Marcia Talley - A Quiet Death

‘Maybe the guy you know as Skip doesn’t want you to know who he really is. Think about it, Hannah. You said he confessed to killing someone. Remember? If he survived, perhaps he’s thinking better of his deathbed confession.’ The lines deepened between my husband’s brows. ‘Shit, Hannah. You could be in danger!’

I stood up, waded through the piles of bedding, and gave my husband a hug. ‘I’ll be fine. I’ve told a lot of people about Skip, and I’ll make sure that even more people know about him.’

Paul pressed his lips against the top of my head. ‘Lucky you had the letters in the car, then. Why was that, Hannah?’

‘I intended to photocopy some of the envelopes and a couple of the photographs. Just in case.’

‘In case of what?’

I swept an arm. ‘Exhibit A.’

‘I wonder if they’re still together?’ Paul said after a moment of silence.

‘Who? Lilith and Zan? A love like that? It would be nice to think so, wouldn’t it? Anthony and Cleopatra, Troilus and Cressida, Romeo and Juliet, Heloise and Abelard…’

Paul made a ‘T’ with his hands. ‘Time out! Didn’t all of those relationships end badly?’

I felt my face redden. ‘Guess you’re right. And now that I think about it, Heloise’s uncle had Abelard castrated.’ I shivered. ‘Bad example.’

‘So what is Skip’s relation to the letters?’

‘At first, I figured that Lilith was his mother. Now, I’m not so sure. Zan mentions his daughters from time to time, but he never mentions a son. Perhaps Lilith married somebody else after her relationship with Zan ended. Maybe that’s where Skip came from. I know one person who could clear this all up in a flash, though.’

‘Who?’

‘Lilith Chaloux. If only I can find her.’

‘Miracles happen,’ my husband said.

Early the following afternoon I’d finished returning the house to its usual state of gracious clutter and was scrubbing spaghetti sauce off the inside of the microwave – lunch leftovers had gone volcanic – when the miracle happened.

The telephone rang. ‘Hannah, this is Elspeth Simon. In New York.’

‘Oh, yes. I’m so glad you called.’

‘Claire was sorting through some old Christmas cards the other day and you’ll never guess what she found!’

‘A Christmas card from Lilith?’ I guessed, my heart pounding.

‘The next best thing. A postcard from the dear girl.’

‘That’s wonderful!’

‘There’s no return address on it, unfortunately, but there’s a picture of a deer on the front.’ Elspeth paused for a moment. ‘I’m looking at it now. A Sika deer, it says. Never heard of Sika deer, have you?’

‘Actually, I have. We have them here in Maryland. They’re not native, of course. They originally came from Japan.’

‘Well, this postcard came from Maryland, too. A place called the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.’

I sat down on a kitchen chair and tried to catch my breath. Lilith had moved to Maryland? How could I be so lucky? The Blackwater refuge was on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, just south of Cambridge. I’d visited it often, sometimes taking the grandchildren along for wildlife drives, bird walks and the annual eagle festival. What would be the chances that Lilith was still there?

‘Is there a date?’

‘The postmark is faded, but it looks like it could be 1988.’

‘What does Lilith say on the postcard?’

‘I’ll read it to you.’ Elspeth gave a ladylike cough and began. ‘“Elspeth and Claire, Darlings.” She always called us that – darlings. “You will be surprised to hear that your big city girl is loving country life. Today, while I was painting, a doe stuck her nose right through the open cottage door! Give Pedro a cuddle for me! Love” – then she writes “X O X O X” – and an “L.”’

‘Elspeth, could you do me a big favor? Could you fax me a copy of the postcard?’

‘We don’t have a fax machine, dear.’

Of course they wouldn’t have a fax machine. The sisters had to be in their eighties. What was I thinking?

‘But,’ Elspeth continued, ‘I’ll be happy to scan it for you. What’s your email address?’

I had to laugh. ‘Elspeth, you are a gem.’

‘That’s what all my boyfriends tell me.’

Elspeth Simon was as good as her word. Two days later, an email arrived from TwoOldBiddies@nyc.rr.com, with two attachments, PDF versions of the front and back of Lilith’s postcard. I printed them out, but they didn’t tell me anything I hadn’t already learned from talking to Elspeth Simon on the telephone.

All I knew now was that approximately twenty-two years ago, in 1988, a young woman, then in her middle thirties, had settled down in a cottage, most likely in Dorchester County, Maryland, intending to paint.

Even after the Chesapeake Bay Bridge had connected the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay to Kent Island and beyond to Delaware, Virginia and the Atlantic Ocean beaches, Dorchester County had remained rural. With the exception of a ghastly commercial stretch paralleling Route 50 that had seen the recent addition of the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa and Marina – say that three times fast – bucolic rusticity still pretty much ruled the day.

I popped out to the car, found my Rand McNally and spread it open on the kitchen table. Cambridge – population 12,000 – was always a possibility, but the word cottage suggested a more pastoral setting, so I decided to start with the smaller communities and work my way up.

And I really wanted a partner in crime.

I picked up the phone and called my sister. ‘Ruth, what are you doing today?’

Shouting over the roar of a vacuum cleaner, she said, ‘Hutch and I are working on our routine for the Dancesport Festival at College Park in November, but he just called to say he’s got a deposition to prepare, so I guess I’m free.’

‘You’re not working at the store?’

‘Neelie’s got the con at Mother Earth today.’

‘Good! You don’t want to spend the day cleaning house, do you?’

Ruth switched off the vac. ‘So, what’s up, Nancy Drew?’ she wondered aloud.

‘You know me too well. I have a good lead on Lilith Chaloux. There’s evidence she may have settled down in Dorchester County and I’d like company while I go poke around over there.’

‘Dorchester County’s a big place, Hannah.’

‘From a postcard Lilith sent to the Simon sisters, I think she might have bought a cottage in the vicinity of the Blackwater Preserve, near Cambridge.’

‘Oh, well, that really narrows it down!’

‘I know, but I’d like to give it a shot. Come with me, please. It’s a gorgeous day. The worse thing that will happen is that we’ll have a lovely drive, stop for a lunch somewhere, and swing by one of the farm stands on Route 50 to buy some of the last tomatoes of the season. Vine-ripened.’

‘You drive a hard bargain, Hannah. I was teetering on the fence until you mentioned the tomatoes. I’ll be over in about an hour.’

As we drove over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, my sister and I discussed strategy.

‘What do you plan to do if you find her?’ Ruth wanted to know. She flipped down the mirror on the sun visor and began fluffing up her gray hair with her fingers.

‘I’ve got her letters in the trunk. I plan to return them.’

‘I hate to burst your balloon, Hannah, but my theory is that she’s passed away.’

‘What? Lilith is young, only fifty-eight.’

‘If she’s still alive,’ Ruth argued, ‘why is this Skip person carrying her letters around with him?’

‘Well, if Lilith is Skip’s mother, or aunt – related to her, anyway – perhaps she asked him to have them scanned, to preserve them for the family archives or something.’