* * * * *
The next morning, Caera's mother dropped her off at the town library so that she could begin working on her report. Once she had the information she needed, she gathered the books together and handed over her library card.
What to do? she thought to herself. Claudia and everyone else was at school, so Caera thought that she would take a walk along the beach before her mother came to get her. It was only 11:15; she had a good hour and a half before her mother got off work for her lunch break.
Caera strolled down the pier, basking in the bright sun, even though the strong breeze coming off the sea made it cold this close to winter. The wooden planks made a hollow thumping sound as she walked around and enjoyed herself, glancing in shop windows, and later stopping to watch the waves lapping at the shore as the town center ended and the docks for the fishing boats began. There was hardly anyone around. After stopping to buy an ice cream cone from the vender a few yards back, Caera decided to visit the old town park before returning to the library to wait for her mother.
The park was on the seaside. The park was a beautiful place, surrounded by tall oak trees with white benches and wondrous flower gardens all around. The grass, however, was softer than the benches, so Caera spread out her jacket on the ground to sit and pulled out a book to read. There were flocks of pigeons and seagulls flying high above, carefully landing just close enough to Caera to retrieve a fallen bit of her ice cream cone.
Caera's subject for her biography report was from the French and Indian War. As Caera flipped the pages aimlessly, the subject of the next chapter caught her eye. In nearly every book that she and Claudia had looked in, only the Campbell mystery was mentioned, but in this book, she saw three new Campbell names. "I wonder how Claudia missed this one?" she thought aloud. As she skimmed each paragraph, she began to remember bits of the dream that she had had when she was sick.
Closing the book, Caera picked up her jacket and ran down the old path to the library which would shortcut the distance to the town center by bypassing the pier. If she timed things just right, she should reach the middle school just in time for lunch.