Page 58 of The Lady on Esplanade
“In the meantime, I’ll start digging into what’s going on at the Esplanade house to lay some groundwork before we approach Beau.I hope he appreciates that I’m meeting him halfway.I thought I’d re-create our evenings at your parents’ house on Tradd Street when we’d draw up elaborate charts and index cards and lay them all out on the dining room table—remember?”
“I do.And sometimes we’d play backgammon, and I’d always beat you.”
I felt him looking at me, but I didn’t dare turn my head.“Funny, that’s not how I remember it.I recall winning every game except for the times I let you win.”
“I know you only said that because my hands are practically glued to this steering wheel and I can’t hit you.Just wait until I get out of the car.”
He laughed.“Anyway, I won’t go into detail now because you’re driving, but I’ve gone ahead and started making index cards in my head about all the things we do and don’t know about the identities of the three entities in the house.”
“Sybil, Patrick, and some guy.”
“A really angry guy.I’ll research the archives and look at previous residents of the home to try to figure out who it might be.I’m leaning toward the father of the older sisters, whose second wife wasn’t immediately accepted by his daughters.Maybe he’s still angry about that.Until I can do more research, the only other man who I know had a relationship with the house is Mark, Lynda’s father and Jessica’s husband.But we don’t know if he’s dead.We don’t know if any of them are dead.They’re just…gone.”
“The house was built around the turn of the last century, so you’ll need to track down a lot of people.But it was held in the same family the entire time, which should make it easier.”
“I’m hoping,” he said.“Getting ahold of the police reports from the murder is on my first index card.Speaking with the two sisters…” He paused, and I felt him looking at me.
“Honey Meggison and Joan Wenzel,” I supplied.
“Right, Honey and Joan.From what you’ve told me, they sound like they’d welcome a fresh look at the case.”
“Yeah.I know they didn’t have a great relationship with their half brother, but they were very attached to their niece and sister-in-law.I think their loss hurt them deeply, but I didn’t get the sense that they felt the same about their half brother.”
“And then there’s the doll, which is the subject on my next index card.”He leaned over and stuck his hand beneath his seat.“No worries—it’s still there.Thankfully.”Sitting back, he said, “What do you know about it?”
“It did belong to Lynda.Mark bought it for her, but only to sit on a shelf and not be played with, since it’s a collector’s item.According to the sisters, it would make Mark really angry if he caught Lynda playing with it.But she loved it and they couldn’t keep it away from her.”
“So why didn’t Lynda take it with her when she left?”Cooper asked.
“That would be the million-dollar question, wouldn’t it?”
Cooper was silent as I signaled again to take the upcoming exit to the airport access road.“I just can’t stop wondering what kind of guy buys his young daughter a doll and gets angry when she wants to play with it.He sounds like a jerk, which could actually be a clue.Maybe he was a jerk to the wrong people.Maybe business associates.What line of work was he in?”
“Honey mentioned that he imported textiles from the Middle East.He was a very wealthy man, with a big mansion on the lakefront, but his wife and daughter preferred to live with his mother in the little house on Esplanade.That says a lot about the man, doesn’t it?”
“Sure does.”
“You’re working on the next index card in your head, aren’t you?I can already see the title in your bold all-caps handwriting:JERK FATHER.”
He laughed.“You know me well.”
That would have been the perfect opening to ask him about the woman, except we were practically already at the airport and I wanted to make sure we had enough time to talk.Instead, I said, “I’d like to know why that doll keeps following me around.Maybe little Patrick is a prankster?Or Sybil?Or some other spirit we’re not aware of.We need to let Mimi get her hands on it, but that will have to wait.But ‘creepy baby doll’ can be the next index card heading following ‘jerk father.’If you have a cleaning lady, you might need to explain to her what you’re doing so she doesn’t get freaked out.”
I began braking as I steered the car toward the exit ramp, but instead of feeling the car’s transmission downshift, the engine seemed to be revving.I glanced at the speedometer and saw the needle moving higher instead of lower.
“You need to slow down, Nola.You’re exiting the highway, and there’s a red light ahead.”
I stomped my foot on the brake.“It’s not working.”
“Try again.”
“I am, I am!”
“Okay.You’re doing great.The light just turned green, so prepare to turn right.Don’t worry about the blinker.Just worry about staying on the road.And not hitting anything.I’ll be your GPS telling you what to do.”
I nodded, my teeth clenched.“It’s going faster and my foot’s not on the pedal!What do I do?”
“Just stay calm and listen to my direction.We can circle the airport until we run out of gas or the computer glitch works its way out.There are multiple lanes, so all you have to do is avoid other cars and the construction cones, okay?”He didn’t mention the temporary concrete barriers that had been placed along the shoulder of the road for the never-ending airport expansion.He didn’t need to.
