We made it back to Sadie’s by six forty-five, admiring the setting sun we glimpsed from the train as we rode. I hoped it wasn’t too late for supper. Sadie hadn’t given me a time this morning when she’d extended the invitation. Not that I was very hungry. The Prescott House tea had indeed been laden with delicious small sandwiches, sweets, and fruits. David and I hadn’t spoken further of Currie. It didn’t mean my thoughts weren’t on him.
Sadie pulled open the door. “Do come in, Rose and David. We sat down to eat not a moment ago.”
I thanked her and we followed her through to where my aunts sat at the table. I kissed them both and sat. “Where is Huldah?”
“He’s off at some meeting and dining out as part of it,” Sadie said. “Here, let me dish up the chicken stew.”
“Only a small portion for me, please,” I said.
“I lured her into tea at the Prescott House,” David explained with a smile.
“A lovely hotel with an excellent chef,” Sadie said.
After we observed our silent grace, I was glad to see Tilly at least dipping into her stew even if she didn’t look particularly animated. A pang of guilt stabbed me. This was a painful time for my aunt, and she wasn’t even in her own home. Perhaps she didn’t want to be, though, with all the reminders of Frannie and no one but Dru to be with. Here at least Sadie was taking care of her physical needs. It was up to Edwin and me to resolve the mystery.
I dug into my stew, savoring the fresh herbs Sadie had used. The dish tasted of basil and rosemary, perhaps parsley. She’d chopped up fresh green beans and must have thrown them in at the last minute, because they added a welcome crunch and brightness.
“How are my aunts today?” I asked.
“Has thee made any headway, Rose?” Tilly asked instead of answering me. “In finding Frannie’s killer?”
“Now, Till.” Dru patted her sister’s hand. “Rose and David don’t want to be talking about anything so distasteful at the dinner table.”
Distasteful? Homicide was indeed that, and so much more. “It’s all right, Aunt Dru. No, Aunt Tilly. I haven’t heard of the sheriff making an arrest yet.”
“But thee has been making inquiries, I’m sure,” Tilly pressed. “Thee passes along what thee learns to Edwin. I don’t understand why they haven’t yet put Reuben Baxter behind bars.”
“I’ve learned a great deal about the criminal justice system during the course of courting Rose,” David said. “The authorities can’t make an arrest unless they have firm evidence a crime was committed by a particular person.”
“This is true,” I said. “Why does thee think Reuben is the guilty one?” I asked Tilly.
She straightened her spine and spoke in measured words. “Because he is a young man. Because he was smitten with Frannie. Because, despite being a cheerful girl, she was willful and sometimes acted in a hurtful way.”
Dru nodded as she spooned in more stew.
“And because men are generally not to be trusted, present company excluded, of course.” Tilly locked her eyes with mine as if willing me to agree.
“I see.” What I saw was that, in fact, she had no good reason to suspect Reuben. That said, she seemed stable enough for me to ask the question I’d telegraphed to my father. She wouldn’t answer if she didn’t want to.
“Aunt Tilly, it might help me understand the situation better if I knew how Frannie came to be thy ward.”
She halted the progression of her spoon to her mouth and returned it to her bowl. Dru frowned at me. Sadie blinked, looking from Tilly to me and back.
“I thought thee knew Frannie’s parents died in an accident,” Tilly said softly. “She was orphaned. Someone needed to take her in. So I did.”
“With my blessing,” Dru added.
“But thee was already advanced in years by then,” I said to Tilly. “Why thee and not a younger family?”
“And didn’t Frannie have grandparents, aunts and uncles?” David asked.
Dru shot Tilly a look. “Frannie’s father was an orphan. Her mother—”
“Let me, Dru.” My angular aunt bowed her head for a moment and then looked up. “I shall tell thee, and Sadie and David, as well. Dru already knows my sad story. Rose, when I was a young woman about thy own age, I still had not married. Dru and I were already living here in West Falmouth, and I fell in love. The man was a charmer. He said we would be wed. I let myself be swept away by his ardor. Soon enough I was left both alone and carrying a child.”
No. My heart broke for her.
“I went away for my confinement and gave up the baby girl to be adopted. It was the hardest thing I have ever done.” She raised her chin. “But I was able to keep track of her even though she knew nothing of me. She married and had a baby girl of her own. The baby was Frannie. My granddaughter.”
Sadie’s breath rushed in. David made a sound of sympathy in his throat. I rose and went around the table to put my arms around Tilly. I could barely see for the tears welling in my eyes.
“I never knew,” I murmured. “I am so, so sorry, Aunt Tilly.” At least now my earlier musing made sense. I knew something had looked familiar about Tilly’s childhood picture. The connection I hadn’t made was with Frannie’s picture at the same age. The dark curly hair, identical dark eyes. The tragedy was almost too much to bear. Tilly’s daughter, lost in an accident. And her granddaughter, murdered.
“My daughter and I never had a chance to know each other,” Tilly continued.
I straightened but kept my hand on her shoulder.
“The couple who adopted her were, shall we say, less than ideal parents. They had no other children, so Frannie didn’t have aunts and uncles to take her in. When I learned of Frannie’s parents’ death, I contacted the grandparents. They weren’t interested in caring for a toddling orphan, and the baby’s father’s parents were deceased.”
David made a sympathetic sound in his throat.
“Now thee understands why I took in the girl, Rose,” Tilly continued. “Thy father knows this story, but I made him swear not to tell a soul, not even thy mother.” She swallowed. “It’s why I was so upset at Frannie gallivanting around and associating with the likes of Reuben Baxter. There was an older man she spoke of once, too, who showered her with affection.”
Currie? Or someone else?
“I did not in any way want her to become mired in the same predicament as me,” Tilly went on. “I failed, Rose. I failed our Frannie. And she was taken from us.”