She completed her search and stood planted in front of him.
He met her eyes, shook his head. “Lot harder to find excuses not to go on a free carnival ride.”
“I’m just glad you made it out of the cable car before you threw up.” They shared a grin.
Then Noah’s face clouded, and he looked down, then away from her. “Any luck?”
Right. Enough reminiscing. She straightened her shoulders. “Nothing obvious. But, then again, I didn’t expect obvious.”
“There aren’t a lot of places to put anything.” Noah was clearly avoiding looking at the railing—or at her—but he did at least reexamine the window frame a little more thoroughly. “Do you think the lighthouse isn’t the right site?”
She appreciated how he phrased that so vaguely, rather than simply stating she could have been wrong. Though the nicety could be proof of his waning emotional state being up this high.
“I’ll go back in and look around the top floor. Maybe the clue is inside, out of the elements.”
Noah shrugged, one hand digging into the wall, the other attempting a casual pose on his hip. “I had my eyes on the ground the whole time coming up here, and I didn’t see a thing.”
“I’m sure it’s hidden pretty well. If it’s here, it’s obviously been up here for a while. Gilbert would have had to stash it while he was still healthy enough to come do it, but recently enough that he knew about his—” Oh, good gravy. She’d put her sandal in her mouth again.
A muscle in Noah’s jaw flexed and she wished with everything in her she could retract the careless statement. “I’m sorry.” She touched his arm. “Did you…know the cancer had come back?”
One quick jerk of his head confirmed her suspicion.Oh, Noah. She swallowed and squeezed his arm. “Don’t worry. We’re going to find it.”
He nodded, a bit of color coming back into his cheeks. He drew a ragged breath, and before she could assure him it wasn’t necessary, he swung back through the opening into the top floor. She quickly followed suit.
But he seemed better now, stronger. More focused. “Could he have left it with the guards at the ticket stand?”
“Maybe. We can ask when we go back down.” Elisa rolled in her bottom lip. “You know your grandfather best. If he was here, what would he be drawn to?”
Noah surveyed the small space. “He was quirky, but he had purpose. And he wouldn’t have made it impossible—that defeats the point. He wants us to find these clues.” He sighed. “We just have to think like him.”
Elisa had a sudden idea. “How tall was he?”
Noah shrugged. “Five-ten, maybe? Under six feet, for sure. I passed him up in high school.”
“Well, that doesn’t help me. How tall are you now?” She gestured for him to come closer. “I’m about five-six.”
He moved to stand in front of her, near enough she felt his warmth and nervous energy. “Six-one.”
His voice dipped deeper, but that was probably his phobia talking. She, on the other hand, had no excuse for the rapid increase in heart rate or the sweat dotting her palms.
“So, about…here.” She forced herself to focus on Noah’s forehead as she held one hand flat, indicating where Gilbert would stand between their two heights.
“Yeah.” His breath, warm and minty, fanned her face. “Close enough.”
Too close. She took a step back. “What could he reach easily? He would have hidden it quickly, so no one would walk up on him.”
“Yeah, and it’s not like he dragged a ladder up here.” Noah turned slowly, his eyes scanning the space. His back was rigid but his shoulders weren’t as tense as they’d been on the way up the stairs. “Maybe we should re-read the clue.”
Elisa recited the first one from memory. “One, if by land, and two, if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be.”
Footsteps sounded below, faint but distinct. She met Noah’s stricken look, certain her own face reflected the same panic. She recited faster. “Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch of the North Church tower as a signal light…” The footsteps grew louder. “What words jump out at you?”
Noah ran a hand through his hair as he paced. “Opposite?”
“Me too.” Elisa nodded. “And lantern.”
“Hang a lantern…” Noah muttered.
