Heart of Stone (35 page)

Read Heart of Stone Online

Authors: James W. Ziskin

BOOK: Heart of Stone
9.33Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

“Time to go,” I said.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Isaac realized something was wrong as soon as I arrived. And it wasn't only the fact I'd been drenched walking from the car to the Great Lodge. I'd ceded the umbrella to Lena and Max, who made their entrance dry and comfortable. There was a large group of residents and guests already present, all with a drink and appetizer in hand. Cigarette smoke wafted up to the pitched ceiling, and the chatter of a cocktail party filled the room. Isaac took me to one side to ask what was bothering me. I was through being quiet, holding my tongue, and sitting on my hands. I told him there were two things bothering me, but I had no intention of causing a scene.

“Maybe we should go to my cabin,” he said.

We slipped out the side door and raced across the compound, trying to beat the rain. He held the door for me, and I went inside. He switched on the light and offered me a seat on one of the armchairs. I waited.

“So tell me, Ellie. What is it?” he asked once he'd sat down opposite me.

I debated which way I should parry first: Isaac's motel stay or Miriam's seduction of a minor. I chose the latter.

“I discovered something quite disturbing this morning,” I said. “I spoke to Jerry Kaufman's little girlfriend.”

“Who's Jerry Kaufman?” he asked.

“The young man who died next to Karl.”

Isaac slapped his forehead and swore. “Sorry. I forgot his name.”

“I had a long chat with Emily,” I continued. “She said that Jerry had been involved with an older woman.”

“Wow. This sounds juicy. Tell me more.”

“It's not a funny story,” I said, and his smile disappeared. “She told me the woman was thirty years old. And she said it was Miriam.”

Isaac choked then laughed. He said it was impossible, he couldn't believe it. How would she even have known the kid? I opened my purse and retrieved the concert flyer I'd taken from the totem pole at Camp Orpheus that morning. Isaac unfolded it and scanned the details. He jumped a bit when he saw the names.

“I just can't believe it,” he repeated. “This doesn't prove anything. Miriam is one of the founding members of the Prospector Lake Chamber Players. She does this every year.”

“Seduces young boys?” I asked, and just as sassy as it sounds.

“Why should we believe the hearsay of some girl? I've known Miriam my whole life, and she would never do such a thing. Do you have any corroborating evidence?”

I nodded. “Jerry's best friend at camp gave me her name as well. He said that Jerry had fallen in love with her, that they'd had sex in her car, at a motel, and in the woods.”

“He knew her name, or did you prompt him?”

“I find that question insulting,” I said. “I did not give him the name. As a matter of fact, he thought I might be Mimi when he first saw me.”

Isaac shot out of his seat. “Mimi?” he asked. “I thought you said those kids had identified her as Miriam.”

“They did,” I said then clarified. “That is, they said her name was Mimi.”

Isaac drew a deep sigh of relief. “But Miriam is not Mimi, Ellie,” he said softly. “You've mistaken her for someone else.”

“I've heard Simon call her Mimi with my own ears,” I said. “And Jerry's friend said that Mimi was in the Prospector Lake Chamber Players. Miriam is Mimi, all right.”

Isaac paced back and forth, twisting the flyer in his hands as he thought. He frowned and said again that it didn't make sense. “Simon is the only person who ever called her Mimi,” he said finally. “I've never called her that. No one here does. It's Simon's pet name for her. He uses it when he's a little annoyed.”

I shrugged. “If you have another explanation, I'd love to hear it,” I said.

Isaac had nothing to add. He retook his seat, and I thought of how to open with the information about the Lakeside Motel. Isaac looked ill, in terrible pain as he considered the significance of my evidence. I hated to kick him while he was down, but I reminded myself that I was the injured party. So I teed up my second ball and gave it a whack.

“The other thing that's bothering me is more personal,” I began. Isaac looked at me, his eyes sparkling brown with the green flecks. “This is hard to ask,” I said. “Why did you lie to me about the Lakeside Motel?”

He cocked his head like a confused dog and asked what I was talking about. I studied his face. His brow was knitted just so to communicate confusion, not anger, his mouth drawn just tight enough to show concern, but not guilt. Then he blinked, and his eyes turned perhaps five degrees to the right for a split second.

“I visited the motel this morning,” I continued. “I wanted to know if Miriam had taken a room there with Jerry Kaufman.” I paused.

“Well, did she?” he asked in a small voice from the back of his throat.

I shook my head. “No, she didn't.”

We stared long and deep into each other's eyes. His were soft. They nearly trembled under my scrutiny. Mine were strong, until they started to cloud. His face blurred, but it wasn't until I blinked that I realized it was my tears that were to blame. I looked away and wiped my cheeks. Damn. I'd promised no scenes.

Then Isaac was at my side, on his knees, holding me in his arms. I told myself to stop. This was foolish. Weeping over a man I barely knew. But it was more than the loss of a lover. It was the loss of a trust that I'd granted to him. This hadn't been a mere roll in the hay for me. I was realizing that too late. It had only been a week since we'd first seen each other on the dock, but time was not a factor in my desire for him. Empathy, attraction, pheromones, and intellectual compatibility. I'd liked his face. I'd loved it. I'd loved staring into his eyes, no matter what we were doing or saying. Even if we were doing nothing at all. And my skin jumped at his touch. It was a thrilling sensation, completely unexpected and involuntary, and unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. I was deluding myself if I thought this summer fling was nothing more than a brief indulgence. Simon had seen through me and hit me hard with that label. He knew it would sting more than anything he might say. And I had denied my feelings, even as I felt them growing. Even as I feared them.

“Ellie, I lied to you,” he said. I couldn't look at him. Not in the state I was in. “I lied because I didn't want you to get the wrong idea.”

