Raised by Wolves

by Geonn Cannon

  Elizabeth said, “Why did you pause?”

  “Everyone got a solo meal with Vivian except for Eleanor and Evelyn. Everyone was bequeathed something very valuable in the will, except for Eleanor. Is there any reason your mother would have been shunning Eleanor?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Out of all the kids, she moved the farthest away. She was also the most disdainful of the family money. Maybe there was a falling out between her and your mother.”

  Elizabeth shrugged. “It’s hard to say. Eleanor rarely comes home. Like you said, it was farther for her to travel.”

  Ari stood up and went to a stack of boxes. “Okay, so we’ll put a pin in that. Vivian decides to end her life. She wants everyone gathered to reveal the tapestry is going to a museum. But she’s still giving you all a small fortune anyway.”

  “Except for Eleanor.”

  “Right, except for her.” Ari raised an eyebrow. “Maybe it wasn’t important for everybody to be here for the tapestry reveal. Maybe it was only important that Eleanor show up, and she could only ensure that would happen if she demanded you all show up.”

  Elizabeth said, “That’s possible. If Mom had just asked Eleanor, she could have begged off for any number of reasons. Work, couldn’t get a flight. But if saying no would screw things up for the rest of us, she would have made more of an effort.”

  Ari said, “Okay, let’s back up. Your mother was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. She decided she would end her life, so she began putting her affairs in order. She started putting together her will. That’s when she decided to cut Eleanor out completely. That’s probably also when she decided to pull this stunt with the tapestry. She tells you all to come, but it’s possible Eleanor is the only one she wants here. She asks you all to have private meals together, but again... maybe she only wanted Eleanor here for that.”

  “And Eleanor sidestepped it by inviting Evelyn along.”

  “Yeah. I wonder if she asked Evelyn to arrive on the same day. It may have been a last-minute plan to avoid whatever Vivian wanted to say.”

  “But Mom knew where we were staying. If she wanted to talk to Eleanor, she could have just gone to the hotel and cornered her.”

  “Possibly. The streets are level enough for a wheelchair, and the hotel itself seems accessible.” She was pacing now. “But there’s no car at the house, and judging from the security footage we saw, Vivian rarely if ever left the house. Maybe she couldn’t leave the house unless someone came to her.”

  Elizabeth said, “That sounds right. When I came to pick her up, I had to put down those little track thingies so she could get off the porch. I don’t know if she would be able to do that herself.”

  “Eleanor apologized to me for how fancy the hotel was. But when she found out she wasn’t getting anything in the will... well, beyond the quarter of a million dollars... she got angry and stormed out. Because it wasn’t about money. She didn’t care about the money. When Timothy asked about the charities Vivian had left the rest of her fortune to, Eleanor was the only one who wanted the list. I think she wanted to be sure the money was spread out evenly. She might have even been planning to donate her check as well, and wanted to be sure she wouldn’t give to someone who had already gotten a lot of money from the estate.”

  “It’s a bit of a leap,” Elizabeth said. “But it does sound like Eleanor. So why the tantrum?”

  “Because it’s not money she wants. It’s something in the house. She wants something in the house.”

  “She could have taken it at any time during the past week,” Elizabeth said.

  “That would have been stealing it,” Ari said. “She expected to get it legitimately.” She remembered having a similar conversation with Eleanor about the tapestry. She’d asked why any of the children would have stolen Crossing-Over Place before they knew they wouldn’t get it in the will. “Is there anything in the house Eleanor would have wanted? Anything with some special significance?”

  Elizabeth pursed her lips and thought hard. “I can’t think of anything... She liked the parlor. But that’s because the computer used to be in there. She liked doing computer things on it. I’m not very tech savvy. But it couldn’t be that thing. It was an old desktop. We probably gave it away years ago. And if she did anything on it worth saving, she would have taken it with her when she left.”

  “And none of this has anything to do with Crossing-Over Place.” Ari stood and headed for the door. “But for now, it’s the best lead I have. Come on.”

