Chapter 16
Hannah had spent the day in a sort of trance.
After three hours at the Nantucket library, going over older newspaper articles that had never been scanned into online databases, she’d discovered something incredibly sinister.
Thomas Bard was not the only man to die under mysterious circumstances in the history of Nantucket Island.
In fact, he was just the tip of the iceberg.
Something about this rattled her and demanded her attention.
This became especially clear when one of the men who’d disappeared turned out to be named Calvin Jones.
Now, safe at home with printouts of various newspaper articles spread out on the kitchen table alongside letters to Georgia Kaiser, Hannah shivered with excitement.
She felt she was circling the drain on this story.
No, she couldn’t begin to deduce who was the mastermind behind the so-called Legacy Club.
But she’d found the link between Calvin Jones and Georgia Kaiser.
There they were, photographed at a sailing competition in the late fifties.
There was a caption under the photograph listing their names and their parents' names. They’d been Nantucketers, through and through.
Calvin had disappeared sometime in the mid-sixties.
The very few articles regarding his disappearance had spoken about his years in New York City, and how he’d gotten involved with criminals and taken to hard drugs and gambling.
To Hannah, there was a vagueness to the articles, as though whoever had written them had been told to make Calvin out to be a bad guy.
There was no mention of Georgia in the articles, nor of any wife or girlfriend.
Rather, it seemed that Nantucket wanted to peg Calvin as someone “not fit for Nantucket living” and move on.
What had Georgia thought about that?
Hannah returned to the letters to dig deeper.
Although, of course, she had nothing written by Georgia herself and only letters written to Georgia, she could deduce that Georgia’s love for Calvin had, at some point, faltered.
It was hard to tell what he’d done or why that love had dried up.
Had he been gone for too long? Had she met someone else?
And then, she discovered a clue.
Someone named Harriet had written—three months before Calvin’s disappearance: What Calvin has done to you cannot be forgiven.
Do not turn to the scripture; do not listen to your heart.
Recognize that sometimes, people reveal themselves in terrifying ways.
He cannot come back from this. Do not give him an opening. Do not give up on yourself.
Hannah’s eyes widened. It was funny to read something like this.
It reminded her of her college girlfriends, telling one another not to forgive the men who’d been cruel or cheated on them.
It was funny to think that women throughout history had done the same, using similar language. But what had Calvin done?
Hannah googled “Harriet, Legacy Club,” but she found nothing online.
For the first time, a thought rattled her. Was it possible that Georgia had been responsible for Calvin’s disappearance? Was it possible that she’d given the Legacy Club the “okay” to get rid of him—all because of whatever he’d done to her?
Before she could come to any conclusion, there was a knock on the door.
Immediately, she panicked, thinking of Minnie.
She’d gotten home last night and had gone out with Viggo again earlier this afternoon, telling Hannah that they were looking for jobs.
But if anything had happened to her, would the cops knock on the door and tell her? Or would they call?
Shaking, Hannah got up and went to the front door. But the man waiting for her on the porch was no police officer. It was Julien, the harbor master. Hannah’s lips parted with surprise. In his right hand, he held a bottle of wine, and he wore a funny smile. She didn’t know what to think.
Then again, she’d felt a shimmer in the air between them from the very beginning. She’d been attracted to him in a way that had startled her. It still startled her.
“Julien!” She forgot all about the letters and newspaper articles strewn across the table. “What are you doing here?”
“I hope you don’t mind me stopping by,” he said. “I wanted to welcome you to the island. Here’s a gift, I guess. I hope you drink wine?” He hesitated. “I know it’s an old-fashioned thing, but I didn’t have your phone number. And everyone knows where everyone lives in Nantucket.”
Hannah smiled. Wasn’t that the kind of small-town charm she’d wanted? And he was adorably nervous.
“Of course not. Come in!” She beckoned for Julien to follow her into the kitchen. “Do you want to have a glass with me? Or are you on your way out?”
