Chapter 17 #2
“The poor dear. Her memory was slipping even before Linus died, but after his death, her decline was much more rapid. See here.” She withdrew another letter and pointed to one paragraph in particular.
I can’t remember where I hid the aviary. I’m sure I’ll find it. But at present, the location eludes me. My genius is a mystery even unto myself.
“That was around the time she gave her canary to Tatiana, too. She wrote about that in this same letter. Now look at this, from a few months later.” Agnes presented another letter and tapped the page.
I haven’t seen the aviary lately. Linus must have hidden it somewhere. I’ll ask him about it when he returns, so long as his mood isn’t foul.
Elsa looked at the date, confirming this had been written after Linus had died. “Oh no,” she murmured. “Poor Birdie. Did she have to learn her husband had died, over and over again?”
Agnes gathered the letters and tucked them back into their envelopes before returning them to her pocket.
“I was with her a couple of times when she remembered he’d died.
She went through a painful mixture of emotions every time.
Shock, embarrassment that she’d forgotten, grief over a lost life, relief that he’d never again control her, and an overriding dread about living the rest of her life alone.
If it weren’t for the Petrovics, she would have been lonely, indeed.
I visited her whenever I could, but it got to the point where she would forget I’d been there before the sun set the same day. ”
The loneliness must have been haunting. Returning her notebook and pencil to her pocket, Elsa cast her gaze over the water to the blue-green hills on the other side.
The land was beautiful here, but without a companion, she imagined the wind and storms could make this place feel desolate.
Shuddering, she rubbed her arms. She couldn’t imagine living in that mansion alone.
“And then,” Agnes continued, “time seemed to loop back on itself for Birdie. During several of my visits, she would tell me she’d just had the nicest time with Danielle.
‘We’ve been going through the aviary,’ she said.
When I asked where it was, Birdie became confused and upset, so I learned not to ask anymore.
To let her be, let her dwell in the pleasant corners of her mind.
I certainly didn’t care about that illuminated manuscript for my own sake. ”
“But Birdie did. She cared a great deal.”
“And she cared that it went to Danielle.” Agnes’s brows knitted together. “She didn’t drive, so it must be on the property. The house has been searched. Do you suppose she hid it in an outbuilding?”
Elsa considered this. In addition to the pool building and gardener’s cottage, there was the bowling alley, greenhouse, and laundry house.
“Not if she was still lucid when she hid it. Those buildings are not friendly to centuries-old books. The temperatures are too extreme, the humidity volatile. If Birdie hid it as close as she says, I don’t understand how we’ve missed it. ”
Agnes shook her head, then gripped her cane and stood. “I don’t either. Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s high time I paid a visit to Tatiana and Danielle myself. I need to thank them for all they did for my brother’s wife and tell them what we know about the book that rightfully belongs to them.”
———
With admiration, Elsa watched Agnes head for the Petrovics’ cottage, her black silk hem trailing the ground. She used her walking stick for support, and her pace was leisurely, but she held her head high and moved with purpose and grace.
Elsa could only hope to do the same despite her limp. With a final glance at the Hudson, she took the stairs out of the sunken garden and steered back toward the mansion. She hadn’t planned to take such a long break from her work, but she’d make up for it. She would.
As soon as the house was in view, she also spied Luke striding toward her in that easy gait he had. Wind pushed his brown hair off his brow, revealing the one scar he daily attempted to hide. When he reached her, the wind shifted, and his hair fell back into place.
Before she could think to stop herself, she reached up and combed his hair back again with her fingers. “A haircut would look good on you. The more I can see of you, the better.” She dropped her hand, wondering if she’d said too much. But she meant it, in more than one way.
Luke’s presence strengthened and calmed her. Her experience with men was quite limited, given her boarding school years and then four years at the all-girls Vassar College. But being with Luke felt natural. She had not expected to find such a steadfast friend, but that was what he’d become.
Their time together would end, though, as soon as they finished their work at Elmhurst. He might have a few weeks left, but she had merely days. Surely he’d thought of this, too.
