Mattie’s head snapped up as though Carol had given her an uppercut.
“I know I should have called someone, should have…I ran. Hank wasn’t at the cottage when I got back. When he came in he looked tired, forlorn. He said he’d been at the Big House. I told him I’d been out looking for him. It was as if we were trying to wait each other out, force the other one to mention Faith first. After a while, I couldn’t take it any longer. ‘Did you go see Faith?’ I asked him. He looked at me for a long time, almost as though he’d never seen me before. ‘In a manner of speaking,’ he said. ‘Although I’d hoped for a less radical solution.’ I’ll never forget the look on his face. I tried to tell him that I’d seen Faith, too, that I knew what had happened, but he cut me off. ‘It doesn’t change anything between us, you know that don’t you?’ I asked him why should it? I tried to get him to tell me what happened. ‘What’s there to say? It’s done now,’ he said, over and over again.
“The next day, we argued about it on the beach. I was angry. At Hank for doing something so stupid and at myself for not having the courage to just ask him, ask him…I tried to let him know how much I hated her, how glad I was that she was dead, so he’d know it was all right. But I was mad, and he, he wouldn’t…he…”
Carol was sobbing and shaking. Blanche pushed the call button.
Mattie was as rigid as stone on the return trip. Blanche didn’t try to make conversation.
“You think I’m a deluded old woman. Caught up in some fantasy, unwilling to accept the truth, don’t you?” Mattie asked as they walked toward her cottage. She didn’t give Blanche a chance to answer. “But I’m too old to deny what I know, and I know Hank didn’t have anything to do with Faith’s death. If I knew how I know that, I’d explain, but I don’t. Carol could just as easily be lying to protect herself, couldn’t she?”
Blanche stopped listening to Mattie go on about how Carol had helped ease Hank into suicide by giving him another reason to die. She realized it was grief, not intuition, that was driving Mattie. She needed to hold Hank in her mind as she’d thought she’d known him because that memory was all that was left. If he hadn’t been the person she’d thought, had her relationship to him been any more real? Mattie wasn’t going to rest until Hank had a halo. Instead of helping Mattie hang on to her belief, maybe what she was supposed to do was to help Mattie let go. She had no idea how, partly because she had the feeling that she didn’t quite understand all that was driving Mattie. She looked at Mattie’s stony face and shining eyes. I need to talk to somebody about this woman, she thought. It was four o’clock. Ardell didn’t get home until nearly midnight.
When she left Mattie’s the wind off the ocean was brisk. The sun hadn’t been out all day, but none of that seemed to matter to Malik and Casey who were working away on their fort. They had sweaters on. Tina’s doing, no doubt. The girls were in the kitchen with Tina. They were playing a game of Jeopardy. None of them seemed particularly impressed to see Blanche.
“There’s some pasta salad in the fridge,” Tina told her. “It’s good, too,” Taifa added. “We made it.”
Blanche got a plate, but was careful only to take a small amount until Taifa was proven correct. Too much mayo, but it wasn’t bad. Blanche carried her plate out to the porch.
Tina came to the door. “I forgot. Stu wants you to call him.” She grinned at Blanche. “He’s really on your case.”
“I guess so.” Blanche smiled back, not bothering to pretend to Tina or herself that she wasn’t getting a kick out of all the attention. “What did he say?”
“Well, he was very disappointed when you weren’t here. He left his number. I put it by the phone. And he said to please call him when you come in.”
Blanche finished off her salad before she went to the phone. As soon as she heard Stu’s voice, she knew she wanted to see him.
“You ashamed to be seen with me?” Stu asked her when she hesitated over his suggestion that he have dinner with her at the Big House. Blanche flushed. He was right in a way. She didn’t want to advertise that they were seeing each other, and she didn’t know all the reasons why. She’d have to eat alone if she didn’t invite him. Mattie had already said she was having dinner at her cottage. The children were looking forward to having their own table and Tina was off somewhere with Durant. She couldn’t think of any reason to say no.
