"Hey, that's what friends are for. So, what's your plan?"

"I don't know," I answered. "I guess I'll start looking for another job."

"No, I mean about all this shit."

"I don't know. What can I do? I figured that when they stole the book, it'd be pretty much over."

"And that's it? You're not going to pursue it?"

"I'm certainly curious, but I wouldn't know where to start."

"Oh, c'mon Del. I always thought you were smarter than that. Do what Izzy wanted you to do. Research your great-grandfather. Research your grandfather. Research that old gallery in Fair-fucking-field, Iowa. Research Izzy. Find out where she was really from. Try to find out why she would know something about your family. There are all kinds of things you can do. You've got your freedom. You said you have money in the bank. You have your dad's house to fall back on. For the first time since I've known you, you've got some life to you."

"Why does everyone say that?"

"Because it's true. Let's face it, Del. Your life kinda sucked. All you had was your work, and that was a real prize. Your life has been going nowhere. And now you've been handed something exciting. Follow it up. This could turn out to be quite the adventure."

With that rationale in place, the decision was easy. "Okay, I'll do it."

I thought back to my father's final comment. Like my relatives before me, I had now made a choice. The question was, would I be continuing the Honeycutt curse or breaking it?

Chapter 5

Mo was gone and I was still sitting at my table, feeling like a deer-in-the-headlights. She was right. I had taken back my freedom, and if I couldn't do anything with it, then I was a real sad case. I should be jumping at the chance to solve this mystery. She was also right that Izzy was on track about one thing: I should know something about my lineage. Granted, my situation was a bit different from some. My father never knew his father, and my grandfather was a young teenager when his father died. There wasn't a lot of information that was passed down, so I couldn't really blame my father for not talking about it.

It was time to get started. I made a list of all the angles that I needed to cover. I realized that there were a few people to research, so subscribing to Ancestry.com would be my second order of business. My first would be to go back to my father's house and spend some more time in the attic. There had to be something else up there.

However, that first order of business turned out to be something entirely different. My door buzzer went off and I jumped out of my chair, banging my knee on the table. After the robberies, it seems I had become a little nervous. I limped over to the window and looked down. Whoever was at the door was under the overhang, but I didn't see anyone who looked suspicious hanging back from the door. I pressed the intercom.