CHAPTER 25 TAY

Tay blinked once, twice, three times. She was back in Rose’s Bookstore, staring down at William Day’s diary. She turned the page, but there were no more lines of his neat writing.

William’s story had come to an end.

Exhausted and still haunted by the emotions she’d experienced, she closed the book.

Rose, who was handing Lulu some crayons, got up from her seat and came back to the counter. “What did you see? We’ve been waiting forever.”

Luke looked up from where he’d just finished wedging the wood slats back into place to cover the hole in the floor and sent his grandmother a sharp look. “It’s been five minutes.”

“It felt like more,” Rose said sullenly.

“It felt longer to me, too.” Tay handed the diary to Rose. “William really did write this. He tells what happened the night of the robbery.”

“And?”

“He wasn’t involved in it.”

Rose’s startled gaze flew to Tay. “It says that? Really?”

Lulu, busy coloring, started singing a song Tay had never heard, although it had the word “really” in it about every fourth word.

Tay returned her attention to Rose. “Johnson had a grudge against William and pinned the whole thing on him. William knew the night of the robbery that he was going to be arrested and he could have run, but he decided to stay with McCleary, who was shot. He trusted the judicial process would prove his innocence.”

Luke winced. “He must have been disappointed when he was convicted.”

Tay had to agree. “He was shocked. The truth of what happened that night is exactly as William and McCleary testified. William didn’t even arrive on the scene of the robbery until it was over. Johnson was the only one with a gun, but he fled and left McCleary wounded. William rode in and got his friend out, which, unfortunately, meant he was seen at the crime scene.”

“He was innocent.” Rose hugged the book and gave a triumphant smile. “Ha! Take that, history! You were wrong again!”

Tay had never seen such a blissful smile on the old woman’s face. “Aren’t you glad we found out the truth?”

Rose’s smile widened. “Heck yes. All this time, I thought he was a scoundrel and worse.”

“He wasn’t just innocent. He was a hero, Rose. He risked his life to help a friend.”

“I love this.” As she spoke, Rose flipped through the diary. She stopped at the last page Tay had read and ran her gnarled fingers over the flowing words that covered the yellowed pages. “I’ll make you a copy of this for your book on Sarafina. You’ll have a lot to say about William now, won’t you?”

“A whole lot.” She would write about what a good person he was, and what a true friend he’d been to Marcus, even though the cost was high. And then she’d tell how he’d fallen in love with an intrepid soon-to-be-famous reporter.

A loud noise made Tay look over just in time to see Luke move a chair across the loose floor slats.

“I can’t fix this,” he announced. “I don’t have the right nails nor the type of hammer to—” He caught his grandmother’s expression and threw his hands up. “Don’t worry. I already texted Dylan, and he said he’d stop by tomorrow with some tools and fix it right up.”

“Tomorrow?” Tay raised her eyebrows. “That’s fast.”

“Yeah, well, I gave him my pitching arm in exchange, so it’s not going to be cheap.”

Pitching arm? Before she could ask, Rose exclaimed, “Well, I’ll be!”

Tay looked back at the older woman and saw that Rose was still looking at the diary.

“Tay, look at this! There were two pages stuck together. Someone wrote something here. I don’t think it was William, though, because the handwriting is different.” She made a face. “If you can call that handwriting.”

How did I miss that? Tay came to see. “What’s it say?”

“I don’t know. I can only read about every fifth word if that.” Rose held the book at arm’s length and squinted at it. After a moment, she lowered the diary. “Nope. Can’t read it.”

Luke came to stand beside his grandmother. “Bad handwriting. Sounds like Sarafina Dove to me.”

Rose scowled. “Why would she have written in William Day’s diary?”

Why indeed. “Rose, may I see that? I’ll give it right back, I promise.”

“Sure.” Rose put the open diary on the counter and turned it so that the writing faced Tay. “Take a look and see if you can read that mess. I thought my handwriting was bad, but sheesh.”

Tay slid the book closer, careful not to touch the spidery, blotted words.

Luke peered over her shoulder. “Yeah, it’s just a few lines, but I can’t read any of it.” He shook his head. “No wonder the woman typed most of her letters.”

Lulu’s bright blue eyes suddenly appeared over the counter, her fingers curling around the edges as she stood on her tiptoes. “Can I see?”

Tay smiled fondly at the little girl. “Why not? This is a family project, after all.”

“Would you like to sit up here?” At Lulu’s nod, Luke scooped her up and perched her on the counter beside the diary.

Lulu bent to one side to look at it. “What letter is that?” She pointed to the page.

“That’s not a letter,” Luke said. “It’s an inkblot.”

“Oh.” Lulu pointed to another place on the page. “What’s this letter?”

Tay had to stifle a laugh. The squiggle looked more like a tornado than a letter. “I think it’s supposed to be an ‘s,’ but I’m not sure.”

