“Sorry, I should have explained that. Vera came in here last week and demanded access to the Ducote archives, and I had to tell her she couldn’t have it. The papers are sealed, and no one can look at them without permission from the family or their legal representatives.” I paused. “She even threatened me because I denied her.” I shared the threats with Kanesha, but I did not mention what Vera had tried to do to Helen Louise. I didn’t see any point in bringing Helen Louise into this.

Kanesha handed back the photograph. “Are you allowed to look through the papers?”

I nodded. “As archivist, I can, basically to conserve and catalog them.”

“I think you should.”

“Why? How could Vera’s mother be connected to any of this?”

“I don’t know,” Kanesha said. “There’s something about that woman’s face. I get the feeling that there’s an interesting story there. Could be a false lead, but I don’t want to take a chance on missing anything important.” She stood. “Anything else to tell me?”

“That’s it for now.”

She headed for the door but paused before she opened it. She glanced back at me. “Thank you.” Then she was gone.

I felt a paw on my shoulder and turned to see Diesel yawning and stretching. “Looks like I’m going to be pretty busy, boy. I can count on you to help, can’t I?”

Diesel warbled, as if to say, “Of course,” and I grinned. The paw retracted, and Diesel stretched some more before settling down again.

I picked up the photograph and studied it. Kanesha was right. There was something about Essie Mae’s face. If only I could find a better picture of her I could figure out what was haunting me.

Then another thought struck me. What if this was the only photograph Vera had of her mother?

TWENTY-ONE

I managed to focus on regular work long enough to put in about forty-five minutes, but by then my stomach started rumbling. Time for lunch. I shut down the computer and roused Diesel from his nap.

On the walk home I thought more about Azalea’s story. Surely she must have told the sheriff what she’d told me. Otherwise why was the sheriff treating Vera’s death as murder? Without Azalea’s evidence of a third person in that stairwell, it could easily be considered an accident.

As Kanesha said earlier, though, the sheriff seemed to be using the case for his own personal and political ends.

My head ached from all the ideas bouncing around in my brain. I needed time to let the bouncing ideas subside. A good lunch would help.

There was no sign of Azalea when Diesel and I walked into the kitchen. I found a note on the table that informed me she had gone to the grocery store. My lunch was in the fridge.

Diesel sat by my chair and watched hopefully as I enjoyed my ham and potato salad. I picked out a few small bits of ham as a treat for Diesel, and that seemed to satisfy him. As long as he got even a small quantity of something from the table, he was happy. I supposed he didn’t want to feel left out.