Dead Past

by Beverly Connor

  Frank came out with his pizza and Coke—the foundation of the food pyramid as far as he was concerned—and as they ate, she told him about Dr. Keith and his connection to Blake Stanton.

  “Keith, your neighbor? The one who feeds the ducks?” said Frank.

  “That’s the one. You never know how people really are. Unless you told me, I’d have never guessed you know how to play the accordion.”

  “I know, and who would ever guess that you enjoy hanging over bottomless pits on the end of a rope?” said Frank.

  They talked about Star and her grades. So far, she was making good enough grades to earn her trip to Paris.

  “She’s even doing pretty well in math,” said Frank. He was very proud, since that was his best subject.

  Star’s good grades were a relief. Diane finished eating and put her empty soup bowl on the coffee table.

  “I need to call Ruby Torkel,” she said.

  “Why don’t you lie down and rest a few minutes? You just got out of the hospital and if I remember correctly, the doctor told you to rest.”

  “I’m resting now.” She pointed to the throw across her lap as if that was clear indication she was in rest mode. “I’m just going to make a few phone calls.”

  She was interrupted by Frank’s cell. He fished in his inside pocket and looked at the display.

  “Work,” he said as he answered it.

  “Duncan here,” he said.

  “Now?” he asked

  “OK.” He flipped the phone closed.

  “It’s the Rosewood case I mentioned. I have to take care of some stuff. I suppose it would be demeaning of me to ask if you’ll be OK by yourself?”

  “Yes, it would. I’m a law enforcement professional. Plus, I have connections with influential people,” she said smiling, and put a finger through a belt loop on his trousers.

  He leaned down and kissed her on the ear, which produced an instant shiver in her.

  “I’ll be back when I can. I expect to find you here resting under your zebra blanket.”

  Frank took another swallow of Coke and left, telling Diane again that she’d better be good and take a nap.

  As soon as he was out the door, she called the hotel where Juliet and her grandmother were staying. The number was busy. She lay back and closed her eyes for a few moments. Her head throbbed, but the pain seemed to be coming more from the cut than from her concussion. She decided not to take anything for it. She hadn’t even filled the prescription the doctor gave her. After a few minutes she opened her eyes and tried the number again. Still busy.

  It would be easier in person, she thought. She got up, grabbed her purse, and went out the door, mentally thanking her mechanic for bringing the car to her. This was the first good look she had had of the new paint job. It looked just like the original before Patrice Stanton took a paint can to it. Diane keyed in the combination and opened the door. The keys were in the ashtray. The bill was lying on the passenger side. She left the bill there, grabbed the keys and put them in the ignition, and drove off to the hotel.

  As Diane knocked on the door to Ruby Torkel’s room, the security guard from the museum stuck his head out of the adjoining room’s doorway.

  “Oh, hi, Dr. Fallon, just checking,” said the guard.

  “I’m glad,” said Diane.

  Diane heard somebody on the other side of the door.

  “Who is it?” Ruby Torkel asked.

  “Diane Fallon,” she said.

  “I thought it looked like you. You can’t be too careful. These peepholes distort things.” She unlocked the door, unlatched the safety chain, and opened the door. “Had any luck finding who’s behind all this? I’m getting kind of tired of being cooped up in a hotel room. It’s nice, we have a bedroom and a little sitting room and two bathrooms, and room service is just real nice, but I’d like to get out and go shopping.”

  “We’re trying,” said Diane. “I came to ask you some questions about Leo Parrish and his relatives.”

  “I told you about all I know. I don’t know the family at all,” she said. “Can I get you something to drink? This little refrigerator is full of all kinds of drinks.”

  Diane didn’t want to even think about how much all this was costing.

  “No, thank you. I’m fine. I wanted to ask if there is anyone back in Glendale-Marsh who might know Leo Parrish’s relatives?” she asked.

