Chapter Twenty-One #2
It was enough that she could get Walt into the best possible treatment center.
She could pay off her father’s restaurant.
But she would have to turn her back on Oliver and therefore Lillie. And if she did that, she would never forgive herself.
“I’m afraid I can’t accept that,” she said.
The man seemed surprised. His face of pleasantries disappeared.
“It’s a highly generous offer already. This isn’t a negotiation.”
“No, it isn’t,” she agreed.
“I see you’re determined to be unreasonable.”
“I’m quite reasonable,” she said calmly. “My integrity just isn’t for sale.”
The man glowered. “Then I regret to inform you that you’re hereby barred from entering the fairgrounds. If you’re seen there, you will be promptly removed.”
“For what?”
“For public disruption.”
She reached out and delicately touched the envelope. Like a caress. As though she were reconsidering.
He paused for a moment. His eyes watching her very carefully.
She picked up the envelope and handed it to him.
“You wouldn’t want to forget this,” she said.
He snatched it from her hand, his mouth tightening into a slim line, and stalked with as much dignity as he could muster out of the diner.
She gathered herself. Then she knocked angrily on the window to draw the attention of the host.
“Check, please,” she yelled.
Oliver’s head was bowed over the wooden table when she came into the small jail room.
The guard sat in the corner.
She took the seat across from her cousin.
“Oliver,” she said.
He was staring at a knot in the wood.
He looked five years older than the last time she’d seen him.
“Grace,” he said, but he didn’t look up to meet her eyes.
“You look defeated,” she said. “Don’t you dare give up on me now.”
“Give up on you?” he said, with the faintest hint of spark. “Never.”
She slapped the newspaper down on the table and sent it across to him.
“Have you seen this?”
“I haven’t received my daily newspaper delivery, no. Nor my room service tray this morning, either. I’ll have to speak to the manager.”
“But your daily attitude quotient has been quite filled, I see,” she said, turning the newspaper to the second page. It revived her a little, to see that the ember of him hadn’t completely gone out.
She pointed to the headline:
BODY DISCOVERED IN THE MISSISSIPPI
“Great. Another death. Are they going to try to pin this one on me, too?”
“Considering that it happened just last night, I doubt it.”
“What does this have to do with me?” he asked.
“The deceased is the man who threatened Harriet at the restaurant the night you went to the hospital with Earnest.” She tapped the accompanying image. “Do you recognize him?”
“No,” Oliver said. His brow crumpled. “I’ve never seen him before. I have no idea what he wanted with Harriet.”
She snuck a look at the guard, who was watching them closely.
“Not that I want to rejoice in the death of a human being, but”—she lowered her voice—“this could be good news for you. It could be over now, right?” she said hopefully. “Maybe they’ll find some evidence that connects him to Harriet’s murder.”
Oliver shook his head. He suddenly seemed far away again. “Sometimes my mind gets to me in here. I find myself wondering, did she ever even love me? Was I nothing but a mark to her?”
“She loved you,” Grace said. “I saw her diary. And there is not a doubt in my mind, she really did love you.”
She reached out for his hand, ignoring the guard, and squeezed it fiercely. And at her touch, Oliver—her carefree, charismatic cousin—broke down and cried.
She sat with him, holding his hand, until his sobs were spent. Neither of them put on a falsely brave face or offered platitudes. They sat with the heaviness together, and that seemed to lessen its power.
She wasn’t certain how much time had passed when the air shifted, and she knew it was safe to speak again.
“I have to go. But there’s another question for you to consider,” Grace said. “I need you to be very honest with me. What do you think of Theodore Parker?”
Oliver opened his palms in surrender. “I admittedly haven’t known him for that long, but I’ve always liked him. Since that first night when he stepped in to help you with that aggressor. He’s guarded and a bit standoffish, but he has a lot of integrity.”
But you didn’t see the other sides of him, Grace thought. The sides that disparaged me so harshly. That lied and went into the Tunnels.
The coin that kept turning to show different faces.
How many sides did Theodore Parker have?
She was still pondering that when she said goodbye to Oliver and stepped out into the evening air.
She wanted to talk to Sam Whitcomb at the publishing office, but it was now too late in the day. She was curious what he thought. If he had heard any outside gossip about the dead man. If his own sources thought it was an accident or murder.
Night was falling quickly, and she increased her pace as she walked the streets. The streetlamps were turning on and she was careful to stay away from the dark maws of the alleys.
Someone catcalled her and she bristled. Perhaps she should have taken a cab.
She glanced over her shoulder.
She really shouldn’t be alone. She had felt momentary relief when the man who had robbed them and intimidated Harriet was found dead. But that wasn’t her only threat. What if that man from the diner was still watching her?
And if the thief himself had been murdered, then… who had done that?
She approached the studio and as she brought out the key, she saw that something about the door was wrong.
A piece of the mat was caught at the bottom. She had not left it that way. She would have seen it when she locked the door from the outside.
Someone had opened this door since she had last been there.
Her heart thudded.
She kept her key in her fingers to use as a weapon and pounded with her fist.
