Page 41 of One Last Breath

“Trinkets? Trinkets?” George laughs. “Trinkets. The sacred remnants of our nation’s history, and you call them trinkets.”

“Oh, for God's sake," Elizabeth says. "It's not the blood of Christ, George. It's a fucking formality that someone signed and some other fools are willing to pay through the nose for."

“Why don’t you buy it?” Christopher offers. “When we find it, why don’t you buy it from us? We’ll give you a fair price.”

George turns a shade of deep red. “You know I don’t have that kind of money.”

“Oh, we know,” Annabelle says. “That’s why we’re not even talking about letting you have it.”

“Why you—”

He takes a step toward Annabelle as he does this. That’s a mistake. Christopher flinches toward him, but James reaches him first. He plants a hand on George’s chest and shoves backwards. George stumbles back, saved from falling on his backside by the front door. He stares aghast at James, but it’s clear he realizes the danger he’s in.

Just in case, James makes it clear. “It’s time for you to go, George. You’re dangerously close to hurting yourself.”

George’s lip trembles with fear and fury. He draws himself up to his full, unimpressive height and says, “You’re making a big mistake. All of you. I’ll see you ruined.”

He throws open the door and rushes outside. Elizabeth bursts into tears, and the others move to comfort her. Annabelle looks up and sees me. She meets my eyes and shakes her head.

I take the hint and return upstairs. My visit with Clara is suddenly much less important.

So the artifact is valuable. And both George Baumann and Elizabeth Greenwood are desperate for it. The question is, which of them is desperate enough to kill for it?

Perhaps instead of visiting with Clara, I’ll see what secrets George Baumann is hiding.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

I look George up and learn that he is an antique dealer and amateur historian who runs a shop near the historic district. I’m not able to find out much more than that. I come across a few articles he wrote for a Civil War blog some years ago where he talks about how the war shaped Savannah’s future. They’re not particularly well-written, but they’re not terrible.

What he is definitely not is the premier expert on antebellum architecture. I find his name nowhere among lists of such experts, not that I’m surprised. I know the moment I meet him that he’s a narcissist who sees himself as far more important than he actually is.

None of this tells me why he’s so obsessed with the document that’s allegedly on the property. He’s an antique dealer, not a museum curator or a professor.

Upon further reflection, that tells me exactly why he’s interested in the document. He only claims to care about posterity. What he really wants is the money.

And he admits to Clara that he doesn’t have the money to buy the item. Then Annabelle taunts him, and he sees red. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Christopher and James weren’t there.

What I’m missing is the connection to Lila. The few notes I find from Lila all say she knows. That either means that Violet knew that Lila was looking into Deirdre McCoy, or—as I now feel is more likely—that Elizabeth knew that Lila was looking into the surrender document.

But how does that lead to Lila’s murder? And does it involve George at all, or is George simply another irritant?

And if the document is somewhere on the property, why not just hire someone to look for it? Why not look for it themselves? I’ve been here for over a month, and George and Father Doyle are the only strangers the family has entertained. If they tear up the gardens and Glens looking for the document, who will see it but the servants? Are they worried, perhaps, that one of the servants will find it and keep it for themselves?

Maybe my mistake is that I’m trying to find logic in their actions. Maybe there is no logic. Perhaps the madness that afflicts Violet and Elizabeth is shared by all of them in some way. Maybe it’s not even that complicated. Greed can drive even the sanest of us mad.

In any case, I need to find out if there’s any connection between George and Lila. The first step is to find out when George first came to the family’s attention. If he showed up within the past four years, then he couldn’t have known Lila. On the other hand, if he’s been a thorn in their side for a while, then it’s possible that he and Lila encountered each other. It’s even possible that Lila was working with George. That could explain the hatred between George and the family. She may have been on the verge of discovering where the surrender document was when she was caught by Elizabeth and James and either asked to leave or made to disappear. Or, she was working for herself and George killed her to get her out of the way but can’t risk such a drastic action against the wealthy, connected Greenwoods.

I wait patiently for my chance. Well, I wait chafing with impatience, but what can I do about it? Annabelle is the only member of the family I can talk to about George since she is the only one who knows I witnessed the fight the day before. I need to get her alone, and that opportunity doesn’t come until the next night.

I take my dinner in my room. Not surprisingly, the family isn’t looking for company right now. But after dinner, I head to the balcony, banking on the chance that Annabelle will need fresh air as she usually does.

My gamble pays off. Ten minutes after I step outside, the door to Annebelle’s room opens, and she steps into the night. She smiles and approaches me. “Hey, Mary.”

“Hello, dear. Are you all right?”

She shrugs. “I’m all right. I’m more worried about Mom than anything. She’s been so… fragile lately.”

“Because of Baumann?”

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