Tattered Legacy (A Nora Abbott Mystery) by Shannon Baker

surface scattered with piles of papers. Nora pushed several file folders out of the way and set the box on the desk. Lisa couldn’t look at the view anymore, but somehow, placing her ashes there made Nora feel better.
    Voices rose, reminding Nora of Abigail’s orders. She spun around and returned to the living room. Rachel no longer leaned on the counter between the two women. Nora glanced around the room and out the screen door. Rachel sat on one of the Adirondack chairs, leaning forward, her face to the mountains.
    Nora held her hand up. “Thanks for being here for Rachel. I know she appreciates your concern. But it’s been a long day. Please call and visit again.”
    A couple of the people looked confused. Some seemed to take Nora’s words at face value and got ready to leave. At least one woman scanned the room for Rachel, and when she realized Rachel was no longer with them, looked stricken and ashamed.
    Nora ushered them out the front door. The storm clouds blotted out the sun and a few drops plopped onto the porch roof. While they said their goodbyes and offered to help Rachel in any way, lingering on the porch, Nora returned to the office.
    She stood in the center of the room, feet planted on a blood-red Navajo rug. Her eyes scanned the surface of the desk and the shelves, traveling to the cupboard doors and across to a pine filing cabinet. Where would Lisa keep copies of the film?
    Soft raindrops pattered on the deck. Nora hesitated. Lisa still lingered in this house, in the office, and Lisa hated anyone messing with her stuff.
    Lisa and Nora had shared an apartment the last two years of undergrad in Boulder. It drove Nora crazy the way Lisa cluttered the tiny space with her books and papers, socks, sweaters, shoes—everything. Nora would gather all of Lisa’s things from the common space and deposit them in Lisa’s bedroom. That led to a major confrontation and a compromise. Nora wouldn’t mess with Lisa’s stuff if Lisa would try not to clutter the living room.
    “This office is like you, Lisa—messy, beautiful, and bright.” Nora wrapped her arms around herself.
    Outside, Abbey stood and shook. The rain didn’t appear too serious so Nora left him to enjoy it.
    She ran her fingertips along the edge of the desk while her eyes took in the chaos of papers on top. Lisa worked in a whirlwind, often losing items or forgetting appointments. Rachel’s hand kept order in the rest of the house, but this office belonged to Lisa.
    Nora slipped around to the desk chair and sat in front of the opened laptop. “Where did you put the film?” she spoke, even if Lisa couldn’t hear.
    Abbey stretched, circled around twice, and flopped down again.
    Without the film, Nora’s best option would be to collect photos and write narration for Darrell. That seemed like a poor solution. Even with the amazing landscapes, a slideshow seemed stagnant. To stir the committee’s passion, they needed movement, light, breathtaking sights, and ugly images to demonstrate the threat.
    Nora slid her finger on the laptop’s touchpad and waited for it to wake up. She surveyed the pinion and juniper outside. The sun broke out, highlighting individual raindrops. The tangy smell of sage drifted through an open window.
    The sound of car engines indicated the activists must be on their way.
    Nora glanced through the file icons on the computer’s desktop. Nothing indicated a film project. She found the directory and looked through that, too. She opened a few files that might have contained some portion of the project. Nothing. No notes for narrative, no digital pictures, and certainly no film.
    Abbey no longer sprawled on the deck. Nora pulled herself from behind the desk and crossed the room, peering out the doors in search of him.
    She located him by the movement of ginger hair against the scrub and sand. He trotted toward the front of the house. Maybe Charlie and Abigail had returned. If so, they hadn’t been gone long.
    Nora popped open