Hourglass → Ace; Nancy Drew [1]

iv. the missing irvine heirloom

"Why pictures?"

"For any clues, signs of the Agleaca." He shrugged suggestively.

Although reluctant, Olivia nodded. "Yeah, okay. I have a photo album at home."

𖤐

As Olivia drove through the opened gates and pulled up into her parking spot, Ace kept silent, his eyes scanning the large area of land around them. "This is where you live?" he asked, although it came off as more of a statement. He pushed the BMW's passenger door open and stepped out. He waited for Olivia to exit the car and take the lead up the porch steps, surrounded by rose bushes and separate pathways that led to different parts of the garden.

"Yep, me and my dad," she elaborated, motioning for him to follow her. While taking two steps at a time, she searched her jacket pocket for her house keys. "Looks like he's not home," she added after noticing through the several glass balcony windows that not even his office lights were on.

"Your mom's not in the picture?"

"Kind of; I see her every couple of months. She lives in Portland." She fumbled with the key before getting it through the hole. Pushing the white door open, she glanced at the boy. "How about you?" With the flick of her hand, she invited Ace in.

"Only child, like you," he paused briefly, almost as though tempted to add something to his statement, but he decided against it. "But my parents are still together." Olivia nodded attentively while she pulled her coat off and hung it on the rack.

She pursed her lips, trying to think of a way to divert the conversation. Whenever the topic of discussions turned family-related, she would find herself biting her lip or picking at the skin around her nails. As much as she loved her father, she had had too many losses between her mother leaving and her aunt passing away. And with her dad owning one of Horseshoe Bay's biggest industries, she learned the hard way that the only way to avoid bad press was for what happens at home to stay at home.

When she remembered the file Nancy gave her the previous night, Olivia turned to the small table and picked it up, passing it to Ace. "These are police records, pictures of my aunt when she was found dead." When Ace pulled out the pictures to take a look at them, Olivia looked away. She didn't want the traumatic images in her mind again after the pain they had punctured her heart with the first time she saw them. "Can you wait in my room while I grab the albums from my dad's bedroom?" She glanced back at Ace briefly as she led him up the wooden stairs. Her hand trailed along the railing until she reached the top. "It's the last room down the hall." She pointed and waited for Ace to start walking in her room's direction before making her way to the master bedroom.

Sighing, she placed her hands on the cashmere rug to support her body as she plopped down onto her knees. She reached blindly under the king-sized bed, grateful for their maid, Greta, for her superhero-like skills of cleaning an area that would have been otherwise coated with dust. Olivia was positive it had been years since her dad had even touched the box of Aunt Hillary's things. She couldn't imagine how hard it would have been for him to look at pictures of the two of them together when he could hardly even handle hearing her name.

Olivia pulled the wooden box out and lifted the lid. A small smile crept onto her face as she picked up Hillary's small teddy bear. Its fur was matted together and stained, but the memories it flashed through Olivia's head were forever young, despite the toy's age. She pushed it aside and dug out the three full albums. Letting out a contented sigh, she closed the box and gently pushed it back under the bed before standing up.

A loud gasp escaped her lips when she turned around to see Ace standing in the doorway. "What the Hell, Ace?" she hissed, clutching her hand against her quickly beating heart. "Were you watching me?"