  “We’re not going to go through all of this shit?”

  “Not right now. I think Eleanor went back to your mother’s house to get whatever she hoped to receive from the will. But we need to hurry. She had a good head start on us, so she might already be gone.” She took out her phone and dialed Dale’s number. It was habit, an urge to share the potential break in the case, and she realized a moment too late what she’d done. She looked down at the screen, her finger hovering above the ‘end call’ button when the screen changed and she heard a tinny voice coming from the speakers.

  “Hello?”

  Ari looked back and saw Elizabeth had pulled down the door and secured the padlock. She brought the phone up. “Dale?”

  “I don’t think we should talk.”

  “I know. I...” She was very aware of Elizabeth lingering nearby. She wasn’t eavesdropping, but the tight corridor didn’t give her much choice but to listen in. “Dale, you don’t know the whole story. We should talk in person. The essays--”

  Dale said, “I know you don’t want me to read them. But don’t I deserve to hear both sides of the story? All these years I’ve just heard what you’ve told me about the wolves.”

  Ari closed her eyes. God, it was painful to hear such flatness in Dale’s voice. “Right. But you know I’d never lie to you. I would never mislead you. I’ve been upfront with you about everything from the very beginning.”

  Silence from the other end. “I know. I just need time. I need to think.”

  “Dale, the essays are messing with your head. Don’t read any more of them until we’ve had a chance to talk in person. Okay?”

  “I shouldn’t have answered. Goodbye, Ariadne.”

  “Wait. Dale, wait...”

  She looked at the phone and saw the call had been disconnected. She lowered it and stared at the blank screen before remembering Elizabeth, who was standing a few feet away and awkwardly staring at the wall.

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine. It’s whatever.” She shoved the phone back into her pocket. “Let’s go get Evelyn. Hopefully Eleanor will still be at your house by the time we show up.”

  She started walking. A moment later, she heard Elizabeth follow.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  A car was parked in front of the Burroughs house, but Eleanor was nowhere in sight. Ari and the twins all had keys, but the door was already unlocked. Elizabeth entered first and called for Eleanor without receiving a response. The house felt empty to Ari. The thing about these huge expensive houses was that they tended to be much smaller on the inside. They were a bunch of “cozy” rooms all bundled together without much room to hide. While the sisters went inside to look for Eleanor, Ari walked to the end of the porch and went around the side of the house to the backyard.

  Eleanor was sitting in the swing, one leg tucked under her while the other pushed back and forth on the porch. She was looking at her hands but snapped her head up when Ari appeared. She smiled and nodded.

  “Detective. I should have expected that.”

  Ari stepped onto the porch and took a seat next to Eleanor on the swing. “I assume you already got what you were looking for.”

  “No.” She shook her head and looked out at the street. There were tears in her eyes. “I went inside planning to take it. I found it, too. But I stood there and just stared at it for the longest time trying to make my hand move. Couldn’t do it. I couldn’t just grab it and leave.”

  “I’m a
ssuming this doesn’t have anything to do with the tapestry.”

  She smiled. “Sorry. Can’t solve that for you. It’s a locket. A gold locket with a picture of her and my grandmother. It’s been passed down since our family came here from Cornwall. Two hundred years. They worked their way up in New York, and my great-whatever grandfather decided to try making a new start in a city that was also just starting. Seattle. The settlement was originally called New York Alki. That meant it would one day be a new New York, and he wanted to be in on the ground floor instead of just holding on to a city which was already thriving. He came out here, bought a house, started a company. The only thing he could afford for my grandmother’s anniversary was a cheap little locket. She loved it. She gave it to her oldest daughter. Who gave it to her oldest daughter. And you’re a detective...”

  “Yeah, I see the pattern. It was supposed to be yours. I really don’t think your sisters or brother would contest it if you wanted to take it.”

  “No, we’re... it’s supposed to be passed down on our twenty-third birthday, because that’s how old many-great-grandmother was when she received it.”

