A Little Learning

by Jane Tesh

  “Whoops, gotta go,” Ronald said.

  He and Timothy raced up the hall.

  “Wrath cards,” Jerry said. “Wonder if Austin and Denisha know about that.”

  “Well, we know how Bronwen got new Bufo cards before anyone else.”

  My cell phone rang and I answered. Tori’s little voice said, “Madeline? I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

  “Not at all, Tori.”

  “Well, I need some help if you have time. In all the excitement, we forgot Cousin Barnaby. He’s still in the dining room, and he’s not very good company. Could Jerry come put him back where he belongs?”

  “We’ll be right there.”

  I hung up. “We forgot and left Cousin Barnaby in the dining room, and Tori’s tired of him staring at her.”

  “We can fix that.”

  ***

  Tori beamed at us. “Thanks for coming so soon. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important.”

  “Not at all,” I said. “I’m a little stuck right now anyway.” And I knew Tori was trying to find ways to have our company.

  In the dining room, Cousin Barnaby glared from his portrait. Tori patted the frame. “I think I’ve memorized every little bit of this picture, and it wasn’t even the one we needed.”

  Jerry picked up the portrait. “Where does he go?”

  “Down in the main hall.”

  We walked down the long dim corridor to the right place. Jerry angled the portrait back on its hook, and we stood back to admire the old codger.

  “If you get lonely for him, I can always carry him back,” Jerry said.

  Tori laughed. “That won’t be for a long while. He’d be nice looking if he’d smile. He has nice eyes and the cutest little notch in his ear.”

  “What?” I said.

  “It’s a little hard to see, but his ear has a “V” shaped notch.”

  “Jerry, would you please take Cousin Barnaby down?”

  “Okay,” he said, puzzled.

  He took the picture off the wall and propped it where it had the best light. We’d been so involved in the riddle, the sparrow, the river, and all those clues, I hadn’t noticed the finer features of Cousin Barnaby. Sure enough, his ear had a “V” shaped notch, exactly like the notch in Rachel Sigmon’s ear. Then I thought of something else. Could the “B.F.” Amelia had written refer to Barnaby Fenton?

  “Tori, do you have any sort of family record book?”

  “A record book?”

  “A family tree, a genealogy, a history?”

  “There’s a family Bible that belonged to Elijah.”

  “Great! May I see it?”

  “It’s somewhere around here.”

  After about fifteen minutes of searching through the books in another dark room, we unearthed a huge Bible. We took it to Tori’s den and put it on the table on top of her latest scrapbook. Jerry brought a lamp closer so we could read the small handwriting. The list of Fentons included all the Fentons we’d found in the hallway and in the attic, and of course, Elijah, Ellis, and Eulalie, along with Ellis’ wife, Henrietta, and their son, Nathan, and Eulalie’s husband, Thomas Satterfield, and their son, Aaron. But there was also a Clara Fenton and a Rachel Fenton. Both of these names had lines drawn through them.

  “Whoops,” Jerry said. “Looks like someone’s illegitimate.”

  “But I’ve never heard of Clara and Rachel Fenton,” Tori said.

  I finally had a connection. “This might explain why Rachel thinks she’s entitled to the money. Maybe Clara’s her mother, and Elijah’s her dad.”

  “A dad who didn’t want to claim her.”

  “Tori, do you know anything about this?” I asked.

  “No. I’m amazed.”

  “We need to find someone who would know all the details.” Jerry and I thought of someone at the same moment.

  “Nell,” we said.

  I took out my cell phone and punched in Nell’s number.

  “Oh, yeah,” she said when I told her what we needed to know. “Hang on a second. Dad’s here. I’ll ask him.” I waited a few minutes until she came back on the line. “There’s a Clara Bennett Dad said Elijah used to see. Maybe she’s the same one.”

  “I need to talk to Clara. Is that possible?”

  “She’s in the Century City Retirement Village.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re thinking Rachel Sigmon’s the same Rachel?”

  “What was her maiden name?”

