Dovetail: A Novel(75)

She answered, “Of course,” without questioning him at all. “Ten minutes?”

“That will work. Thanks.”

He drove down the country road, reeling with what he’d just heard. None of it would make sense until he spoke to Kathleen. She would know what to do with this information. He himself didn’t have a clue.

By the time she got to the restaurant, he was already sitting in a booth, waiting. “Sorry it took so long. I got caught up with a customer,” Kathleen said when she finally reached the table. She gave him a thoughtful look. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve been better.”

Doris came with her pad and pen. “What’ll you have?” Neither of them was hungry, but they ordered eggs and toast anyway. Doris would have booted them to the counter if they tried to get away with just having coffee. They’d seen it happen.

After she walked away, Kathleen said, “Spill.”

Joe began with the conversation with his father, not even pausing when Doris brought their coffee and juice. Kathleen listened, rapt. “I went to see my grandmother and finally confronted her about everything, starting with her rift with my father. She agreed with what he told me, more or less, and seemed to feel terrible about it.” He continued, relating the entire conversation with his grandmother.

When he finished, Kathleen said, “She admitted killing Alice? That’s unbelievable.”

“Yes, but it’s also not true,” he said as Doris came with their plates. After she walked away, he added, “I’ve been there. I’ve seen Alice die dozens of times, and I can tell you without a doubt that Pearl wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger. I told her I knew she was lying and that it was a man who killed Alice. I asked her again to please tell me the truth, but she just claimed not to know what I was talking about. And then I asked her whatever happened to John Lawrence, and she totally clammed up and changed the subject. Told me to call the front desk and have them send the nurse because she had low blood sugar and was having an episode.”

“An episode? Is this something that’s happened before?”

Joe shrugged. “Not that I know of. I called the front desk, and they sent a nurse’s aide down to check on her, at which point she told me I should go.” He raised his eyebrows. “I was dismissed.”

“Wow.” She sounded incredulous.

“I know. She did tell me I could keep the contents of the box. She said it’s family jewelry, and she wanted to keep it in the family. She had zero interest in reading John’s love letters to Alice. She said that after Alice died, she found the ones Alice wrote to him, and she burned them.”

“No!” Kathleen sounded shocked. “Why would she do that?”

“I don’t know. She said something about not wanting the younger sisters to see the letters.”

“None of this makes sense. So many years have passed. Why lie about it now? And why take the blame for something she didn’t do? Especially killing her own sister?”

“I was hoping you could talk me through this. Seriously, Kathleen, I was just starting to feel like I wasn’t losing my mind after all. Now talking to my grandmother, I feel like I’m losing it again.”

“Again?” She gave him a kindly smile. “You were never losing it, Joe. We can figure it out. We’ll get through this.”

We’ll get through this. Hearing those words helped Joe breathe more easily. They would do it together. He said, “It’s just that I feel that if I could get to the bottom of this, the dreams would stop completely, you know? I’m having them less frequently. In fact . . .” He stopped, something occurring to him.

“What?” Kathleen nibbled at her toast, her eyes on him.

“Two of the dreams I haven’t had at all. Not in a long time.” His forehead furrowed. “The one I used to call the Piano Dream.”

“The one we figured must have taken place in the theater.”

“Yeah, that one. And the second one was the dream where I was putting a metal box in the hollow of a tree.”

“The box you discovered the night of the storm.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“Maybe,” she said thoughtfully, “once you’ve lived the dream in this life, you no longer experience it anymore.”

“Huh.” He grew quiet, parsing it out. “Okay. That makes sense.”

“So that means you have two dreams left, right? The Rowboat Dream and the Death Dream. We know that the Death Dream took place the evening of the Barn Dance.” Doris came with her coffeepot and gestured toward Kathleen’s cup. “Thanks, Doris. I’ll take a touch more.” She turned her attention back to Joe. “Maybe we should go to the Barn Dance this weekend?”

Joe looked up. “What do you think, Doris? Is the Barn Dance a good idea?”

Doris shrugged as she poured the coffee. “Suit yourself.”

“Would you go as my date, Doris? I would be honored if you’d accompany me. I can pick you up in my truck.”

“Ha!” Doris said with the slightest twitch of her lips. “You wish. I already got me a date, so you might as well stop yanking my chain and take your girlfriend here.”

“You already have a date? And it’s not me?” Joe called out with fake anguish as she turned and walked away. “Doris, how could you?” He met Kathleen’s eyes and shook his head. “Did you see her smile? I finally did it, Kathleen. I made Doris smile. And you said it couldn’t be done.” He folded his arms in satisfaction.