The Legacy: A Kimberly & Sykes Mystery Novel Read Free Page B

help here,” she shouted at the ceiling.
    Time was passing fast yet no matter how closely Lauren read every piece of paper, nothing miraculously appeared in response to her call for help. In the far reaches of her awareness Lauren knew she was hungry, but she didn’t stop for food or drink.  It was only when her stomach gave a loud and prolonged gurgle that she decided to stop and get something to eat. She was shocked to see it was already late afternoon. “There’s probably not going to be food served at this meeting so I better eat now,” she thought. After a quick sandwich, Lauren carried another mug of coffee back into the den and continued to put all the papers, receipts, and photos back into boxes. She had glanced at each photo the night before but seeing pictures of herself as a young child with her parents was too upsetting. They belonged to happier times. Lauren would go back and look at the photos in the future when the pain of her father’s death wasn’t so vivid.
    Having her space in such a mess made Lauren’s brain feel overloaded. She had learned very quickly in university that she felt overwhelmed and out of sorts when her dorm room was a mess. When she couldn’t find things it made her feel as though her whole life was out of control. With no sign of any information pointing to the whereabouts of the cast woman, the sooner Lauren packed the boxes back up, the sooner she could start looking elsewhere.
    The only things Lauren had to show after spending hours going through boxes were her letter and the keys. She was beginning to feel the letter was nothing more than drunken ramblings and the keys were probably of no significance.
    As a child Lauren was aware her father was focused on himself and sometimes didn’t seem to notice she and her mom were in the room. Mike Kimberly’s center of attention was his latest invention. Meanwhile, her mother worked  long hours and still found time to take her to the art gallery, the museum, and the occasional live theatre.  Lauren couldn’t remember one time that her father joined them. He chose always to stay at home and tinker. Committing suicide was an act that Lauren thought of as more evidence of his selfishness. 
    “Why dad? Why didn’t you even try to see me? You don’t contact me for years and then leave me with one of your messes to clean up! I can’t believe this!” Lauren said in frustration.
    Her back ached badly from being bent over boxes for several hours. Lauren checked the clock and saw that she had enough time for another hot shower before her meeting. It was while she was in the shower that Lauren had the idea to Google Adam Smith. After she wrapped herself in an oversized white bath towel she hesitated for only a second before she poured a glass of Pinot Gris and fired up the laptop. ‘Thank god for the web,’ she thought. ‘Let’s see what we can find.’ 
    The first search brought back dozens of pages on hundreds of people called Adam Smith. Sitting back in her chair, Lauren took a sip of wine and contemplated. She had to narrow the search terms. From the sound of his voice Smith sounded to be in his 60s. This time she searched for ‘Adam Smith, business man, 60yrs’. Bingo! Lauren punched her fist in the air. Google had returned a handful of results. She quickly scanned through them until she found a listing of the most likely candidate.
    Adam Smith, if indeed this was the same person who had called her, was a very handsome man in his early 60’s. He had penetrating blue eyes and a full head of silver hair, cut in the standard ‘short back & sides’. His teeth were perfect - must have cost him a fortune, she thought. Adam Smith was looking directly into the camera lens with a huge smile on his face. Lauren paused. This is not the picture of the man she had imagined. Nor does he look like the type of evil guy her dad wanted her to run away from. In fact, he looked very handsome and friendly. Maybe this was not the Adam Smith