Part 20 (1/2)
Scary stuff, straddling the veil between the planes. Or comforting? Or all in my mind?
My father headed for the stairs. ”I'm off to buy black enamel and pale matte yellow paint.”
”Thanks, Dad.”
He waved. ”Madeira, you might want to get that black candle away from your cat. And Fee, don't forget to sweep up the salt by the windows and doors.”
He knew!
Thirty.
Just like the silhouette of a car needs to be changed periodically so as not to lose its power of attraction, in the western world the female body is also reshaped from time to time.
-BERNARD RUDOFSKY.
I grabbed Chakra so she'd stop gnawing on the candle and I gave her some of the kitty treats I kept in my pocket. ”You gave us away, you.”
”She only confirmed our activity,” Aunt Fiona said. ”Your father probably saw the salt at the front door. He always had a way of ferreting out spells, but I must say, he's mellowed in his old age.”
”Old? Dad's a young fifty-two.”
Fiona grinned. ”So am I.”
I chuckled as my watch alarm rang. ”Time got away from us. I have an hour before Eve and I leave to pick up my car, and another before we have drinks with Lolique.”
”Lolique? Councilman McDowell's midlife crisis?”
”You mean his late-in-life crisis. How long have they been married?”
”No more than a year. He had to have his first wife declared dead before he could marry her.”
My head came up. ”Why? What happened to her?”
”n.o.body knows. She went missing years ago, and they say he did everything possible to find her. Him and the Groton police.”
Groton? ”I saw her picture but didn't know her history. Speaking of whom, come see this.” I brought Aunt Fee to the stacked white boxes. ”This is where I found the cape and dress. Look, these are priceless.” I took out several outfits to show her.
”I might buy this.” She held up a patchwork skirt and vest set, slipping her hand in the skirt pocket. ”Look, a broken fingernail.”
I reminded her about how we found Lolique. ”If these are from Lolique,” I said.
”It's weird that she should break two nails packing clothes,” Aunt Fiona said.
”And that they should all end up in pockets? Seems practically premeditated to me.” I pulled out a silk draped evening dress by Lucien Lelong in a translucent aqua coloration. A one-of-a-kind masterpiece. ”This looks so familiar. I must have seen a picture of it when I studied fas.h.i.+on design. It's decades older than the rest, and I hate the way it's been treated. Who would put such treasures in boxes? Help me get them on hangers and into garment bags, will you?”
I rolled a rack over. ”I'll send some of them to an artisan friend in New York to be cleaned and restored.”
Before Aunt Fiona hung each piece, she searched their pockets and found four more leopard fingernails.
I scoffed. ”n.o.body breaks that many by accident.”
”Maybe Lolique didn't care about her nails or the clothes. They surely belonged to McDowell's first wife.”
”I thought that, but they keep leading me to an Isobel when the councilman's first wife was named Gwendolyn.” But I'd flashed to Isobel wearing the cape with the diamond on her finger, the diamond from the quilt. ”When exactly did his first wife disappear?” I asked.
Aunt Fiona slipped a garment bag over an early Versace. ”McDowell didn't live in Mystick Falls back then, so n.o.body knows the details.”
Right. Groton, I remembered. But unfortunately, the only connection I had between the woman in the cape from these boxes and McDowell's first wife was psychic and worthless at best. I wondered what Natalie knew.
When Eve and I left to pick up my car, Aunt Fiona stayed to finish hanging the clothes from the white boxes.
”You're quiet,” Eve said. ”I thought you'd be chatty after spending the night with Nick.”
”You're fis.h.i.+ng, Meyers.”
”No, you're too quiet. You and Nick didn't break up or anything, did you?”
”You wish.”
She gave me an innocent look. Not.
”It's just that we're on our way back to the dealers.h.i.+p and whatever was bothering me when we left there is bothering me again, but I still can't put my finger on it.”
”I'll tell you what I remember from the last time we were there: that portrait of the councilman's late wife. Was that a rock on her hand or what?”
I looked sharply over at her. ”Was it an emerald-cut diamond?”
”I'm not the fas.h.i.+onista here, but it was the focus of the entire portrait. How could you not notice it?”
How could I not be sick at the thought of it? But if the ring in the portrait matched the one I found in the quilt, that would tangibly connect Gwendolyn McDowell to the quilt and cape set. Who the heck was Isobel?
”Sorry I have to drop you and leave,” Eve said. ”But I have a ton of schoolwork.”
”No problem. I'm driving that beauty out of here.” My Element sat in the parking lot, s.h.i.+ny clean and registered. I needed to go in for keys, warranties, and registration, but I wanted a better look at the portrait, so after the car became mine, I went to the ladies' room.
On my way back, I stopped to examine the picture, and my knees nearly buckled. Gwendolyn McDowell sat for that portrait wearing the Lucien Lelong gown.
Lolique had definitely given me the first Mrs. McDowell's clothes, the gown in the portrait being a tangible connection. Now if I found that same ring in the quilt, we'd have a second connection. I wished I could reveal my psychic visions to Werner, especially of the well, but I'd take what I could get . . . for now.
I wanted to match the ring in the portrait to the ring I found in the quilt, but I needed to see it up close.
At nearly closing time, with the place quiet, McDowell did not sit behind his desk. I ran up the employee stairs and down the upper hall beneath which the portrait hung. From there, I leaned over the balcony, as far as I could, to see the ring.
Yes! Emerald cut and twice the size of Texas. Definitely the ring I found in the quilt. I wanted to scream with elation, but euphoria turned to panic when I got b.u.mped from behind with enough force to keep from calling it an accident. I hung forward too far over the rail to be safe.