Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Part 7 - Chapter 4 - Heirs and Engagements

On Friday afternoon, Blaine and Reese met at the computer lab to research the mysterious Dorothy Alice Summers. Quentin had offered to let them use the law firm's computer system, but Blaine preferred to use the college's system where he already had his own databases set up. While Blaine went about his search, Reese started checking her own resources on another computer.

After a few hours of searching, Blaine left his computer to see how Reese was doing. "Well, I'm not finding anything. How about you?"

"Nothing," Reese said with a sigh.

"I don't think this is going to be easy. Dorothy, Alice, and Summers are all common names, but I haven't been able to find all three together. Without any other information to go on, it's hard to narrow down anything that looks close."

Reese had a thought, "What if she changed her name? Maybe she got married or something and is using a different last name now."

"I thought of that. I checked the marriage records and still no match."

Reese stared at the screen in front of her blankly, feeling very discouraged.

"Hey, we won't give up yet," Blaine said, encouragingly. "Why don't we take a break? We could go next door and get a cup of coffee."

"No thanks," Reese declined.

"Ok," Blaine shrugged. "I'm going to go grab something to eat. I'll be back in a few minutes."

While Blaine was gone, Reese decided to take a break of her own and look up some information on her own research. She was skimming through a list of records when a familiar name caught her eye, she was so excited she almost jumped out of her seat.

"I'm back," Blaine said, just as Reese made her discovery.

"Oh my god, Blaine."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, no. Check this out."

Blaine looked over Reese's shoulder at the computer screen. The page Reese had accessed was a database for the local orphanage. Included in a list of children who had been admitted to the institution was none other than Dorothy Alice Summers.

"How did you think to look here?" Blaine asked curiously.

Reese hesitated and reluctantly admitted, "I wasn't even looking for her. I was looking up something else . . .for another project."

Blaine checked his watch. "It's late to do anything this evening, but we can call over there tomorrow."

"Don't worry. I'll do it," Reese offered.

Blaine nodded and then smiled at her as he tapped her on the shoulder. "Good work."

Reese blushed at the compliment.

Amanda rapped on the bedroom door and then walked in without waiting for an answer. "Alma, have you seen this picture before?" she asked, pointing to a baby picture in an old scrapbook. "Is this me or you?"

Before Alma had the chance to reply, Amanda looked up and noticed Alma was packing up her stuff. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm moving," Alma stated.

"Moving where? When?" Amanda asked, completely thrown off-guard by the news.

"A teacher I work with, Bernice, offered to let me rent a room in her house. So I'm moving in this evening. No use in putting it off."

For a moment, Amanda was at a loss for words. Finally she managed to ask. "Well, were you going to tell us?"

"Of course, I was going to tell you," Alma snapped back. "I don't know why you're so surprised. We've known since the reading of the will that we have to move out. I, for one, am not going to sit here and wait for them to throw me out on the street."

"I know, but shouldn't we talk about it first? Sit down and make some plans about what we're going to do?"

"Why? I've already made my arrangements. You and your husband can make your own plans."

As Alma went back to her packing, Amanda lingered in the doorway pouting. "I can't believe you're just moving without saying anything."

Alma turned to Amanda sharply. "I have to take care of myself. And you, you have your own family now."

Amanda backed out of the room and walked downstairs very upset. When she ran into Andrew in the living room, he asked her what was wrong.

"Alma's moving out."

"Good for her. I'm glad she's found a place."

Amanda sighed. "But how could she just take off and leave us without saying anything? Sometimes she acts like she doesn't care about anybody but herself!"

"Don't take it so personally. You knew we all had to move out of this house sooner or later. Actually I'm kind of glad this happened." When Amanda gave him an angry glare, he backtracked. "Not glad and I didn't mean your mother's death or . . .I just mean I'm looking forward to moving out and finding our own place. Then we can really feel like we're starting our own lives together. This could turn out to be a good thing, I promise."

Amanda just shrugged, unconvinced.

Next

No comments:

Post a Comment