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Also Thursday, December 26th
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CHARLOTTE MADE HER way to the third floor of Bishop Hall, selected an empty office on the far left side of the building, and looked out the window in the back of the room at the bare sweep of valley straight below. It ran all the way to the back of the barn that housed Alonzo Garibaldi’s laboratory. The barn blocked most of her view of the house, but she could see the outbuildings better from here than from the property’s driveway.
Honorine Grady said that Eddie and Winifred Corton had lived on the little farm until their son Alexander started school. That meant they lived there during the time the bootleg tunnels were built and in operation. Honorine was almost certain that there was a tunnel between the farm and Eddie’s office—which had been here in Bishop Hall. To the best of her knowledge, it was never caved in like most of the other tunnels, because it was said to have been used in the Underground Railroad and Eddie Corton was loath to destroy something of such historical significance.
Several metallic rectangles between Bishop Hall and the back of the laboratory caught her eye. They were in a line, each at the top of a wooden stand, and angled to face south. Solar panels. They were in the middle of nowhere, no wires connecting them to anything as far as she could see. They looked fairly new. Perhaps they simply hadn’t been connected yet?
She went down to the basement level to check for anything that looked like an access to a tunnel, but it was locked. Unless she had the nerve to bother a faculty member who was likely there for peace and quiet for a key, she would have to come back when the janitorial staff was there. She decided instead to go to the Garibaldi farm. Alexa had invited her, and perhaps she could walk around to the back to see if there was any connection between the solar panels and the barn, or any evidence of a tunnel.
The snow had melted enough that the Garibaldi’s driveway was almost completely clear, as was the sidewalk between the house and the lab. The burnt cross had been removed; there was only a dark patch of ashes left on the ground, and Charlotte was glad, despite the fact it might have been useful to observe it close up in the day time. Barnes’ car wasn’t there, and she assumed he’d already come and gone. She was expecting Janice and Alexa to be nervous about the photos on the white supremacist blog. Gani’s car was parked near the lab. She would stop in and talk with him, as well.
Charlotte could hear an argument in progress even before she reached the front door, and it sounded like Janice and Alexa were having it out. Normally, she would just walk away and come back later, but Barnes said to find out what things were really like to the best of her ability, even among her friends. And nothing revealed what things were really like more than conflict or an argument. She opened the front door a crack, just enough to better make out what they were saying.
“Why can’t we ask him? What could it hurt?” This was Alexa.
“If I’m not a match, I’m sure he won’t be—” said Janice.
“You can’t just guess that! I have a right to know! This is my life, mother, not a whim!”
“You think I don’t know that? And that I’m not trying to find the money?”
“I thought we had money!”
“Not that kind!”
“Why does Uncle Jonathan have so much and we don’t? I thought Dad was such a big shot at the university and had a lucrative corporate contract.”
“Well, yes, but Uncle Jonathan just got lucky, he’s a commodities broker, made his money before the economy got bad.”
“I insist on going to him!”
“No! Alexa, no! You must not.”
“Then what about Daddy’s family? Is there anybody at all?”
“He was an orphan, and he left it all behind when we left.”
“Then why would he have told me to ask one of my uncles? What other uncles do I have?”
“There aren’t any, Alexa!”
Charlotte quietly shut the door and walked down to the lab.
This was terrible news. Not only was Janice not a good match for donating a kidney to her daughter, she didn’t have enough money to cover Alexa’s costs. Charlotte knew that the university salaries weren’t tip-top, although Alonzo would have made more than the average professor. But now that he was dead, there would be the loss of income from his hybridizing contract, unless Gani was persuaded to stay on and was able to restore the data and the plants.
She found him in the greenhouse, where he and Hewey were still sweeping up debris and wiping down the surfaces that had been covered with fingerprint dust.
“Charlotte,” he said, coming over to give her a kiss on each cheek, but not a hug, indicating that his shirt and hands were too dusty.
“Hello, Gani. How’re you holding up?”
He sighed in exasperation. “Between the racists, the homophobes, the vigilantes, and the murderers, not to mention those two hysterical women, I’m ready to head back to Manila.”
Hewey had said nothing when she came in, not even an acknowledgment when she waved hello, but Charlotte was aware that he was listening in on her conversation with Gani. He also moved quickly and efficiently, as if he knew his job and his way around, creating a different impression than the one she’d had of him thus far, which was of someone slow and uncertain.
“I’m ready for a break,” said Gani, whose quick sidewise glance toward Hewey told Charlotte he knew what was going on. “Join me?”
“Sure.” She followed him to the lab’s lounge. He didn’t shut the door, but sat where he had full view of the offices beyond.
“I talked to the detective about those pictures. I take it you have, too?”
She nodded. “I’m watchful, but just being a little more cautious and aware of my surroundings for the time being. Do you have any idea what this is about?”
Gani shrugged and shook his head, but said nothing.
“Any new thoughts on Alonzo?”
“Mostly that I wished I hadn’t left that morning. That I could have taken the bullet in his place.”
She was aware—almost painfully—that she could now see Gani’s love for Alonzo for exactly what it was. “Oh, Gani, it’s heartbreaking. You were lovers, weren’t you?”
He nodded, sadly. “We were besotted with each other. And Alonzo wasn’t known for that, you know, the emotional investment side of things.”
“So I’ve heard. Would someone have been upset or jealous about your relationship? Or do you know why Hewey said Alexa did it?”
He looked up at her with meaning, yet said nothing.
