Relics by Maer Wilson Read Free Book Online

and they’d become friends. And mutual sources.
    “Thank you, both of you.” She smiled at Thulu. He smiled back and something seemed to relax inside her. She glanced at Jenna.
    “What about the little one?”
    Parker looked at her. “I'll watch after her.” And that settled that.
    We agreed to meet with Jane later that evening. She thanked us once again and disappeared.
    Thulu had momentarily gone into his “zone,” but was getting nothing on the locket, judging by his frown. It wasn't often, but once in a while an item would give him problems. A new object had less chance to become imprinted with anything from the owner. Ancient objects could also be obscured by too many previous owners. Those times were rare for him, though. Usually he was able to lock on fairly quickly.
    We decided to move on to the Masons, and he got onto his computer again. His research turned up nothing locally on the Masons. That was another surprise. It was very rare for an entire family to come up missing and not a single word in the papers mention the disappearance. Another mystery to add to our growing pile.

Chapter 6
     
    We spent a couple of hours researching Jones, the Masons and the others on our list. Thulu had a connection in the police department, but Jones was unbelievably clean. No arrests, no investigations, nothing, nada, zip, zilch.
    Oh, wait, there was one mention in the paper of how he had covered the doctor bills for an elderly lady he accidentally knocked over in a restaurant. It was titled “The Good Samaritan.” I wanted to gag. How the hell was this guy under the radar for everything else?
    I turned away from Jones research to try to find something about the Masons.
    “Hey Jenna, do you know your address?”
    She gave me a look of disbelief. “ 'Course. I'm not a baby. Mommy made me learn it when we moved here.” I stared at her in surprise. “But I don't know how to get to it.”
    I laughed at this surprise break. I could have hugged her. “Oh honey, you give me the address and I can help you find it. That's not a problem.” I looked at Thulu. “We are in business, love.”
    Fifteen minutes later we were on our way to Jenna's apartment, with Jenna and Parker floating in the back seat. The apartment was in a large complex with several stories. There were no parking spots in front, so we parked on a side street. It was early afternoon, but we saw no one on our way up.
    Jenna led us to a door at the end of a carpeted corridor on the fourth floor and floated through it. There was no answer to our knock, not that we'd expected any. Jenna came back out, shoulders slumped, a slight frown on her face.
    Thulu has a way with the inanimate, and we were in quickly and smoothly. Inside we found a bright airy apartment. The only odor was a slightly musty one. Definitely no dead bodies. The furnishings were neat, clean and gave away little of the people who lived there. Anonymous was the thought that crossed my mind, as I looked around. Furnished was my second thought. Thulu and I began our search for any information on Jenna's parents.
    There was little enough of it. Someone had definitely done a cleanup job. We could find no bills, no personal letters, no identification. Pressing the “on” button on the computer resulted in nothing. The hard drive had been removed.
    The bedrooms gave us the same amount of information – drawers and closets filled with clothes that had been neatly put away. I got down on the floor and looked under the bed in Jenna's parents’ room. I flashed a penlight I carried and was about to get back up when a small reflection caught my eye. I got up and moved around the king sized bed to the headboard on the other side. Under the bright print skirting, I found a prescription pill bottle for allergies. The name on it was ‘Carolyn Thomas.’ I handed the bottle to Thulu, who looked at it and tucked it into a pocket. A frown creased his brow, but he simply shook his head when I asked him why. He’d