Buy a Whisker (18 page)

Charlotte shook her head wordlessly.

Liz held up a hand. “So how exactly does this help us figure out who killed Lily? Do you think Caleb Swift's been alive all this time and suddenly decided to come back and kill Lily?”

“It's not impossible,” Rose said.

“It's not damn likely, either,” Liz countered.

I couldn't help noticing the tight lines around her mouth.

“It's one more piece of the puzzle,” I said. I looked at Mr. P. “Any luck so far with the Wellington Group?”

He shook his head. “I'll keep digging,” he said, turning back to his laptop.

I put my arm around Liz's shoulder. “Let's have some tea,” I said, starting toward the door into the shop.

“What makes you think I want a cup?” she said.

“I wasn't asking,” I said. “What's with you today?”

She brushed a curl of hair away from her face. “This is just ridiculous. Caleb Swift most likely fell off that sailboat of his and drowned years ago, and now Rose thinks he came back from the dead to kill Lily?”

I sighed. “Okay. I know that part isn't very credible, but now we know something about Caleb Swift that we didn't know before. Maybe it'll be useful.”

“I don't see how and I don't care how nurturing Alf is. I don't think we should be prying into those girls' lives.”

“You're right.” I gave her shoulders a squeeze. Charlotte had started dusting a set of bookshelves. “Charlotte, would you make the tea?” I asked. “Liz could use a cup.”

“That's a good idea,” she said.

Liz reached over and laid her hand against my cheek. “I'm sorry I'm such a crabby old hag.”

I put my hand over hers. “Love you,” I said.

I walked over to Mac. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“I need to make a phone call,” I said. “Can you hold down the fort for a few more minutes?”

“Sure. I've got this,” he said.

I went upstairs to my office and closed the door behind me. Liz wasn't being completely straight with me and I was pretty sure I knew why. I stared at the phone for what seemed like a very long time. And then I picked up the receiver.

Elspeth Emmerson showed up about twenty minutes later. As always, she looked perfectly put together in knee-high caramel-colored boots and a pumpkin-colored coat, with her blond hair pulled back from her face on one side. Only the fact that she kept sliding a narrow gold and silver twist ring up and down her right index finger let on that she was nervous.

I walked over to her. “Are you sure about this?” I said.

She nodded. “Yes. It's time for me to stop acting like I have something to be ashamed of.”

“You don't,” I said.

There were no customers in the store. Charlotte was standing next to the rack Mac had mounted on the wall, hanging the tablecloths that were already ironed and talking to Liz. They both turned around at the sound of Elspeth's spike heels on the wide plank floor.

“Hi,” Charlotte said with a warm smile.

Liz fixed her gaze on Elspeth, but her eyes flicked to me for a moment. “What are you doing here?” she said.

“I came to talk to Charlotte and Rose and everyone else about Caleb.”

“But you already told Sarah that you and Caleb went out for a short time.”

“I didn't tell her everything,” Elspeth said.

Concern was etched into the lines on the older woman's face. “I know this is painful for you,” she said quietly. “Why don't you let me do this?”

Elspeth crossed the space between them and put a hand on her aunt's arm. “I know you want to protect me,” she said. “But I'm okay. And why should I act like I have something to hide when I didn't do anything wrong?” She turned to Charlotte. “Would you ask Rose and . . . and everyone to come out here, please? There's something I want to tell everyone about Caleb Swift.”

Charlotte looked at Liz and then at me. “All right,” she said slowly. She headed for the back room. Liz didn't say a word.

Elspeth waited until Charlotte had left the room. Then she focused her attention on Liz again. “This is all me, Aunt Liz. I can see it on your face. You're angry at Sarah, and the person you should be angry with is me.”

Liz shook her head. “Why would I be angry at Sarah? The only person I'm angry at is young Mr. Swift.”

