“Sandra, it’s Mike Keeny. I need you to come over as soon as you can. Liz is missing, and we need your help to figure out what to do next.” He left off the part about the angry ghosts.
Mae walked into the room blabbering on her cell. “No Jay, I . . . I don’t . . . wait, please . . .”
Jay talked so loud they all heard him. “Where the hell is she? I tried leaving messages but she won’t call me back. I was about to drive to the Cape, but now I guess I need to track her down in Boston. She’s probably with that rabble rouser Marti.”
“Jay, listen. Yer mom is under a lot of stress. She can’t talk to ya. That’s your doin’, not hers. All this nonsense with the lawyers. Call them, not her. Jay, Jay?” She looked at them. “He hung up.”
Kevin rolled his eyes and raised his hands to heaven. “Just what we need now.”
The phone rang. A Boston area code. Mike grabbed it, fumbled the receiver, recovered. “Hello.” “Mike, this is Marianne Hartley. We’ve got an emergency. Do you know where your wife is right now?”
His stomach lurched. “What happened to her?”
Marianne’s normally calm voice sounded like it could shatter glass. “She showed up at Bill Jeffer’s apartment this afternoon. He claims she’s stalking him, threatened him, and has filed a police report against her.”
He suppressed a chuckle. Liz was acting like a normal, twenty-first century woman scorned instead of a Victorian hysteric. “She did? Good for her. I’d like to see an account of that go down in a courtroom.”
Marianne did not seem to share his relief. “Mike, things are very delicate right now. There are a lot of legal wranglings. I’ve had this discussion with Liz already. She can’t do anything to make herself appear unstable. I need to speak to her right away. Get her side of the story.”
“Well . . . she’s not here. Went off with Eddie. Didn’t say where.” So far he wasn’t lying.
“Mike, she’s not answering her phone. I emailed her three times. Are you sure she’s okay? The last time I spoke with her she was in such a state.”
Worry prickled him again. He had no business not telling the lawyer the truth. “Marianne she left me a note saying she’d be gone for awhile, trying to straighten things out. We’ve been having some difficulties lately.”
Her voice dropped an octave, like a doctor delivering somber news. “This is very concerning. Look, Mike. I’ll be frank. This behavior is very uncharacteristic. Now you tell me Liz just disappeared after I wired nearly $10,000.00 to her bank account. Where is the baby?”
What remained of his you go, girl humor vanished. “He’s with her, and she assured me they were both fine.”
“And you believe that?”
Now he’d be lying. “We just found out, Marianne. Of course we’re all concerned. Not much has been going right for Liz lately.” He looked at Mae and Kevin. “I’m going to put you on speaker.”
The electronic twang reverberated in the room. Mae and Kevin looked like the ghosts were still standing in front of them.
“Mae, tell Marianne what Jay wanted.”
“Er, well, he just called askin’ fer his mom. Seems Bill Jeffers rang him up to let him know his mother had been visitin’, totin’ his little brother, lookin’ like a bag lady. Mind ya, these are Jay’s words, and I’ve no idea what’s the truth.”
Marianne sighed like she was melting. “So, Jeffers called Jay. Just what I feared. As you recall there is still an open matter involving Liz’s competence to manage her affairs. Bill is still handling it. Until the Bar censures him, he can practice law. And for all his supposed anguish, Jay has not asked that the matter be closed. She might lose her right to manage the assets of the estate. That would tie up any settlement money.”
Mike banged on the desk. “And that spoiled brat is still dealing with that crook? He’s been calling his mother all contrite and conciliatory.”
“Mike, I have no idea what is going on with Jay and Jeffers. But do not give any information to Jay. Do not let him into the house. Liz has been instructed not to see her son. They could use anything against her.”
Mae broke in. “Ms. Hartley, is Liz in any danger of being arrested?”
“That depends, Mae. If Jeffers presses charges, the police will want to talk to her. If they can’t find her, they’ll issue a warrant. She’ll be picked up wherever she is and taken into custody.”
Kevin gritted his teeth and growled. “The guy steals her money, and she’s gettin’ arrested? I never understood American law.”
“I’m going to ask the three of you some hard questions. First, do you believe that Liz poses a danger to herself or to anyone else, the baby included? Second, do you have any inkling of where she might be so I can send a private investigator out to find her before things get out of hand?”
The three of them looked at each other. “What should we tell her?” Mike mouthed.
Mae and Kevin shrugged their shoulders.
“Are you still there?” Marianne asked.
“Yes.” Mike decided to answer the easy one first. “She’s probably with her friend Marti Goldman in Boston.”
Marianne exhaled. “Great. I represented Marti a few years back. Do you have a current phone number?”
Mae stopped biting her nails. “It’s in the red address book.” She rifled through the drawers.
