The drive home seemed to take forever, as both Lily and Cassie were tense with emotion after the evening. They chatted lightly about things they passed on the way down Route One, but the conversation stayed away from the elephant in the room. Neither dared to mention it, neither dared to speculate on what they had recovered until they were safe and sound in Lily's house.
It was ten minutes to eleven when they finally arrived on Ocean Point Drive and Lily pulled into her yard. She activated the garage door and drove inside, closing it behind them. Once the door was safely down, she let out a sigh of relief. Cassie seemed to collapse in the seat beside her, letting out her own long sigh.
"Shall we then?" Lily asked, and they each got out of the car. Cassie was carrying the packet of items they had recovered from the wall safe in the abandoned farmhouse, so Lily opened the door into the house and held it for her to pass in. She followed through the connecting passage and up the stairs into the kitchen. From there, Cassie continued on into the living room. Lily made a detour into the kitchen, put a kettle of water on to boil, and followed Cassie into the living room with an open bottle of wine and two glasses.
The two sat down and looked at each other, fully in agreement, so Lily poured a glass for each of them and set the bottle down in the middle of the coffee table. Cassie picked it up, swirled it twice, and took a long sip that nearly drained the glass. Then she sat it back down and laid the three items out on the table to examine.
The first appeared to be a manila envelope about 6 x 9 with a clasp tie holding it closed. The second object was a leather-bound journal with a ribbon tied around it to hold it shut. The third item was about ten inches long, wrapped in muslin. From the heft of it and the shape, Lily surmised it was a small dagger. She carefully unwrapped the object, which was indeed a dagger inside a leather sheath. The handle was ornately designed with leaves and vines etched into what appeared to be a silver hilt and leather wrapped pommel. The pommel itself was holding a lustrous emerald, in a shade that appeared to glow from within.
Cassie gasped as Lily finished unwrapping the dagger. The sheath was tooled leather, with inlaid rubies or garnets forming a crossing pattern that wrapped around the top. Lily drew the blade slightly out, and they both saw a fine blade of Damascus steel. Carefully replacing the blade in the sheath, Lily wrapped it loosely a few turns in the muslin, and set it down.
"Do you think its an authentic blade?" Cassie asked. "What time period is it from?"
"I'm not sure," Lily replied, "but it looks very real. It is certainly beautifully crafted. I don't really know much about dating old blades or weapons, but I do know someone who can probably tell us something about it. You remember Rex Bridges? He's an expert on all kinds of weaponry."
"Why do you think Grace had it tucked away with these papers?" Cassie asked.
"That's an excellent question," Lily conceded. "Why don't we take a look at them and see what they have to say."
She reached for the manila envelope, and undid the clasp. The flap opened to reveal a small sheaf of papers, all letter-half sized. Picking them up, she noticed that the paper seemed to be old, the paper stiff. There were several groups of pages clipped together. The first two or three were all typed neatly on the pages, but the final two groups were written out longhand in a rapid, cramped style.
Cassie reached for the first bundle of typed pages. She started to glance through it. It was a letter written in December 1970 to Grace Atwater. She skimmed the opening of the letter, which started out pleasantly with a typical friendly exchange - hi, how are you holding up, reaching out to keep in tough, hope your spirits are high, etc.
She flipped to the third page and its signature, Joseph P. Dalton. She traded the pages back to Lily for the third bundle from the packet. Again, this was typewritten, but as Cassie glanced at it, she was immediately aware of several mistakes made while typing it. Extra letters were added in places, some crossed out, a few words were misspelled also. She scanned the contents. This time it was more businesslike in tone, and much more direct. She read: Grace, I implore you to reconsider our arrangement. I understand that this has been a particularly difficult period for you, but it is urgent that you contact me immediately."