“I’m in no rush,” Julien told her.
Hannah fetched two glasses and led Julien out onto the back porch, where a splendorous sunset beamed over the water. The wine was French, and it looked nicer than anything she might have bought herself. “Do you know about wine?” she asked him.
“Not at all,” Julien said, blushing. “But the woman at the grocery store does.”
“Cheers to the woman at the grocery store.” Hannah laughed.
They clinked glasses and assessed one another.
Now that she’d been ripped away from her work and launched into an entirely different dynamic, Hannah felt exposed.
She remembered how easy it had been to talk to Jim at Natalie’s place yesterday, if only because she’d wanted information from Jim and nothing else.
But what did she want from Julien? What did Julien want from her?
Oh, it had been so nice to be married, if only because she hadn’t had to answer these questions.
“It was funny to run into you last night,” Hannah said finally.
“It was. Yeah. I’m sorry I ran off like that,” Julien offered. “I get weird on the docks. There’s too much to think about.”
“I can’t imagine all that pressure.”
“I’m sure you can. You’re a journalist,” Julien said. “You have people’s lives in your hands.”
“Sometimes.” Hannah chuckled. “But lately, I’ve been obsessed with one thing only.”
Julien’s eyes widened. Maybe he was afraid she wanted to talk about the Legacy Club a little more. But she didn’t want to torture him.
“I’m trying to refurbish the place without knowing a thing about it,” Hannah finished.
Tension spilled out of Julien’s shoulders. He laughed. “It’s really worse for wear, isn’t it? When I found out you lived here, I assumed somebody had redone it.”
“That’s me. Redoing it in real time,” Hannah joked.
She watched as Julien’s eyes scanned the porch floorboards, the shutters, the back door.
She could see him calculating what needed to be done and how much it would cost. By contrast, Kendall would have called someone and had everything fixed up in a day or two.
He threw money at every problem. Hannah felt her smile dim.
“What is it?” Julien asked. And then he sputtered, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about the place. It’s really nice. I mean, I always thought it had a lot of…”
“Character,” Hannah offered. “It’s the word I keep using, too.”
Julien was quiet. Seagulls squawked in the distance, and they both sipped their wine. She wanted to talk to Julien about the island’s secrets, to ask him why everyone kept everything under wraps around here. But she also didn’t want to frighten him off.
“Do you mind if I use your bathroom?” Julien asked.
Hannah was happy to take a few moments for herself.
While he was gone, she leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and listened to the water roll up on the sand.
She felt the rocking chair, creaking beneath her, lulling her into a dream-like state.
A small part of her fantasized that Julien would leave the house, take her in his arms, and kiss her.
She fantasized that he’d tell her that he hadn’t been thinking of anyone but her since they’d met.
But she knew these were childish things to think about. She was no better than Minnie. Actually, she was worse: Minnie had someone who was crazy about her, while all Hannah had was her obsessive story about the Legacy Club. She was pathetic.
When Julien returned, he seemed jittery and anxious, as though he wanted to go. But he sat back down and sipped his wine. He ruffled and fluffed his hair. Hannah ached for something to say, something that would unite them. She wished she could go back to the beginning.
And then, Julien broke the silence to say, “You know, I really could come by later this week to help you repair some stuff. The stairs, for one. And the cabinets look like they’re going to come off the walls.”
Hannah broke into a bigger smile than she’d felt on her face in months, maybe years. “I’d really like that,” she said. “I can pay you. Not much, but some.”
“If you can pay for the materials, I’ll happily take payment in food and wine,” Julien said. “I’m tired of microwave dinners. I’m tired of frozen pizzas!”
Hannah laughed happily. It had been ages since she’d actually liked cooking for someone, as Kendall had been tremendously picky and had always wanted to dine out instead.
“I’d like that,” Hannah said. She held his gaze for a half-second longer than necessary as her head spun.