Arlynn James & The Sycamore Secret (Pt.4)

When Arlynn’s eyes opened in her room, she could feel the aching remnants of the car slamming into the tree. Thankfully, she had been sent home the morning after the accident with only severe bruising. She had rested the whole day, apart from the questions she fielded off from the local Chief Inspector Silvey, a gruff old man who seemed thoroughly unconvinced anyone was purposely trying to harm her. Shrugging the entire incident off, the inspector stated she was imagining things and driving while distracted on the phone. Sam had stayed at the hospital until she was released and only returned home when Arlynn’s uncle and aunt had assured him they would keep a close eye on her.

Arlynn sat up slowly and lifted her left sleeve to touch her deeply bruised arm.

“Good morning, dear! That’s a nasty bruise there,” Aunt Lettie said with concern, as she set a tray of breakfast and tea in front of Arlynn.

“Good morning! It definitely isn’t attractive, is it? Better a bruise than something worse, so I have no complaints,” Arlynn smiled.

Lettie opened the blinds to let the sun spill through the windows.

“I should call Sam, he said to let him know when I was feeling better.”

Chuckling at her niece, Lettie replied, “No need, dear. He’s already phoned to say he would be here as soon as he ran into town. I think he would be standing guard at the door, if your uncle would allow it.”

Blushing deeply, Arlynn sipped her tea and smiled.

“I really like him.”

Lettie gently helped rearrange the pillows behind Arlynn so she could sit up with ease.

“I do believe it’s mutual, my dear. Now eat up! Your young man will be here soon!”

Laughing as her aunt left armed with a feather duster and promising to have a spotless home for a Harington to enter, Arlynn began to pick apart the events of that night in her mind. Racing to finish her breakfast and get ready, she was more determined than ever to find out what was going on.

When Sam arrived, he was shown upstairs to Arlynn’s room and knocked politely before he heard her voice telling him to enter. Lifting his eyebrows in surprise at the empty bed, he stood in confusion while she popped out of the closet and asked for help putting her shoes on.

“Arlynn…what are you doing out of bed? You should be resting, you were in a serious accident.”

Sitting carefully on the chair and dropping her shoes to the ground, she glanced up and saw a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hand.

“Did you bring me flowers?”

Looking down absently, he nodded.

“Yes, but I don’t think you should be out of bed-”

She interrupted in delight, “Are they Juliet Roses?”

He walked towards her and placed the bouquet in her arms.

“From my mother’s garden. They were your favorite when we were young.”

She smiled brightly, “They still are, I love them.”

Kneeling down in front of her, he carefully began helping her get the shoes on.

“I’m assuming you’ll be dead-set on finding out what happened, even though someone chased you off the road and you almost died.”

He sighed as he looked back at her apologetic expression.

“I understand. But I do hope we can figure it out soon because I can’t bear seeing you hurt again.”

“We will,” she assured while taking his hand to stand up.

Shaking his head in amusement, he chuckled, “Your uncle is going to hate me after this…”

The stern look on Byron’s face as Arlynn told them how they would be continuing to investigate made Sam gulp uneasily.

“Are you certain you should proceed, my dear? Someone has made it very clear they don’t want you asking more questions,” Byron prodded.

“That’s why I know we’re making progress. Obviously, I’ve touched a nerve.”

Arlynn’s uncle squinted as he picked up a pipe to smoke it in thought.

He asked, “What have you found out so far?”

“We searched through Amelia’s room and found that her favorite necklace was missing, but Sam is certain she wasn’t wearing it that night. I’m not sure why that would be a factor in finding her or why anyone would want it, but it may help us in tracking down where she was taken or if someone stole it,” she answered.

Nodding as he processed the information, she continued to go through her observations.

“I am also interested in what’s making Sam’s parents so nervous. They’re very kind people, I don’t believe they would ever willingly put either of their children in danger. Maybe they know something, or they’ve been threatened and can’t speak about it, but I would like to find out why they had those particular guests staying with them that night.”

Sam interjected, “I agree, there has to be something in it.”

“Something else is bothering me but I can’t quite place why…like I can’t remember something,” she added in frustration.

“You just had a terrible shock, I’m sure it will come to you,” Sam encouraged.

“You’re probably right,” she smiled.

Byron looked at his niece in concern and said, “Arlynn, you’ve always been very clever with solving puzzles and cold cases, but I do believe time is of the essence in solving this whole thing. Whoever ran you off the road may not leave you alive next time.”

“I know. I do have a plan, I promise.”

Pointing his pipe at the young man standing beside his niece, Byron ordered, “She doesn’t leave your sight.”

“Yes, sir,” Sam nodded quickly.

After starting the car, Sam glanced at Arlynn and beamed, “You’ll be proud of me when you hear where I’m taking you.”

