Vultures at Twilight

by Charles Atkins

  With the arrival of his parents, Aaron grew sullen. His mother and he exchanged glances. Finally Susan spoke to him. ‘How is school going?’ she asked.

  ‘Fine.’ He looked at his hands.

  ‘It’s better than fine,’ Ada said. ‘He’s going to make honor roll.’

  ‘That’s our Aaron,’ Susan responded with a forced enthusiasm.

  I stared at her husband, still in the doorway, his features obscured by shadows. ‘Don’t you want to sit?’ I asked, curious for a closer look. ‘There’s an extra chair.’

  ‘No thank you,’ he replied curtly. ‘We weren’t planning to stay . . . Susan.’

  ‘Right,’ said Ada’s daughter, standing at the sound of her husband’s impatience. ‘We really can’t stay.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Ada. ‘It’s nice that you came at all.’

  Susan looked at her mother; it was clear that she wanted to say more.

  ‘Susan. Now!’ her husband persisted.

  ‘Coming.’ She stopped a few feet from the door, turned and looked at her son and then at Ada. ‘I’ll come tomorrow.’

  ‘That would be lovely,’ Ada answered.

  ‘Honey. Don’t make us late . . . again.’

  ‘Coming.’ And with a twitch of her lips, which might have been a smile, she trailed after her husband.

  I watched as Chris and Barbara threw each other glances.

  ‘For the love of God –’ Ada cut the silence – ‘just say it.’ And then she stopped, catching the sad expression on Aaron’s face. ‘I’m sorry, sweetie.’

  ‘It’s not your fault,’ he brooded. ‘I used to wish that she would leave him, but she never will.’ He gritted his teeth as tears moistened his eyes. ‘I hate it when he does that, and that was nothing. She just stands there and apologizes.’

  ‘I know,’ Ada tried to comfort him. ‘But everyone makes their choices and it just kills you when someone you love makes the wrong ones.’

  ‘You don’t like him either,’ Aaron stated.

  ‘I don’t. I never have.’

  ‘Did you ever wish that they’d split up?’

  She started to speak, and then she looked around the room. ‘Oh, who am I kidding? Yes.’

  ‘So it’s not just me. You see it too.’

  ‘Of course I do.’

  ‘I don’t want to go back there,’ he stated. ‘I know this sounds bad, with you in the hospital right now. But I can’t go back there. It’s like everything I do is wrong, and it becomes a big deal. At least with you and Lil, it’s not like it’s the end of the world or anything if I mess up.’

  ‘We’ll talk to your mother,’ Ada said. ‘You can stay with me as long as you’d like.’

  ‘But if you move back to New York . . .’

  ‘He’s right,’ I interjected. ‘Oh who am I kidding?’ What is it about near-death experiences? ‘Ada –’ and it was all I could do to keep from pulling out my IV and going to her – ‘if you go to New York, I’m coming with you.’ She stared back, something caught in my chest; I felt myself falling into the sapphire blue of her eyes. I could see her struggle. I’d crossed a line; no going back, Lil. I didn’t care what my daughters were thinking; only Ada mattered.

  She smiled, and held my gaze. ‘We’ll talk . . . later.’ She glanced at my daughters, who seemed unnerved by my strange declaration, and were probably writing it off to the stress and the drugs. ‘But I have to look after my mother.’

  ‘I know.’ I felt such horrible frustration, desperately wanting to let everyone know that I loved Ada Strauss. ‘And if you go, I’m coming.’ But as I glanced from my bed to hers, and then made a quick survey of the worried looks on Barbara and Chris, I realized: not the time or place, Lil. I gritted my teeth and stopped the words that were screaming in my head: I love you, Ada Strauss.

  A knock at the door. Mattie Perez popped her head in. ‘OK to come in?’ She was carrying a pair of African violets, one purple and one magenta.

  ‘How lovely,’ Ada said, giving me a quick and reassuring wink.

  ‘So, you want some news?’ Mattie asked. ‘Or would you rather wait?’

  ‘Are you insane?’ Ada said. ‘What?’

  ‘I thought you’d like to know, your friend Evie’s painting was recovered.’

  Ada sighed. ‘Thank goodness, I think I’ve had enough crime . . . No offense. So where was it?’

  ‘Tolliver found it. One of the workmen had . . . misplaced it.’

  ‘Oh,’ Ada responded. ‘Misplaced?’

  ‘Hank assures me there’ll be an investigation. But frankly, not my job.’

  ‘So where do you go now?’ I asked, realizing that the detective’s time in Grenville was coming to an end, and something about that was sad.

  ‘Back to Hartford. I’m sure they’ll have something new for me. Plus I have a mountain of paperwork to get through on this.’

  ‘You’ll be missed,’ Ada said. ‘Don’t you want a career in calm and lovely Grenville?’

