Clue

I trot up the steps to the Wellington House at 1:50. Once again the door is wide open and I can see they've already started work on polishing the marble flooring. I glance to the banister that runs up each side of the staircase and my nose stings as I inhale the wood polish. I carefully step around the worker's equipment as I call out, "Arthur?"

I continue down the deserted hallway and hear noises coming from the kitchen. When I round the corner, I see Lucy handing envelopes to the landscapers. She smiles when she sees me.

"Sawyer dear! Arthur said I should be expecting you."

I smile back to her as I reply, "Good to see you, Lucy."

She pulls me in for a quick hug and when she releases me, I catch the contractors waiting patiently for their checks. I take a step back so she can finish dolling out payments and after the last worker heads back outside, her focus is back to me.

"How is the party coming?"

"Great. I just finished the invitations. I know two weeks isn't giving people proper notice, but the restoration moved much faster than I had expected."

Her eyes glance around the kitchen and run along the flooring. When she looks back to me, she says, "It looks great though doesn't it. They've done a beautiful job."

I nod.

"Yes, I see they've even started on the banisters. I smelt the polish as soon as I walked in."

"Yes, everything will be done ahead of schedule. Now, I know you are here for some checks, correct?" She says excitedly before spinning around. I walk behind her into the living room area and she pulls her big brown purse off the floor. She rifles through her bag and pulls out an envelope. She pulls three checks out and says, "Now, here are the checks you requested from Arthur. He wrote them out for the amounts you texted him earlier today."

I glance over the checks and see they are written out for the proper amounts. I hand them back to her and watch as she stuffs them back inside the envelope before handing them over to me. I tuck the small white envelope into the side pocket of my purse and look back to her.

"Thanks for meeting me. I am almost done with the initial planning, so now it's just a matter of waiting for RSVPs to roll in."

She groans before saying, "And then it's making phone calls to the people that wait until the last second to RSVP."

She gives me a polite chuckle but the thought of making more phone calls makes me wince.

She gazes around the open room with all the furniture still draped in cloths and as she is staring into the foyer, she says, "Well, I'm sure this place is going to look fantastic for the party. It will be an affair to remember."

I glance around the old colonial-style building as I say, "Well I'm just hoping I can plan the party Poppy dreamed up. I'm still hopin' to do right by her."

Lucy's smile weakens a little bit as she slowly nods her head. Her gaze is still to the foyer as she says, "Poor girl."

Her eyes suddenly flit to me as she says, "Have they found anything more in her case?"

I know I cannot and will not confide in Lucy, so I shrug my shoulders and reply, "I honestly don't know. You'd think dating an agent on the case would make me privy to some inside information, but Ryan keeps me out of it."

Lucy acknowledges my situation with an understanding head nod and I continue, "You know, Detective Connor once had me on his suspect list because of my connection to Jackson, so Mason practically gave Ryan a gag order on this case."

"I guess I can see his position on that," Lucy replies and I nod back to her. I hope I convinced her that I don't know anything the public doesn't and decide to make a run for it before she can ask anything else.

I take a step towards the foyer and say, "Thank you for getting me these. Guess I can go finalize the flowers now."

"Have a good rest of your day now Sawyer," she says sweetly and I give her a quick hug before I stride back outside. I borrowed Austin's Audi today and I know better than to try and talk on the phone as I drive, so I'll wait until I am back at Ryan's house to call him.

*******

When I round the corner that passes Wickham Park, I can see his truck already sitting in front of the house. I am surprised he is home so early but I am glad we get a Friday night together. I quickly park the car on the driveway and I hear the screen door whip open. Austin comes trotting toward me with a smile playing on his lips and it's rare that I catch him in such a good mood.

"Checkin' to make sure I didn't total your baby?" I joke and he pretends to check for damage around his car. He looks back to me and says, "I think I see a scratch here."

I roll my eyes as I swat my hand toward him. He comes and stands with his feet planted in front of me and he crosses his arms across his broad chest. We're standing in the small grassy area in front of the house and if anyone were to drive by, it would look like Austin was giving me scoldin'.

I tuck my purse under my arm and he says, "Can I talk at you a minute?" I shrug so he continues, "I wanted to check with you on something."

"What?" I ask.

"Well now, uh...you see I was thinking about proposing to Margot," he says and he pauses for a moment as if he was waiting for me to say something and when I don't he says, "At the re-opening party."

My eyes widen as I say, "That's in two weeks."

"Yeah, but I wanted to check with the party planner to make sure that was something that was possible."

I look to him and the combination of his soft tone and power stance implies that he's asking me if I am alright with his decision. He wants my blessing, but he won't use those words.

A part of me wants to mention Tilly's ring, but I know now is not the time for that conversation. I don't want him to push me away with an argument and I know I am certainly going to need him on my side when the time comes for Ryan to get his blessing. That, and Margot may not be my favorite person right now but things could change. She has my brother whipped and he seems blissfully in love, so who am I to judge. I'm willing to give her a chance.

I smile to him and reply, "I'm sure we can find an appropriate time on the agenda for you to pop the question at the party."

I watch his shoulders relax and he exhales loudly. He laughs and says, "You'll help me plan it?"

I smirk.

"As long as nothing is comin' out of my party planning budget, I will help in any way you need me to."

"I'll pay for the fireworks display," he says, still smiling as he comes over to me and flings his arm around my shoulder. He leads me into the house where I find Ryan sprawled out on the couch. When he spots me, he sits forward and Austin grips me by my shoulders as he says, "She said yes!"

Ryan and I both let out a laugh and Austin continues on into the kitchen with a wide grin on his handsome face. When he's out of earshot, Ryan comes over to me and says, "He was afraid you were going to say no."

"Not that my blessing matters."

His eyes narrow.

"If your blessing didn't matter, he wouldn't have asked for it, darlin'."

I look to Ryan and feel my heart swell. I'm surprised Austin cared enough about my opinion. But I guess it would eat me up if I knew Austin didn't approve of Ryan and me. I'm glad to know Austin cares.

Before I can get choked up, I quickly shake Austin and Margot from my mind and remember the reason I came over in the first place. I slide my purse off my shoulder as I say, "Oh, I got the checks!"

I slide the envelope from my purse pocket and hand it over to Ryan. He slides the three checks out and I watch as his eyes run over the numbers at the bottom. He looks to me and says, "Two of the checks are from one account and one is from another. Same routing number though."

He holds the checks out for me to see but something else catches my eye. I snatch the envelope from his fingers and turn it around so I can see the front of it.

Right on the corner is a brown fingerprint. It's not dark but it's definitely visible. I hold the envelope up to Ryan as I say, "This envelope came from somewhere upstairs at the Wellington House."

"How can you tell?" Ryan asks while we both stare at the brown smudge. I hold the envelope up to my nose and even though it's lost its smell, I know what it is. I glance to Ryan as I say, "That's wood polish. And the banisters were wet today when I was at the house. Which means Arthur was upstairs at the house today."