  “Why didn’t Vivian give it to you then?”

  Eleanor took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Because when I was nineteen, I had an abortion. I was just starting college. I got stupid and lazy, woke up one morning with bad news from the doctor. So I weighed my options. I decided there was no way I’d be raising a child with the father, and trying to be a single mother meant I could continue with school. So I made the decision. It isn’t something I’m proud of, but I also don’t regret it. Maybe I would have made a good mother. I don’t think so, but who knows. Mom... Mom was furious. She’s all about the lineage, the Burroughs line.”

  Ari said, “That came up with Elizabeth.”

  “Yeah. I always wanted to tell her I understood how she felt. But Mom never mentioned it to the other kids, and I... I didn’t want... them to know. I wanted them to think Mom still liked me.”

  Ari didn’t know how to respond to that, so she moved to a different topic. “Preston offered you the jewelry...”

  “They didn’t know. They all assumed I got the locket when I was supposed to. Took it with me to Philly. If I asked for it, they would have known. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they found out through the will, because at least then she would still be giving it to me. Just a little late. I hoped... part of me hoped... maybe she would have forgiven me. Finally passed it on.” She blinked the moisture from her eyes and wiped at her cheeks even though none of her tears had fallen. “I guess she decided the line was finally over.”

  Elizabeth came around the corner of the house. By her slow approach, Ari assumed she had been standing just out of sight long enough to hear most of what had just been said. Eleanor wiped at her face again and ducked her chin as her sister stepped onto the porch. Ari got up to lean against one of the support beams while Elizabeth took her place and slipped her hand into Eleanor’s.

  “I wish you’d told us,” Elizabeth said.

  “I liked you not knowing. It was better if you thought I was a bitch who didn’t care about her mother rather than... vice versa.”

  Evelyn appeared then, hurrying around the corner and joining them on the porch. She was slightly out of breath when she dropped onto the bench on Eleanor’s other side and presented a satin jewelry box.

  “I found it.”

  Eleanor stared at it. “No. I... I can’t, it’s not...”

  Elizabeth took the box and placed it in Eleanor’s hand, folding her fingers around it. “Even if the line ends with us, it ends with us. Not Mom. One of us might still have a kid someday. It’s not outside the realm of possibility. Whether or not that happens, this belongs with you.”

  “Thank you,” Eleanor whispered, finally accepting the box.

  Ari’s mind caught on something Elizabeth had said, “It’s definitely not outside the realm of possibility... Elizabeth, you and Evelyn are... thirty-five?”

  “Thirty-six.”

  “Thanks, Evelyn,” Elizabeth said.

  Ari said, “And Eleanor...?”

  “Thirty-eight.” Eleanor sniffled, holding the locket with both hands. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “All three of you could still have children for years. The ‘never after forty’ thing is bullshit, but even so, it’s definitely possible. And Preston, hell, he could knock someone up when he’s eighty. I know Vivian was facing a terminal illness, but she still had time left. She could have waited a few months, maybe even a year. She was willing to exile two of her children because they won’t continue the family name. She could have lived another year or two. Plenty of time for anything to happen. Why would she be so quick to end her life when there was a chance of seeing a grandchild?”

  Elizabeth said, “I don’t know about everyone else, but I made it pretty clear to her that children were never going to be in my plan. And it’s not exactly like I have to worry about it happening accidentally.”

  Eleanor said, “I suppose it was possible with me. Unlikely, but stranger things have happened.”

  “Yeah,” Evelyn said, then cleared her throat. “It’s probably a fifty-fifty shot.”

  Elizabeth snapped, “Evie!”

  “Hey, I do my best, but you know how things can happen.”

  “The point is,” Ari said, “Vivian was desperate to the point of cruelty for the family name to live on. She just gave up? She didn’t seem like the type to just give up.”

  Eleanor said, “Well, she did commit suicide in the end.”

  Elizabeth lightly slapped her older sister’s forearm. “That’s not giving up. Considering the tumor, I think it was a valid option. She chose to go out on her terms. That isn’t surrender.”