The girls were no longer enamored of their own table when they realized they could have been sitting with Blanche and Stu. He winked at them over his shoulder. They giggled. Veronica Tatterson stopped at their table on the way to her own.
“Stu! Why haven’t you been to see us?” Veronica brushed her hair back with her customary gesture.
Stu stood up. “You know Blanche, of course,” he said.
Veronica reminded Blanche of their old dog, Maizie. Maizie had never mastered house training, no matter how many times she’d had her nose rubbed in her leavings and been spanked with newspaper. They’d finally built a house out back and retired Maizie to it. Now it was Veronica’s turn. Blanche looked up and gave Veronica her shark’s tooth smile. “I love your hair Veronica. Just this morning, I was telling Tina how natural your hair looks.”
Great spots of red developed around Veronica’s collarbone and crept up her face. The stream of venom that poured from her eyes was so strong Blanche expected her clothes to be drenched. Veronica turned with the smartness of a drum majorette and went to her own table.
“Did I miss something?” Stu asked.
Blanche widened her eyes. “When?” she asked with a grin she couldn’t suppress.
Dinner was lovely. Her sautéed scallops were perfect, but Blanche was only aware of them at the edge of her mind.
“What’s wrong, Blanche? I can tell something’s bothering you.” Stu gave her a shame-on-you smile. “You didn’t think I’d notice? Or didn’t you think I’d care? Is it Mattie? I saw the look on your face when you mentioned her at lunch. Hank’s death must be really tough on her. I know she was crazy about him. Maybe she’d be better off if she left, got away from where it happened.”
“I know you didn’t like him, so…”
“So you thought I wouldn’t be sympathetic to someone who did? Like I told you, I envied him that love.” He laid his arm on the table so his hand was just touching hers. “You’re wonderful for worrying about the old girl, but what about you, Mama Blanche? Who’s looking out for you?”
“I am worried about her, but I don’t want to talk about it here.”
After dinner, Blanche offered him a drink at the cottage. Taifa and Deirdre took charge of him the minute he stepped inside. They showed him the drinks caddy, switched and grinned and generally showed off for him. Malik and Casey talked with him about boats. At bedtime, he offered to help, but Blanche declined. While she was overseeing lights out, there was a crash from the kitchen.
“Just dropped a glass!” Stu called out.
“I’ll be right nearby. I’ll look in on you in an hour,” Blanche told the children. “I expect everybody to be in bed by then. OK?” No one was foolish enough to disagree.
When she passed through the kitchen, she checked for signs of broken glass. She found the glass all swept up and in the trash. Good boy! She walked with Stu toward the beach. An occasional cloud blotted out the moon and turned the landscape black as pitch. Blanche shivered, although she wasn’t cold. Stu put his arm around her shoulders.
“OK, talk,” he told her.
“If you repeat a word of this, I’ll swear you made the whole thing up. I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t so worried.”
She didn’t tell him about Hank’s real suicide note, only that Mattie was fixated on the idea of Carol’s being involved in Faith’s death because Faith had information about Carol that Carol didn’t want known. Blanche didn’t mention that Faith had information on other guests as well, although anyone who knew Faith at all would guess
as much.
“But Faith’s death was an accident,” Stu said.
Blanche realized she was going to have to fudge a little to keep from mentioning Hank’s original note. “Not to Mattie.”
“But why would Carol do such a thing?”
Blanche shrugged. “Even if she’s wrong about Faith being murdered, something is going on that involves Faith.” She liked the way Stu’s eyes flashed when she told him about what had happened when she’d gone to fetch the box.
“You could have been killed!” There was shock and anger on his face. “Get rid of whatever you and Mattie found and let it be known it’s destroyed. Keeping it can only cause trouble and it’s too dangerous. I’ve heard about Faith being a snoop and a gossip, but it sounds like she was really sick. I wonder if Al J. knew?”
