The Mandie Collection Read Online Free PDF Page B

Mandie said. “I wonder if he checked his desk that day when he locked the door.”
    â€œProbably not,” Joe said.
    â€œUnless he had something to put in the desk or to take out of it,” Mandie said. Glancing at Liza, she added, “You said he had been in town doing business all day. You don’t know what kind of business, do you, Liza?”
    â€œDon’t be knowin’ ’bout dat,” Liza said, shaking her head.
    â€œWould you remember if he had a pouch with him?” Joe asked.
    â€œA pouch?” Liza questioned.
    â€œYou know, a leather case to put papers in,” Joe explained.
    â€œI didn’t see him carryin’ nuthin’,” she replied. “He had had his hair cut I noticed. ’Sides, Aunt Lou say he been to de barber shop anyhow.” She stood up and asked, “Is we gwine to do any lookin’ or whut?”
    Mandie rose as she said, “Let’s search the attic next.”
    Joe got to his feet and told her, “That attic is crammed full, or it was the last time I was up there, and it’s going to take some time, let me tell you.”
    â€œBut we’ve got Liza to help us now,” Mandie said as she started the rest of the way up the steps to the attic door.
    As Mandie pushed the door open, she stopped and looked at Joe, then said, “It’s awfully dark in there, but if we open the shutters we probably won’t have to use lamps.”
    â€œLet’s open the shutters,” Joe agreed as he walked across the room to one of the windows.
    Mandie hurried to another window. Liza cautiously stepped inside the room and watched them. Then, as the light began streaming in through the opened shutters, she went to help with the last window. And Snowball, who had found them, came rushing in to smell everything.
    Mandie glanced around the attic at the contents—trunks, boxes, old furniture, a pile of old dishes stacked on the top of a wooden crate, old clothes hanging on hooks in one corner. A huge beveled-edge mirror with a tarnished gilt frame stood on a stand near a window and reflected the jumble in front of it, making the attic look much larger than it was.
    Joe ran his long thin fingers through his unruly brown hair as he also viewed the mess. He blew out his breath as he asked, “And where do you propose we start? How in this world do you think you will ever find the will if it is hidden in all this conglomeration?”
    â€œIt’ll take time, but we can do it—the three of us,” Mandie told him as she walked over to a large trunk in a corner. She glanced at Snowball, who was watching her, and added, “And Snowball, you’d better behave or I’ll throw you out.”
    Liza frowned as she said, “But, Missy ’Manda, whut do dat will look like?”
    Joe quickly told Mandie, “You see, Liza wouldn’t know a will if she saw one.”
    Mandie thought for a moment and said, “All right, Liza, you just help me open and close things, and I’ll look for the will. It’ll make things faster that way. Let’s start with this trunk.”
    â€œAnd I’ll begin over here,” Joe said as he stopped by a huge box on the far side. Snowball followed Joe.
    Soon the light began to fail. The October day was short, so they finally lit the two lamps that were kept on a table by the door to the attic.
    Mandie realized it was quite a job to go through all the contents of the trunks, not to mention the boxes and the drawers of the furniture.
    â€œI wonder why your mother or your uncle doesn’t get rid of most of this stuff,” Joe remarked as he pulled some ancient clothes out of a wooden box.
    â€œOh no!” Mandie exclaimed as she straightened up from a trunk to look at him. “All this stuff is history, our family history. Why, I imagine Uncle John could identify every piece of everything in this room. I’m not sure whether my mother brought anything to