Chapter 14 Gil
Fourteen
Gil
Gil didn’t sleep well. It wasn’t the bed—it was much more comfortable than he remembered beds being (they slept in hammocks on the island). And it wasn’t that he watched too much TV (though he did spend a lot of time perusing something called Netflix).
It was because he couldn’t get his mind to stop racing. His thoughts veered from Aggy, Thomas, and Laurel, who he felt guilty leaving, to Evelyn, who he was both thankful for and angry with. Why didn’t you tell me? he asked the darkened room. I could have helped you.
Instead, you made things worse, a voice in his head said as he thought of Connie again.
Connie, who was really Grace. Connie, who he’d been sweet-talked into telling everything there was to know about Sparrow.
He tossed and turned (with the TV on) all night and finally fell off when the clock with numbers said 3:00.
When the beeping went off—the alarm—he didn’t know how to shut it off.
Zara did it for him, threw him some new clothes, and pointed him to the shower again.
(Apparently people bathed daily.) After banging on the door twice to hurry, Gil came out and Benny handed him what was called a raincoat. (It repelled rain!)
“Rain or shine, we need to get to that country club when it opens,” Benny said, braiding her hair. “Before the Rudds know we’re there.”
“What time did you tell Kimble you’d meet him at his boat?” Zara asked.
“One o’clock.” Benny threw a raincoat over her head. “I’m not sure we look country club appropriate.”
“We’re fine,” Zara insisted. “Let’s just go.”
“Are we biking again?” Gil asked hopefully.
“Yes, we are,” Benny said with a grin that reminded him very much of Sparrow’s.
He let her lead the way down the porch steps to something called a garage (to Gil it seemed like a small barn), where the bikes were waiting.
Zara lent bikes to Benny and Gil, since Benny’s bike was back at Evelyn’s house, which was now Benny’s house.
A short while later, they were biking to an area of Greenport that was familiar.
He recognized the Rudd property immediately.
The original house was gone, replaced with a large brick structure with ivy trailing up the side.
A sign on the green lawn, next to tiny cars with no sides, said North Shore Country Club.
Gil could see a swimming hole in the distance.
In front of the brick building was a circular road where a man was taking a person’s keys.
Zara rolled right up behind the car and placed her bike next to the front doors. She beckoned them to do the same.
“Follow my lead and let me talk,” Zara said. “I’ve been here for events before.”
She went through the heavy doors into a room where a woman with wavy light brown hair sat behind an oak desk. Light piano music played from a small speaker beside her. The woman looked up and smiled. “Zara, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Good morning, Ashley. I’d like you to meet Benny Benedict, a friend of mine who is new to town and”—Zara leaned in and whispered—“is about to come into money. I told her if she has money to burn, she needs to become a member here, and Ashley Ford is the woman to see.”
Benny gave an awkward wave. “Hello. Would it be alright if I looked around? With my friends? This is our friend Gil.”
Gil bowed slightly. “Good morning, ma’am.”
Ashley frowned. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to let you walk around without an adult or a member to guide you. I could call someone and see—”
Zara cut her off. “No need! I’ve been here before. I can lead the tour.”
Ashley looked around the big empty room. “But you’re not a member. You need to be with a member,” she said. “It’s club rules.”
Zara blinked innocently. “Please? It’s raining, and we will be quick! Besides, I’m an excellent tour guide. I have great training with the historical society.”
“I think my mom would like it here,” Benny added, looking at Ashley and making eye contact. She added a bright smile. “Did I mention the trust is in my name? Left to me by an ancestor from the North Fork?”
Gil was impressed at the girls’ cunning.
Ashley pursed her lips. “Alright. But be quick.” She pulled a key out of a desk drawer. “I tell you what: To move faster, why don’t you take a tour in one of our golf carts?”
What’s a golf cart? Gil wanted to know.
Zara took the key, and Gil saw the smile spread across her face. “Thank you. A golf cart tour sounds like the perfect way to see the grounds. Let’s go!” she added, rushing back outside. Gil and Benny quickly followed.
Zara’s haste didn’t end there. She took the green hills on the golf course as fast as she could go, at one point taking air. She and Gil let out a loud cheer. A group of golfers in their white polos and ball caps looked over in disdain.