Luke pushed the diary to Tay. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

That was one way to put it.

“Go ahead,” Rose said impatiently. “See what she said.”

Tay pulled the book to her, took a deep breath, and then rested her fingers on the first line.

Blackness fell, and then she was seeing what Sarafina saw. She was here, in this very room, although it looked vastly different. Two large printing presses filled the center of the room, racks of block letters and printing plates lining an entire wall. The smell of fresh paper and ink filled the air.

Sarafina was sitting in a chair, her pen flying over the page. In front of her, pulling up floorboards, was the man Sarafina had seen reflected in the fountain, David Tau.

Sarafina’s pen scratched the smooth paper of the diary, and now, because Tay could see through Sarafina’s eyes and could hear what she thought, despite the horrible handwriting, Tay could read every word. Lucy, the note began, we struggled for years whether to tell you the truth. We finally decided that the decision had to be yours. This book was written by your father. This is who he was and, to me, always will be….

The words continued, sinking through her, shocking Tay even as she also felt the uncertainty with which Sarafina wrote. As the final word slid out of sight, Tay found herself back at the counter, Luke at her side.

Rose leaned forward. “Well?”

“I—I just…” She struggled to wrap her mind around what she’d just seen. Finally, she took a shuddering breath and said, “David Tau and William Day were the same person.”

Silence met her.

Rose sank back onto her stool, looking shocked.

Luke pressed a hand to his forehead. “They—how did—” He shook his head.

“I know,” Tay said. “I didn’t see that coming. But maybe I should have. I saw David Tau’s reflection. He had the right hair color, but I just didn’t think about it.”

“I can’t believe this,” Rose said. “I thought William died in prison.”

“So did everyone else. Marcus McCleary was ill when he went to jail. He had tuberculosis. According to what Sarafina wrote, everyone knew it and he was expected to die soon, as the conditions weren’t good. He used that to fake his own death, and then he traded places with William. It was a rather elaborate scheme. McCleary handled everything inside the prison while William’s uncle made all the other arrangements.”

“My grandfather helped?” Rose couldn’t have looked more surprised.

Tay nodded. “William wasn’t told about any of it. They knew he would balk at leaving his friend. When the time came, McCleary slipped some sleeping powder into William’s evening meal and exchanged clothes with him. William’s uncle bribed the prison doctor to say William was McCleary and to declare him dead.”

Luke frowned. “Wouldn’t the guards have noticed?”

“I’m sure they did, but by then their pockets were filled with gold.”

“Ah. The gold. That’ll blind a man.”

“Won’t it, though. When William woke up, he was on his way to New York with his uncle. Sarafina was waiting for them when they got there.”

Rose took a deep breath. “I guess that’s how McCleary repaid William after getting him in such trouble.”

Tay nodded. “McCleary knew no one would suggest doing an autopsy on a body riddled with tuberculosis, too. He couldn’t save himself, but he could save William. And he did.”

Rose couldn’t have looked happier. “So William Day was never a thief, and he didn’t die in jail.”

“This is incredible,” Luke said. “This is why Sarafina never returned to Dove Pond except for that one week. She couldn’t bring David with her, as the people here would have recognized him.”

“It was far easier to live under a fake name back in those days. They didn’t have many photographs, and the ones they did have weren’t searchable or— Oh!” Tay gave an excited hop. “I just realized this. Tau means ‘new’ in Gaelic.”

Rose sent her a flat look. “You know Gaelic?”

“A little. I wrote my thesis in college on William Wallace.”

“Nice topic,” Luke said, a silly grin on his face. “I still can’t believe that David Tau was William Day.”

“And married the woman he loved.” Tay returned his smile. “William put McCleary’s gold to good use and started a new life with her.”

Rose looked a little disappointed. “So there’s no gold.”

“No. William took it to New York and invested it. According to Sarafina’s entry, he sent the original amount back to the insurance company that had paid it out. So, in a way, the gold wasn’t stolen so much as borrowed.”

“Is there evidence of that?” Luke asked.

“Probably not. The company went broke later on, so—” She shrugged.

Luke shook his head, his blue eyes sparkling. “Now that’s a family secret.”

“Wait a minute.” Rose crossed her arms over her chest. “William and Sarafina returned to Dove Pond when they put these clues in place. Didn’t people recognize him then?”

“I think they did. It’s significant that the only town meeting minutes that are missing are from that one day. I wish I could have been there for that.”

Luke blinked. “You think those minutes are missing on purpose.”

“I doubt they were even written. Remember, David Tau and Sarafina came bearing gifts.”

“The Fountain Fund. It was an investment in this town.”

She nodded. “There he was, with Sarafina, who was the town’s hero, and he was handing out money. Plus, he had the support not only of his uncle, who was still running the newspaper, but by then Sarafina’s aunts had accepted him. They visited Sarafina and David in New York so often, they had their own rooms at their house.”

