Avery Alderson has inherited an entire town from her Aunt Myrtle.

What on earth is she going to do with it?

Contents

Chapter 30 - Will wonders about Avery, vice versa

Will didn't make snap judgments, habitually giving everyone the same amount of healthy doubt on first meeting. He hadn't missed her slight signs of fatigue nor Avery's unusual choice of daytime apparel. Black on black. Hmm. He was a little surprised by the youthful appearance of this new owner of Simsville, despite the fact that he knew her age. Experience hadn't caused many, if any, wrinkles on that attractive face.

He had been briefed on Avery's background from "the ground up," childhood through her present employment. Nice resume, impressive skill set. Good references in her file.

Still, someone with more expertise in the field would have been preferable as the next property holder of this unique town, he felt. He wondered how much Jones had explained to Avery, how much detail. Probably not much, if he knew Jones. And he did.

Will's preliminary impressions compartmentalized Avery into "unknown, untested." More thorough thought about her qualifications could wait until later. He turned back to Jones without waiting for a response to his question.

"This latest event needs a different type of response than the girl's kidnapping, Jones. We've got several people checking the roster of town residents with a fine tooth comb. He's here or close by, we're sure of that much. Definitely familiar with the downtown routine. Maybe a day worker or some other type of regular visitor. A vendor or salesman, equipment maintenance maybe, just enough computer savvy for a half-way sophisticated hacking job, but not one of us. You understand what I mean."

Jones nodded. He did indeed. If he was he'd have been more careful, more invisible. More damaging.

Edging her chair closer and angling it to face both Will and Jones, Avery spoke up. Despite that irritating dismissive gesture of Will's, she kept her voice pleasant and business like.

"Have you considered an acquaintance of Charlotte? I mean, someone who knew someone who knew Charlotte. That girl's no dummy. A little independent minded, maybe, but she's plenty sharp for a teenager. I don't think she would have been taken in too easily. I'm sure you believe these two incidents are connected."

Monroe and Will glanced at each other. Eyebrows raised, Jones looked in their direction, waiting on one of them to answer. It was a reasonable question.

Avery continued her thought. "Alice and Jack said their guy looked young. Of course he could have been disguised in a variety of ways but it's hard to hide youthful muscles, movements, stride, that sort of thing. To me, his age is an important factor to consider. That and his seeming ignorance of the bank's more - profitable, shall we say - resources. Not to mention his scratchy voice. Maybe he thought they'd recognize him from that."

She leaned back a little, crossed her wrists and her ankles and waited for someone to respond.

"That's a good suggestion, Avery," Monroe spoke first. "We have thought of it. Charlotte and her folks will be visited first thing in the morning and we'll go into that with all of them. She's not too tired tonight, she says, but part of that is still adrenaline. And temper." He smiled, recalling what he'd been told of her account of events.

"She's had a long couple of days and her family doctor hasn't checked her over yet but she's doing pretty good, considering. A good night's sleep should help."

Will added, "Her mom says Charlotte's still hot under the collar, and so is she for that matter. Her mom and dad seem to be at each other's throats a bit. That won't help matters much but they'll probably cool down by morning, for the girl's sake if not their own."

"In the meantime we asked her to write down the names of everyone she knows, and we do mean everyone. School mates, horse buddies, peers and their parents, and her parents will be doing the same thing. We stressed that it doesn't matter if they are young or not, or if they resemble the general description of the kidnapper or bank robber. For all we know there's more than one person involved."

Avery realized that these two men had been pretty busy already; they'd probably spent the entire time on the phone while driving over from Sumter. And apparently they had a team elsewhere working on the crime.

Her confidence level increased a little, at least in their abilities if not their attitudes. Especially Will's attitude. "Here we go again?" she thought to herself. "Oh no, you don't."

Roster of residents, Will had said. As Avery listened to the three men converse a few more minutes, she wondered what kinds of information that roster listed. She suspected it held complete dossiers, far more than name, address and phone numbers of the citizens of Simsville. And she wondered what her own entry included.