The Secret (Seacliff High Mystery Book 1) by Kathi Daley Page B

anything unless we can establish a clear motive. What kind of cheese is this? It’s delicious.”
    “Gruyère. Try the Camembert on a cracker. I think you’ll like it too.”
    “I’m a cheddar man myself,” Trevor announced.
    “I’m not surprised in the least.” Alyson smiled fondly.
    “Do you think the cops will take another look at the suicide if we can come up with a motive?” Eli moved the conversation back to the mystery at hand.
    Mac spread some cheese on a cracker. “Probably not, although it couldn’t hurt to ask.”
    “It seems like the motive has to be the money,” Trevor insisted as he shoved a slice of salami into his mouth. “We need to figure out where the money has been routed since Barkley’s death.”
    “After I checked the police records I spent some time working on the security system attached to the phantom bank withdrawals and I think I’m getting close,” Mac informed them. “The money is being routed through several different accounts. I think the key to the whole thing lies somewhere with the trust. I wish we could get a look at the original document that established it. It might hold some important clues. I’ll work on it some more tonight.”
    “So about this buried body . . .” Eli, who had mostly been silent prior to this point, changed the subject. “I came ready to dig; are we going to?”
    “I think digging is very much a matter of finding something to dig up,” Mac commented. “Maybe we should see if we can find something to dig up before we drag a bunch of shovels around. We can always come back for them if we need them.” She wiped her hands on a napkin.
    “I’ve been thinking about the cipher.” Alyson unfolded the copy of the code she’d slipped into her pocket at lunch. “Seventy west and four eighty-two north must be directions of some type.”
    “That makes sense,” Trevor agreed, “but seventy what? Feet? Miles? Cartwheels? We really need a frame of reference.”
    “Yeah, and even if we figure that out,” Eli added, “how do we know where to start counting?”
    “Let’s just try something and see what, if anything, we find,” Mac suggested. “I think it makes the most sense that seventy and four eighty-two refer to feet, or maybe steps. We know Barkley never left the house, so miles wouldn’t make sense, and the guy was pretty old, so I think we can rule out cartwheels.”
    “Okay, so where do we start?” Trevor asked.
    “How about the northwest corner of the house?” Alyson suggested. “If that doesn’t lead us anywhere we can pick another starting place and see what we find. It really is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack, but I guess we need to start somewhere.”
    It was starting to get cool, so they donned their jackets before heading out along the cliff trail, with Tucker leading the way. He ran ahead of them, as if he could guess where they were going. Seventy steps west brought them almost to the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean. Four eighty-two steps north brought them to the vicinity where Alyson and Mac had walked the day before. Tucker ran straight back to the spot where he’d barked and started to dig.
    “Maybe something’s buried there,” Mac said.
    “Like what?” Alyson asked.
    “I don’t know. Probably a dead animal or something.” Mac walked closer to the vigorously digging pup. “It looks like he’s found something.”
    Alyson leaned over to try to see what he’d dug up. “It looks like . . .” Alyson paused and looked up at Mac, “It looks like a human arm.”
    “What!” Mac exclaimed.
    “Tucker, come,” Alyson called the dog away from his prize. “Sit. Stay,” she commanded. Tucker sat in the spot Alyson indicated as she walked over to examine the find more closely. Moving the dirt aside, she continued to dig with her hands as best she could.
    “It doesn’t appear there are any other bones,” Alyson observed. “Just a hand and an arm. Of course the rest may be buried