“Gani, if you know something, you’ve got to tell someone. Tell me if you can’t tell the police.”
He shook his head slightly, as if not wanting to be noticed, and raised the fingers of one hand up in a sign to stop talking. She heard Hewey go into one of the offices, make some rattling noises, and then leave.
Gani resume when he was certain that Hewey was out of earshot. “We had spent the night together at my place, and came back here in the morning. I couldn’t stay because I had lab reports and exams to finish grading. When I turned out of the driveway, I saw Alexa getting out of a cab.”
Charlotte was stunned. “What time was this?”
“Around eleven thirty, quarter to twelve.”
This meant that Alexa had arrived on an earlier train—and lied to Charlotte. It took her a moment to shelve the surprise and hurt, and go directly into finding a reason why.
Was it to create an alibi? But why would she kill her father, especially when she was coming to ask for a kidney, and perhaps financial support? That made no sense. Was the shooting an accident? Would Alexa even know how to shoot a twenty-two rifle? Or was she covering up for someone else?
“Charlotte? What’s wrong?” Gani’s dark brows furrowed over his eyes.
“She asked me to pick her up from the 1 o’clock train, and we had lunch at Penn House before we came here. Are you sure it was her?”
“I’m positive. She is a very striking individual, and I wouldn’t mistake a woman who looks so much like Alonzo for anyone else.”
She decided to take a different angle. “Did Alonzo ever talk about Alexa?”
Gani paused for a moment, looking down at his slim fingers. “He didn’t talk much about her at all, to be honest. But I think that might have been because she was a sore point. I don’t like to think of him in this way, but he was disappointed in her. He did not care for her choice of career, felt she was raised to be something more than a Barbie doll whose work encouraged other women to be Barbie dolls. He said that even Janice at least wanted to be of use to him, to her child, to the disadvantaged, to the arts, but Alexa was all about Alexa.”
“Did he know she was coming that day?”
Gani paused to think, but Charlotte got the sense it was more about choosing what to say than recollecting what was said.
“I believe so. I believe that is what Janice was coming in to talk to him about right before I left.”
“Did Janice know about you two?”
He nodded without hesitating. “There was an understanding in place. At least that’s what Alonzo said. It’s an understanding that predated our relationship, in fact during their whole marriage, so I’m not inclined to think jealousy played a role.” He rose just then. “I’ve got to get back out there before Hewey messes everything up.”
“He looked pretty efficient to me.”
“I’m sure he thinks he is.”
“Call me if you want to talk, Gani.” She looked at him directly, and hoped that he would understand that she didn’t entirely believe what he’d told her, but was still open to hearing the truth.
As she left the lab, she turned toward the back of the barn, to glimpse whatever she could of the solar panels. To her surprise, the ground rose sharply from about half way from the front of the barn to the back; the building was actually set into a low hill, and she wondered why she hadn’t noticed this before.
From its highest point at the back of the barn, all was as she ascertained from Bishop Hall: the ground behind the lab was level to about two-thirds of the way toward the hill the Hall sat on, and then curved sharply upward. The solar panels ended halfway between the two buildings, and started about a quarter of the way from the barn. No wires were evident from this distance. Maybe more could be seen when the rest of the snow melted, she thought, and turned to go back to the Jeep.
A movement to the right caught her eye. Hewey was exiting one of the small outbuildings, carrying a ladder, and looking at her with suspicion. She wanted to explore those buildings, but the atmosphere around the place made her hesitate. She also had a few questions for Alexa, but between knowing Alexa’s current emotional state and her own anger at being lied to by someone she thought was a friend, Charlotte decided to return home and think things over. As she walked, a realization stopped her in her tracks. Hewey just came from the outbuilding, which was to her right. But when she left the lab, he was in the greenhouse, which was to her left. How did that happen?
It was broad daylight; she just saw Hewey go into the lab, so she strode to the outbuilding and tried the door. It was unlocked, and she went in.
It was a cross between a bunker and a garden shed, slightly damp but warm from a small gas heating unit on the wall. Several bunches of drying herbs hung from the rafters, giving the space an interesting, complex fragrance. A workbench and tools took up about half the space, and there were what looked like three bluebird houses in progress, assembly-line style. There was a cot off to the side with a rolled up sleeping bag at the foot, and a small refrigerator. It looked like Hewey stayed here fairly frequently, and she felt self-conscious about walking in on what was essentially the man’s apartment.
There was a movement in the curtain that covered a closet in the back. In for a penny, in for a pound, she thought, and decided to take a quick look.
There was a noticeable draft coming from the closet, which upon examination contained an assortment of gardening tools, boxes of grass seed, thermal coveralls hanging from a nail, and a bunch of bamboo poles for beans. She heard what sounded like men’s voices, then like something heavy being dropped; a piece of thin paneling propped against the back wall jerked slightly from a burst of air behind it. She pulled it back to take a peek, and saw a hole in the floor and part of a straight-down ladder, like the entrance to a cellar. The section of flooring that would normally cover it was sitting off to the side in the closet.
A cellar with a noticeable draft. Or a tunnel. She quickly put the paneling back, closed the curtain, and exited the shed, almost instinctively turning to go around the back of it. In a matter of seconds she heard heavy footsteps, most likely Hewey’s, and felt the shed wall vibrate as he went in and slammed the door. She walked around the long way to stay out of the sight line of the shed’s window, which faced the house, until it looked like she was walking to her Jeep from the lab’s entrance. And then she got the hell out of there.