Similar to the kids section, the outer walls were lined with bookshelves, but in the adult section, there were many more standing shelves. It made the entire room feel darker and rarely did anyone spend time in here, even the adults would take their books into the other room with the soft chairs and better light. Above all the shelves, between the windows, were framed maps of the area and today, those caught her attention.

The man’s grip loosened even more and the piece of glass he’d been holding was now down by his side and not against Harry’s throat. He looks between Harry and Arthur confused as he’s trying to figure them out. He let’s go of Harry’s shirt as Harry and Arthur continue to banter back and forth.

As Harry is following the man, they are also getting a good look at the people and the layout of the lower docks. Upper decks shadow lower decks and Harry can see where things could happen out of view.

She can’t believe she trusted that little Harriet, who promised Arthur Wexley would help. Was this a joke? Maybe this is Harriet’s cruel game. Bring someone in with a larger-than-life story to listen to, turn down and then have a drink and a chuckle!

As they walk, they feel around in their pockets to make sure they have charcoal, a bit of paper and their knife. Just in case.

He begins to follow, wondering if he should have bothered to bathe, sometimes Harry’s cases can take them to some unsavory parts of town, but being mid-morning hopefully this one won’t get him dingy.

All the envelopes were brown from age and some of the writing was faded with time. The tin rusting shut did a service to the paper keeping it intact, but still, the paper was rather fragile.

She wants to be able to look through the tin without her mother finding it first. She reaches under her bed for the tub of Barbie dolls. It’s pretty packed already making it a tight fit, but Elyse manages to get the tin in there, keeping it in the bag so it doesn’t get rust on her dolls.

It was then Elyse noticed the change in temperature since walking into this place. It’s the height of summer, in the daytime and yet there is a chill to the air and the sunshine she can see in the distance, but she is standing in a very shaded area. Eerie.

Elyse looks back to the path, her eyes follow it down as far as she can before it disappears into the reeds. She begins to make her way down the tree towards the root ball, to see if she can get an idea how far into the distance this trail leads. Sometimes they lead to a den, and sometimes they disappear.