By the time Abby and Bruce had returned from lunch, Mara was determined to get something accomplished, so she ordered Abby to return to school or to find someplace else to be truant. Mara turned her attention to Mr. Mickleson’s grandfather clock or, as Mr. Mason liked to refer to it, his longcase clock.
Mara was no expert in antique clocks; she couldn’t tell you who built or designed one from the other, but she did know the basic variations of the mechanisms and how they worked. This particular model was an eight-day clock, meaning it only had to be wound once a week, as opposed to a one-day clock that had to be wound daily.
The clock’s hands had not moved from the 6:58 position since its delivery. And the pendulum—which could be seen through the glass door at the clock’s waist—was not s
