Died in the Wool (15 page)

“Go,” Rudy said.

“Huh? Go where?” I asked.

“Go see Anna,” he said. “You won't sleep or anything until you do. You know you'll lie awake all night thinking about it, and by morning you'll have some cockamamie conspiracy theory all worked out and get yourself all in a tizzy. So go see her now and get it over with.”

“I can't tell if I find it a comfort that you know me that well, or if it's really scary.”

“It's really scary,” he said. “I've damn near left you a hundred times.” He winked at me, and I knew he was joking.

I finished eating and then headed over to Anna Gatewood's house. She lives on the street behind where my old house used to be on River Pointe Road. In fact, from my old bedroom window, I could just make out the chimney on her house. The lights were on and there was a car in the driveway.

I knocked, and Anna's husband answered the door. “Hi, Blake,” I said. “I was wondering if I could talk with Anna.”

“Well, sure, come on in,” he said. “I don't think she can work the rose show, though. She's on double duty at the vets' office until they get another person hired.”

“Oh, it's not about the rose show,” I said.

“Anna! Torie's here to see you.”

She came into the living room wiping her hands on a towel. She's about five foot six and never wears makeup. You have to respect that. She comes across as young, with short hair cut right at the ear in one of those swoop-bobs. “Torie,” she said. “Nice surprise.”

I often wondered if people really meant that when they saw me or if they were saying internally,
Oh, God, not her again. What does she want this time?

“I was wondering if there was somewhere we could talk?” I said.

A worried expression crossed her face, and she glanced over her shoulder to where her husband had been moments before. “What about?” she said. “We can talk here. Would you like to have a seat? Do you want some tea? Or lemonade?”

“No, thank you,” I said. I sat on her sofa, and she took the chair across from me. Her house was done in warm reds and browns, and there was an incredible smell of baked cinnamon and dough. It was the type of house that you could get comfy in. I like that kind of house. Then my purse was attacked by a Siamese cat, and a basset hound that was hidden under the table growled at me, and I thought that maybe her house wasn't so comfy after all.

“Don't pay any attention to them,” Anna said. “If the cat goes for your hair, thump her on the head.”

“Oh, great,” I said. “Um … Anna, do you have a cousin named Isaac Schmid?”

“He's my mother's cousin,” she said. “Haven't seen him since my sister got married … back in '85. Why?”

“I'm just making sure I've got the right Anna Gatewood,” I said.

“What's this about?” she said.

“How much do you know about your mother's family?” I asked.

I was giving her the opportunity to tell me about the Kendalls on her own. If she didn't mention them, then I'd have to ask. “My grandma's family lived in St. Charles County. German, I think. That's about it really. Oh, my grandpa was an auto mechanic.”

“Your mother's name was Sophia, right?”

“How did you know that?” she asked.

“All right,” I said. “Just hear me out before you say anything. I've been doing some research on the Kendall family here in town.”

If she was hiding the fact that she was related to the Kendalls, she was doing a great job. Her expression never changed, except she raised her eyebrows. “The, uh … the suicide family?”

“Yes,” I said, thinking how horrible it would be to forever be known as the “suicide family.” “Whalen Kendall married a woman named Hazel Schmid. Ring any bells?”

She shook her head.

“She had a daughter named Sophia.”

Anna sat back in the chair. “I don't understand what you're saying,” she said.

“Hazel left Whalen shortly after he came back from the First World War, and she returned to her family. As far as I know she never had contact with the Kendalls again. Their daughter was Sophia. Hazel remarried, a man named MacBride.” Now recognition registered on her face. “So your mother was known as Sophia MacBride for most of her life, not Sophia Kendall. She got married in the forties,” I said. “When was your oldest sibling born?”

“The twins, Mike and Nathan, were born in 1950. Mom was older when she started her family. Well, nowadays she wouldn't have been considered older, but for back then she was. I think all of us were born after she was thirty.”

“Do you remember your grandmother? Hazel?”