  “She was a Mills—oh, and Dad said to tell you that if you have any theories, you’d better share them with him at your earliest convenience. That wasn’t exactly how he said it. I cleaned up that last part.”

  “Thanks, Nell. Tell him he’s at the top of my to do list.”

  She gave a snort and hung up.

  I closed my phone. “We’re taking a side trip to Century City Retirement Village. Tori, want to come along?”

  “Oh, no, thank you,” she said. “But you have to let me know how this all turns out.”

  ***

  Century City Retirement Village was a large complex of Colonial style apartments. The receptionist directed us to the skilled care unit, another series of brick buildings. Clara Bennett Mills was in room sixty-two, sitting in a wheel chair. She was a small woman, bent over and feeble, with pale blue eyes.

  “I’m not sure who you are,” she said to me, “but that handsome young man with you has to be Edward.”

  Jerry pulled up a chair and sat next to her. He took her hand in his. “How are you feeling today, Miss Clara?”

  “Oh, ‘bout the same,” she said. “My health’s not good, you know.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “Is Margaret with you?”

  “Not today. Rachel might stop by later, though.”

  “Huh! She never stops by.”

  “Your daughter Rachel doesn’t visit you?” I asked.

  “After all I’ve done for her, too. She’s ungrateful. Always has been.”

  “What about her father? What about Elijah Fenton?”

  Clara’s face drew in with anger. “Fenton! Didn’t leave me a dime! Told her she was going to have to wait for it. He left me for that Lever woman and said he’d leave her a fortune!”

  “Elijah left you for Amelia Lever.”

  “Didn’t I just say that? Edward, tell her what I just said.”

  “Elijah left her for Amelia Lever,” Jerry said.

  “Didn’t marry her, neither.”

  I sat down on the bed for a closer look at Clara Mills. She couldn’t have been more than sixty, but her face was lined and her eyes weren’t clear. I couldn’t see any resemblance to Rachel, but Clara obviously had had a hard life. “Does Rachel know Elijah was her father?”

  “I told her a hundred times she could get in good with the family. She was a Fenton, too. But he disowned us. Said we’d get nothing. Told his family we were making up lies.”

  “So you were never actually married to him?”

  “Had to keep things quiet. Back then, people didn’t understand. Nowadays you can parade around and have as many children as you like out of wedlock. Nobody says a thing. But Rachel’s entitled to her share.”

  “You told Rachel that.”

  “When we were speaking to each other, yes.” She looked around. “Where is she? Did she come with you?”

  “No,” I said. “Did Elijah discuss his will with you?”

  She gripped the arm of the wheelchair. “No! And how do you think I found out I was getting nothing? After I had Rachel, he didn’t want to have anything to do with me, or with her. I came to his house one day to tell him to give me some money for his daughter—he was still in the big house and not in that trailer—and I was in his study and found some papers on his desk that said he was going to leave all his money to whoever outlived him. I told Rachel that was the craziest thing I ever heard of. Why not divide the money among the real family members like any sensible person would do? Oh, no, not Elijah. He h
ad to be clever. He had to make everyone jump around.”

  “Mrs. Mills, are you sure that’s what you saw? There wasn’t a riddle someone had to solve? Or mention of bat houses?”

  She shook her head. “He had three names written down. Aaron and Nathan I could understand, but that Lever woman? She wasn’t even family! My name should’ve been on that list, and Rachel’s!” She paused to catch her breath. Her whole body shook. “My health’s not good.”

  I needed to change the subject before Clara had a serious episode. A small bulletin board on the wall was covered with photographs of smiling children. “Are these your children?”

  “And grandchildren.”

  “You married, then.”

  “That’s him right there, Sebastian Mills, a good man, rest his soul. That’s Amanda and Susan and Paul and Edward and their children. I can’t think of all their names just now.”

  There were no pictures of Rachel, or Bronwen and Magwen. “You have a lovely family.”

  She gave Jerry another look. “You’re not Edward.”

  “No, ma’am,” he said, “but I’m a good friend of Edward’s.”

