Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 3

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MickLifeCrisis
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Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 3

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Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight or any of its characters.
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Mick, Beth, Josef and my OCs Kylie Jenkins and Savannah.


Chapter 3


Savannah pulled into the driveway and around to the back entrance like before. Mick climbed out of the passenger seat and walked back to rental SUV Beth was driving with Kylie beside her. “Stay here till I make sure the coast is clear,” he instructed them and Beth nodded. It only took a few minutes for Mick to come back out the door. He nodded to Savannah who exited her car with her duffle bag while Mick walked back to the SUV.

“It’s all clear; there’s no one in the place,” he said as he opened Beth’s door. Kylie had already let herself out and was walking around to the rear to reach the luggage. “I can get the suitcases, Kylie,” Mick said.

Savannah led the way in through the back door. “Set your bags down for a minute while I get some key cards for your rooms,” she said and headed off towards the front reception desk. She was back in a minute. “This way,” she said and headed through the back hall towards the guest rooms. “We try to keep the human guests and the vampire guests separated without making it too obvious,” she explained as they walked. “But we also have some combination rooms. Here we are,” she said stopping. “Mick and Beth, you’re in here, and Kylie you can have the combo room across the hall. I figured you wouldn’t want to be alone at the other end of the house.”

Kylie smiled gratefully. “Yes, thanks. Where will you be?”

“I have my own room in the private quarters down there at the end,” she replied and pointed in the general direction. “It’s not that far from you guys.”

Mick had carried the luggage into their room. “Wow, very nice!” he said and Beth nodded in agreement.

“It’s so rustic and look at that view of the woods!” she exclaimed. She turned to face Savannah. “It’s beautiful here!”

Savannah was beaming. “I’m so glad you like it! Wait till you see the rest of the place!”

“I’m afraid that the house tour will have to wait,” Mick interrupted. “I need to see the crime scenes.”

“Of course,” Savannah replied, her smile fading. “Jason’s office is this way.” Kylie quickly deposited her suitcase in her room and without taking time to look around immediately came back into the hallway and followed Savannah down the hall opposite from the way they had come. “Here it is,” she said with a slight catch in her throat as she saw the damage again.

Mick stepped inside and slowly looked around, taking in the damage and signs of a struggle. He closed his eyes and inhaled – then slowly released his breath and opened his eyes.

“Well?” Beth asked. Mick shook his head.

“It’s been too long. Nothing but feelings of a lot of anger.” He looked at the big oak desk, now broken right down the middle. It must have taken the two of them coming down on that together to crack it like that, he thought. He turned to Savannah, still hovering at the doorway. “Is anything missing from here that you know of?”

Savannah stepped into the office for the first time since discovering the damage. She bent to pick up the packages she had dropped that day.

“Here, let me get those,” Kylie said and stooped to pick up the brand new sheets. Savannah smiled gratefully then walked around the office, carefully avoiding the broken glass and furniture.

“It doesn’t look like any of the big things are missing,” she told Mick. “They’re just all broken.”

Mick took out his notebook and flipped through the pages. “What about the manila envelope? Would you recognize it again? Is it here?”

Savannah looked more carefully at the broken desk, and then shrugged her shoulders in defeat. “I just don’t know, Mick! I don’t see it here, but that doesn’t mean it was taken. I have no idea what Jason did with it.”

“That’s alright,” Beth said putting her arm around the young woman’s shoulders. “He’s just being thorough.” Savannah sniffed and nodded her head.

Mick cleared his throat. “Okay, you said that you ran through the first floor rooms and the kitchen. Show me where you went.”

In single file they all followed Savannah as she retraced her steps. When they came to the sitting room Mick stopped suddenly, and Beth almost ran into him. “What’s all this on the floor? I thought you said only the office and the kitchen were damaged?”

Savannah looked at the wall and then at the broken picture frames on the floor. “I guess I forgot to mention this. I was in such a hurry racing through the rooms that I barely noticed this. Is it important?”

“Everything out of place is important,” Mick replied. They all stood staring at the wall. “What are all these?”

“Jason likes old artwork, especially paintings and ink drawings. He collects ones of the local people and places. Landscapes, flowers, trees, the old train station, the docks, early buildings, the copper mines… anything historic of the area.”

“Copper mines?” Beth asked.

“Oh yes,” replied Savannah. “This area was known as Copper Country. Mining copper was an important industry in the mid- to late- 1800’s. In fact, Jason made some of his fortune from copper.”

Mick stood a long time looking at the wall and at the smashed frames and art on the floor. He noticed only certain pictures had been removed and shattered; the rest remained untouched on the wall. There must be a reason; a pattern of some sort, he thought to himself. He walked among the debris on the floor, crunching glass and occasionally moving a frame with the toe of his boot. He squatted down and picked up some pen and ink drawings, shaking off the glass shards. Again he stared up at the wall as the others watched him in silence.

“Mick?” Beth asked tentatively.

Mick stood up. “I think I’ve got something.” He waved his hand holding the drawings toward the rest on the floor. “All of the damaged pictures seem to be old drawings of the copper mines. Or people and places connected to the mines.”

“Who would have drawn these?” Kylie asked.

Savannah shrugged. “I don’t know. Traveling artists, I guess. Maybe they came up here with the rush of prospectors and it was a way to make a living.”

“Look at this one,” Mick said as he held out a drawing to Savannah. “Look how detailed it is. Do you know anything about it?”

She looked at the drawing of two men standing and holding shovels near an excavation, smiling broadly. “Well, this man on the right is Jason.”

Mick and Beth looked surprised. “It is? Are you sure?”

