Part 3 (2/2)

”I'll walk you to the door,” said Dawn.

Nelson nodded and turned away. Tess could hear their voices in the hallway and then the sound of the front door closing. She raised her eyebrows at her brother. ”That was strange,” said Tess.

”I thought it was decent of him,” said Jake.

”I guess it was. It's just...he's not exactly a pleasant fellow.”

Jake shrugged. ”He's just been driven around the twist by that crazy wife of his. I swear, I would've strangled that woman by now.”

”Jake, please,” said Tess.

Jake frowned. ”Oh, come on, Tess. It's just a figure of speech. And besides, it happens to be true.” He shook his head. ”Edith Abbott spent a fortune on attorneys trying to clear her precious Lazarus, and they don't have a dime to spare. Nelson knows as well as we do that it was money down the drain.”

Tess s.h.i.+vered, despite the warmth of the fire. ”G.o.d, I will be so glad when all of this is over tomorrow,” she said.

Jake nodded grimly. ”Me, too. For once and for all,” he said.

CHAPTER 4.

Feeling the chill, Tess fumbled for the quilt that had slipped off the bed during her restless night. She opened her eyes and instantly was jarred fully awake by the realization of what lay ahead of her today. It was not that she was worried about what the test results on the evidence would be-far from it. She had seen Lazarus Abbott take her sister. There was never a doubt in her mind. She was just a little concerned that she would not be able to maintain her composure in the face of all those newspeople's questions about Phoebe's murder. Tess could think about Phoebe now, after the pa.s.sage of twenty years, with some equanimity, but there was a good chance that her voice would crack and her eyes would well up if she actually had to answer questions about her sister's death.

Tess's gaze traveled past the soothing flowers and vines on the gray-blue bedroom wallpaper and out the window to the bare trees' branches. Beyond the trees the brown fields, bordered by rock walls and covered with the white lace of early frost, stretched out, spiked with evergreens, to the horizon and the granite peaks of the White Mountain National Park. The day was beautiful, the sky blue, the clouds puffy, just as it had been on the last day of her sister's life. Deceptive, Tess thought, and for a moment she saw again, in her mind's eye, Phoebe's gentle face, forever thirteen in her memory.

With a sigh, Tess turned over in the narrow bed and looked across the room. The other bed was a tumult of sheets and blankets and Erny was already gone. Probably helping Dawn with breakfast. Tess smiled at the thought of him. He had needed her desperately when his grandmother had died and left him all alone in the world. But Tess had needed him, too. It had not been easy all these years to keep doubt and depression at bay. Her childhood had been severed in two by Phoebe's murder. Before that time, all she could remember was happiness. And after, even the happiest days had a melancholy shadow. Sometimes she thought that she and Erny had been brought together by fate to save each other from those shadows.

Tess looked at the clock. She had to get up and get ready. For a moment more she lay there, avoiding the inevitable. She turned her gaze back to the window and was jolted by the sight of a gaunt man in a gray parka, standing on the nearby path that cut through the knee-deep brown gra.s.s of the field, staring in at her. Their eyes met and he held hers with his gaze until Tess averted her eyes.

For a moment Tess remained under the covers, her heart pounding, unnerved by the stranger's intruding gaze. Then her anger flared. She jumped up and pulled down the shade with a snap. It was probably one of those G.o.dd.a.m.n reporters, she thought. Couldn't they at least have the decency to stay out in front of the house? She made the bed, washed her face, and got dressed in a good pair of pants, a cashmere turtleneck, and her hacking jacket. When she pulled back the edge of the shade and peeked out, the man was gone.

She walked over to the bureau with its framed mirror, a vase of winter pansies, and her comb, brush, earrings, and makeup. She brushed her thick brunette hair back, considered putting it into a ponytail but decided against it. She put on some silver hoop earrings, some blush and lipstick. Last, she picked up the silver necklace on the linen bureau scarf. It had a rectangular pendant that read ”Believe” on it and was the twin of the one that Phoebe had always worn. For some reason, it gave Tess comfort to wear it. It was a kind of promise, to always keep Phoebe's memory alive. Tess fastened the clasp on the necklace and then tucked it inside her sweater as she normally did. She liked to wear it beneath her clothes, to keep it close to her heart.

The door to the room burst open and Erny stood there grinning. ”Good. You're up. Dawn says you have to come on. Uncle Jake is already here. We're all eating pancakes.”

”Did you help make 'em?” Tess asked him with a smile.

”Yup,” he said. ”Blueberry.”

”Cool,” Tess said, although she had little appet.i.te. ”I'd like to try those.”

”Okay, hurry up,” said Erny.

”Hey, just a minute. How about this bed, buddy?”

”Dawn said I didn't have to make it,” he a.s.sured her.

”I said you do.”

”Aw Ma,” he complained.

”Now,” Tess said. ”Chop, chop.”

Erny went to his bed and shook the sheets into some semblance of order. Then he jerked up the bedspread, smoothed it out, and tossed the pillow on it while Tess gathered up her satchel and checked its contents.

”How come the shade's down?” he asked.

Tess thought of the man in the field outside her window. ”I don't need the whole world watching while I get dressed,” she said.

”There's n.o.body around,” said Erny.

”There are a lot of reporters,” she said. ”They're here for this press conference.”

”Can I go with you to the press conference?” he asked.

”I don't think so, honey,” said Tess. ”This is...grown-up stuff.”

”Why are there so many reporters?” he asked.

Tess sat down on the edge of her bed, wondering how exactly to explain. She had promised herself that she would explain everything if he asked. But up until this moment, he had shown little curiosity about the reason for their trip.

”Well,” said Tess. ”You know that my sister was killed a long time ago,” she said. From time to time he had been with her when she visited the grave and she had always answered his questions, minus the grim details, about Phoebe's death.

Erny nodded. ”I know. Phoebe.”

”Right,” said Tess. ”Well, a man named Lazarus Abbott was caught and convicted of the crime, but some people still think the wrong person was blamed for it. So they decided to retest the old evidence from the case. And we came here this time to hear about the results.”

Erny had seen crime shows like CSI. He had a vague idea of what she was talking about. ”So if the evidence doesn't match, they'll let the guy go,” he said eagerly.

Tess blanched. ”No...Lazarus Abbott got the death penalty for killing my sister.”

”He's dead?”

”Yes,” said Tess.

”Then why are they doing this now?”

Tess shook her head. ”His mother hired an attorney. She refuses to accept that her son committed this horrible crime,” she said. ”Mothers can be...stubborn that way.”

”But he did do it, right?”

”Yes,” said Tess firmly. ”He did it. Now, come on, let's go get those pancakes.”

”After breakfast I'm going out on Sean's bike,” Erny announced. Half the reason Erny loved coming to Stone Hill, besides constant access to Leo the dog, was the freedom he had here to come and go on his own. In the city, he was more confined. ”Dawn said I could.”

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