“Do you know what happened to his family?” asked Diane.
“They lived around Glendale-Marsh for a while. Every now and again you’d hear about one of them getting into trouble. Owen’s boy was in trouble a lot. He got some girl pregnant and had to get married. I don’t know how long that lasted. In the end, ol’ Luther died and the two boys drifted away. We were glad to see them go. They were a mean bunch. They were always coming around and stealing stuff from us, like they was entitled.”
“Did they ever look for the treasure?” asked Diane.
“I’m sure they did. Martin tried to contact Leontine one time, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with them.” Elnora started laughing. “That treasure was like a curse from Leo, too. Luther was always running treasure hunters off his land. I believe he had more potholes dug on his property than we had in the entire state of Florida.”
“What do you think of the treasure story?” asked Diane.
“I don’t know. Leo was a smart boy. I’m sort of thinking he had something buried somewhere. Too bad he went missing. A lot of boys went missing in the war. That was a sad time.”
“Have you ever heard of a Llewellyn family?” asked Diane.
“Well sure, everybody knows them. James Llewellyn founded the town of Glendale-Marsh. Their house is on the historic registry. It’s a ruin—the house was built of shells and cement. What do they call that?”
“Coquina,” said Diane.
“That’s it. Coquina and tabby. I guess being from a museum you’d know about that stuff,” said Elnora.
“We have a display of coquina and tabby with our shell collection,” said Diane.
“All that’s left standing of the old house is some of the walls. I visited it once. You can still walk inside the old ruins. The rooms were tiny. I think the people must have been smaller back then. I know lots more about Glendale-Marsh, but you was asking about the Parrishes. Was I any help to you?”
“A tremendous help,” said Diane.
“I’m glad to do it. It’s nice that someone is interested in the family for a change and not the treasure.”
“Have you ever heard of a family called Sebestyen?” asked Diane.
“Sebestyen, that’s an odd name, isn’t it? Why does that sound familiar to me?” She paused for several moments. “I know why—that was Leontine’s daughter’s married name. Do you know them?”
“I’ve just heard of them,” said Diane.
“I think maybe I talked to their son once a long time ago. What was his name? Glen, or something like that? Let me think.”
She paused for a long time. For a moment Diane thought they had been disconnected.
“His name was Quinn. That was it. He was here. I think he was looking for the treasure. He was asking about the Llewellyn’s, too. His wife taught history, he said, and they wanted to take some pictures of the house and the graveyard. I remember thinking at the time that he looked a lot like Leo. I don’t know when was the last time I thought about that.”
“Do you remember how long ago that might have been?” asked Diane.
“Oh, I don’t know, fifteen or twenty years maybe? That’s a guess. It was quite a while ago,” she said.
“I’ve kept you long enough. Thank you again, Elnora,” said Diane.
“I was glad to do it. It’s so nice that Ruby’s visiting Juliet. She’s missed her so. That child has had a hard time. I guess you know.”
“Yes,” said Diane. “I know.”
“Did you find out what you need to know?” asked Ruby when Diane hung up the phone.
“I found out a lot. I’m not sure it will lead to who’s doing this, but I have some ideas. I’m making progress.”
Diane could see that Ruby was dying to know what her friend Elnora said, so she gave her a rundown of the conversation.
“Well, what does Leo’s relatives and the Llewellyns have to do with Juliet’s kidnapping?”
Diane realized that Ruby and Juliet didn’t know anything about the investigation so far, and the story was much too long and complicated to go into now. Besides, she had to get back before Frank found her missing. The last thing she wanted was to listen to him lecture her on taking care of herself.
“I promise, I’ll tell you all about it when I can. Right now, just sit tight and you and Juliet enjoy pay-per-view,” said Diane.
She opened the door and almost ran into Juliet and the security guard.