Blanche told him about her meeting with Al J. “I doubt whether he’d believe it even if someone told him about it.”
Stu stopped and turned to face her. “You know, it’s not just you who might get hurt by whoever’s trying to get what you’ve got. There’s also Mattie. Alone. You’re a good and loyal friend, Blanche. But it’s no good. Maybe you ought to think about destroying the stuff, whether Mattie likes it or not. I can see how you would want to know who hit you. What I worry about is whether that information is dangerous for you to have. If this person cares enough about his or her reputation to knock you out, what will he do if you discover who he is? Please, Blanche, leave it alone. Get rid of the stuff.”
Blanche continued walking. It was not a bad idea. She’d been bothered by having seen it, by knowing about it. More than once since they’d found the box, she’d fantasized using what she knew against Veronica in some way.
“Maybe you’re right about getting rid of the stuff.” As soon as I find out who hit me she added to herself. “I’ll talk to Mattie about it.” But she didn’t say when.
He took her hand. “Poor baby! You’re supposed to be on vacation, not playing Watson to a grief-crazed Sherlock! You need some R & R. A day trip. Shit! I forgot. I’ve got to run some errands early tomorrow. I won’t be back until late afternoon. We’ll leave as soon as I get back. I’ll show you some of the spectacular spots. Deal?”
Blanche gave him her usual let me check with the kids and think about it response. Stu pulled her to a stop. She turned toward him. His lips were soft and firm and careful. It was not a deep kiss and there was only the one. Blanche wanted both more and less.
“I better get back.”
“It’s only been twenty minutes since we left. You keep running like this, Blanche, I’m going to start thinking you’re afraid of me.”
“Should I be?”
He moved closer. “Maybe. Depends on what scares you. Does this scare you?” He stroked her arm with the tip of one finger. “Does this?” The next kiss was deeper and longer. A murmur started in Blanche’s throat, like the creaking of a cold stove warming up. She pushed at his chest. He moved back immediately. His eyes were hungry.
“Come to my place later.” The urgency in his voice was a promise of pleasure.
Blanche shook her head. Stu put his hands on either side of her face and played his tongue over her bottom lip. “Don’t say no. Think about it. No strings attached.” He kissed her again, even more briefly. “Promise.”
Blanche laughed, “Sure. I can see us sitting down for a bit of polite conversation.”
Stu laughed, too. Blanche wouldn’t let him walk her back.
Tina and Durant came in a couple hours later. They seemed to have managed an evening without fighting and were winding it up on the front porch. Tina had one of those post-orgasmic smiles that Blanche couldn’t handle at the moment. She went to her room to read. She couldn’t, of course. She couldn’t do anything but think of that sweet, cool tongue passing across her bottom lip. She got up and took a shower. She put on her robe and walked to the front door. Tina and Durant were kissing on the moon-washed lawn. She went back to her room and dressed. She put a couple condoms in her pocket then put in her diaphragm on the assumption the more barriers the better. She took the flashlight from the kitchen counter and propped a note against the sugar bowl: “In emergency: 691-7672. Love, Blanche.” She slipped out the back door, all the while watching herself heading to bed with a man she’d known a couple of days. She watched herself, but she didn’t dare talk to herself about it. She just kept that kiss going in her mind. It carried her halfway to the village, her flashlight playing over the path in front of her. Then she stopped. She was ready for some serious sex, but she wasn’t ready for Stu. Ardell was wrong, it wasn’t about his color. Maybe she was just scared to let somebody get close, like Leo said. She hoped her decision now didn’t have anything to do with Leo. Maybe she really believed the only safe sex she could have was with her vibrator. Whatever the reason, she was back at the Crowley’s cottage in less time than it seemed to have taken her to get halfway to Stu’s. Tina and Durant had hardly moved. She went in through the kitchen without turning on the light and picked up her note from the kitchen table. She heard a sound and walked down the hall toward the children’s room. She was nearly at her own door before she realized that was where the sound was coming from. Malik’s had a bad dream, she thought. He still sometimes came looking for her when that happened. She went to the door. “Here I am, Hon…”
The shove sent her flying back and out against the far wall of the hall. She struggled to catch her breath. The bedroom door slammed shut. Blanche was immobilized. Her lungs lay in her chest like two deflated balloons. Tina turned on the light in the living room and peered down the hall. “You OK? We heard a loud bang.” Durant was leaning over Tina’s shoulder. They both came running. Blanche was panting for breath and pointing at the door and shaking her head “No” at the same time. If Durant understood that she meant for them not to open the bedroom door, he didn’t act like it. He flung the door wide and switched on the light.
