Читать книгу The Dead Don't Get Out Much - Mary Jane Maffini - Страница 10

Not that one,” I said.

“I'm just saying, Camilla. Calm yourself.”

“What else have you got?”

“Fine. Here's one from friends. Some from a Miss Betty Connaught, some from Miss Hazel Fellows. They all have Xs and Os on the envelopes. I found a lot from Captain Walter Parnell. Some say Major Parnell. I wonder why she doesn't talk about him much. I think she really loved him a lot.”

“He's dead, Alvin. She probably has just compartmentalized those memories because they're painful.”

Alvin's head jerked. “Like you did with your husband?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think he died in the war?”

“No, it was later. I know that.”

“You don't suppose…?”

“Suppose what, Alvin? You can make a person crazy.” I hate the wounded look he gets on his face. “Okay, I'm sorry,” I said.

Alvin said, “I wanted to say, since she's talking about dead men, maybe her husband was the guy she was talking about? He was important, and he's dead.”

“I don't think so. She would have said ‘my husband’.”

“Okay, look, here's another guy writing to her. Harrison Jones. Way to go, Violet.”

“We'll stick with the girls, Alvin. Hang on, I have to answer the phone.”

* * *

Conn McCracken uttered a small yet accusatory sigh. He said, “I do care about the situation. Be reasonable. It takes awhile.”

“It's serious. I think you should turn up the burner.”

“Do you have to be such a pain in the ass about everything? We are taking it seriously, even though we're out on a limb because we don't have medical confirmation that Mrs. Parnell is not perfectly capable of making an informed decision about where to travel.”

“I told you she might go into full cardiac arrest, and did I mention she had troubles with a dead man?”

“Yeah, yeah. And you never exaggerate.”

“I'm not exaggerating this time.”

“No family member has contacted the police…”

“She doesn't have any family, you know that perfectly well. Alvin and I are like her family.”

“Nor do we have a doctor indicating that something's wrong.”

“You want a doctor to confirm it? I'll get you a doctor.”

“Listen. This takes time. We have to contact the airlines one by one and ask them if she was on the flight. Usually the airlines cooperate, but there are issues.”

“We're stuck here, Conn. We can't go any further without a clue about where she went.”

“Frankly, I'm out on a limb Camilla, because I don't know for sure anything is really wrong with Mrs. Parnell.”

“Well, I do. And Alvin does. We saw her. We heard her. Something is very wrong with our friend. Just because we don't know exactly what the problem is doesn't make it any less real.”

“I understand, and that's why I'm doing what you ask. I'm helping you. I have a pretty good idea what she means to you and what she's done for you. So try not to piss me off. Just this once.”

“How many airlines did you talk to?”

“Even though I have a full load of work, I personally contacted every airline that had a flight out of Ottawa last night.”

“And?”

“So far, no luck.”

“She wasn't on a flight?”

“Not so far. One of the airlines had a computer snag, and I'm waiting to hear back.”

“Oh.”

“When I hear, you'll hear. Count on it. Three or four hours.”

“Thanks, Conn. I do know this was a big imposition.”

Fine. Hang up. See if I care.

Dr. Hasheem was unavailable when I contacted the hospital. I left a message on his voicemail asking if plane trips to unknown destinations would be harmful to Mrs. Parnell. Like I didn't know the answer to that.

* * *

Alvin grinned in triumph when I put down the phone.

I met his grin with a frown. “No luck with the flight information.”

“I've been lucky with the girlfriends’ letters,” Alvin said. “I don't think we have a big problem with private secrets or anything.”

He held out a letter for me. “These two girls really wrote a lot, and she wrote back to them too. It's obvious that they know all about what she's doing in England.”

“I guess people couldn't just pick up the phone and call long distance if they wanted a chat.”

“Sounds like when she first went overseas, it came as a surprise to her girlfriends,” Alvin said. He stood up to make room on the sofa. I settled in. Gussie and Mrs. Parnell's cat got as close as they could.

Alvin waved a letter in front of me. “This one's from Hazel. Just read it.” I capitulated.

“That wasn't so bad, was it? You can't help smiling, can you?” Alvin said when I'd finished.

“She seems so full of fun.”

“The other friend is more serious. I guess it takes all kinds,” Alvin said.

I held out my hand. “Okay, fine, let's see the rest. The ones with Canadian postmarks.”

Alvin said, “So we have Hazel who stayed in Chesterton and Betty Connaught who went to Toronto. There was a bit of competition for Violet's friendship, I think. The letters are pretty upbeat, even though they talk about people dying overseas. I can't imagine that. Violet's fiancé didn't die, although I feel like killing him.”

“You read his letter?”

“It was an accident,” Alvin said, radiating innocence.

Twenty minutes later, I had read enough of the letters to get a sense of Mrs. Parnell's life and friends. I had plenty to think about and lots of questions. I also had an idea.