Jane isn’t who she says she is,” said Mr. Archer. 

“But, there’s not much proof to the opposite,” said Mrs. Archer. 

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, Gloria has mentioned her before, but didn’t give very many details so we could recognise her,” said Mrs. Archer. 

Emily’s eyes widened. “Why, you’re right! And I never bothered to ask!” 

“You and me both,” said Mrs. Archer. 

“Oh, that should be easy enough,” said Nancy, recalling what her father had taught her. “She does have social media, right?” 

“Yes, but she’s told me that she’s so busy with Lilac Inn that she hasn’t been on in a while, and the picture on her account isn’t of her face, but of a cat. I’ve befriended her on social media, but she has no pictures of herself on there.” 

“Why is that?” asked Nancy. 

Mrs. Archer shrugged. “She told me that she didn’t like having her picture out there, ready to be used for evil purposes. I mean, I don’t blame her, but something like that is rather rare.” 

“That sounds odder than Mr. Crowley’s poems,” quipped Jenny. 

Nancy thought for a moment. 

“Do you think we should call the police?” asked Mrs. Archer. 

Mr. Archer shook his head. “We have no definite proof that this is someone pretending to be Jane Willoughby. Right now, it would be her word against ours.” 

Nancy nodded. “He’s right, but maybe my father could do a search on her. If he has time, that is. It would certainly clear up things.” 

“Oh that it would,” said Mrs. Archer. 

“And it would take a load off my mind,” said Emily. 

“And mine,” said Nancy. 

“Oh my, it’s already time for me to go.” Mr. Archer rose from the table and walked over to Mrs. Archer. He bent down and kissed her. “Lunch was wonderful.” 

Mrs. Archer smiled. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” 

He kissed his children’s heads. “You be good for your mother.” 

“Yes sir,” they chorused.

“Good,” he said. He glanced at Nancy, Emily, and Helen and patted his right pocket. “I’ll have this in my desk at work, and I’ll take a look at Josiah’s box when I get the chance.”

“Sounds good,” said Nancy. 

“Goodbye!” they chorused as they waved. Mr. Archer was soon gone. Mrs. Archer enlisted their help in cleaning the kitchen before they returned to the living room to talk. Madden left to go play with his friends, now that the interesting part was over. 

The girls left a little after one-thirty. They exchanged numbers with Jenny and Mrs. Archer, both promising to be on standby in case they needed help. Soon, the three were heading towards the poor end of River Heights. Emily and Helen gasped when Nancy informed them that the Turners weren’t doing so well.

“I wonder why,” muttered Helen. 

“I’m sure they have a good reason,” said Emily. “The Turners had always been quite conscious about how much money they spent. But I do wonder why they had to move. Their old house wasn’t very big, but it was affordable and it fit their needs.” 

“Well, I guess we shall find out when we get there,” said Nancy. The three girls were mostly quiet on the way, but as they got closer, Nancy had to ask a question. “Emily, is there a reason why the Turners might not like you?” 

Emily winced. “You mean the only reason? Because, for some reason, they believe that Mom and I were trying to convince Mr. Crowley to give us their share. I don’t why, or how that idea came about, but, that’s why. I’m actually kind of surprised that Edna said we could go to their house.”

Nancy sighed. “She, she said they hadn’t even heard of your mom passing away.” 

“Oh,” was all Emily said. She gasped when they pulled into the driveway. “This is so small! They really have gotten on hard times!” 

“Oh, maybe we can leave them some money to help them out,” suggested Helen. 

“If they’ll even take it,” said Nancy. “But I am willing to head to the grocery store and get a few things for them, if they need it.” 

“Well, let’s find out what they need,” said Helen. The three girls got out of the car and walked towards the front door. They were startled when a greying-haired woman came barging out of the house, wielding a rolling pin like a sword. 

“Get off of our property! You’re not wanted here! Especially you, Emily Crandall!”

 

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