"Handsome moon," I offered.
"Yes it is," she said with a quiet sigh. "When will this be over?"
"Soon, Maggie, I promise."
"I believe you. You have a way about you, Miss Ryan, that"s very rea.s.suring," she said and sniffed again.
She then cautiously reached out her hand. Instinctively, I took the small, cold hand in mine.
"You have warm hands," she whispered.
I swallowed hard as I stared at our laced fingers but said nothing.
"Thank you, Kate. I"m not sure I could do this alone."
I gave her hand a rea.s.suring pat. "I"m glad to do it, Miss Winfield. Now, let"s get you back."
For a moment, I could hear my heart pounding as we sat there in the moonlight, in a somewhat tender moment. I tried to remember what that was like.
I stood and promptly tripped on a boulder and smacked my knee on the corner of the bench. I grunted in embarra.s.sment more than pain. Geez, I just wanna go home.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, I"m fine," I said, through clenched teeth. "Go ahead, laugh. I can almost hear the peal of laughter."
"Good grief, you are accident p.r.o.ne," she said, as I limped back.
"Kate, Steve is getting ready to go. Where are the bags of evidence?" Tom asked.
I heard the worried tone in Tom"s voice as I looked over at the desk. "We were in the library, and we left the room. Don"t tell me they"re not there?" I ran to the library.
We searched the room. They were missing.
"Dammit!" I bellowed.
"Okay, hang on. Maybe Doc or Hannah took them," Tom said, firmly.
No such luck; they were missing.
I ran my fingers through my hair. I was upset with myself to say the least. I had been so careful up until now. Dammit.
Steve put his hand on my shoulder. "Don"t beat yourself up over this, we"ll find them. Let"s split up and search the house room by room."
We split up into twos. Maggie and I took the library and den. Mac and Teri helped Hannah with the rooms upstairs. Tom and Steve checked the yard and Sarah and Doc took the cellar. Charlie and his date took the kitchen and living room. This was one time I was grateful for so many people.
It took the better part of an hour and we found nothing. The evidence was gone. We all sat in the kitchen. Hannah put on a huge pot of coffee while we sat in disgusted silence.
"It"s my fault," Steve said. "I had them in my hand and put them back on the desk. I went to see Mom. We talked for a while then, when I went back, they were gone."
"It"s no one"s fault," I said, then a thought occurred to me. "But it does add a new wrinkle."
I could tell by the look on Tom"s face, he knew what I meant.
"What? What new wrinkle?" Hannah asked.
"Whoever took the evidence obviously didn"t want any testing done on it," Tom said looking around the room. There was an unbelievably heavy silence.
What I was about to say was unnerving, to say the least. "Hannah, one of your guests this evening was a murderer."
An eerie silence blanketed the room as we all looked at one another. Then, Shirley, her eyes wide with terror, leaned into Charlie.
"Why would a sweet lady like your aunt invite a murderer to her party?" She was completely serious.
Once again, we all looked at one another.
Charlie stared at her, with his mouth wide open. He then shook his head. "I don"t know, darling. We"re an eccentric family," he offered affectionately and kissed her forehead.
"Oh."
The only sound that could be heard was the snapping of her gum.
Chapter Eighteen.
It was nearly midnight when Tom and Lily offered to give Sarah a ride home. She kissed Maggie and Hannah then looked at me.
"It is unfortunate the way this turned out, but I"m sure the jewelry will turn up."
"Don"t worry, this will all work out," Lily said.
"We"re not through. This is just a setback. You"re on the right track, don"t you feel it?" Tom asked. I shrugged in defeat. "Hey, don"t give up now. You have your father"s cop blood in you."
Hannah was standing at the door saying good-bye to Doc. He bent down and kissed her. Hannah kissed him right back. Maggie and I stared at the ceiling.
"Now, that was a kiss," he said looking down at Hannah.
"Oh, get out of here," she said, blushing. She gently pushed him out the door.
She turned around smiling and looked at us. "What? Do you think two old people can"t kiss? You think youngsters have cornered the market on romance. You two should take a lesson from us instead of playing the cat and mouse game with each other." She sported a smug grin and walked away.
I stared after her. "What"s she talking about?"
Maggie rolled her eyes. I heard her mumbling under her breath as she walked away.
With everyone gone, the five of us sat at the kitchen table. I was exhausted and completely deflated.
Teri gave me a confident look. "Kate, this doesn"t mean anything. You can still figure this out without that jewelry and glove. You just need a good night"s sleep to clear your mind. You know you do," she said in motherly way.
"Yes, Mom," I said.
She put her head on Mac"s shoulder. Watching them, and seeing how much they loved each other, made me realize how I missed having someone in my life. However, it had been four years since... G.o.d, I still couldn"t say her name. I vowed- never again, I"m too old. When this mess is finished, I"m going to my log cabin in the north woods and hide myself for a while.
Maggie came back with a photo alb.u.m, and sat next to Hannah, who apparently recognized it and sighed happily.
"I put that together ten years ago. I can"t remember when I looked at it last," she said with tears in her eyes.
Poor Mac was fading fast. Teri kissed his head. "Honey, why don"t you go to bed? We"re gonna look at pictures for a while."
He agreed, said his goodnights, and was gone.