“Who’s there?” she called.
She heard movement. There was someone inside.
The door opened, and the light shining from the studio was so bright it took Grace’s eyes a second to focus.
A woman stepped forward.
“Grace?” she asked.
It was Lillie.
Grace let out a huge sigh of relief and fell forward into her cousin’s arms.
“What are you doing here?” Grace cried.
They stepped inside and Grace quickly dead bolted the door behind her.
“I had it out with my mother,” Lillie said. “I couldn’t stay there any longer. I thought I could be with you for a few nights.”
“Of course,” Grace said, taking off her hat. “But how did you get in?”
“Theo let me in.”
“He isn’t here, is he?” Grace asked, her pulse skipping a beat as she scanned the room.
“No,” Lillie said. “Come in. Get cozy. I have some really good news.”
“About Oliver?”
Lillie shook her head. But her eyes danced.
Grace washed up and changed into her nightgown as Lillie put on a teapot over the fire.
Grace climbed into bed next to her, just like they used to do when they were little.
“Your feet are hideously cold,” Lillie said.
“That’s because my shoes are atrocious. Did you bring your hot water bottle?”
“Please. It was the first thing I packed.”
As Lillie got up and poured hot water into a ceramic water bottle for their feet, Grace told her about seeing Oliver and the interaction with the strange man at the diner.
“Grace, this is frightening. You’ve rattled them,” Lillie said.
“I just want to shake things up so that the truth comes out.” She stretched her feet, pressing against the water bottle and letting its warmth spill onto her.
“Is it wrong that I feel relieved that man is dead?” she whispered into the dark.
Lillie hesitated. “I feel it, too,” she said. “Is it wrong that I want him to have been the one to kill Harriet? That would mean this nightmare could finally be over.”
“Will the police search his home?”
“Oliver’s lawyer says they already have.”
“Wait—” Grace said, turning over to clasp Lillie’s hands. “I know! They found your necklaces at the thief’s place, didn’t they? Is that the good news you were going to tell me?”
“No,” Lillie said. “They didn’t say anything about the necklaces being there.”
“Oh,” Grace echoed. She frowned. “What’s the good news, then?”
“Well, it’s a little bit of bad news followed by good news.”
And suddenly, by a twitch across Lillie’s lovely face, Grace knew.
“Walt,” she whispered. Her heart faltered.
“First, you need to know that he was in really bad shape, Grace. Got into a fight sometime after we saw him. He’s really banged up. But… he’s agreed to try getting some help.”
Grace shot up. “Where is he?”
“At a beautiful facility. The top hospital in St. Louis. There’s a trial program just beginning. Dr. May knows someone who works there and was able to pull some strings.”
“But… how did this happen? He just… decided?” Grace asked. She still remembered the way he had turned on her with such fury, the spittle on his lips when he had snarled at her. It had left wounds deeper than claws.
“Well. Sometimes you can run and run away from something until you run right into reality. And often reality can really hurt. Besides, there was a bit more of an incentive this time.”
“What happened?” Grace asked.
“The police were going to take him and book him for disturbing the peace, but after a bit of skillful negotiation”—Lillie cleared her throat—“Walt agreed to seek treatment if the police would drop the charges.”
“Skillful negotiation?” Grace knew how that worked. “So you helped strike a deal for Walt? A monetary deal?” Grace bit her lip. “That must have been considerable.”
Lillie looked flummoxed and waved it off.
Grace shook her head. “But, Lillie. My family can’t afford any of this.”
Lillie swallowed. “It’s taken care of,” she said softly.
Grace felt a sob rise in her throat. She choked it down. “Is this what you and your mother fought about?” she asked.
“That and other things,” Lillie said. “There were many to choose from.”
Grace let out a small laugh. “Thank you, thank you, my darling.” Grace hugged Lillie, the soft weight of her like a solid anchor, and Lillie hugged her back.
“I really can’t take much credit, Grace.”
“Can I see him?” Grace asked, wiping her eyes with the heels of her palms.
“I’m not sure. You can try. I think he’s sorry for the way he treated you yesterday. He can’t remember much of what happened, but he knows he hurt you. He gave me something in an envelope to give to you—I think it’s an apology.”
Lillie climbed from the bed and rummaged through her bag. “Oh, blast. In my rush to pack, I must have left it at home.”
“Will we have to climb into your bedroom window from the tree like we used to in order to retrieve it?”
“I’d like to see you try. But I already need to return home tomorrow as it is. I didn’t bring my gown for the president’s dinner, so when I go home to dress, I’ll find it.”
“The president’s dinner…” Grace said, trailing off. She bit her lip. Her heart lifted like sprays of dark butterflies when she thought of arriving there on Theodore’s arm. And yet, she still hadn’t decided whether she was going to go.
Lillie wrote down the name of the hospital where Walt was staying. “Here,” she said. “You’re helping my brother. And I got a small chance to help yours in return.”
Grace took the slip of paper from Lillie, feeling awash with gratitude. She fell asleep holding her cousin’s hand, wondering if perhaps something good might finally come out of the World’s Fair, after all.