The Paper Detective. E. Joan Sims

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СКАЧАТЬ family for Christmas,” she mourned.

      “Come down and spend the holidays with us. Cassie and Mother would love to see you.”

      “I just might, pet. I just might.” And she hung up.

      After dinner we played cards in the library. Aggie sat under the table and rolled her rubber ball back and forth around our feet with her nose. After an hour of her fruitless efforts to get us to play with her, Cassie and I relented and had a wild game of throwing the ball for the puppy. When she was panting and exhausted, we lay back on the floor in front of the fire to let her rest.

      Mother turned off the lamp and moved over to the sofa. For a long while we didn’t talk. The silence was warm and comforting and full of the unspoken knowledge of each other’s moods. This, I thought, is what I missed in New York. This is why I came back home. All the rest—fortune and fame—mean nothing if you cannot share special time with the people you love.

      “Ummnn, this is so cozy,” murmured Cass. “Gran, that soup was delicious.”

      “Thank you, darling. Horatio enjoyed it, too.”

      “How much did you make? You’ve fed half the county,” I teased.

      “He also enjoyed your book, dear,” she continued, ignoring my question. “But he says Leonard is getting a little mean.”

      “Leonard is mean,” I muttered under my breath.

      “And Bert Atkins has agreed to be Leonard for a day,” she mused. “I have to admit I am somewhat surprised that he is going along with Pamela’s scheme.”

      I turned over on my stomach and rested on my elbows.

      “Why? It’s a perfectly straightforward arrangement. He pretends to be Leonard. We split the money, and he goes back to the woods. What’s wrong with that?”

      “He doesn’t seem like the pretend kind of man to me, that’s all.”

      “You’ve only seen him once, Gran. And that was in an official capacity. You don’t really know him,” protested Cassie.

      “Maybe not him, but later on I realized that I did know his mother. We spent a lot of time together when we were in high school.”

      I rested my chin on my open palms and looked at her elegant profile. In the firelight, she looked as young and beautiful as Cassie. I could imagine it had taken a very self-assured young woman to be the lovely and popular Anna Howard’s friend.

      “What was she like?” I prompted.

      “Eva Anderson was one of the sweetest girlfriends I ever had. She was almost too good to be true. Some of our friends even called her St. Eva. She wasn’t really what you would call pretty, but her face shone with a radiance, a happiness, that was very compelling. Harvey Atkins fell in love the minute he laid eyes on her.”

      “Where was he from, Gran?” asked Cassie. She loved a tale of romance.

      “He was in the military. Harvey was stationed at the Army base outside of Morgantown. He was tall and handsome, and he swept Eva right off her feet. They were married as soon as she graduated from high school. They were very happy until Harvey went overseas. He was killed in action when Bert was just a few months old. Eva never remarried. She worked wherever she could to supplement Harvey’s pension and raise her son. I lost touch with her when they moved to Lanierville. Eva died while Bert was still in school. I didn’t even know when we met last summer that he was Eva’s son until Horatio told me. She was such a lovely girl,” she finished sadly.

      I pulled a pillow off the sofa and lay back down to ponder Mother’s words. The men and women in Bert’s family seemed to have a habit of leaving the scene early. That explained a lot of his desire to live alone and isolated. When you’re all alone, you can’t be abandoned.

      The next afternoon I got a call from Pam’s secretary. The interview would take place in Nashville in two days time. Pam would fly down with the feature writer from Pen and Ink. She wanted me to come with Bert and fill him in on Leonard’s character on the drive to Nashville. I could come to the interview if I wanted to, but I must remain in the background. I could pretend to be the pretend Leonard’s girlfriend, she said. I gritted my teeth when I heard that, and vowed to get even if it took me the rest of my life. Pam’s ass was grass.

      I called Danny and asked him to relay the message to his stepfather. Some wicked little part of me hoped that Bert would chuck the whole idea so I could relax and enjoy my vacation with Cassie. Pam would be furious, but it would serve her right. Leonard’s girlfriend, indeed!

      Bert called the next night from Danny’s house. He said he would drive over to pick me up first thing in the morning. We would be in Nashville by noon.

      After tossing and turning half the night, I finally got up and took a shower at 4:30. I quietly made some tea and grabbed an apple for my breakfast. By the time I had decided what to wear, my bed was piled high with rejected clothes. I stood in front of the mirror and gazed hopelessly at my reflection. I had worn nothing but jeans for so long—in anything else I looked like I was playing dress up. I slumped down on the edge of my bed in a funk. Leonard’s pretend girlfriend pretending to be a girl. What a riot!

      “Mom? Why are you up so early?”

      Cassie tapped lightly on the door then pushed it open and bounced in with Aggie right behind her. The puppy was chewing on the trailing belt of Cassie’s housecoat, but we both knew better than to try and get it out of her mouth. Her bite was worse than her bark.

      “Wow! Are you having a rummage sale? What’s with all the clothes?”

      She cleared a space on the bed and then noticed my outfit for the first time.

      “Mom? Are you wearing a dress? Stand up and let me see. I’ve forgotten what you used to look like.”

      I stood up and turned around for her enjoyment. I knew she would get a kick out of seeing me look so silly.

      “You look beautiful!”

      “Don’t tease me, Cassie. I’m not in the mood. Just help me find my jeans again. They were over there under that pile of sweaters earlier. But now I can’t seem to…”

      “Mom, you look great. I do remember that dress. It used to be too tight. You always wanted to wear it. Now’s your chance.”

      “You don’t think I look like an idiot?”

      I re-examined my reflection in the mirror. The chocolate-brown knit with the high neck and flared, ankle-length skirt had been one of my favorites. And Cassie was right. I had never been able to wear it before. My city persona had been fifteen pounds heavier—thanks to luncheons at “21” and cocktails at eight. Farm living had slimmed me down, and firmed up what was left. Maybe I didn’t look so funny after all.

      “Okay, I’ll wear it. But what coat can I use? I left my fur in storage two years ago.”

      “Take my cape. And wear those knee high boots, so you don’t have to wear panty hose.”

      “Good idea. Maybe that will keep me sane.”

      “Relax, Mom. Even your hair looks good. Naturally curly covers a multitude of СКАЧАТЬ