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Rose smiled at him. “Alf has a very nurturing way about him,” she said.

“They all told me the same thing,” Mr. P. said. “Caleb Swift had a very dark, possessive streak. One of the girls told me that Caleb smashed the screen of her laptop because he thought her history professor was flirting with her. Another told me that she was up late studying and discovered Caleb was sitting outside her dorm room in his car.”

Charlotte shook her head wordlessly.

Liz held up a hand. “So how exactly does this help us figure out who killed Lily? Do you think Caleb Swift’s been alive all this time and suddenly decided to come back and kill Lily?”

“It’s not impossible,” Rose said.

“It’s not damn likely, either,” Liz countered.

I couldn’t help noticing the tight lines around her mouth.

“It’s one more piece of the puzzle,” I said. I looked at Mr. P. “Any luck so far with the Wellington Group?”

He shook his head. “I’ll keep digging,” he said, turning back to his laptop.

I put my arm around Liz’s shoulder. “Let’s have some tea,” I said, starting toward the door into the shop.

“What makes you think I want a cup?” she said.

“I wasn’t asking,” I said. “What’s with you today?”

She brushed a curl of hair away from her face. “This is just ridiculous. Caleb Swift most likely fell off that sailboat of his and drowned years ago, and now Rose thinks he came back from the dead to kill Lily?”

I sighed. “Okay. I know that part isn’t very credible, but now we know something about Caleb Swift that we didn’t know before. Maybe it’ll be useful.”

“I don’t see how and I don’t care how nurturing Alf is. I don’t think we should be prying into those girls’ lives.”

“You’re right.” I gave her shoulders a squeeze. Charlotte had started dusting a set of bookshelves. “Charlotte, would you make the tea?” I asked. “Liz could use a cup.”

“That’s a good idea,” she said.

Liz reached over and laid her hand against my cheek. “I’m sorry I’m such a crabby old hag.”

I put my hand over hers. “Love you,” I said.

I walked over to Mac. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“I need to make a phone call,” I said. “Can you hold down the fort for a few more minutes?”

“Sure. I’ve got this,” he said.

I went upstairs to my office and closed the door behind me. Liz wasn’t being completely straight with me and I was pretty sure I knew why. I stared at the phone for what seemed like a very long time. And then I picked up the receiver.

Chapter 19

Elspeth Emmerson showed up about twenty minutes later. As always, she looked perfectly put together in knee-high caramel-colored boots and a pumpkin-colored coat, with her blond hair pulled back from her face on one side. Only the fact that she kept sliding a narrow gold and silver twist ring up and down her right index finger let on that she was nervous.

I walked over to her. “Are you sure about this?” I said.

She nodded. “Yes. It’s time for me to stop acting like I have something to be ashamed of.”

“You don’t,” I said.

There were no customers in the store. Charlotte was standing next to the rack Mac had mounted on the wall, hanging the tablecloths that were already ironed and talking to Liz. They both turned around at the sound of Elspeth’s spike heels on the wide plank floor.

“Hi,” Charlotte said with a warm smile.

Liz fixed her gaze on Elspeth, but her eyes flicked to me for a moment. “What are you doing here?” she said.

“I came to talk to Charlotte and Rose and everyone else about Caleb.”

“But you already told Sarah that you and Caleb went out for a short time.”

“I didn’t tell her everything,” Elspeth said.

Concern was etched into the lines on the older woman’s face. “I know this is painful for you,” she said quietly. “Why don’t you let me do this?”

Elspeth crossed the space between them and put a hand on her aunt’s arm. “I know you want to protect me,” she said. “But I’m okay. And why should I act like I have something to hide when I didn’t do anything wrong?” She turned to Charlotte. “Would you ask Rose and . . . and everyone to come out here, please? There’s something I want to tell everyone about Caleb Swift.”

Charlotte looked at Liz and then at me. “All right,” she said slowly. She headed for the back room. Liz didn’t say a word.

Elspeth waited until Charlotte had left the room. Then she focused her attention on Liz again. “This is all me, Aunt Liz. I can see it on your face. You’re angry at Sarah, and the person you should be angry with is me.”

Liz shook her head. “Why would I be angry at Sarah? The only person I’m angry at is young Mr. Swift.”

Elspeth put her free hand, clenched in a fist, against her chest. “I should have spoken up a long time ago about what Caleb did to me. What if . . . ?” She stopped, swallowed hard and looked away for a moment. “What if what happened to Lily is somehow connected to him? If I’d gone to the police, maybe Lily would—”

“No.” Liz and I both said the word at the same time.

I shook my head. “What happened to Lily has nothing, nothing to do with you,” I said.

Liz grasped Elspeth’s forearms with both her hands. “It is not your fault that Lily is dead,” she said. “Do you understand me?”

After a moment Elspeth nodded. Rose came out of the workroom then, followed by Mr. P. and Mac. She came right over to Elspeth and gave her a hug.

“Charlotte said there’s something you wanted to tell us about Caleb Swift,” she said. She studied the younger woman, concern etched in the lines on her face.

“There is,” Elspeth said. She cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, her voice was stronger. “Caleb and I went out a few months before he started seeing Lily. At first things were wonderful. He was charming and very attentive. He wanted to spend every minute with me.” She paused for a moment. “But soon he didn’t understand why I had to keep going to my study group and why I was applying for an internship that would take time away from him.” She continued to twist the ring on her right hand.

“Take your time,” Liz said gently.

“One night I canceled a date with him because my economics prof had dumped a surprise test on the class and a bunch of us had decided to get together and study. Caleb was waiting outside the library when I came out. I told him it was creepy and he should go home. He grabbed my wrist . . . and . . . and he broke it.”

“Oh my word,” Rose whispered.

“The reprobate,” Mr. P. said, the furrows between his eyes deepening.

“I snuck out of my dorm room in the middle of the night like I was the criminal,” Elspeth continued. “I came to Liz because I knew she wouldn’t push me to tell her what happened. Then I called Caleb and told him if he ever came near me again, I would tell her what he’d done. A few weeks later he started seeing Lily. I, uh . . .” She cleared her throat again. “I went to see her. I told her what Caleb had done to me. She told me he wasn’t that kind of person with her and asked me to leave. When he disappeared, well . . . I’ve always wondered if she knew more than she was saying about what happened to him.”

Rose immediately wrapped Elspeth in another hug. “Oh, my dear, I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

Charlotte reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “It’s brave of you to tell us,” she said. “Thank you.”

“I should have been braver sooner,” Elspeth said. “I didn’t tell Aunt Liz what happened for a long time, and when I did, I made her promise not to tell anyone else.”