“No wonder the town welcomed him back. Who would turn their backs on cash money and incur the wrath of both the Day and the Dove families?”

Rose snorted. “Only a fool would do something like that.”

Tay patted the diary. “By the way, according to Sarafina’s note, the fund wasn’t supposed to be used solely for the fountain’s upkeep. According to her, the money was supposed to be invested, and the returns used however the town council saw fit.”

Luke picked up the diary and turned it over in his hands. “Our ancestors were pretty cool, weren’t they?”

“They were. For the rest of their lives, he and Sarafina donated the returns of their investments back into their communities, both in New York and in Dove Pond.”

“That’s… that’s…” Rose couldn’t seem to get past that word. Her face creased with emotion, a mixture of relief and disbelief. “William wasn’t what people thought he was.”

Lulu, a sticker tangled in her hair and another on her cheek, tugged on Luke’s shirt. She looked from her grandmother to Luke and then back. “Are we happy?”

Luke laughed and scooped up his niece in a hug. “We are.”

Tay couldn’t have been happier, either. What a terrific ending to their little adventure. Oh, the books I’ll be able to write about this.

Rose ran her wrinkled hand over the diary, a look of wonder on her face. “Thank you, Tay. I guess I was afraid of the truth without even knowing what it was.”

Tay smiled. She supposed that at some point in their lives, everyone did that exact thing—feared a truth they didn’t know or understand, only to discover it wasn’t as horrible as they’d expected.

Luke set Lulu back down and leaned against the counter on crossed arms. “I’m just awed by William’s story. I can see why he and Sarafina wanted to give Lucy some time to decide if she even wanted to know the truth. No matter what, ‘David’ was the father she’d always known and loved.”

“I think Lucy suspected the truth. At least she knew enough to decide she didn’t need to know more.” Tay smiled at Luke. “We should take copies of this to Grace.”

He nodded. “Immediately.”

“Why?” Rose asked.

“Grace wants to use the Fountain Fund to finance some annual small business grants to help the town out, but her constituents wouldn’t allow her to access the money, saying it would be going against the wishes of the fund’s originator. With this diary and the note from Sarafina, Grace can convince them to allow the money to be used for other purposes.”

“Small business grants, eh? I’d like that.” Rose patted the diary once more time. “Well, well, well. I suppose it’s true that for every wish, there’s an answer.”

Tay wondered what Rose meant by that.

Rose pointed at her. “Tay Dove, I’m glad you came back to town.”

Tay had to return the grin. “I’m glad I came, too.”

“Things are going better since you arrived. Why, just having your office here has already increased our foot traffic.”

“Really?”

Luke flashed her a smile. “We broke a record last month, and Grandma Rose thinks it’s because people came to peek at you while you were working on the clues.”

That was nice to hear. “I hope it lasts now that we’ve found the family secret.”

Luke eyed the hole he’d made in the floor. “We’ll break more sales records once people realize we found this family treasure under the floorboards here. Everyone will want to see the spot. While they’re here, Grandma Rose and I will guilt them into making a purchase.”

Rose snorted. “I like that.”

Tay had to agree. “Maybe you should have Dylan replace those boards in the shape of an X.”

Rose perked up. “That’s a thought! Or we could have a table made in the shape of an X and circle chairs around it so people can curl up and read there.”

Luke couldn’t have looked more pleased. “I like the ambience of that.”

Lulu plopped her fists on her hips. “I want a beanbag chair. I’ll need something to sit on if you take my table and chair.”

“We aren’t taking your table and chair. We’re just going to move them. But if you want a beanbag chair, I’ll get you one.” Luke bent down and took Lulu’s hand. “But for now, you need to do your homework.”

“Not now,” Lulu protested. “We’re still finding treasure.”

“I think we’ve found all there is to find,” Luke said. He led her to where he’d put her table and chair next to the window. “Do your homework while I tape down these loose boards until Dylan gets here to fix them.”

Tay smiled. She liked that Sarafina and William had returned to Dove Pond and had brought both hope and happiness with them. As she watched Luke bend down to Lulu’s level to help her pull her homework out of her book bag, an odd wave of yearning hit Tay squarely in the heart.

What was that? She had her research, her job, and her family. What more did she need?

But then again, she’d just finished her research, so most of what was left was writing. And she wasn’t looking forward to returning to her job in Boston. In fact, looking for a job near here, as Rose had suggested, was a tempting thought.

She watched Luke as he settled Lulu in the children’s reading section to do her homework, Rose beaming at them from behind the counter, the diary still resting under her hand.

Tay found herself smiling, too. This place, this moment, it all felt so familiar. So comfortable. So precious. Maybe… just maybe, coming home had also allowed her to find a treasure of her own.