Tina thanked Professor Franklin for all his help and went home, feeling disappointed, excited and mystified at the same time. Her mind was unsettled and her heart was racing frantically by all that she had learned. She knew that there was nothing she could do in this helpless situation, but still she needed some kind of a closure to that story so she could put it to rest and move on with her life.

Tina called Dylan Moreland, her friend and the head of the research department at Alphaville. If there was ever a problem that nobody could solve, Dylan could go through the materials with a fine-tooth comb and find an answer. Usually, in the situations like that Tina would turn to Alice who was amazing at finding things, but she was still missing in action somewhere in Oregon and wasn’t answering her cell.

Dylan’s talents were put to work and after three days of agonizing waiting, Tina finally received a phone call.

“Dylan, finally…” Tina exclaimed, unable to keep her excitement away.

“Well, Tina, I didn’t find much but you still owe me,” Dylan said playfully.

“Anything you want…well, almost anything you want,” Tina replied hurriedly, wishing that she would just tell her what she had found.

Dylan sensed Tina’s anxiety and said, “Okay, okay. All the books on history and arts of Orange County I was able to get my hands on pretty much repeated verbatim what you’ve already known. So I was digging a little deeper and went to search in the different direction and that’s what I found…”

Tina heard rustling of the papers and knew that Dylan was looking at her notes to be sure that she got everything right. “I found a part-documentary, part-fictional 3-volume work on unsolved crimes in California at the end of the nineteenth-beginning of the twentieth centuries.” Dylan checked her notes again and continued after a small pause. “There’s a whole section on Orange County and one story mentions your mystery woman. I made you a copy and it is being delivered as we speak.”

Tina jolted as she heard a door bell ringing as soon as Dylan finished talking. “Talk about perfect timing and a small heart attack,” Tina murmured to herself as she ran towards the door, trying to calm herself. “Thanks, Dylan, I owe you.”

The courier from Alphaville, a young man with a pimpled face and questionable intellect, who was constantly flirting with Tina at work when he had a chance, handed her a sealed envelope and began to chat.

Tina didn’t want to appear rude, but she couldn’t be civil at a crucial time like this and quickly dismissed the annoying messenger.

She was finally left alone with information that could shed some light on Elizabeth Porter’s mystery. Tina opened the envelope and took out its contents. She was not prepared for the story she found inside.

The copies of the book that Dylan sent contained a file of an eye-witness account of a murder case that happened in 1885 that was never solved and was dubbed ‘The Art Beauty Murder Mystery.’ The story was relatively short but shocking nevertheless.

TBC…