Part 26 (1/2)
”It's a world cla.s.s collection of Poe, O'Henry, Henry James ...” she said proudly. ”Annie loved O'Henry in particular. Any story with an ironic twist was meat for her. She was easily pleased.”
There was an air of resentment in Gilda's voice, an understandable one. Tragic death makes giants of the mortal. I'm sure Baum had loved Anne before the accident, but because the love had turned unavoidably one-sided, he had made her into a kind of G.o.ddess. That couldn't have been easy for his other daughter. It must have been particularly difficult now with her father's impending death.
”I'm sorry,” she said. ”I've been rude. Can I get you something to drink?”
”Scotch on the rocks.”
Her face lit up. She walked me into a room just off the library. It was an office of some sort and there was a lovely liquor cabinet against one wall.
”Dewar's okay?” she asked.
”Perfect.”
”This is my office,” she said as ice clinked into the gla.s.ses.
”You write too.”
”Yes, but not detective stories like Dad. I do more scholarly work.”
She handed me the hand blown tumbler. We toasted with a shrug and sipped.
”So, what do you make of the missing cat?”
”What do you mean 'What do I make of it?'” Gilda was almost defensive.
”I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-”
”No, no, I should apologize, Mr. Prager. It's been a rough several years with Dad and all. Frankly, there's never been an easy day for him since Annie was killed.”
”I can only imagine.”
”Let me go and check on Dad and Jack.”
She scurried out of the room. I looked around, snuck a look at the ultra thin screen of Gilda's Micro Apple 90. I also picked up the book she had left open on her daybed. I put the book back where I found it and headed back to where I had been standing when Gilda had left the room.
”They'll be only a few more minutes. Dad loves Jack. They met in Galway years and years ago, in the '03 or '04. Jack had just lost a little girl of his own, I think. They were both feeding the swans down by the quay and seemed to hit it off.”
”Gilda, do you mind if I tell you a story about my family?”
”No, go right ahead.” The smile on her face belied the uneasiness in her voice.
”My dad was a failure in business and he equated that with being a failure as a father. I had an older brother, Aaron. Aaron was the best brother and such a devoted son, but his devotion to my dad was-”
”I'm sure this is all very interesting, Mr. Prager, but-”
”Moe.”
”Moe then. But I really don't see what this has to do with-”
”Yes you do, Gilda. You see that it has everything to do with the missing cat. I had a peek at your computer and your reading material. Humor an old man by letting me finish. So, as I was saying, Aaron's devotion to my dad became a quest of sorts. He spent much of his own life trying to convince my dad he hadn't been a failure at all. Even after my father had pa.s.sed away, Aaron tried convincing him. The business Aaron and I owned, the one I now run with the kids and grandkids, is a manifestation of Aaron's futile quest. Your father's dying. Painting leaves on a vine or stealing a silver cat off your sister's grave won't save him. Let him go, Gilda. It's his time. It's your time. It's almost mine.”
She broke down, resting her head on my shoulder. Half a century of tears, grief, and sorrow seemed to pour right out of her. Jack walked in on the scene. Said ”I'm going outside for a smoke.”
JACK HAD BEEN right about the weight of the d.a.m.ned cat statuette. The thing had quite a bit of heft to it. Gilda stayed downstairs as I brought the Silver Whisker up to show her dad. She had confessed the whole plot to me ... well, most of it, anyway, when her crying had quieted down. She had stolen the cat in the hope of keeping her dad alive just a little longer.
She so desperately wanted him to see that she was everything that Anne had been, maybe more. She had done everything else she could think of, yet she could never compete with Anne's memory. Gilda knew it was a crazy thing to do and doomed to fail as everything else had failed, but ... What she had neglected to tell me was that she, not her father, had written the book that had won the Silver Whisker. I don't know exactly how I knew that. I just did.