Savannah nodded. “Yes. He pointed it out to me once. Asked me if I liked his beard,” she added with a slight giggle.

“What about the other man?” Beth asked.

“I’m not really sure,” Savannah replied. “I think it might have been his business partner. In the mine.” She turned the drawing over and showed them the blank back. “No names.”

Mick took the drawing back and examined it again. “The artist’s initials are on the front, along with ‘51’. That would be 1851 I guess. Was Jason a vampire then?”

“Uh-huh. He was born in 1702 and turned at age 40. So he’d be…”

“Almost 150 years old in that picture,” Kylie volunteered.

Mick glanced around at the other drawings on the floor. “See if there are any more of this other fellow,” he said. “Maybe we can find out who he is.”

They all started sorting carefully through the broken glass and frames. “Hey look at this!” Kylie exclaimed excitedly. “Here is someone who probably knows.” They rushed over to her and all peered at the drawing she was holding. It showed the same two men standing in a saloon. They had raised glasses of beer and were grinning, as if making a toast. And in the background, behind the bar, the artist’s detail showed the barkeep – a perfect depiction of Josef Kostan.

Beth let out a low whistle. “Mick, did you know Josef knew Jason from that long ago? Did you know Josef even lived here at one time? And was he involved in copper mining as well? Or was he just a bartender?”

Mick shook his head. “I didn’t know any of it. And I have no idea if he had a hand in the mines. Though it’s hard to imagine Josef as ‘just’ a bartender at any stage in his life,” he added with a half grin. His smile faded as he turned to Savannah. “Didn’t you ever recognize Josef in this picture? Was he involved in the mines with Jason and this other fellow?”

Savannah turned beet red and shook her head. “I…I…no, I never noticed Josef in that picture. To be honest, I never paid any attention to these pictures before. Except that one where Jason pointed himself out to me. I just wasn’t interested in a bunch of old pictures,” she said rather sheepishly.

“What about the mines? Was Josef involved?"

She shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea.”

“Then I guess we go straight to the source,” Mick said as he reached for his phone. “Josef – you’re on speaker,” he said as he held his phone out to the group.

“What’s up, Mick? What have you found?”

“A picture of you, actually. From 1851.”

“Impossible, of course. Vampires don’t show up in photographs of that vintage.”

“It’s a pen and ink drawing, not a photograph. Were you a bartender up here near the copper mines in the 1850’s? And did you know Jason back then?” Silence. “Josef, did you hear me?”

“I heard you. Why are you looking at old drawings?”

“Jason has a collection of paintings and ink drawings of local landscapes and historical places on a wall. The only ones removed from the wall and smashed on the floor all seem to be related to the copper mining heyday in the mid to late 1800’s. I took that as a clue to Jason’s disappearance. Imagine my surprise when Kylie found you in the background of a picture with Jason and some other guy. Working the bar, to be exact.”

Josef’s heavy sigh was clearly audible. “I’ll arrive there tomorrow. I need to find some old paperwork first.”

“So you were involved with Jason and the mines?”

“I’ll explain everything when I see you,” Josef said, evading Mick’s question. “Hey Kylie, how’s my girl?” he added in a lighter tone.

“I’m fine Josef,” Kylie giggled as Beth smiled at her. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Tomorrow then, Josef. Call me if you need a ride from the airport,” Mick said.

“Tomorrow,” Josef replied, and ended the call.

“Well, you heard it. We’ll wait till Josef arrives tomorrow and see what light he can shed on this.”

“Another day,” Savannah said flatly. “I hope Jason is okay and isn’t suffering,” she added, trying to control her emotions.

Mick cleared his throat. “In the meantime,” he said as he looked around at the mess on the floor. “Let’s clean this up and get some food and blood in stock.”

“I can take care of all of that,” Savannah said, thankful for something she could do to get her mind off of Jason’s predicament. Confident in her managerial duties, she took charge. “There’s a regional Cleaner who can get everything back to normal before Josef arrives. Though I don’t think they’ll be able to do anything about the desk.” She looked off towards Jason’s office, then shook her head to get back in the present. “I’ll ask them to bring a blood delivery, too. Then I’ll place an order with the grocer. Do you want me to call in the chef?”

“I think the less people who know we’re here, the better,” Mick said.

Beth spoke up. “Why don’t you put together a grocery list and tell me where the store is? Kylie and I can make a food run. There’s only three of us eating food; we can cook for ourselves.”

Savannah nodded. “Alright, that works.”


To be continued...
Last edited by MickLifeCrisis on Tue Jan 09, 2018 5:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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allegrita
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Re: Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 3

Post by allegrita »

I love getting a history lesson as a bonus in this story! You must have done some homework to create the fascinating background about copper mining. Hmm... what is Josef's connection to Jason and those old mines...? :chin: And I wonder why he didn't know he'd been captured in a drawing, one Jason kept...? :chin:

This story is really getting compelling. Thanks for giving us such a cool multichapter! :hug:
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Re: Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 3

Post by MickLifeCrisis »

Thanks for reading and commenting, Alle! Is there anyplace that doesn't have connections to Josef?? :snicker:

Next chapter up tonight! :reading:
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Re: Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 3

Post by librarian_7 »

I forgot I hadn't commented on this one yet! Very interesting developments.

At Josef's age, I expect he's forgotten some of the things he's had a hand in...it's been a busy 400 years!
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Re: Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 3

Post by cassysj »

Josef has a very interesting background.
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Re: Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 3

Post by MickLifeCrisis »

Yes, Josef sure gets around. Or got around, I should say. :snicker:

Thanks for reading and commenting. :flowers:
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