  ‘Too much crime,’ she joked.

  ‘You have a point,’ I agreed. ‘I suppose we need to give some sort of report.’

  ‘When you’re feeling better.’

  ‘I feel fine now.’ I looked at Barbara. ‘OK, I admit not one hundred percent. I just want to go home as soon as possible.’

  ‘Hey,’ Barbara said defensively, ‘have I said a single word about that?’

  ‘True, you’ve been good.’

  ‘So what did happen?’ Aaron blurted. ‘Why did he do it? It was the dentist, right?’

  I looked around the room. They all wanted to know what happened in that cellar, Aaron was just young enough to come right out and ask for it.

  I looked at Mattie. ‘Is it OK?’

  ‘Go ahead. We’ll still need to do it formally, but I’m itching to know.’

  ‘Let’s see . . . Parts of it are fuzzy. I remember driving in the rain and somewhere on the way to Shiloh he rammed me; I think I tried to get away . . .’ Images tumbled as I pictured his eyes coming at me through the windshield, knowing we were going to crash and that I couldn’t stop it. I remembered wondering if the airbag would work, and the sharp snap as it inflated. It blinded me and I had just wanted it out of my way. I could feel the car skidding. I thought I’d end up off the road sinking into the swamp.

  ‘There was so much rain that I couldn’t tell what he was doing and then I saw the gun. It’s strange,’ I went on, feeling giddy from the drugs. ‘I knew he was going to kill me. At first I couldn’t even feel afraid, just numb. He dragged me out; he must have carried me. I was pretty dazed.’ I felt an itch in one of my fingers, and when I tried to move it, the scratch blossomed into sharp pain. I held my breath, and thought about pressing the pain pump, but in a couple of moments it eased. ‘I was dripping blood. I feel so strange.’

  Ada was watching me intently. ‘Lil, you don’t have to do this now. Maybe just rest.’

  And I was caught in the warmth of her gaze. ‘Did I tell you that I love you?’ I couldn’t stop myself.

  ‘You did.’ She didn’t miss a beat. ‘And you’re the bravest person I know, Lil. I love you too. And when we get out of here, we’ve got some figuring out to do. But right now, maybe some rest?’

  ‘No, I need to tell you what happened, and if going through this is what gave me the strength to tell you how I feel, then it lets me find something good, something wonderful inside so much ugliness and horror. Calvin was no monster, and yet, somehow he had become one. Like he’d figured a way to shut off the parts of him that were human and caring, as if there were two very different people living inside of him. When he handcuffed me and put me in the van I asked him what he planned to do. I’ve known – knew – Calvin most of my life. His mother and my mother had sat on committees together. I knew him when he was a little boy, I can even remember helping him dress up as a pirate one Halloween and then taking him around trick or treating. And later, he was our dentist. Even as he forced me into his van, he was polite . . . which is so strange,
because he was clear that he was going to kill me. I remembered wondering about the other murders, and how the bodies had been found, that there seemed to be a purpose to it. Like Mildred’s jewelry being sprinkled all over.’

  ‘Did he say why he did that?’ Ada interjected.

  ‘They’d cheated him. They’d taken advantage of his mother, robbed her of her things, and Philip Conroy tried to blackmail him. What he did afterwards was poetic license.’

  ‘I don’t get it,’ Chris said. ‘To kill over antiques.’

  ‘They were his life,’ I explained. ‘There was a fortune in that house. It was like a museum.’

  ‘But still . . .’ Chris persisted. ‘There had to be something more.’

  ‘There was.’

  ‘Wendy Conroy?’ Mattie prompted.

  ‘Yes. The poem ripped from her notebook. Philip Conroy had confronted him with it; that’s what started everything in motion. If that hadn’t happened, all of this might have been averted. I think Calvin was always a little tightly wrapped and between his mother’s death and Philip’s accusation something made him snap.’

  ‘So that’s why he cut off Philip’s finger?’ Mattie stated.

  ‘Huh?’ Aaron said, missing the detective’s point.

  Mattie explained, ‘The finger of blame; so he cut it off.’

  ‘Not quite,’ I said. ‘It was more literal. When Philip confronted Calvin, apparently he was jabbing his finger into Calvin’s chest. It upset him tremendously. I don’t think Calvin liked to be touched.’

  ‘Did he say why he planted it in the auction?’ Ada asked.

  ‘No, wish I’d asked. If you think about it, he really wanted to go out with a bang . . . literally. So the finger at McElroy’s auction may have been his way of getting people to pay attention . . . scare them.’

  ‘He was insane,’ Barbara commented.

  ‘Maybe,’ I said. ‘But the more he talked, it made sense. He’d spent his entire life taking care of his mother and collecting antiques. Other than that, what did he have? He never married, no kids. I think Calvin’s love of antiques was how he defined himself, like a curator. And suddenly his mother starts to lose her mind and begins selling off the family heirlooms while he’s at work.’