“Holy shit!”
Blanche’s room looked as though it had been run through the clothes dryer. The curtains had been torn down. The screen was knocked out of the window.
Blanche checked on the children. They were still sound asleep. She called Mattie. “Are you all right? Yes, I’m sorry I woke you, but someone’s broken into my room. Nothing’s missing, so I figure…I just wanted to make sure you were all right. Yes, OK. Good night.”
Tina and Durant had listened to every word. Blanche didn’t have enough energy to make up a good lie, so she told them the vandals story, the same one Faith had spread around when she was ripping people off.
“Yeah,” Durant chimed in. “Kids from the village do this stuff every year. It was dark inside. They probably figured everyone was out. We should at least leave the porch light on, I guess.”
She agreed to notify Arthur Hill in the morning. Tina brought her a large brandy, and Durant helped her straighten up her room. Blanche sat in the chair in the corner and wondered how long the intruder’s vibe was going to saturate her things. She couldn’t sleep here. She didn’t argue when Durant suggested he spend the night. She gladly gave him and Tina her room and camped out on the sofa in the living room.
THIRTEEN
She hadn’t expected to sleep at all, but sun was warming the room when the phone woke her. She could hear the children trying not to make noise in the kitchen. She expected it to be Stu, then remembered he was away.
“Blanche? Are you all right, my dear?”
Blanche told Mattie she was fine. “Except I’m getting pretty tired of being knocked around!”
“Well, I’m afraid my reporter contact hasn’t helped any. I was right. Nobody in the article has anything to do with Amber Cove. I never heard of any of them, and I doubt whether Faith knew that sort of people—poor whites. They found the driver, one Mort Snarkey. No, I am not making up his name. His license had been previously revoked for drunken driving. He was tried and convicted of the hit and run.�
�
Blanche was sure the article had to have something to do with someone at Amber Cove. Why would everything but this item be related to this place?
“I think you should tell Arthur about your attack.” Mattie said. “It can’t be tolerated twice! I should have insisted on security when you were hit over the head.”
“My attacker could be Arthur Hill,” she reminded Mattie. She told Mattie she’d come by so they could talk about what next as soon as she’d bathed and dressed.
Blanche climbed into a full tub of hot water, enriched with Christine’s bubbling bath salts, and prepared for a long, restful soak. Her back was sore where it had made contact with the wall. She cushioned it with her washcloth. She had an all over ache. The nonphysical part of it was because she was mad and didn’t have any place to put her anger. She smacked the bathroom tile a few times, then tried to relax. She talked to Mother Water, trying to find a peaceful place in herself. It didn’t work. She was too wound up. Taifa and Malik both had to pee while she was in the tub. Tina knocked on the door to ask how Blanche felt and if she wanted anything from the village. All the children gathered outside the door to tell her their plans for the day, then thundered down the hall and out the door. End of soothing bath. End of thoughts of Stu and the cost in back pain of not having spent the night with him.
She didn’t notice the note until she went to the refrigerator for lemon for her tea. It was stuck under an apple-shaped magnet:
Blanche Among the Talented Tenth (Blanche White series Book 2) Page 21
