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brief reprieve. And if I can solve the mystery, he’s promised not only to fix up the building but to sign the units over to the people who are living in them.”
    “Did he sign a contract to that effect?”
    “No, but I heard him call and speak to his attorney about postponing the evictions. I mean really, what do I have to lose? If I try to figure this out and am not successful, I’m out a little time, but the tenants will still have had the benefit of the delay in the eviction process. If I succeed they’ll have homes no one can ever take away from them.”
    Cody shrugged. “I’m in. Where do we start?”
    “I’m not sure. There’s a lot of information here. Maybe we should call the gang.”
    I called Tara, Danny, Finn, and Siobhan and asked them if they could meet me at the cabin for dinner. Finn was the resident deputy for Madrona Island and Siobhan was my older sister and Finn’s girlfriend. They’d all helped me solve mysteries in the past and I hoped they could help with this one as well. They confirmed that they were free and would love to come for dinner. I whipped together a quick casserole while Cody made a salad and buttered a loaf of sourdough bread. Cody and I worked well together and it filled me with contentment as we prepared the meal for our friends.
    Christmas jazz played in the background and the scent of the bayberry candles I’d bought from the bookstore filled the air. The ocean just beyond my cabin was angrier than usual, making a crashing sound that could be heard even over the music, but I chose to enjoy the steady rhythm rather than be annoyed by it.
    Once everyone had arrived, we ate before we gathered in the living room in front of the fireplace and began to discuss strategy.
    “How are we supposed to solve a kidnapping that happened twenty years ago?” Danny asked as he nibbled on one of the brownies I’d made for dessert.
    “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “What I do know is that the crime occurred on this island. Someone must know something. Besides, Pottage has actually managed to accumulate quite a bit of information over the years. I’m kind of surprised he hasn’t already figured the whole thing out.”
    “If he’s been working on it for twenty years and hasn’t figured it out what makes him think you’ll be able to?” Tara asked.
    “Ebenezer told him that I was the key to finding the answer.”
    “The cat?” Finn asked.
    “Hey, stranger things have happened. Besides, what do we have to lose? If we figure this out Cody will have a fantastic story for the newspaper and we’ll all have the satisfaction of knowing we helped twelve families find a permanent home.”
    “I’m in,” Siobhan assured me. “The whole thing has grabbed my interest. I say we start with everyone who was in the house on the night of the kidnapping. Someone must have seen something. We’ll need a mystery board.”
    “I’ll go get Maggie’s whiteboard,” Danny offered.
    Cody and I quickly did the dishes while Danny went up to the main house. The use of a mystery board while we worked through the details had been Siobhan’s suggestion when we were trying to solve a confusing series of murders in October, and it had ended up making all the difference. If there was one thing you could say about Siobhan, she was organized, and she knew how to take charge of a project. Since she’d returned to the island she’d been serving as temporary mayor and doing a fantastic job.
    When Danny returned with the board we listed everyone who was on the Pottage property the day of the kidnapping. I went through the list the old man had given me while Siobhan used a dry erase marker to transfer the list to the whiteboard.
    She began by listing Father Kilian, who had performed the christening. I volunteered to speak to him the next day because it would be easy to stop by the church on my lunch break to see what he could remember from the day.
    Belle’s sister, Bonnie, and Bonnie’s husband, Sutton,