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Savannah asked no one in particular. “Who are these people, and why did someone have their private papers?”
    “Yeah, what do these people have in common?” Arthur said.
    “Ah yes,” Michael said. “Good question. What did they have in common?”
    “They all must have known the person who put their papers in that pit,” Suzette suggested. “That’s one common denominator.”
    “But,” Arthur said with an air of intrigue, “were those papers given over to this person or did he steal them?”
    “And why?” Savannah added.
    ****
    “I’ve been thinking about how we can get the rest of those papers out of that pit,” Michael said the next morning at breakfast.
    Arthur glanced up from his meal. “Did you come up with anything?”
    “I have a couple of ideas.” He leaned forward. “Do you think it’s important that we retrieve them?”
    While Arthur thought about the question, Suzette responded, “They must be important, Michael, or why would someone have gone to so much trouble to preserve them like that?”
    Michael chuckled. “That’s still the mystery, isn’t it—did they hide them or discard them? Maybe the answer is in the papers, themselves. I think we should try to get our hands on them.”
    “I agree,” Arthur said. He grinned. “Maybe it’s the wannabe attorney in me, but I can’t stop thinking about how those documents wound up down there.”
    Savannah’s eyes widened. “You still want to be an attorney, Arthur? I thought you’d given up on that.”
    He grimaced. “Yeah, I don’t particularly want to get involved with the courtroom drama, but I’m still intrigued by the investigative aspect of the profession.” He laughed. “You know how I like trying to figure out puzzles.”
    “Well, I’m kinda curious, too,” Michael confessed.
    More excitedly now, Arthur asked, “How do you suggest we approach the project?”
    “It seems to me we need to make that hole wide enough so that one of us can climb down in there. From what I could see, the pit is wider at the bottom.”
    Arthur nodded. “Makes sense. What sort of tools do we need for that? Shovels?”
    Michael laughed. “Not unless you want to spend the next few days digging that compacted dirt out by hand.”
    “So you think we need some sort of heavy equipment?”
    “Or dynamite?” Suzette suggested.
    Michael laughed. “That would be something, wouldn’t it? Amateurs with explosives… we could level the whole mansion.”
    “And burn the papers up in the process,” Arthur said, chuckling.
    “Let’s see if we can get some sort of digging machine out here to scoop out the dirt along that narrow side,” Michael suggested.
    Arthur nodded.
    “Where’s Ruth?” Savannah asked, looking around. “Sleeping in? She must be tired after working the sale all week.”
    Arthur took a sip of coffee. “I don’t know. We haven’t seen her this morning.” He set his cup down and said, smiling, “It’s strange to not see Ruthie first thing in the morning.” He thought for a moment before saying, “I think we’ve spent just about every day of my life together—and now things are changing before my eyes.”
    “That’s right,” Savannah said. “She was your nanny from birth, wasn’t she?”
    Arthur nodded. “And my best friend through so many… challenges. Now we’ll be going our separate ways,” he said, squeezing Suzette’s hand and nodding toward Rupert. “It’s kinda… ”
    “What, bittersweet?” Savannah suggested.
    He nodded and blinked back a flow of emotion.
    Sensing an awkward moment, Laura took a quick breath. She looked at her watch. “We don’t open the doors until eight. Ruth will probably be along any minute.” She looked up. “Oh, here she is now. Good morning, Ruth.”
    “Morning,” she said. She sat in a vacant chair next to Suzette, and patted the younger woman’s hand affectionately. “How are you all this morning?” she asked, glancing around the table.
    Everyone acknowledged the