  ‘Or molesting Wendy Conroy,’ Chris interjected.

  ‘Perhaps,’ I said. ‘But from his perspective, she was willing. Anyway, his mother clearly had Alzheimer’s but all of the dealers were just too happy to accept her consignments or give her pennies on the dollar for priceless things.’

  ‘So mostly revenge.’ Mattie commented.

  ‘Yes. In Calvin’s mind, the murders were justified. Even the fire was planned. He was waiting for Hank to come down the tunnel.’ I paused thinking about some of the things he’d hinted at around Hank, that my long-time friend and Bradley’s golf buddy might have been in cahoots with the dealers. There was no proof, and at least for now I’d hold my tongue. But while Calvin may have been barking mad at the end, I knew in my gut there was mostly truth in what he’d told me.

  ‘And?’ Aaron asked.

  ‘He wanted us all to die. And he wanted the whole town to witness the destruction of his things. Things that he had originally intended to bequeath to the Historic Society.’

  ‘How childish,’ Barbara said. ‘If you won’t play with me I’ll take my toys.’

  ‘It went deeper . . .’ I struggled for the words but they all seemed inadequate.

  ‘Tragic,’ Ada said, and she gave me a questioning look. ‘Was he in love with you, Lil? Was that the other piece? That day he fixed my tooth, the way he looked at you . . .’

  ‘Yes,’ I said, and a sob erupted from my throat. ‘And I never knew. I don’t think he had much love in his life. Just caring for his mother, and this fierce connection to his possessions. And now he’s dead, and all his things burned up with him.’ As I said that, an obvious realization took hold. ‘That’s why he came after me. Not because I’d cheated him like the others.’ It was an awful thought. ‘It’s like I was another piece of Chippendale, and if he couldn’t have me . . . Oh, God.’

  Silence settled. I thought of Calvin and couldn’t take my eyes off Ada. I was crying and felt guilty and simultaneously elated; not just to be alive, but this sense of new beginnings, a giddiness. You’re in love, Lil. And she said she feels the same. At least I think she did.

  ‘Well,’ Mattie said, ‘I think that answers the bulk of the questions. It’s been an eye opener being in Grenville.’

  I turned away from Ada. ‘How so?’ I asked.

  ‘There’s more here than what’s on the surface. It’s not just the antique capital of Connecticut. The real industry is old people, isn’t it? There seems to be a systematic stripping away of a person’s worldly goods; like cows being processed for slaughter. Not to whitewash any part of what he did, but Calvin Williams was fighting back. If I were on this police force, I’d say there are a number of loose ends worthy of investigation, like the business ties between Nillewaug and Pilgrim’s Progress; something smells bad there. Anyway, on that note of conspiracy, I should head out.’

  ‘Don’t be a stranger,’ Ada said, ‘there’ll always be a place for you at our table.’

  ‘I may take you up on that,’ Mattie said. ‘Meeting the two of you has been without doubt the best part of coming here. While there may be something rotten below the surface, there’s also a lot that’s good.’

  After she’d gone, I told Chris, Barbara and Aaron that I was feeling tired. But really, I wanted to be alone with Ada. Barbara’s parting shot as she looked at Ada and me: ‘I don’t understand what’s going on here.’ She shrugged. ‘I guess we need to talk.’

  As the door closed behind them, Ada pushed her covers back and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She stared at her IV, and then pressed the clamp over the tubing and pulled the needle from her arm. She drew her arm in tight to her chest to stop the bleeding.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I asked, unable to take my eyes off hers.

  Her monitor started to ding as she eased her feet to the floor and crossed the three feet that separated our beds. I turned my head against the pillow as her hand gently touched the side of my face. ‘I wonder what she wants to talk about, Lil?’

  And her lips found mine.

  It was a perfect kiss.

  When we separated, our lips still close, Ada chuckled. ‘We’ve wasted a lot of time, Lil.’

  ‘I know, but no . . . We’ve been together for a long time, none of that’s wasted.’ I desperately wanted to stroke the side of her cheek, but that would have to wait.

  ‘I hope not,’ she said, her expression clouding. ‘I’ve never been so frightened. The thought of losing you. Lil, there’s no way I’m moving back to New York.’

  ‘I’ll go with you.’

  ‘No, it doesn’t make sense. We’ll figure this out. If Mom doesn’t like Nillewaug we’ll find someplace else, or maybe a live-in aide. I can afford it. But this is my home now, Aaron needs me . . . and I need you.’

  ‘OK then.’ I thought of Barbara’s parting comment. ‘Did we just come out?’

  ‘I think we might have,’ she said.

  ‘Just checking.’ And all I could think was of how much I loved Ada, how right it felt to be with her, and how much I wanted to kiss her again. And so I did.