  “Well, I expect Elnora St. James would know. She’s in her nineties, but is sharp as a tack. She lived by the Parrishes growing up. She likes to talk to people. Her hearing’s not too good, but like I said, her mind is still with us. You want me to call her for you?”

  “Yes, please,” said Diane.

  Ruby went to her suitcase and got an address book. “She lives with her great-granddaughter.”

  Ruby seemed to have developed some skill in the procedure for making a long-distance call from the hotel. In just a few moments she had someone on the line.

  “Arybeth, is Elnora there? I have someone who wants to know about the Parrishes.”

  “Yes, it’s about that, but mostly it’s about the Parrishes themselves. She’s a museum lady.”

  Ruby Torkel put her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. “She wants to know if it’s about the treasure. Lots of people have called to ask Elnora about the treasure. Sometimes she gets tired of people wanting her to tell them where to dig—if she knew, she’d have dug it up a long time ago.”

  She directed her attention to the phone again. “Elnora, how are you feeling today? That’s good. I got someone here who wants to speak with you about the Parrishes. She’s a real nice lady. My Juliet works for her at the museum here in Rosewood, Georgia.”

  Ruby handed Diane the phone. “She’s feeling real good today.”

  Diane took the phone and settled herself down in a chair. “Mrs. St. James . . .”

  “Call me Elnora, dear. I prefer it. So you want to know about old Luther and his boys? They were the devil’s own.”

  Chapter 52

  Mrs. Elnora St. James had a clear voice and an equally clear mind—and a strong opinion about the Glendale-Marsh Parrishes. This was a topic in which she was well versed. Diane found it easier just to let her talk about the family at her own pace and to interject a question only occasionally.

  “The two brothers, Luther and Henry, couldn’t have been more different,” Elnora began. “Henry was smart and kind. Luther was dumb and mean. The land belonged to Henry. Their father left it to him. Luther was allowed to live in a small cottage near the north boundary marker, and he was bitter about that. He made Henry’s life miserable. Henry left the land to his son, Leo Parrish, and Leo let Luther work it while Leo traveled. Leontine, Leo’s twin sister, married and moved to New York. Stop me if I’m going too fast for you.”

  “You’re doing fine,” said Diane, glad that Beth had provided her with a Parrish kinship chart or she’d have a hard time keeping up.

  “Leo Parrish was supposed to have found some treasure—I guess Ruby told you about that?” she said.

  “Yes, she did. But I’m more interested in the family history,” said Diane.

  “You’d be about the only one,” said Elnora. “Now, where was I?”

  “Leontine moved to New York,” said Diane.

  “Yes. Leo lived with her for a while there, I think. He didn’t like coming back to the family farm, and I can’t say as I blame him. We sure didn’t like being neighbors with Luther and his boys.”

  “Did Leo will the land to Luther?” asked Diane.

  “Why no. Leo willed it to his sister, Leontine. Luther just took it,” said Elnora.

  “Took it?” said Diane.

  “Stole it,” declared Elnora. “Wrote Leontine and told her it was his land, should have been his land all along, and if she didn’t like it, that was too bad. Though his language was probably more colorful.”

  “She didn’t do anything about it?” asked Diane. So far the history of the Glendale-Marsh Parrishes wasn’t get
ting her anywhere, but she kept hoping, and Elnora was interested in talking.

  “Not anything direct, she didn’t. She was afraid of her uncle. Isn’t that a shame, being afraid of your own kin, especially an uncle? But Luther was mean, so was his sons. They’d have as soon killed her as look at her. So Luther took the land, but in the end Leontine got the last laugh.”

  “How was that?” asked Diane.

  “Leontine was the owner of record, so the tax bills for the land went to her home in New York. And she didn’t pay them; nor did she tell Luther they weren’t paid. You’d think the fool would have realized he had taxes due. But he might have thought Leontine was too scared of him not to pay them herself. Anyway, the unpaid taxes built up over the years. And one day when Luther was an old man, the sheriff came and ordered him off the land. Said it had been sold on the courthouse steps for nonpayment of taxes. I would like to have been a bird in a tree when the sheriff came to the door. I understand ol’ Luther was fit to be tied. He died a year later, probably from stewing over losing the land. Him and the boys tried to protest, but the tax people told Luther it wasn’t his land and he had no interest to protest. I bet that made him mad all over again.