I couldn't speak. At length he continued, gazing at me with all the contrition one face could muster. Then he took my hands in his.

“I didn't go to Tom's on Monday as I told you. That was a lie. I knew Gayle was staying on the lake because she came to see me.”

When I didn't answer him, he continued. “She arrived Thursday and showed up here that evening. I was shocked, of course. I certainly wasn't expecting her. We hadn't stayed in touch after that time in Hollywood.” He wiped a tear from my cheek. “Ellie, don't cry. I swear nothing happened with her.”

I pulled away and wiped my own tears. “You're still lying,” I said.

“No, it's the truth. Gayle came to me to ask if I'd seen Karl. I said no, of course. No one here had any idea he was in Prospector Lake.”

I shook my head. “Miriam knew,” I said. “Who do you think gave him that monogrammed Dopp kit? They were meeting in a hunters' shelter behind camp. Not two hundred yards away.”

“What? Ellie, what do you have against Miriam? You've accused her of everything under the sun. First the boy and now Karl.”

“She's the connection, Isaac.”

“What?”

“Miriam is the link between Karl and Jerry Kaufman. Nothing else connects them to each other. Just Miriam. Mimi. She was carrying on with both of them.”

Isaac eased himself back into a chair and glared at me. For a long moment, as if trying to see through a fog. He frowned and ran a hand through his hair. I thought he hated me.

“You're saying Miriam, a woman I grew up with, murdered a boy of sixteen and one of her oldest friends?”

“No,” I said. He waited. “I'm saying she is the link between the two of them.”

“How is that different?”

“They either died accidentally or in a struggle. I don't know why they might have struggled, unless it was over her.”

Isaac drew a deep breath. “So where does that leave us? You accuse Miriam of terrible, unspeakable things, but you haven't convinced me. Everything can be explained.”

“Karl's presence on the lake? His Dopp kit in the shack two hundred yards away? The boy meeting Mimi in motels and cars? And, yes, in a hunters' shelter.”

Isaac struggled to find an explanation to cast doubt on my conclusions. He said that Karl might have seen her, but that was not proof of an affair. And the boy? “What about Lucia Blanchard?” he asked. “Maybe she was the one who seduced him.”

“Mimi is Miriam,” I said. “Not Lucia.”

Isaac stood and crossed the room. He didn't have an answer for that. But he did have something to say.

“Maybe you should go, Ellie. I'm not feeling very festive after this talk.”

That only angered me. After his lies, he was blaming me, the messenger. I stood and smoothed my skirt. I strode across the room to make him look me in the eye.

“I'll leave,” I said. “But first you're going to tell me why you lied to me.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“It was a lie of omission,” I said. “But a lie nonetheless. While I was at the Lakeside Motel today, I saw the register. I know you spent a couple of nights there. And you never mentioned it to me.”

He tried to laugh it off. “I have to tell you what I did weeks before I met you? I took a room there to free up this cabin for an old friend of my father's. Does that satisfy you?”

He may have been telling the truth, but I still had one more salvo for him. “It'll satisfy me when you admit that you took a room at the Lakeside Motel to meet Lucia Blanchard. She checked in two hours before you did.”

He looked surprised.

“Good night,” I said. “And good-bye.”

Surrounded by three suitors, Aunt Lena was holding court on a sofa in the Great Lodge. She sparkled, a drink in one hand while the men ate out of the other. At the same time, Max looked to be making some important and long-winded point to Ruth Hirsch. I knew he hadn't paused for breath since his glass was full. No one seemed concerned that the sky was completely clouded over and that there would be no view of the eclipse this night.

I didn't have the heart to tear Max and Lena away just because I had to leave. It was their last night on Prospector Lake, after all, and they were having so much fun. I waited for an opportunity to whisper in Lena's ear and told her I had to speak with Chief Terwilliger about something important. I gave her my car keys and said I'd make my own way back to Cedar Haven. She frowned and asked if I really had to go. I hadn't even eaten yet.

“I'm fine,” I said, patting her hand. “You and Max enjoy yourselves. I'll catch up with you back at camp.”

I started to make my way toward the door, chatting casually with whoever showed up in my path. I came face-to-face with Simon, who was alone near the drinks table. His cheeks were peaked, eyes puffy. He smiled at me.

“Can I get you a drink?” he asked. “Isaac went out and bought a couple of bottles of your Dewar's today.”

“Thanks, no,” I said. “I'm afraid I have to meet that awful Chief Terwilliger just now. I have to go.”

“You're leaving Sunday for home?” he asked. I nodded. “Listen, Ellie,” he began carefully. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior toward you this past week. I have no excuse for it. You're a swell girl, and I acted like an ass.”

A sad smile crossed my lips. I reached out and touched his hand gently. “Don't give it a second thought. I think you're a swell man, too.”

I kissed him on the cheek, and he gave me a little hug. The tension between us was forgotten; I was sure it was the tumor that gave him the violent, antisocial fits. Poor thing. He had such a big heart. Loved big and hated bigger. We said good night, and I headed for the door. I paused at the threshold to look back and throw him a small wave. He had turned to face the party. He was alone, a little stooped in his posture. I sensed I would never see him again. Then I caught sight of Waldo Coons, half-hidden in the shadows. He was still staring at me.

Other books

The Fire in the Flint by Candace Robb
Deadly Double by Byrd, Adrianne
It Is What It Is by Nikki Carter
Killing Time by Elisa Paige
The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber
Open Wide by Nancy Krulik
The Patterson Girls by Rachael Johns
Yankee Surgeon by Elizabeth Gilzean
Darkness Undone by Georgia Lyn Hunter