Elspeth put her free hand, clenched in a fist,
against her chest. “I should have spoken up a long time ago about what Caleb did to me. What if . . . ?” She stopped, swallowed hard and looked away for a moment. “What if what happened to Lily is somehow connected to him? If I'd gone to the police, maybe Lily would—”

“No.” Liz and I both said the word at the same time.

I shook my head. “What happened to Lily has nothing,
nothing
to do with you,” I said.

Liz grasped Elspeth's forearms with both her hands. “It is
not
your fault that Lily is dead,” she said. “Do you understand me?”

After a moment Elspeth nodded. Rose came out of the workroom then, followed by Mr. P. and Mac. She came right over to Elspeth and gave her a hug.

“Charlotte said there's something you wanted to tell us about Caleb Swift,” she said. She studied the younger woman, concern etched in the lines on her face.

“There is,” Elspeth said. She cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, her voice was stronger. “Caleb and I went out a few months before he started seeing Lily. At first things were wonderful. He was charming and very attentive. He wanted to spend every minute with me.” She paused for a moment. “But soon he didn't understand why I had to keep going to my study group and why I was applying for an internship that would take time away from him.” She continued to twist the ring on her right hand.

“Take your time,” Liz said gently.

“One night I canceled a date with him because my economics prof had dumped a surprise test on the class and a bunch of us had decided to get together and study. Caleb was waiting outside the library when I came out. I told him it was creepy and he should go home. He grabbed my wrist . . . and . . . and he broke it.”

“Oh my word,” Rose whispered.

“The reprobate,” Mr. P. said, the furrows between his eyes deepening.

“I snuck out of my dorm room in the middle of the night like I was the criminal,” Elspeth continued. “I came to Liz because I knew she wouldn't push me to tell her what happened. Then I called Caleb and told him if he ever came near me again, I would tell her what he'd done. A few weeks later he started seeing Lily. I, uh . . .” She cleared her throat again. “I went to see her. I told her what Caleb had done to me. She told me he wasn't that kind of person with her and asked me to leave. When he disappeared, well . . . I've always wondered if she knew more than she was saying about what happened to him.”

Rose immediately wrapped Elspeth in another hug. “Oh, my dear, I'm so sorry you had to go through that.”

Charlotte reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “It's brave of you to tell us,” she said. “Thank you.”

“I should have been braver sooner,” Elspeth said. “I didn't tell Aunt Liz what happened for a long
time, and when I did, I made her promise not to tell anyone else.”

A look I couldn't decipher passed over Charlotte's face. “You're braver than I am,” she said.

We all looked at her. She looked at each one of us, a grave expression in her brown eyes. “My first year of teacher training, I had a boyfriend a lot like Caleb Swift,” she said. “He didn't break my wrist. But he did hit me.” She stopped and pressed a hand to her mouth. Elspeth reached out and caught her hand, and something passed, unspoken, between the two women.

“I've never told this to another living soul,” Charlotte said.

“You could have told us,” Rose said gently. “We know it's not your fault.”

“It was hard to say this happened to me,” Elspeth said. “I'm supposed to be smart.”

Charlotte nodded. “I know.”

“It has nothing to do with smart,” Mr. P. said. “I'm sorry this happened to both of you.”

“Thank you, Alfred,” Charlotte said.

Elspeth took a deep breath and let it out. She seemed a bit lighter somehow. “There's one more thing,” she said.

“What is it?” Rose asked.

“The night Lily was killed? Maybe it doesn't mean anything, but that was Caleb Swift's birthday.”

Before Elspeth left, Liz came over to me. I remembered what she'd said the day we'd had tea at her house: “I protect the people I care about.”

“You should have told me she was coming here,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“She asked me not to.”

“You really think I would have tried to talk her out of telling everyone what happened?” One eyebrow went up.

“No, but it wasn't my call,” I said. “I asked Elspeth if Caleb had been abusive, because I noticed how protective you got when his name came up, but it was her idea to come and tell everyone what happened to her. She asked me not to tell you, and I didn't. She thinks you feel guilty for not going after Caleb at the time.” I pulled hand over my neck. “You do, don't you?”