  “His boys, Martin and Owen, was living with him. They thought the land was their inheritance and now they had nothing. It was kind of sad for Owen. He had a family.”

  “Do you know what happened to his family?” asked Diane.

  “They lived around Glendale-Marsh for a while. Every now and again you’d hear about one of them getting into trouble. Owen’s boy was in trouble a lot. He got some girl pregnant and had to get married. I don’t know how long that lasted. In the end, ol’ Luther died and the two boys drifted away. We were glad to see them go. They were a mean bunch. They were always coming around and stealing stuff from us, like they was entitled.”

  “Did they ever look for the treasure?” asked Diane.

  “I’m sure they did. Martin tried to contact Leontine one time, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with them.” Elnora started laughing. “That treasure was like a curse from Leo, too. Luther was always running treasure hunters off his land. I believe he had more potholes dug on his property than we had in the entire state of Florida.”

  “What do you think of the treasure story?” asked Diane.

  “I don’t know. Leo was a smart boy. I’m sort of thinking he had something buried somewhere. Too bad he went missing. A lot of boys went missing in the war. That was a sad time.”

  “Have you ever heard of a Llewellyn family?” asked Diane.

  “Well sure, everybody knows them. James Llewellyn founded the town of Glendale-Marsh. Their house is on the historic registry. It’s a ruin—the house was built of shells and cement. What do they call that?”

  “Coquina,” said Diane.

  “That’s it. Coquina and tabby. I guess being from a museum you’d know about that stuff,” said Elnora.

  “We have a display of coquina and tabby with our shell collection,” said Diane.

  “All that’s left standing of the old house is some of the walls. I visited it once. You can still walk inside the old ruins. The rooms were tiny. I think the people must have been smaller back then. I know lots more about Glendale-Marsh, but you was asking about the Parrishes. Was I any help to you?”

  “A tremendous help,” said Diane.

  “I’m glad to do it. It’s nice that someone is interested in the family for a change and not the treasure.”

  “Have you ever heard of a family called Sebestyen?” asked Diane.

  “Sebestyen, that’s an odd name, isn’t it? Why does that sound familiar to me?” She paused for several moments. “I know why—that was Leontine’s daughter’s married name. Do you know them?”

  “I’ve just heard of them,” said Diane.

  “I think maybe I talked to their son once a long time ago. What was his name? Glen, or something like that? Let me think.”

  She paused for a long time. For a moment Diane thought they had been disconnected.

  “His name was Quinn. That was it. He was here. I think he was looking for the treasure. He was asking about the Llewellyn’s, too. His wife taught history, he said, and they wanted to take some pictures of the house and the graveyard. I remember thinking at the time that he looked a lot like Leo. I don’t know when was the last time I thought about that.”

  “Do you remember how long ago that might have been?” asked Diane.

  “Oh, I don’t know, fifteen or twenty years maybe? That’s a guess. It was quite a while ago,” she said.

  “I’ve kept you long enough. Thank you again, Elnora,” said Diane.

  “I was glad to do it. It’s so nice that Ruby’s visiting Juliet. She’s missed her so. That child has had a hard time. I guess you know.”

  “Yes,” said Diane. “I know.”

  “Did you find out what you need to know?” asked Ruby when Diane hung up the phone.

  “I found out a lot. I’m not sure it will lead to who’s doing this, but I have some ideas. I’m making progress.”

  Diane could see that Ruby was dying to know what her friend Elnora said, so she gave her a rundown of the conversation.

  “Well, what does Leo’s relatives and the Llewellyns have to do with Juliet’s kidnapping?”