“What do you think about the cottage?” she asked. “Can it be moved?”
He offered his arm, and she took it as they continued to stroll toward the house. “No, it’s far too rickety. One more good storm might blow the house down. It’s not safe to live in as it is.”
Disappointment fell like a stone to her gut. “So they’ll have to start completely over somewhere else. It would have been such a comfort to be able to keep their familiar home. I appreciate you looking into it.” She swallowed a swelling knot of frustration and shared what Agnes had told her.
“But if we haven’t found the aviary yet,” she went on, “I’m not sure we ever will. She or someone else could have moved the book after she hid it, and she simply might not have remembered that. It could be long gone.”
“All is not lost.” He covered her hand, and the warmth of his palm spread all the way through her. “I may not be able to recover the medieval manuscript, and the cottage is beyond repairing. But it’s also small. I could construct a new one exactly like it.”
Elsa stopped walking. “Are you serious?”
“As always.” He winked. “With a crew to help me, we could build it in a matter of days, though they might not all be consecutive days. We’d have to work evenings and weekends.
But we could build it in such a way that it could withstand being relocated wherever she and Danielle end up.
Or we could wait and build it at their new location. ”
“And then we could give it fresh carpet and paper for the walls, but the exact match to what they have now so it still feels like home. Then move all their beloved furniture and knick-knacks right into it. Don’t tease me now, because I am totally getting my hopes up for this.”
“Let ’em soar. I’ll get it done.”
She believed him. Rising on her toes, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. Before she could step away, his arm came around her waist, holding her to him for a moment before releasing her.
It wasn’t long enough to be considered a true embrace. But it was long enough to remind her of what it had felt like when he’d carried her to the pool building in the rain. It felt like safety. It felt like all would be well.
“It will mean the world to them, you know,” she said, “even if we can’t solve everything. Sometimes knowing that someone is on your side makes all the difference.”
He nodded. His hand cupped the side of her face. “I hope you know I’m on your side, too.”
She smiled. “I’m beginning to get the picture.”
A lump bobbed in his throat, and he drew her arm through his once more. Together, they crossed the uncut lawn. “I can’t stop thinking about what happened on Coney Island. If anything had—”
Elsa gasped. “There he is!” Heading toward them at a brisk pace was the same man she’d seen Saturday night. He had just unfolded himself from a dark green Model T. “He’s been here before.”
Luke’s arm tensed beneath her hand. His expression hardened into flint. “Stalking you? Here?”
“I wouldn’t say that. A cousin arrived the day other museum staff were transporting artwork out of the mansion.
Mr. Spalding argued with him in the drive, telling him he wasn’t welcome in the mansion until the museums had been through it.
He left before I could see his face, but that is definitely his auto. ”
Luke kept his eyes on the approaching man, shaded from the mansion behind him until he stepped out of the roofline-shaped shadows. As he neared, he doffed his bowler and extended a hand.
She didn’t shake it, and neither did Luke.
“You were following her on Coney Island?” Luke asked.
“I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to cause alarm, but . . .”
When he paused, Elsa finished for him. “You did. Explain yourself, please, and start from the beginning. You seem to already know who I am, but I don’t even know your name.”
“Dr. Hugh Geoffrey. I’m Guy’s second cousin. My father was Linus’s cousin. The two of them went on expeditions together when they were in their prime.” He turned to Luke. “And you are?”
“With her,” Luke said. The steel in his tone hadn’t softened yet.
Dr. Geoffrey straightened the bow tie at his collar. “Clearly.”
Only when Elsa nudged Luke did he offer his name and his role at Elmhurst. Up close like this, Dr. Geoffrey wasn’t nearly as menacing as he’d seemed Saturday night. The tweed suit he wore, complete with elbow patches on the jacket, made him appear quite scholarly.
“Again, I apologize for my first impression. I didn’t want to shout or draw attention, knowing Wesley and Guy were in the vicinity. I’m a professor of European history at the University of Pennsylvania, so my time up here is limited.”
“Did you know I would be there, too?”