Marianne pressed on. “And are you at all concerned about her being suicidal, or that she might neglect or hurt the baby?”
Mae looked at Mike and raised her voice so Marianne would hear it clearly. “Liz is one of the most devoted mothers I know. Attentive, very safety conscious. She made us all take infant CPR classes. There is no way she’d harm that child.”
Mike hoped that would be enough–and that she was right.
“And herself? Because if there is any concern we should contact the police.”
“We’ll call Marti and get back to you, Marianne.” Delay, distract. But was he really doing Liz a service? Jared flip-flopped. No, he wasn’t.
“If I don’t hear from you in an hour, I’m calling the police.” Marianne seemed to have gleaned their misgivings even over the phone.
“Give us an hour.” Mike disconnected. “I better call and warn Marti.”
“We’ll give you some privacy, Mike.” Kevin led Mae into the kitchen.
He found the number and dialed, not sure how he was going to explain he’d just involved her in Liz’s legal troubles.
“Liz?” Her voice was expectant, or maybe it was relief.
His hope for quick resolution tanked. “Hi, Marti. No, it’s Mike Keeny. I was wondering if you’ve heard from her. We had an argument, and she left with the baby. Then I got this call from Marianne Hartley, the lawyer. Liz paid a visit to Bill Jeffers and stirred up the pot.”
Marti giggled. “That’s my girl. I’ve been telling her not to take any shit from that ass-hole. Don’t worry, Mike. She’s in Boston. Called me a little while ago. I owe her big time for helping me out a few years ago, and I’ve got her back. Promised not to say anymore to anyone, but I know she’s crazy in love with you and once all this financial mess is over, things will work out.”
Something about her cheerful demeanor seemed overdone, but he barely knew the woman. Liz always said she was pretty tough, and pretty rough, but that Marti was the best friend she’d ever had.
He wanted to believe that. “Marti, please tell her to call me. And Marianne Hartley. Bill is raising a big fuss and might press charges. The police may want to talk to her, and I want to avoid a bigger mess.”
If she was concerned, Marti didn’t let on. “I’ll tell her, Mike. But she’s good. Really. Trust her to work it out.”
She’d made it easier than he’d expected. “Marianne wanted your number. Is it okay if I give it to her?”
�
��I think she has it already, but sure. That’s another person Liz has battling for her. Marianne Hartley knows how to get things done. And she doesn’t take any shit either. Bill is going to jail, and he knows it. He’s desperate.”
“Thanks, Marti. Tell Liz I love her, and to kiss Eddie for me.” Tears spilled out of his eyes.
“Hugs to you, Mike. I will. Bye.” She disconnected.
Mike wiped his eyes as Mae came back in. The timing was too perfect. She probably heard everything. “Liz is in Boston. Marti didn’t know about the thing with Bill, but said Liz was fine. They have some kind of Ya-Ya Sisterhood pact, something about having each other’s back.”
“But she isn’t with Marti?” Mae frowned.
“No, not now. But they’ve spoken. Still, something about Marti’s tone of voice–I don’t know.”
“Liz will not hurt the baby.”
Mike turned his head to the strange yet familiar voice so fast his neck muscles seared.
Sandra appeared next to Kevin. How had she gotten in here so silently? “I found this in the driveway.” She brushed one of Liz’s scarves across her cheek as she stared into a flat black piece of glass in her palm. Her eyes didn’t blink, and she rotated her head clockwise, then counterclockwise.
“I see an airplane, cold, fog.” Sandra looked up and blinked. Her awareness returned to the room.
Mae’s eyes launched daggers. “What are you doin’ here? Where did you get Liz’s scarf?”
Kevin came to her defense. “Mike asked her to come. Sandra asked for something that belonged to Liz. I found it in the driveway. Must have fallen out of her car.”
Mike found words. “Where did she go, Sandra?”
“To search for Edward. To tie up the dangling threads of her life.”
The dreamy, nonspecific rambling was getting on the last nerve he had left.
Mae’s was already snapped. She rustled through a ledger. “I’m going to check the credit card records. She has to have spent some money.”
If Sandra was insulted, she didn’t show it. “Do you have the pendant I gave Liz, Mike? That might help locate her.”
He wished he had them now. “Both the pendant and key fob are missing. She put them somewhere.”
“So, the power in them frightened her. She doesn’t want to be found.”
The computer keyboard clicked. Mike looked over Mae’s shoulder, going with modern methods. They saw the charge at the same time.
“A one-way ticket to London?” Any trace of humor, of relief, vanished. Terror punched Mike in the gut like a gang in a back alley. A one-way, international flight. Was she ever coming home?
“She’s searching for Edward.” Mae pronounced it with certainty, her eyes now locked on Sandra. “Liz was talkin’ about that yesterday, when she told me that she wanted to go to the beach to see him. That’s when all this started.”