Liz looked at me for a long moment. “I didn't know for sure,” she finally said. “I suspected, but I wasn't positive. Like she said, it was a long time before she told me everything.” She looked past me out the big front window and then her gaze came back to me. “I should have pushed. I definitely shouldn't have agreed to keep it all a secret. I should have strung that young man up by his . . .” She didn't finish the sentence.

“You took care of Elspeth,” I said. “That's what needed to be done.”

Liz looked over to where her niece was standing with Rose and Charlotte. “It was good for her to talk about what happened,” she said. “She doesn't have anything to be ashamed of.”

I nodded. “No, she doesn't.”

“I need to talk to her before she goes.”

I gave Liz's arm a squeeze as she passed me.

“The date has to mean something,” Rose said once Liz and Elspeth were outside.

“It is an awfully big coincidence,” I admitted, crossing my arms over my chest and rubbing one shoulder with the other hand.

“I keep wondering, could Caleb Swift be alive?” Rose asked. “And I know how far-fetched that sounds.”

“You don't seriously think he came back here and killed Lily, do you?” Charlotte said.

Alfred frowned. “That is a bit of a stretch.”

“Someone should talk to Daniel Swift,” Rose said.

“I'll go.” Liz had come back inside after walking Elspeth to her car. “I know Daniel. He was on the board of the Sunshine Camp at one time.”

Rose opened her mouth to say something, and Liz reached over and caught her hand. “I need to do this,” she said. “Four years ago, when Elspeth showed up on my doorstep in the middle of the night with her arm in a cast, I should have made her tell me what really happened. I knew she wasn't telling me everything.”

“She came to you precisely because she knew you wouldn't push,” Charlotte said. “She wouldn't have told you.”

Liz gave her a sidelong glance. “Excuse me, have you met me, Charlotte?” she said. “I don't usually take no for an answer.”

“If you're going, I'm coming with you,” I said. “I
met Daniel Swift once, years ago. Gram worked with him on the refurbishment of the Opera House.”

“Fine,” Liz said. “What time works for you?”

“How about late this afternoon?” I said. “I have a meeting with someone from the Wellington Group later this morning. It looks like that rumor Charlotte heard was right. They've invested in North Landing.”

Rose looked at me. “When did all this happen?”

“A little while ago,” I said. “It'll be a sales pitch, but I thought maybe we could learn a little more about Jon West and the company if I went.”

“Good thinking, Sarah,” Mr. P. said, smiling at me and giving me a thumbs-up. “Since we haven't been able to find out anything from the outside, we'll just have to infiltrate them.”

“We should talk to Caroline,” Rose said.

Liz shook her head. “It won't work. She isn't going to tell you anything.”

“Maybe not,” Rose said. “But it won't hurt to try.” She looked at Charlotte. “Will you come with me after work?”

“Yes,” Charlotte said. “I have a pot roast in the slow cooker. We can have supper afterward.”

“I'm going to see what else I can find on young Mr. Swift's disappearance,” Mr. P. said.

“All right,” Rose said. “Everyone has a job. I'll go put the tea on.” She headed for the front.

Charlotte smiled at me. “I'll go give Mac a hand.” She must have seen something in my face because
she leaned closer to me. “And I'll keep an eye on Rose when we go see Caroline.”

“Thanks,” I said.

She headed for the shop.

I leaned over and bumped Liz with my shoulder.

“I meant what I said,” I told her. “It's not your fault. And Elspeth is fine. Don't lose sight of that.”

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I would have pounded that young man into sand,” she said in a voice edged with venom.

“I don't doubt that for a second,” I said as we started for the door.

“We're onto something,” she said. “I can feel it in my bones.”

“Well, I'm not going to argue with your bones.”

She smiled. “Don't get saucy with me, missy. I changed your diapers.”

I laughed. They'd all changed my diapers.

Liz's expression grew serious again. “Elspeth said the day Lily died was Caleb Swift's birthday. I think it means something.”

I didn't say anything, but so did I.