It was now our senior year, and I had become more determined to find the truth about what happened the night of the fire. Every time I’d bring up the subject at home, Julie managed to change the subject.
One afternoon, during a day off from school, I decided to do some investigating. I never thought Julie was lying to me, but I also felt I wasn’t getting the whole truth. Not sure where to start, I began looking through her desk. I was very careful to put everything back in its proper place.
I found a stack of papers in the middle drawer and started to go through them one at a time. I found receipts, sales slips and then I came upon a sheet from a physician’s notepad, some old letters and finally a yellowed newspaper article. I couldn’t believe what I had found. My hand trembling, I reached for the phone and dialed Jessica’s number.
“Jessica’s in. Speak to me.”
“Jess …”
“Penny?”
“Yeah. Um, could you come over?”
“Sure, what’s wrong?”
“I found something I really need to show you.”
Without any other questions, she added, “I’ll be right over,” and hung up.
When Jessica arrived I was sitting at the desk, my head propped on my hand as I read and re-read my findings.
She knocked, then walked right in, as she usually did when she knew we were expecting her.
“What’s wrong? What’s the big discovery?”
Without a word, I handed her one of the pieces of paper, the wrinkled sheet from the physician’s notepad.
Miss Nolan, As per your request, I will continue to treat your niece with Xanax along with the prescriptions she’s already been given.
R. Waldham, M.D.
“This is dated over a year ago,” Jess said, looking at the note.
“I know. Don’t you remember me telling you I had a strange feeling my doctor didn’t want me to get better?”
“Yeah, I remember you were feeling so good, you wanted to finally cut back on your medicine.”
“Right. All he did was continually try to convince me, that even though I thought I was doing well, I still had some serious emotional problems. He reminded me of all the times I imagined things, or saw and heard people that weren’t there. He refused to take me off the medicine or even reduce it.”
“This doesn’t make any sense. Why would your aunt request such a thing? Wouldn’t she be happy to see you doing well enough you didn’t need medication?”
“I certainly thought so. But, there’s more. Maybe you better sit down.” She pulled the dining room chair over by the desk. I handed her the second item, an old letter, obviously written but never sent.
Dear Elizabeth,
I just can’t take it anymore. You stealing Robert from me was the final straw. You’ve gotten everything you ever wanted: a husband, a child, a career. Even when Stephen left you, you had many men to replace him. Why did you have to take my one chance at happiness?
You jump from man to man without a second thought. You don’t deserve to have a child as wonderful as Penny …
Jessica finished reading it and looked over at me. “I thought you said your mother and your aunt were tight?”
“Yes. I thought so. But, it seems I believed a lot of things that weren’t true.”
“Who’s Stephen?”
“That was my dad. He was gone before I was a year old. I don’t remember him and no one ever said much about him.”
“Maybe all of this happened when you were so young, you just didn’t know what was going on.”
“Still, I thought I would have eventually found out about this. Even when I was young, mom told me about everything. At least I thought she did.”
“Maybe your mom didn’t even know how Julie felt. After all, she never sent the letter. Are you going to talk to Julie about it?”
“No.”
She looked at the last thing I held in my hand. “Okay, now what’s that?” I handed it to her. It was an old newspaper article that had been carefully cut out of the local paper.
Fire Brings Down Curtain on Local Theatre
Last night local firefighters rushed to a two-alarm fire at the Old Barn Theatre on Smithton Road in Greenville. The eighty-year-old wooden structure burned intensely before the flames were finally contained.
Local actress, Elizabeth Nolan, who was performing with the touring company currently featured at the playhouse, lost her life in the blaze.
Her fourteen-year-old daughter, Penny was found nearly a half-mile away, collapsed on a resident’s front porch. She is in stable condition recovering in the Greenville Medical Center.
The cause of the fire is being investigated. Owner, Blanche Cronenberg said, “We were in the process of updating the electrical system because of the frequent power failures during storms.” Ms. Cronenberg also said it was very unlikely that the theatre would be reconstructed.
After reading the article carefully, she looked up at me, “You’ve never seen this before?”
“No. I guess despite my continual requests for information, they thought it would upset me.”
“Well, I see they would have been right. Look at yourself. You’re shaking.”
“It’s not just finding it and reading it, Jess. Something isn’t right. The pieces just don’t fit. I wish I could remember. I have a strong feeling there was much more to that evening. I was told it was an accident, pure and simple. They also told me, I was found almost half a mile from the theatre. Why would I go so far?” I shook my head trying to think of the possibilities. “I used to have awful nightmares.”
“I know. Don’t forget who was around when you had some of them.”
“I know. You’ve been such a good friend to me.”
“Hey, somebody’s gotta do it.” Jess smiled.
“I remember when I would tell Dr. Waldham about the dreams, he’d laugh and assure me it was all from the trauma I had experienced, and that nothing in those dreams was true.”
“Is there anyone who was around then, who might be able to help you now?”
“I don’t know. I was too young. We moved around too much for me to have made any close friends while I was on tour with mom. At best, people treated me like a daughter or a little sister.” I stopped for a minute as memories of the people, the theatres and of mom, rushed through my brain. How could I remember all that and not that one specific night?
“Another thing, it was a touring group, and people were from all over the place. Mom and I were the only ones who could call this place ‘home’ and that was mostly because Julie still lived here.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I’m not going to let this go. I’ve got to find out what really happened.”
“And you’re not going to mention anything to Julie?”
“No, at least not right now.”
* * *
Though my senior year was filled with schoolwork, dance rehearsals and dates with Brian, the one thing that drove me on, was the determination to find some answers about my mother’s death. I spent hours in the library looking for any other information I could find on the fire. I talked to everyone who would listen, except Julie. I wasn’t ready to confront her with what I had found in her desk, at least not yet.
Most people were kind, but even if they remembered the fire, it had little effect on their lives, and they hadn’t thought much about it.
Despite my determination, I was unable to fit anymore of the pieces together.