“I see.” Sandra reflected like a shrink.
“Why London?” Mike forced the words out with what seemed like his last breath.
After the glimmer of hope that Liz was in control, back to being herself, he’d crashed like a falling elevator. She’d left the country. With his son and an awful lot of money. No. Edward’s son and an awful lot of money. Should he call the lawyer back right away? Have her picked up, intercepted before she got on the plane?
An ah-hah expression registered on Sandra’s face without a trace of distress, accepting, peaceful. “Where it all began, of course. Where Elisabeth and Edward met.”
Jared hurled a lightning bolt of pure green jealousy.
Mike staggered backwards. Mae trembled and sank to her knees. Tears welled in her eyes, still trained on Sandra.
Kevin ran to her. “What’s wrong?”
Mae pointed a trembling finger. Her voice waxed British, her countenance softened. “Bethea Vauxhaul. What business have you here? Not content with the anguish you caused us all when Elisabeth died? What more do you want from us?”
“You’re talkin’ nonsense, Mae! What the hell is goin’ on?” Kevin still hadn’t figured out the ghosts were about to overrun them.
Mae shook her head, blinked her eyes, took herself back. “I suppose you’re intendin’ to publish this, too. Ridicule us all, ruin us all again.”
“My book was published over twenty years ago, before I was aware of who I had been, what I had done in a past life. The story of Elisabeth and Edward Barrett always fascinated me, but I had no idea why. I was searching for answers and published what was part of the public record before I realized what enthralled me about the story.”
“The book. Liz mentioned the book in her note! We have to stop her.” Mike clicked through link after link until his fingers threatened to break the keyboard. The itinerary finally popped up. His heart flopped until he saw the five p.m. departure the next day. “We’ve still got time. Marianne can do something to prevent her from boarding.”
Sandra spoke, her voice cold steel, a seer’s portent. “If Liz is intercepted, Elisabeth will remain trapped. She will never be able to go to Jared willingly, without reservation. And he in turn cannot receive her, accept her, and forgive her. You must all stand aside and let them do this. You must permit them the freedom.”
Mike’s blood turned to sludge, his tongue thickened.
Jared goaded. Go, go get her. Stop her.
“She’ll die, again.” Mae got into Sandra’s face.
“Hold on, Mae.” Kevin pulled her back.
Mike studied Sandra. Could he trust the woman who had betrayed Jared? Was she just a kook? “You’re asking a lot.”
Her eyes, blank, unblinking focused somewhere inside him. “You asked my advice.”
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Mike trusted her. Trembling, he picked up the phone with five minutes to spare, still not sure what to do.
Don’t trust anyone else to do your job, to fulfill a husband’s duty.
Was he kidding himself that if they all said nothing, they’d share the blame if things went very wrong? He put the phone on speaker. Electronic dialing serenaded them.
Marianne answered on the first ring. “Mike?”
“Marti wouldn’t admit it, but I believe Liz is staying with her and assured me she was fine. I asked her to tell Liz not to contact Bill or Jay again, and I’m going down to get her tomorrow.” He wasn’t lying, just omitting key facts.
Yes. Jared settled, smug.
The lawyer’s doubt oozed through the phone. “Can you give me Marti’s phone number? I’m hoping Liz will speak to me.”
Mike looked at the others, who stood stone faced. “508-345-6557. We’ll be in touch, I’m sure.”
He disconnected. What the hell was he doing? Enabling Liz, lying to her lawyer, setting up her best friend.
Jared’s fury poured out of his mouth. “I’m going to retrieve her and the baby.”
Mike sank into the fashionable but very uncomfortable desk chair. The caned seat prickled his ass. He studied the credit card detail of Liz’s flight to London. He’d never find her once she left the country, particularly if she didn’t want to be found. Even if he beat her to the gate, could he convince her not to go? An unconsoled heart thumped in Mike’s chest, struggling to beat off a heavy coating of dread. His gut ached.
He had to believe it would, that he could reach her. “She’ll be safe with Marti tonight. I’ll wait for her at the British Airways check-in at Logan.”
Sandra’s voice startled him. “You did the right thing, Mike.”
Mae erupted like a fountain of tears. “Let’s go home. There’s nothin’ more we kin do tonight.”
Kevin led her toward the door, stopping to caress one of Eddie’s stuffed toys, a big grinning monkey.
“I hope so.”
Sandra draped Liz’s scarf around
Mike’s neck. “Remember, Jared would have done anything, given anything to turn back time, to make Elisabeth happy. You’re doing it now. Once she is able to move on, you’ll have Liz back. Once Jared lets go of his anguish, he’ll move on as well.”
The enormity of the task ahead weighed on him like a boulder. “What if I can’t stop her? What if I can’t find her?”
Sandra didn’t hesitate. “Follow your instincts.”
The Widow's Walk Page 21