  Eleanor shrugged. “Okay. Well, I don’t see what any of this has to do with Crossing-Over Place.”

  Ari was staring at the porch, brow furrowed. “I don’t know. But learning more about how Vivian’s mind works is the surest way of figuring out what she was up to.”

  “Maybe this is what Mom wanted all along,” Evelyn said. “All of us in the same place, actually talking to each other. I mean, look at the three of us. Sitting here on the swing like... like friends. Would you have ever thought that would happen when we first got to town?”

  “No,” Eleanor said, “but I also don’t think Mom would have been able to plan everything going like this. And I don’t think she could have planned for Miss Willow to jump through so many hoops. It’s a nice thought, and I’m grateful for the outcome, but I don’t think we can give Mom that much credit.”

  Elizabeth said, “Also, she doesn’t give a shit if we get along or not.”

  Eleanor laughed and nodded. “Miss Willow, if you’re only staying on this case for our sake, you shouldn’t feel obligated. It’s terrible about the museum, but we stopped caring about the tapestry when we were kids. Priceless or not, it just doesn’t matter.”

  “It’s a piece of history,” Ari said. “It belongs in a museum.”

  Elizabeth laughed and everyone looked at her. She prompted Ari with her eyebrows and, when Ari seemed as confused as everyone else, she said, “Indiana Jones. Oh come on, Evie, you’re the one who told me to watch it!”

  “I just thought he was sexy in Star Wars. If I had known you would just get all gaga over Marion...”

  Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

  “I’m going to keep investigating, if it’s okay with you. Elizabeth, could I have the key to the storage unit? I’ll get it back to Mr. Dodd when I’m finished.”

  “Sure.” She stood and fished it out of her pocket. She held it out, but didn’t let go when Ari took it. “There’s every chance the tapestry doesn’t exist anymore.”

  “I don’t believe that. Vivian was an awful person, but I don’t think she would destroy something that valuable and then send everyone on a wild goose chase. It’s out there somewhere. I’ll find it.”

  “Good luck,” Elizabeth said.

&n
bsp; “Thanks. Do you need a ride back to your cars?”

  Eleanor said, “No, I’ll take them. We can call Preston and have him meet us somewhere. I think it’s well past time we had a family dinner.”

  Ari wished them well and headed back to her car. Vivian had kept a locket she had no intention of ever giving to Eleanor. She’d also gone to the trouble of having a fake Crossing-Over Place made to trick Ari. Someone who went to those lengths wouldn’t just destroy the actual tapestry. It was out there somewhere, and she was going to find it if it was the last thing she did.

  ###

  “Ariadne?”

  She opened her eyes and, for a moment, thought that maybe the past few days had been a nightmare. She was sitting on a couch with a tall bureau in front of her, two lamps on either side, and a wall of boxes stretching out in both directions. At first she thought maybe she was on a stage but then remembered she was in Vivian Burroughs’ storage unit. An open cardboard box in front of her was full of photo albums and encyclopedias, two things which had gone extinct within Ari’s lifetime. She pushed the box away with her foot and rubbed her face.

  “Ari?” The voice was closer now but it still echoed off the other unit doors.

  “In here, Mom.”

  It took close to a minute before Gwen appeared. She wore a simple black dress and slip-on shoes, the type of outfit she wore when she expected to transform at some point. She sighed with relief and inside. “This place is a maze. If I hadn’t been following your scent, I never would have found you.”

  “That’s disgusting, Mom.”

  “What are you doing in here?” Gwen asked.

  Ari stood and went to a random box. “I’m looking for clues. Or a fake tapestry. Or a real tapestry. Or a videotape of Vivian Burroughs that starts with ‘if you’re watching this, then I’m dead.’ I don’t know. I’m open to the possibilities.”

  “Do you know what time it is?”

  “Not a clue,” Ari said. “Judging by the fact I just fell asleep on the couch, I assume it’s after one in the morning, but that’s really just a guess.”