“Oh?”

“Well, while you were recuperating, I tracked down one of the people who was there that night. Turns out, Mr. Sires retired an hour north of here,” he stated factually.

“How did you find that out?”

“I would like to say I did something dangerous to find that information…but truthfully, I asked my housekeeper. Mrs. Philpott said she overheard my parents discussing it recently, so I glanced at some letters my father left on his desk. Sure enough, there was an invitation for his retirement party.”

Arlynn was thoroughly impressed.

“Brilliant!”

“Thank you, I risked life and limb,” Sam joked.

Photo by Chris Neufeld-Erdman on Unsplash

Pulling in front of the quaint cottage, Arlynn wondered if they would be able to find out anything from this man who had been in the Harington home that night so many years ago. As they walked up to the door, Arlynn could see a window curtain move out of the corner of her eye. She was unsure if anyone would answer the door after Sam knocked loudly twice, but finally they saw the door crack open slowly.

An old man with fearful eyes stared back at them in the tiny crack of the opened door, “Who is it?”

“Mr. Sires? It’s me, Sam Harington. I was hoping I could talk to you.”

“Harington? What do you want?”

Sam struggled to find the right words to convince the worried man to allow them inside.

“Please, we just want to talk. Ten minutes of your time and we’ll leave!”

Mr. Sires begrudgingly opened the door just enough for them to enter before closing it shut quickly and securing it with three different locks.

“You have five minutes. No more!”

The short man hurriedly shuffled them into a reception room and sat himself in a deep green chair while the other two cautiously sat on a small sofa facing him. He was a peculiar looking man with rounded spectacles and white hair in needing of a good brush.

“We want to ask if you remember anything on the night Amelia disappeared,” Arlynn asked pointedly.

The old man looked back in surprise at the two of them.

“What do you mean? Why are you asking me about that?”

“We’re looking into her disappearance and we need to know what you may have seen that night,” she answered.

Mr. Sires grew more uncomfortable at the sound of another investigation.

“Who are you? You don’t look like a copper,” he said gruffly.

“My name is Arlynn James, I’m a friend of the Haringtons and I knew Amelia. I’m not an officer, but I’m an investigative consultant for cold cases. If you wouldn’t mind telling us what you remember, we’d be very grateful.”

Mr.Sires jumped to his feet in alarm and pointed at Arlynn angrily.

“James! You’re Colin’s daughter?! You shouldn’t be here!”

Sam and Arlynn stood quickly in alarm and tried to calm the old man down.

“Mr. Sires, please. She’s a friend, we’re just trying to figure out what happened that night.”

Pacing back and forth in the room, he seemed to grow even more nervous.

“You don’t understand…you don’t know. You don’t know what you’re doing…”

Sam looked at him in confusion, “What are you talking about?”

Mr. Sires ran to a window and began looking out nervously.

Arlynn watched him closely, “What is it that we’re doing, exactly?”

“It’s not about her. So tragic. I can’t help you about her, I’m sorry to say. I didn’t see anything, she was there and then she wasn’t. The last I saw of her was when she said she was going to her room, she wanted to show me something. Didn’t see her again…sweet girl,” he muttered.

Arlynn tilted her head to the side in thought before the frightened man looked back at her.

“You have to go now, it’s too dangerous. You don’t understand…it was her death. It wasn’t right, but we couldn’t figure it out.”

Sam stepped closer to the window, “Mr. Sires, what do you mean? Amelia’s death?”

Shaking his head in frustration, “No, no, no…my head is jumbled. Not her! I’m sorry, you’ll have to leave.”

Sam looked at Arlynn in exasperation and resigned to leaving without the information they’d hoped for.

“Thank you, Mr. Sires. I’m sorry we disturbed you,” Arlynn said kindly.

As they turned to leave the room, Mr. Sires called to her.

“I’m sorry, child. Cilla was a wonderful person, always kind,” he said sadly.

Arlynn gave a small smile and nodded in appreciation before they exited his home and climbed back in the car.

Looking back at the house as they drove away, Arlynn watched the window curtain close tightly.

“What do you think he was going on about? He sounded absolutely bonkers,” Sam said.

“No, I don’t think he’s crazy. He told us something very helpful,” she replied quietly.

“Did he? I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Poor man, doesn’t seem safe for him to be out here on his own.”

“He’s smarter than you think,” she stated.

Glancing out the window, she began to remember what it was that had bothered her earlier.

“Sam, can you take me back to Amelia’s room? There’s something I need to see.”

“Um, sure. We’ll have to hurry to beat my parents though, I doubt Mr. Sires will wait long to call them, if he waited at all. By now, they’ll know what we’re doing. What do you want to see?”

Arlynn sighed deeply, “It would be better to see it yourself, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”