Beverly Connor - Dead Past

It would be easier in person, she thought. She got up, grabbed her purse, and went out the door, mentally thanking her mechanic for bringing the car to her. This was the first good look she had had of the new paint job. It looked just like the original before Patrice Stanton took a paint can to it. Diane keyed in the combination and opened the door. The keys were in the ashtray. The bill was lying on the passenger side. She left the bill there, grabbed the keys and put them in the ignition, and drove off to the hotel.

As Diane knocked on the door to Ruby Torkel’s room, the security guard from the museum stuck his head out of the adjoining room’s doorway.

“Oh, hi, Dr. Fallon, just checking,” said the guard.

“I’m glad,” said Diane.

Diane heard somebody on the other side of the door.

“Who is it?” Ruby Torkel asked.

“Diane Fallon,” she said.

“I thought it looked like you. You can’t be too careful. These peepholes distort things.” She unlocked the door, unlatched the safety chain, and opened the door. “Had any luck finding who’s behind all this? I’m getting kind of tired of being cooped up in a hotel room. It’s nice, we have a bedroom and a little sitting room and two bathrooms, and room service is just real nice, but I’d like to get out and go shopping.”

“We’re trying,” said Diane. “I came to ask you some questions about Leo Parrish and his relatives.”

“I told you about all I know. I don’t know the family at all,” she said. “Can I get you something to drink? This little refrigerator is full of all kinds of drinks.”

Diane didn’t want to even think about how much all this was costing.

“No, thank you. I’m fine. I wanted to ask if there is anyone back in Glendale-Marsh who might know Leo Parrish’s relatives?” she asked.

“Well, I expect Elnora St. James would know. She’s in her nineties, but is sharp as a tack. She lived by the Parrishes growing up. She likes to talk to people. Her hearing’s not too good, but like I said, her mind is still with us. You want me to call her for you?”

“Yes, please,” said Diane.

Ruby went to her suitcase and got an address book. “She lives with her great-granddaughter.”

Ruby seemed to have developed some skill in the procedure for making a long-distance call from the hotel. In just a few moments she had someone on the line.

“Arybeth, is Elnora there? I have someone who wants to know about the Parrishes.”

“Yes, it’s about that, but mostly it’s about the Parrishes themselves. She’s a museum lady.”

Ruby Torkel put her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. “She wants to know if it’s about the treasure. Lots of people have called to ask Elnora about the treasure. Sometimes she gets tired of people wanting her to tell them where to dig-if she knew, she’d have dug it up a long time ago.”

She directed her attention to the phone again. “Elnora, how are you feeling today? That’s good. I got someone here who wants to speak with you about the Parrishes. She’s a real nice lady. My Juliet works for her at the museum here in Rosewood, Georgia.”

Ruby handed Diane the phone. “She’s feeling real good today.”

Diane took the phone and settled herself down in a chair. “Mrs. St. James…”

“Call me Elnora, dear. I prefer it. So you want to know about old Luther and his boys? They were the devil’s own.”

Mrs. Elnora St. James had a clear voice and an equally clear mind-and a strong opinion about the Glendale-Marsh Parrishes. This was a topic in which she was well versed. Diane found it easier just to let her talk about the family at her own pace and to interject a question only occasionally.

“The two brothers, Luther and Henry, couldn’t have been more different,” Elnora began. “Henry was smart and kind. Luther was dumb and mean. The land belonged to Henry. Their father left it to him. Luther was allowed to live in a small cottage near the north boundary marker, and he was bitter about that. He made Henry’s life miserable. Henry left the land to his son, Leo Parrish, and Leo let Luther work it while Leo traveled. Leontine, Leo’s twin sister, married and moved to New York. Stop me if I’m going too fast for you.”

“You’re doing fine,” said Diane, glad that Beth had provided her with a Parrish kinship chart or she’d have a hard time keeping up.

“Leo Parrish was supposed to have found some treasure-I guess Ruby told you about that?” she said.

“Yes, she did. But I’m more interested in the family history,” said Diane.

“You’d be about the only one,” said Elnora. “Now, where was I?”

“Leontine moved to New York,” said Diane.

“Yes. Leo lived with her for a while there, I think. He didn’t like coming back to the family farm, and I can’t say as I blame him. We sure didn’t like being neighbors with Luther and his boys.”

“Did Leo will the land to Luther?” asked Diane.

“Why no. Leo willed it to his sister, Leontine. Luther just took it,” said Elnora.

“Took it?” said Diane.

“Stole it,” declared Elnora. “Wrote Leontine and told her it was his land, should have been his land all along, and if she didn’t like it, that was too bad. Though his language was probably more colorful.”

“She didn’t do anything about it?” asked Diane. So far the history of the Glendale-Marsh Parrishes wasn’t getting her anywhere, but she kept hoping, and Elnora was interested in talking.

“Not anything direct, she didn’t. She was afraid of her uncle. Isn’t that a shame, being afraid of your own kin, especially an uncle? But Luther was mean, so was his sons. They’d have as soon killed her as look at her. So Luther took the land, but in the end Leontine got the last laugh.”

“How was that?” asked Diane.

“Leontine was the owner of record, so the tax bills for the land went to her home in New York. And she didn’t pay them; nor did she tell Luther they weren’t paid. You’d think the fool would have realized he had taxes due. But he might have thought Leontine was too scared of him not to pay them herself. Anyway, the unpaid taxes built up over the years. And one day when Luther was an old man, the sheriff came and ordered him off the land. Said it had been sold on the courthouse steps for nonpayment of taxes. I would like to have been a bird in a tree when the sheriff came to the door. I understand ol’ Luther was fit to be tied. He died a year later, probably from stewing over losing the land. Him and the boys tried to protest, but the tax people told Luther it wasn’t his land and he had no interest to protest. I bet that made him mad all over again.

“His boys, Martin and Owen, was living with him. They thought the land was their inheritance and now they had nothing. It was kind of sad for Owen. He had a family.”

“Do you know what happened to his family?” asked Diane.

“They lived around Glendale-Marsh for a while. Every now and again you’d hear about one of them getting into trouble. Owen’s boy was in trouble a lot. He got some girl pregnant and had to get married. I don’t know how long that lasted. In the end, ol’ Luther died and the two boys drifted away. We were glad to see them go. They were a mean bunch. They were always coming around and stealing stuff from us, like they was entitled.”

“Did they ever look for the treasure?” asked Diane.

“I’m sure they did. Martin tried to contact Leontine one time, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with them.” Elnora started laughing. “That treasure was like a curse from Leo, too. Luther was always running treasure hunters off his land. I believe he had more potholes dug on his property than we had in the entire state of Florida.”