“I love motor vehicles!” Gil declared. “They are so much quicker than traveling by wagon.”
“They’re also more dangerous.” Benny gave Zara a look as she held on to her seat for dear life. She didn’t appear to be having as much fun. “I thought we were keeping a low profile.”
“Live a little!” Zara narrowly avoiding clipping a golf cart full of men going the other way. “Look! That’s the stairs down to the monument!” Zara pointed to a hill overlooking the water. Below it, there was a sandy area that looked like a beach.
As they approached, Gil could see a set of stone steps lead down to a bronze statue balanced on a large boulder.
The monument sat on a small cliff over the water, and there were several stone benches around it along with beach grass and—beach roses.
Just like in the riddle. Something small and fast flew past and kept going.
“That’s a piping plover,” Gil shouted as the cart neared the steps. Small birds were taking off and landing in the beach grass, which had netting around the area to protect it.
“‘A place the piping plovers know, not far from where beach roses grow is dedicated to remembering “thee,” those who have been “lost at sea,”’” Benny repeated the riddle.
Benny pulled out her phone and looked at the riddle again. “Notice how there are quote marks around lost at sea? That’s because Evelyn knew some people on that monument are not lost. They’re just on the island.”
“Sparrow is—was—” Gil corrected himself with a lump in his throat, “the cleverest.” He frowned. “But Aggy’s premonitions always made me anxious.”
“I don’t blame you, Gil,” Zara said as they took off on foot.
“Though since we’re related, I have to say having Aggy’s premonition thing would come in handy right about now.
Wouldn’t it be great if I knew exactly where the missing treasure was so that we didn’t have to look for it?
” She sighed wistfully. “Or the answers to all my future tests without having to study?”
“I thought you liked studying,” Benny teased.
“I do, but think of all the extra time I’d have if I didn’t have to.” Zara arrived at the cliff first and headed down.
It was still drizzling, and a low fog was moving in as if it were just waiting for them to arrive to make it impossible to find their clue. Gil looked back, feeling as if they were being watched, but saw no one nearby.
“This feels peculiar,” Gil said, as the monument came into view. The statue was of a seaman and his expression made Gil sad. The figure held tight to the wheel of a ship, as if it knew the vessel was going to go down. Gil felt his good mood from the golf cart ride disappear.
Benny hung back. “What does?”
“Visiting a place that is meant to memorialize those who have died at sea, including me,” Gil fidgeted with the button on his shirt. “I am still very much alive.”
“That must be weird,” Benny said. “I’m sorry. Do you want to wait back here in case your name is on the monument? We understand.”
Gil stood looking out at the sea for a moment, the wind blowing his hair all around. “No,” he said decidedly. “I will join you. I’m here to give aid, and I will.”
Benny smiled softly and squeezed his hand. Together they met Zara at the statue.
The ground cover was made up of small and crushed shells.
The monument was much larger close-up, the boulder itself taller than Benny.
A plaque was anchored to the rock where people’s names were listed in two rows, everyone who had been lost at sea since the 1800s.
Surrounding the boulder and at the fisherman’s feet, people had placed coins and shells in what Gil had to assume was remembrance.
“Look at the two lines at the top of the plaque.” Zara pointed to them. “‘For those lost at sea, we will always think of thee.’”
“That’s a line from Evelyn’s riddle,” Benny said excitedly. “We are definitely in the right place.”
“A Rudd place,” Gil reminded them, pointing to a name larger than the rest on the monument. It was listed at the top. “‘Dedicated to Axel Rudd. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten.’” The muscles in his jaw twitched. “‘Sacrifice’? He stole from Sparrow.”
“Also, the line is sort of threatening too,” Zara added. “Like the family knew what he was after.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Benny said darkly. “There’s also something else strange.” She glanced at Gil. “I don’t see your name or Thomas’s, Laurel’s, or Aggy’s on here at all.”
Gil felt slightly ill. The Rudds were rats. “I don’t know if I should be joyful or sad about that fact. Look who is listed though.” He tapped the plaque again and pointed to a name.
Cate Callahan, August 28, 1949
Grace.