That left the four of us. Before Maggie opened the book, Teri explained to Hannah what she thought. Hannah sat there, wide-eyed, listening.
"You think the woman in the woods is Miranda?" Hannah asked.
I laughed inwardly at her incredulous tone. My sentiments exactly.
Teri thought for a moment before she spoke. "I don"t think that is too far fetched at all. However, since I arrived, and heard about what has happened, I admit I"ve had a feeling of some presence around me. When our mother died, Kate and I felt the same thing. It is a strange feeling. You don"t know if it"s happening, or your mind and heart are wishing so hard, and missing them so terribly that you think they"re there. I will tell you, whether it happens or not, it is a comforting feeling. I truly believe the deceased are allowed to hang around for whatever reason," Teri finished.
Maggie and Hannah looked at me. I shrugged. "I believe anything is possible. The whole idea spooks me, though."
"Now, Kate and Maggie, what exactly did this woman look like, please tell me again," Teri said.
"Well, I didn"t see much of her, but she was in a white summer dress and she had long dark hair. I never saw her face-she was hidden by the trees and vanished when we started after her," Maggie said and looked at me.
"I saw pretty much the same, though I remember her hair. The dress was white and sleeveless, like a summer dress, and her hair was long and ..."
I looked at Maggie for a moment.
"Like yours: beautiful, long and wavy," I said and continued to look at Maggie, who smiled and gave me a raised eyebrow. I blinked a couple times. "B-But darker," I said.
Hannah"s face was ashen. She took the alb.u.m from Maggie.
"What"s wrong?" I asked, panicking just a little.
Hannah leafed through a couple of pages, and stopped at one page. She looked at Maggie and put the alb.u.m in front of me.
There was a picture of the woman. She was wearing a white summer dress. Her auburn hair looked like it was blowing in the wind. Her arms were folded in front of her as she stared off at nothing. With the woods behind her, she stood by a huge oak tree. She appeared to be in her mid thirties and a looked great deal like Maggie. I stared at the picture and looked up at Maggie. Both she and Hannah had tears in their eyes. I showed the picture to Teri, who didn"t seem at all surprised.
"This is the woman in the woods. Is this your mother?" I asked.
Maggie nodded, but Hannah spoke. "It was taken a few days before her death. We all walked around to the other side of the lake that day and had an end-of-the-summer picnic, Miranda"s idea. We took that picture when we were down at the lake. I"ve always loved it. She looks so far away, but happy." Hannah smiled as she looked at the picture.
Suddenly, a light fragrance wafted my way. I sniffed and turned to Teri.
"Do you smell it?"
Teri nodded. "It"s the same scent as in the library."
Hannah shivered. "What happened in the library? What is that?" She hesitantly sniffed the air.
I briefly explained what had happened. "It is the same." I looked at Maggie who agreed.
The fragrance was getting a little stronger. We all sat there, stupidly smelling the air.
"I think it"s lilacs or something," Teri said.
I nodded. "Like honeysuckle, sort of sweet."
Maggie shook her head, "No, it"s not that sweet. G.o.d, what is it and where in the world is it coming from?" She looked around the kitchen.
Hannah looked at me. "Kate, please tell me that this is not the scent on the intruder." She looked ashen. Maggie put her hand on Hannah"s arm.
"Aunt Hannah, what is it?"
I closed my eyes and sniffed again, trying to remember. I shook my head confidently. "No. No, this is not the smell. That perfume was heavy, the kind that makes you sneeze. I believe Sarah was wearing it tonight, but I don"t think she was the only one." I remembered the small group of women at the party. I sniffed and smiled. "This is almost a clean..."
Teri interrupted me. "A spring-time smell. I"m telling you it is lilacs," she insisted.
Hannah looked at Maggie. "Hyacinth," was all she said.
Maggie now lost all color in her face.
I looked at Teri who was studying both faces. She appeared to understand. I"m glad someone did.
"Okay, what is it?" I asked impatiently, the fragrance filling the room now. I was getting the creeps. Where was this coming from?
"When Maggie was a little girl, about six or so, Miranda and she planted purple and white hyacinths around the house. They spent the weekend laughing and planting."
"I barely remember, but I was happy and I remember my mother laughing as we planted. When we were finished, she said, aThey"ll come up every spring and we"ll watch them together." I remember now." She stared at the picture. "We watched them come up, every spring. We would sit at this table with the window opened and the smell of hyacinth filling the kitchen. I remember sitting here, as a little girl, watching Mom make breakfast, humming and laughing."
Hannah smiled and took Maggie"s hand, saying nothing.
"Well, we"re not imagining this. We all smell the hyacinth." Teri smiled affectionately at Maggie and Hannah. Teri was so calm. I was so... not.
Maggie took out my overworked hanky, dried her eyes, and looked at the picture again. "I have felt several times in my life that my mother was near. I feel that now. I know it sounds stupid, but I do."
"Maggie, it"s not stupid. I have several friends who have experienced the same thing that we are right now. I don"t know why it happens, but I believe Miranda is here," Teri said softly.
"This is almost too much for me." Hannah sighed.
"Me too, Hannah," I said as I shivered.
"I do remember when dad took this picture, though," Maggie said.