“Oh, yes, she died … in '78, I think?” she said. “Yeah, because she was about eighty-four or eighty-five when she died. I mean, she'd always been old to me, since she was almost seventy when I was born.”

“Anna, do you understand what I'm saying to you?”

She only smiled at me.

“You and your siblings are the heirs of Sandy Kendall. Your grandfather was not Tom MacBride. He was a stepgrandfather. Your biological grandfather was Whalen Kendall,” I said.

“I hear you,” she said.

“I take it this is a surprise?”

“Very much so,” she said.

“Then you can't help me,” I said.

“Why not? What did you need to know?”

“I was hoping somebody could tell me why Hazel left Whalen, and if Hazel remembered the goings-on in that house,” I said.

“You're right, I can't help you,” she said. “I truly can't.”

“Are you okay?”

“I'm a bit shell-shocked. Are you sure about all of this?”

“Not one hundred percent, because I haven't seen a birth record for Sophia yet, but I'm fairly certain.”

“Well, none of it matters to me. The Kendalls were all long gone before I came into the picture,” she said.

“I have to ask … why did you move to New Kassel? If you knew nothing about the Kendalls then, was it just a coincidence?” I asked.

“Evidently so,” she said. “Blake had a job at Wisteria General Hospital. We lived in Wisteria for a while, and then it got too commercial for Blake's taste, so we found a house here. I had no idea I'd been living a few blocks from where my real great-grandfather had lived. And his family.”

Coincidences do happen,
Mort had said.

“I might be able to get you some photographs,” Anna said. “My oldest brother, Mike—even though he's a twin, he was born first, so he never lets us forget he's the oldest—he got most of my mom's old pictures. I remember him specifically saying a few years back that he didn't know who half of the people were in the pictures, but he just didn't have the heart to throw them away.”

“That would be great,” I said. “I could copy any that might be of interest.”

“Sure,” she said. “I'll drive down and get them next weekend.”

“Where does he live?”

“Cape Girardeau,” she said.

“I'd really appreciate that, Anna.”

“Sure, whatever I can do to help,” she said. “Why do you want to know all of this? I'm assuming it has something to do with the historical society.”

“I'm buying the old Kendall house. Your grandfather's sister, Glory, was a fabric artist. She made the most amazing quilts,” I said. “I'm going to set up the house as a textile museum.”

“Why the interest in my grandmother? What has she got to do with it?”

“Well, as you know, all three of the siblings ended their lives in the house, and Hazel left just a short while before all of that happened. I thought maybe she could answer, or at least shed some light on, why they may have decided to end their lives. Maybe help me to understand just what went on,” I said. “Not that I have to know these things to have the textile museum. I suppose it's more for my own personal interest. But since Glory Kendall will be the main focus of the display, it would help if I could shed some light on why she ended her life.”

“I understand,” she said. We talked a little more about family histories in general, and then she told me some animal stories from the veterinary hospital. Anna has always been very personable, and I like her a great deal. Her cat had even snuggled up next to me and started purring. A victory, according to Anna.

“I gotta go, it's late,” I finally said.

“I'll let you know when I get the pictures from my brother,” she said. “And I'm sure I'll hear about the museum when it opens. I'd like to be one of the first to see everything.”

“I'll give you and your family a private tour,” I said, and smiled. “You sure you're okay with this?”

“Fine,” she said. “Just a little surprised. I've never really taken much interest in the past, so it doesn't have the impact on me as it would, say, somebody like yourself.”

“Fair enough,” I said, and left Anna's house.

On the way back home I dialed Sheriff Mort to see how Maddie Fulton was. I got a recording and left a message.

Well. Eight hours of tracking down Anna Gatewood only to come up completely empty-handed. It was clear that Anna had never heard any family stories about the Kendalls, and so I doubted any of her siblings had, either. In fact, I was beginning to doubt that even Sophia had known anything. She'd probably just been told that her father had died and that was it. According to the newspaper article, she was only an infant when Hazel left with her. All my sleuthing had been a total waste of time.

