Part 29 (2/2)
Okay, how was I going to explain this? I pulled her over to the bench against the wall beside the coat hooks. ”I was with Rebecca when she got your things for court.”
”Okay,” she said slowly.
”Remember Lita had given you that bag of things belonging to Agatha?”
Ruby nodded. ”I just took it home.”
”So you didn't look inside?”
”No. Well, not much more than a glance.” She cleared her throat. ”The last while, even before she had the stroke, Agatha kind of got a little weird about stuff. She'd pick things up that she thought might be useful. A scarf, napkins-that kind of thing.”
”Ruby, I looked through the bag. I'm sorry, but I was looking for the envelope. I thought maybe it would be there or maybe there would be something in there that would help you.”
”It's all right,” she said. ”Obviously the envelope wasn't there.”
”No,” I said. ”But there was part of a picture. Of a baby.”
”A baby?”
”A baby,” I repeated. Now the awkward part. ”Ruby, I kind of walked out with the picture.” That was more or less true. I walked out with Hercules and he had the picture. ”Do you think you'd recognize whether it was a photo of Agatha's son? I think you said he's working in China.”
”Yeah. David.” She shrugged ”I don't know. Maybe. Agatha did have a couple of pictures of him when he was little in her office. He doesn't look that different now.”
I pulled off my hat and scarf. ”Are you going to be in your studio tomorrow? I could bring it over.”
”Justin is going to pick me up,” she said, her eyes sparkling like the old Ruby for the first time in days. ”He has meetings tomorrow and the next day in Minneapolis about the camp. We could give you a ride home and I could take a look at the picture.”
”If Justin doesn't mind, that would work.”
”He won't mind.” She stood up. ”Maybe we'll have something to give to Harry.”
”I hope so,” I said.
Ruby headed inside. I hung up my coat and changed my boots for shoes before I went in.
In the middle of the room Maggie was demonstrating a move to Rebecca, Roma and a couple of others. I watched for a moment. It was Cloud Hands. My nemesis.
Maggie finished, smiled at me, then clapped her hands and called, ”Circle.”
We moved into our usual places. Rebecca smiled at me from one side, and on the other side Roma held up a finger and whispered, ”I found one of the trucks.”
Thank you, I mouthed.
”Kathleen,” Maggie bellowed from across the circle.
It was going to be one of those nights. ”I know: bend my knees,” I called back.
”Good to see you're paying attention,” she retorted.
The cla.s.s took all my focus. I'd almost learned the complete form, but that didn't mean I had all the different movements completely mastered. Ruby and Maggie were the only ones who could do all 108 movements at the end of cla.s.s, although everyone else was getting pretty close. One by one we stepped out, letting Maggie and Ruby finish the form.
I glanced at the door and saw Justin standing there. He smiled and I did the same.
As soon as she was done Ruby crossed to where I was standing. ”Kathleen, there's something I forgot to tell you.”
”What is it?” I asked. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Justin was looking at us, s.h.i.+fting restlessly from one foot to the other.
”Obviously, Justin doesn't know anything about Harry and Agatha.”
”I won't say anything.”
She ran her fingers along her hairline, damp with sweat. ”I'm just going to tell him you found an old picture that you me want to look at. I mean, that's true as far as it goes.”
”That sounds good to me.” I didn't like lying to people and I thought there were way too many secrets being kept as it was, but it wasn't my place to reveal things Harry and Agatha had wanted to stay private.
I followed Ruby over to where Justin waited. ”How was cla.s.s?” he asked, leaning over to give Ruby a kiss on the top of her head. He looked at me and smiled. ”Hey, Kathleen.”
”Hi,” I said.
”Cla.s.s was good,” Ruby said, moving out to the coats. ”Could we give Kathleen a ride home? She found an old picture she'd like me to take a look at.”
”Yeah, sure,” Justin said. He turned to me. ”Where do you live?”
”Up Mountain Road,” I said, stepping into my boots. ”On the right. The fourth house before Pine.”
”I know where that is. Little white farmhouse, right?”
I nodded. ”That's it.” I stuffed my shoes into my bag, pulled on my coat and hat and followed Justin and Ruby down the steps.
Justin drove a small blue Focus.
Ruby turned partway around as we headed up the hill. ”I meant to tell you before. I heard you waxed Detective Gordon's”-she paused and grinned at me-”tail at the puck shoot.”
I raised one eyebrow. ”Let's just say I was little better than he was expecting.”
She laughed. ”Considering the past couple of days, I love it.”
”You play hockey, Kathleen?” Justin asked.
”Street hockey,” I said. Justin turned onto Mountain Road. ”Oh, I should warn you about my cats.”
”It's okay,” he said. ”I like cats, although I'm more of a dog person myself.”
”My cats were feral. They don't let anyone touch them but me.”
”Sure,” Justin said with a shrug.
<script>