  “Well, you tell him to come see me and bring those little boys of his.”

  “I certainly will.” I saw him eying the large gold pocket watch on her dresser. “That’s a beautiful watch, Mrs. Mills. May I have a closer look?”

  “Yes, of course,” she said.

  I gave him a warning glance—was he planning to take it right out from under this poor old woman?—but he grinned wryly as he showed me the large fancy “M” engraved on the lid. “Very nice.”

  “My husband had excellent taste.”

  A pleasant-looking woman in a flowered smock came in the room. She was pushing a cart filled with medical supplies. “Glad to see you have visitors, Mrs. Mills. It’s almost time for your meds, though.”

  Clara sighed. “My health’s not good, you know. But I’m still living. That’s more than can be said for Elijah Fenton or Amelia Lever.”

  I looked at the little trays on the cart, each one labeled and numbered. “If you don’t mind me asking, what sort of health problems do you have?”

  “Blood pressure’s high, and I’ve got sugar.”

  “She means diabetes,” the nurse said. “I’ve got your shot right here, Mrs. Mills.”

  Clara smiled. “This gal knows what she’s doing.”

  “We’re going to take care of you,” the nurse said. “You’ll feel better, I promise.”

  I saw something I recognized on the nurse’s cart. The syringe had a plastic cap on the end to cover the needle, a cap exactly like the one I’d found in the grass beside the loading dock. I gave Jerry a glance and he nodded. He’d seen it, too.

  Jerry patted Clara’s hand. “We have to go. Thank you, Mrs. Mills. You’ve been very helpful.”

  She waved us good-by. “You’re welcome.”

  “Extremely helpful,” I said as we walked back down the hall.

  “Except for having a last name that begins with ‘M.’”

  “You almost gave me a stroke in there. Would you have taken that watch if it had an ‘S’ on it?”

  “Well, it didn’t.”

  I caught his arm and stopped him. “Jerry.”

  “Take it easy,” he said. “I wouldn’t have stolen it. Maybe borrowed it for a little while.”

  “Why don’t you just tell Flossie Mae and Sylvie the truth? Let me deal with Jackson Dooly and his relatives.”

  “I could always say the watch has an ‘M’ for Marie and Marge.”

  I stared to sputter, and he started to laugh. “Mac, relax! Bilby said the watch would be ready tomorrow. I’ve still got time.”

  “All right. I’ll go talk to Rachel. Clara must have seen an earlier version of Elijah’s will. If Clara told Rachel the money went to the last man standing, then Rachel’s trying to bump off everyone who’s in her way. She got rid of Amelia, and I think she made an attempt to get to Aaron.”

  “But the game’s over,” Jerry said. “Nathan solved the riddle. There’s no way she could claim it now even if she really is Elijah’s daughter.”

  “I’m willing to bet she didn’t know about the riddle. Ronald Brown overheard Amelia tell her, ‘Oh, you don’t know anything about it.’ The game changed.”

  “But if she stole the Bufo cards, she must have known something about the riddle.”

  “Maybe she knew just enough.” I checked my watch. “It’s almost six. I think the girls have their dance recital tonight. Rachel wouldn’t miss that. She’ll be at the theater. We’re going by Nathan’s first to make sure he’s all right. I might need you to stay with him, just in case.”

  “No problem.”

  ***

  Nathan was home and happily involved with the paperwork for his camp.

  “Come in, come in! I’m almost done with all this!”

  “Thought you might like some help,” Jerry said.

  “Oh, yeah, sure. Just clear a path and start straightening stacks. I’ve got all the sponsors over here and all the registration stuff over there.” He took a deep breath. “I can’t thank you enough for helping me, Madeline. I know I wasn’t very agreeable at times, and I kept things from you I should’ve mentioned at the very beginning, but Amelia had warned me about someone trying to get the money—and well, I almost ruined everything.”

  “But you didn’t,” I said.

  “And poor Tori all alone in that big house. I really want to do something for her to make up for all the misunderstanding.”