Thirteen

The next day was Saturday, and the rose show was a week away. My local rose expert was in the hospital, and Eleanore was in jail. I supposed everything would fall to Tobias. He is the one I would trust to carry on everything in Maddie's absence. My work, for the most part, was finished. All I had to do was show up and be there for emergencies and make sure all of the refreshment stands were stocked. The shop owners would take care of their own shops, so I didn't have to worry about them. They look forward to events like the rose show, which bring amazing numbers of people to town, people who eat at our restaurants and shop at our stores.

I sat on my back patio, drinking a cup of chai and watching the birds flutter around the mimosa tree. When Rudy and I picked out the location to build this house, I saw this mimosa tree off in the distance from the road. My Grandma Keith had always had two mimosa trees on her farm, and as a kid, I thought they were the most exotic things I'd ever seen. When you think about it, they don't look like the run-of-the-mill trees you see in Missouri, with their fluffy pink flowers and tiny leaves. So I asked the contractor if there was any way he could leave the mimosa tree if we built a house here, and he said yes. That was what settled it. Well, that and the fact that Rudy had plenty of room to drive golf balls without breaking any windows. Rudy didn't even play golf yet. He said he needed to practice at home for a few years before he ever stepped foot on a range.

I heard the phone ring inside the house, and Rudy came out and handed me the handset. He kissed me on top of the head and said, “Matthew had breakfast. He just needs to get dressed.”

“All right,” I said. Then I answered the phone. It was Mort.

“Just wanted to let you know that Maddie Fulton is awake and asking to see you,” he said.

Relief flooded me. “Oh, thank goodness she's all right,” I said.

“She's been awake since last night, but they didn't want her to have any visitors except her closest family,” he said.

“Oh, sure, I totally understand that,” I said. “I'll stop by on my way to work.”

“You work seven days a week?” he asked.

“Sometimes. You know, the weekend is the busiest time in a town like this.”

“I see,” he said. “I also wanted to let you know that Eleanore is being released.”

“No charges?”

“Maddie said she didn't want to press any trespassing charges, and there was nothing else to charge Eleanore with,” he said.

“Not even attempted murder?” I asked.

Mort chuckled.

“Can't you charge her with something?” I said. “She needs a few more days in jail.”

“Maddie thinks it was an accident, and she's probably right,” he said. “However, Eleanore will be unbearable to live with, since now she's convinced she was a victim of … well, I'm not sure exactly. She wants to bring charges against the sheriff's department for harassment.”

“Oh, great,” I said.

“Yeah. Can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“What spaceship did she get off of?” he said.

“We've been trying to figure that out for a long time.”

He laughed, and we hung up. I finished my chai and went inside to get Matthew dressed. The girls had spent the night with the anime club, and Rudy was just getting ready to leave. He needed to check on a display at a store he'd finished last week. I kissed him and then swiped at a small speck of shaving gel. “Your face is soft,” I said.

He ran a finger across my jaw and then winked at me. “I'm cooking tonight,” he said on the way out the door.

“What are you cooking?”

“It's a surprise.”

“Okay,” I said and looked at Matthew. “What do you think it's gonna be?”

“Macaroni and cheese,” he said.

“Probably.”

Matthew and I drove out to Wisteria General and made our way to the intensive care floor, after having stopped by Maddie's house to gather a bouquet of roses from her garden. The nurses would not allow Matthew into the room, so I left him sitting with the desk nurse under penalty of death if he misbehaved or broke anything. Of course, I then had to be more specific. “That means don't leave this chair. Don't touch anything. You can talk to the nice lady, that's it.”

He stuck out his lower lip and crossed his arms.

I entered Maddie's room, almost as if walking on eggshells. I was a bit apprehensive about what sort of condition she would be in. Her head was propped up slightly, and she still had IVs and tubes everywhere. She looked like hell, but I wasn't going to say that.