Pirate Vishnu (A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery) by Gigi Pandian Page B

piece of paper underneath it.
    “Can I help you?” I asked. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her. I didn’t think I knew her, but…
    “This is your office?” she asked. Her eyes were red and her eye makeup smeared.
    “That’s right.”
    “I needed to see you,” she said. She clutched the folded note tightly in her hand. “I’m Christine Healy.”
    That’s why I recognized her. She was Steven Healy’s daughter-in-law. She looked nothing like the perfectly made-up woman photographed in the news the previous year. Her rich brown hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail, and she hadn’t made any attempt to fix her running makeup.
    “I tried calling first,” she said, “but I couldn’t reach you, and it’s important I talk with you.”
    “I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said. Why did Christine Healy need to see me? I hoped it wasn’t to retrieve the map.
    She acknowledged it with a small nod.
    “I was going to return his map—” I began.
    “No, no,” Christine said, waving off the suggestion. “We don’t care about that. You can keep his awful map. God knows it’s brought us enough grief already.”
    “Well, about that—”
    “It’s my husband, Connor,” she said, urgency in her polished voice. “He knows his father went to see you right before he was killed. There’s something you need to understand about Connor. He’s not a bad man. But he’s… unstable.”
    “You think he killed his own father?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you go to the police with this—”
    “No, it’s not that,” she said, reaching out to grip my uninjured hand. “I worry about what he’ll do if this miserable treasure becomes a story in the news. I’m trying to keep Connor away from the newspapers by keeping them out of the house, but he can read whatever he wants online…”
    “What is it you wanted to see me about?” I asked, confused by her rambling. “If it’s not about getting the map back—”
    “Oh, I suppose it is about the map, in a way,” Christine said, keeping a cold hand firmly grasped around mine. “I know you’re a historian, good at looking into things like the map Steven brought to you. I only hope that whatever you do with the map, you won’t make a big deal about it to those media vultures. We had some trouble with them in the past… I don’t know if Connor could handle it if this attention carries on much longer.”
    “You don’t have to worry about me going to the press,” I said. “I was trying to tell you a moment ago—the map was stolen.”
    Christine gasped. She let go of my hand and took a few steps back. “What do you mean it was stolen? He just gave it to you.”
    I held up my bandaged hand. “I was mugged.”
    “Oh, no,” Christine said. She stumbled backward until the hallway wall stopped her.
    “Are you all right?” I asked.
    “No. I mean yes.” She shook her head and tried to smile as she forced a little laugh. “I’m on edge from everything that’s happened to our family, that’s all. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”
    Without a backward glance at me, Christine Healy ran down the hallway and out of sight.
    What was that about? She was frightened, but of what ?
    I told myself my brain would be more functional when I was safely back at home with ice on my aching elbow.
    Slipping into my office, I turned on my computer and tapped my foot anxiously. It wasn’t a slow machine, but every second felt like minutes.
    I groaned as I checked my files. I’d made my last backup two days before.
    I closed my eyes and thought back to the knock on my door that had started this mess. I remembered that I’d closed my laptop after hitting “save,” and then promptly forgotten all about my own work. I hadn’t followed my usual routine since the moment Steven Healy walked through my door.

    As I headed for home, my emotions turned from pity to anger. I swung by a cell phone store, but without a credit card they told me they couldn’t give me a