Daddy's Gone a Hunting

72

Justin and Hannah were seated at the table in her small dining room. They had just finished the excellent selection of the Chinese food that Justin had brought in and were reading their fortune cookies. Justin unfolded the small slip of paper in his cookie and read it aloud. “The Year of the Snake will bring you much happiness.”

He checked the search mechanism on his phone and learned that the Year of the Snake was starting in less than two months.

Hannah’s fortune was not as straightforward. “Wisdom comes to those whose minds are open to the truth… That’s a big nothing,” she said laughing. “I wish I’d picked yours.”

“There are more of them. Want to try again? Or I’ll share mine with you.”

They smiled at each other. Each was comfortably aware that something was beginning between them and they both liked it. Over dinner, Justin had told her about himself. “My mother was from the Bronx. My father from Brooklyn. They met at Columbia. After they got married, they moved to Princeton. My mother teaches English lit and my father is chair of the Philosophy Department. I have a younger sister. She’s a medical resident at Hackensack Hospital.”

As he spoke, Hannah could see the animation in his face and could sense that Justin had enjoyed a normal, happy childhood. Wistfully, she reviewed her own growing-up years. Dad always on his way out. Rosemary Masse telling him he should remarry, that his little girls needed a mother. Hannah thought of how she used to pretend her mother was alive and would talk to her. Her mother would tell her that it was wonderful that she got an A on her spelling test.

She did that because her best friend in the first grade, Nancy, would tell her that her mother said she was so proud of her because she got an A. And then they went out for ice cream. I told her that my mommy took me out for ice cream, too, Hannah remembered. And Nancy said, “But you don’t have a mommy. Your mommy is dead.”

I didn’t speak to Nancy for days and Kate kept asking me what was wrong. She was nine years old then. Finally I told her. She said that I shouldn’t be mad at Nancy, that I should tell her that my mommy is in heaven but I do have a big sister and she doesn’t, so I’m lucky. Then Kate and Rosie took me out for ice cream because I had gotten an A, too.

Hannah realized that she hadn’t just been thinking about that but was actually telling it to Justin. She laughed self-consciously. “Hey, you’re a good listener.”

“I hope so. On the other hand, my sister says that I talk too much.”

The phone in the kitchen began to ring. Justin saw the panic in Hannah’s eyes as she jumped to answer it. “Hannah, take it easy,” he counseled but he followed her into the kitchen, hoping against hope that it would not be bad news about Kate’s condition.

The caller was Hannah’s father. His loud, overwrought voice made it easy for Justin to overhear. “I just got a call from those fire marshals. All the water from the hoses caused a sinkhole in the back parking lot. They found the skeleton of a young woman there. They think they know her identity but they didn’t give me a name.”

“A skeleton!” Hannah exclaimed. “Do they know how long it’s been there?”

“They didn’t say. Hannah, this is so bizarre. I don’t know what to think.”

“Dad, are you alone?”

He did not answer for the moment but then said, “No, Sandra is with me. We were just going out when the phone rang.”

“Do the police want to talk to you?”

“Yes, they’re on their way here. I think it’s detectives from New York, not those fire marshals.”

“Then, obviously, you have to wait for them. Send for dinner from the restaurant in your building. The marshals may be there for a long time.”

“Of course. That’s what I should do. Hannah, I don’t know what to think. Between what happened to Kate and Gus and the explosion and that tramp living in the van and the insurance company refusing to discuss payment with me…” Douglas Connelly began to sob.

“Dad, hang on. None of this is your fault.”

“I know it isn’t, but that doesn’t mean…” At the other end of the phone Douglas Connelly realized that he was babbling. He had been about to say that he had to put his hands on $4 million in the next five days. He had been counting on the insurance money for the antiques in the museum and the value of the buildings, but now he might need to talk to the broker who had people interested in buying the property. Maybe he could make a quick deal with one of them and get a $4 million deposit even if he had to let it go at a bargain price.

If they blamed the fire on Gus and Gus alone, the insurance company would have to pay at some point, but I need the money now, he said to himself.

“Dad, are you all right? Are you all right?” Hannah realized that her voice was rising.

“Yes, yes. Just terribly shocked.”

“Call me after the police talk to you no matter what time it is.”

“All right. Good-bye.”

Justin and Hannah looked at each other as she replaced the phone. Silently they went back to the table and sat down. Then Hannah poured tea into each of their cups. “Can you imagine tomorrow’s headlines?” she asked.

“I can,” Justin told her. “Your father used the word skeleton. That could mean that the body was there a long time, maybe even before your grandfather bought the property sixty years ago.”

At the surprised look on Hannah’s face, he explained, somewhat sheepishly, “I looked up everything I could find about it. Haven’t you ever done that?”

“No, I haven’t. I mean Dad told us that his father, our grandfather, made his money on Wall Street, cashed in, and bought the property. He had already started collecting antiques. He built the factory and showroom and museum and bought many more antiques. Dad was just starting college then. He’s fifty-eight now. I don’t think Dad likes the idea of having daughters our age. He wants us to call him Doug instead of Dad. But we always missed having a mother, so turning him into a pal rubbed us both the wrong way.”

Justin got up. “I don’t blame you. All right, I know I promised you that I wouldn’t stay late but after that call from your father, do you want me to hang around until you hear from him again?”

Hannah did not hesitate. She smiled weakly and said, “I’d really like that.”

“Good. And I also promised you I’d clean up the kitchen. So you have that cup of tea and let me do that.”

Hannah again attempted a smile. “I won’t stop you.”

As she sipped the tea, it occurred to her that if Doug had been told about the discovery of the skeleton, the odds were that Jack Worth knew about it, too. After the explosion, she had put the number of his cell phone on her contact list. Since Kate had been in the hospital, her phone was never more than the reach of her hand away. She had changed into a sweater and slacks when she got home from work. Now she pulled the phone out of her pocket, opened it, found Jack’s number, and called him.

If her father’s voice sounded frightened, Jack Worth sounded as though he were facing a firing squad. “Hannah, I know about it. I can’t talk. The detectives are here. They’re taking me to police headquarters to question me. Hannah, no matter what you may hear, I did not kill Tracey Sloane.”