  Diane realized that Ruby and Juliet didn’t know anything about the investigation so far, and the story was much too long and complicated to go into now. Besides, she had to get back before Frank found her missing. The last thing she wanted was to listen to him lecture her on taking care of herself.

  “I promise, I’ll tell you all about it when I can. Right now, just sit tight and you and Juliet enjoy pay-per-view,” said Diane.

  She opened the door and almost ran into Juliet and the security guard. When museum Security picked Juliet up to take her to work in the morning and brought her home again in the evening, it was also shift changing time for them. The new guard went to the adjoining room and the old guard was leaving.

  “You want me to walk you to your car, Dr. Fallon?” he asked.

  “That would be nice. Thanks.” She wasn’t expecting trouble, but as long as he was here, she might as well make use of him.

  “Dr. Fallon,” said Juliet, “How are you? All we talked about at the museum today was the attack on you in your office.”

  “Attack?” said Ruby. “What attack?”

  Diane gave them a short version.

  “It was nothing, really. Just a few stitches.”

  “You had to stay all night in the hospital,” said Juliet.

  “Just a precaution,” said Diane. She was inching out the doorway, trying to make a clean escape.

  “You mean you got something else stolen from you?” said Ruby. “It sounds to me like that museum is a dangerous place to work.”

  “Oh, no, it’s not, really. I can’t go into any of the details of what happened right now. You and Juliet have a good evening. I’ll talk with you tomorrow.”

  Diane didn’t want to talk about the code with them, either. She wanted to go home. When she finally got away, the security guard walked her down to the parking deck and to her car. She was glad to have him for an escort. She had an aversion to parking decks. They were always dark and usually devoid of people—a place with few witnesses. She was relieved to get in her car and drive home.

  Unfortunately, when she got to her apartment, Frank’s car was there. He had beaten her home. OK, this isn’t going to be fun, she thought as she got out of her car.

  Chapter 53

  Frank opened the door when Diane knocked. She expected a scowl. Instead, his expression was one of amusement.

  “You know, I bet myself that you’d be gone when I came back, and damn if I didn’t win a bunch of money,” he said.

  “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t get Ruby Torkel on the phone and I thought it would be quicker if I just went to her hotel,” said Diane.

  She came in and crawled back in her space on the couch.

  �
�Can you stay the night?” she asked.

  “Sure. Someone’s got to try to keep track of you. Are you in for the evening?”

  “Yes. I’m here. I won’t be going out again.”

  “Good. Tell me what you found out,” he said.

  Diane gave him a history of the Glendale-Marsh Parrishes.

  “They sound like a pretty bad bunch,” she said. “I’m thinking that you were right. The disappearance of the Sebestyen family is connected with their Parrish relatives. Martin Parrish, of the Glendale-Marsh Parrishes, contacted Leo’s twin sister, Leontine, in New York and asked her about the treasure. They expected that she had information on where her brother hid it. Descendants in both branches of the Parrish family knew about the legend of the buried treasure and the secret instructions for finding it. The Glendale-Marsh Parrishes probably believed that their New York relatives had the secret information. When Quinn, a direct descendant of Leontine, came to Florida to look, it alerted his relatives there and they ended up killing him and his family to find the secret. I think young Juliet stumbled upon the aftermath.”

  Diane grabbed up the phone and called Jin.

  “What did you find out from the authorities in Indiana?” she asked when he answered.

  “Hello, Boss,” said Jin. “How you feeling?”

  “I’m fine, just hungry for information.”

  “They were very interested in what we have,” he said. “They weren’t quite as forthcoming with their info. I didn’t know how much you wanted me to tell them, so I kind of played it close to the vest.”

  “What did you find out?” she asked again.

  “If you believe what they told me, they don’t know anything beyond what was reported on TV and in the papers. They had completely hit the wall. When they learned that there might be a witness, they got excited. I told them she was a little girl at the time. I didn’t give them her name. They’re coming down to talk with us. I handed them off to Garnett, so I guess you’d better give him a heads-up so he’ll know what the heck these guys from Indiana are talking about.”