  “I’m sure she’d appreciate that.” I thought of Fiona’s concerns about Nathan and Tori. “Have you called Fiona?”

  “I did. She was the first one I called. She’s very happy for me.” He blushed. “I may even pop the question now that I have something to offer her.”

  Fiona’s concerns were now resolved. “That’s great.” I gave Jerry a quick kiss. “I’ll see you later. Nathan, I’ve got an errand to run and I’ll be back.”

  ***

  The parking lot, theater lobby, and backstage areas at Celosia’s community theater building were jammed with parents, grandparents, and assorted relatives all accompanying little girls and boys in fluorescent costumes. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find Rachel or her daughters in such a crowd.

  “Hi, Madeline!”

  I was surprised to see Fiona making her way upstream through the rows of children. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  “I have three nieces in this recital. I’d better be here. Isn’t that terrific news about Nathan? He called and told me all about it.”

  “I hope you were able to talk about other things, too.”

  The lights were dim backstage, but I believe Fiona blushed. “Yes, we had a good discussion. He did care for Tori, but now they’re just friends.”

  “Good,” I said. “Now maybe you can help me. I’m looking for Rachel Sigmon or one of her girls.”

  Fiona turned and pointed behind her. “They should be in one of the big rooms downstairs. I just helped my brother get all his girls situated. You’ll need to hurry. The dance instructors want all adults out in five minutes.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Madeline, I know Nathan appreciates all your help, and so do I.”

  “You’re welcome. I’m glad we figured out the riddle before the deadline.” Then I thought of something Fiona had figured out. “Fiona, Nathan said you thought the Bufo cards might have been part of the game. What made you think that?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought packs might mean packs of cards. But the riddle said, ‘Trust animals that live in packs,’ and cartoon toads certainly aren’t living, so I dismissed the notion as too silly. I’m glad you had more imagination than I.”

  “Did you by any chance discuss the riddle with Rachel?”

  “No, of course not. Now, I knew her girls wanted some Bufo cards, and I did tell her Nathan had gotten all these packs of cards in the mail, and maybe she could have those
. But then he decided to keep them for his campers.”

  “When did you tell her this?”

  “Oh, some time ago.”

  “Before last Tuesday?” That was the day Georgia’s had been robbed.

  “Yes, I’m sure it was before then.”

  Rachel hadn’t dismissed the notion as silly. Rachel had decided she needed as many packs of Bufo cards as she could get. I needed to find her. I made my way downstairs to the dance studios through the mothers, daughters, grandmothers, aunts, and the occasional. Bronwen and Magwen sat in their dressing area playing games on their cell phones. Bronwen’s dress was yellow with rows and rows of shiny ribbon. Magwen was in a pink lace pleated number that made her look like a cupcake. I didn’t see Rachel.

  “Hi, girls. Where’s your mother?”

  Bronwen glanced up. “She forgot one of my costumes, so she went home to get it.”

  My nerves went on high alert. Was Rachel likely to forget one of her daughter’s important dance costumes? “When did she leave?”

  “Just a few minutes ago. I told her she didn’t need to hurry because my first number’s way down on the program.”

  I stepped outside and called Jerry. Two rings, three rings—where the hell was he? I was getting anxious. I imagined Rachel armed with deadly syringes, sneaking into Nathan’s house. When Jerry finally answered, I said, “Are you okay? You need to get out of the house. Rachel’s not here.”

  “We’re not here, either,” he said. “I convinced Nathan we needed to go out for pizza. We’re at Mario’s.”

  My knees almost buckled with relief. “Good move. She may not go after Nathan, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

  “We’ll stay put until I hear from you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you?”

  “No, I’m going to wait for her here.”

  As soon as I closed my phone, I knew I wasn’t going to wait. Rachel wouldn’t miss her daughters’ dance recital. She might be planning some sort of trap for Nathan. If she set her trap and came back to the theater, she’d have her alibi. I’d better check. And I decided I needed a witness.

  ***

  Chief Brenner answered on the second ring. “Yes, Ms. Maclin?”