Shattered Secrets (Cold Creek #1)(27)
“Have you seen our Lake Azure area? So lovely there,” Erika said as her eyes scanned the room before she sat in the rocking chair Tess indicated.
“Just to drive through. It was barely begun when I left the area. I suppose you know why my family left?”
“Yes. As I’m a friend of Marian Bell’s, I can totally empathize and sympathize with what you and your family went through.”
Tess doubted that, but at least this woman seemed reasonable, not distraught like Marian. And she was interested in the house.
Erika went on, “I don’t mind the daily commute to Chillicothe when the weather’s nice, but now that it’s autumn again I’ve finally talked my husband into letting me get a place nearby just for the weekdays, when I’m here—social director at the lodge, great job, demanding...”
This was the woman, Tess thought, biting back a smile, Miss Etta didn’t like because she ran book clubs that competed with the Cold Creek Library. Clubs, as the longtime librarian put it, where people got their books “out of the air.”
“I’m sure that career keeps you busy and on your toes,” Tess said.
“Oh, it does. Even though I have an assistant, there are a lot of weekends I need to be here too. I’d fix this place up, of course, my country pied-à-terre....”
Tess noted that, for a woman who worked with people all the time, Erika didn’t look her directly in the eye. Her gaze darted around the room, but she probably wanted a tour of the house or was already imagining how she’d decorate it. Erika also had a habit of dropping her voice at the end of a sentence as if there were more to say, but it was a secret.
“May I give you a tour?” Tess asked.
“Oh, yes—but let’s schedule that for another time, and I’ll bring a friend with me. I need to head home. Promised I’d meet my husband for dinner at seven. There is something I need to tell you up front, a couple of things. I have a financial backer of sorts and it’s not my husband. If you sell this property to me—for a very healthy price, I promise, cash up front—you would need to meet in private and in confidence with my friend Marian Bell to help her find her daughter.”
Tess’s hopes crashed. She almost burst into tears. Marian Bell was behind this and had sent a go-between this time. The bait was Marian’s money. And the “in confidence” part of the bargain was, no doubt, to go behind Gabe’s back. Why couldn’t people believe she was telling the truth about not recalling her childhood trauma?
“Please tell Ms. Bell,” Tess said, “that I would love to sell but not with strings attached, especially ones tied in knots. I do not recall my abduction details, my captivity or my captor. As you put it, I sympathize and empathize, but I cannot help her as she wishes, even for a bribe I would love to take.”
Erika’s back stiffened. “A bribe? Hardly that! Marian is kind enough to help me buy this house, that’s all.”
“Then, until either of you buys it straight-out with no hidden agenda,” Tess said, standing, “tell her I’m so sorry about Amanda, but that’s all I can offer her.”
Erika didn’t even put her jacket back on, grabbing it from the back of her chair and walking out. Had Gabe gotten a restraining order against Marian for bothering Tess so she had to send her friend? God forgive her, but it had entered Tess’s mind that a few lies to Marian could help Tess have her dream and get out of here for good, but think how much damage that would do. No, she had to stay here longer to help Gabe, maybe even help find Amanda, Jill and Sandy.
As Erika’s car roared off down the road—how could that small thing make so much noise?—Tess saw a vehicle she did recognize. The old white square truck marked CC Library Bookmobile pulled into her drive.
Though she was wiping away tears of disappointment, Tess almost smiled. It looked as if Miss Etta Falls had been stalking her book club competition.
“Miss Etta,” she called, going out to meet her. “Do you know who that was?”
“By her license plate, CLBQN,” she said with a nod and a sniff.
“What’s that stand for?”
“Club Queen. Oh, I’ve had more than one discussion with that woman when she came in to see if we had the latest books—without a library card of her own. Not always the latest, but the greatest books, I told her.”
“She was considering buying the house, but I turned down her offer.”
“Good for you. You see I haven’t changed the bookmobile one bit, don’t you? Does it bring back memories of reading with your mother and sisters? Your father, I think, was interested in other things,” she said with another sniff.
“Yes, I have those memories, at least.”
“Well, I came by with several books I thought you might like. Can’t say ‘enjoy,’ but they might help you. Not to recall the past, but just to cope with the present.”
She pulled a book bag from the back of the van, slammed its door and started for the house. Tess, touched but hesitant to take on any books, followed. No one ever crossed Miss Etta, in the library or out.
“Now, these are books you can skim-read until something strikes you as helpful or personal,” Miss Etta was saying as Tess held the door open for her. “Oh, my, bare bones in here, so you will have time to read—no need to be fussing with other things. And a rocking chair is the perfect place, right by a window.”