James waited for Willow to leave the office before phoning Lucy.
“I’m with Wheezie right now trying to figure out if she knows Russ DuPont,” Lucy whispered into her cell phone. “I’ll be over as soon as I’m done.”
By the time the library officially opened, Francis and Willow had their heads bent together behind a spinner rack of science fiction paperbacks. Scott was near the checkout desk, placing books onto the shelving cart with unusual roughness. He looked completely dejected.
“What’s wrong, Scott?”
“I went outside to empty the book bin, Professor,” Scott answered as he gripped a book called Women in American Journalism: A New History. “And I saw boot prints in that muddy spot that never dries up between the sidewalk and the book drop. They were the same boot prints Francis and I noticed during our Christmas Eve stakeout.”
“Uh-oh,” James whispered.
“It didn’t take much brainpower to figure out who checked out the books in the bin because there were only four in there. Two were borrowed by Lottie and two by Mrs. Finke. I’ve seen Mrs. Finke in here for years and there’s no way she wears high-heeled boots. That means those boots are Lottie’s.” He put his head in his hands. “My girlfriend is Glowstar’s kidnapper!”
James frowned. He couldn’t argue with Scott’s logic, and he didn’t have the faintest idea what had motivated Lottie to inflict such a cruel prank on her own boyfriend. Feeling angry on Scott’s behalf, James reflected on the fact that neither of the twins possessed an ounce of real meanness and yet, someone had deliberately tried to cause them anguish.
“I’m sorry, Scott.” James put his arm around the lanky young man’s shoulders. “I don’t know what to say.”
“That’s okay, Professor. This is no time for words!” Scott said heatedly. “I’m already planning what to do. First, I’m going to send a certain reporter on a little goose chase. Next, I’m going to get Glowstar back, and then I’m going to drink Red Bull and play video games until I go blind!”
“Before you lose your sight, I wanted to talk to you about something.” Doing his best to contain his happiness in the face of Scott’s misery, James told Scott about Eliot. He then explained what he wanted to create before he saw his son again that evening and begged for Scott’s assistance.
“You are going to be such a cool dad!” Scott exclaimed when James was done, momentarily forgetting about revenge.
The two men returned to their librarian duties, leaving Francis free to sit with Willow until Lucy arrived.
“Can you ask Milla to meet me here too?” Lucy paused on her way into James’s office. “The name Russ DuPont meant nothing to Wheezie. Everything rests on Milla’s memory now. There has to be some connection between their past in Natchez and the two deaths. Milla may be the key to solving this entire puzzle, whether she realizes it or not.”
James hurriedly complied and phoned his father’s house, but there was no answer. He left a message and then turned his attention to an elderly patron who needed help searching the Internet for the best airfare to Fort Lauderdale. James then took care of the monthly budget, and by the time he was done paying bills, Willow, Francis, and Lucy had vacated his office.
Willow shot James a look of gratitude and left the library with Francis glued to her side. Assuming his employee was merely walking his girlfriend to her car, James settled at his desk and checked his e-mail. His face glowed as he read a message from Jane.
Eliot is so excited to see you again. Where would you like to meet us? We have supper at six and he only likes cheese on his pizza.
Those few words were enough to light up his morning. He quickly typed his answer.
I’d like you to be the first guests in my new house! #27 Hickory Hill Lane. 5:30. I’ll have dinner waiting. I can’t wait.
Lucy tapped lightly on his office door. “Were you able to reach Milla?”
“No.” A flash of lavender passed by his window. “Hold on. She’s here.”
While James handled a telephone query, Lucy shepherded Milla and Jackson into his office. It took every ounce of James’s concentration to complete his phone call and gently hang up the phone. In all his time as head librarian of the Shenandoah County Library, his father had never stepped foot inside the building where his son worked. Milla was slowly changing Jackson back into a social creature.
“It’s nice to see you, Pop.”
Jackson raised an eyebrow and then scowled at Lucy. “Let’s get this over with, girl. Milla here’s got a list a mile long, and I wanna get back home by suppertime.”
Ignoring Jackson’s grumbling, Lucy led Milla to a chair and sat down next to her. “I’m going to ask you to try really hard to remember something about your childhood. Take your time to think through my question. Try to recall families from school, your neighbors, church members, store clerks, anyone and everyone.”
“I’ll try,” Milla promised.
Satisfied, Lucy leaned forward a fraction. “Did you ever know a family named the DuPonts?”
Three pairs of eyes focused on Milla as her gaze drifted around the room, finally settling upon James’s coffee mug. She grinned as she read the slogan and then her eyes grew distant. Her observers could almost sense her journeying back in time, shuffling faces and names through her mind, discarding one and then searching for another.
After two full minutes of silence, she shook her head. “No ringing bells. I’m sorry.”
Something Milla had told him back in December suddenly came back to James. “Milla? Do you remember when you were telling Pop and me about Paulette’s girlhood? You said she was called Patty then and there was a woman who taught her how to bake. What was that woman’s name?”
Milla sat erect in her chair. “Mrs. D.!” Her shoulders instantly slumped again. “But that’s all I know. Just the initial. I don’t know if that stands for DuPont or not.”
“What about the street address?” Lucy’s predatory look flared in her eyes. “I could call some neighbors. I could ask Wheezie who the old-timers are in your former neighborhood and talk to them. I’m reaching here, but I’m getting a strong feeling that we’re on the right track.”
Closing her eyes, Milla murmured. “We lived on Idle Day Drive. To get to Mrs. D.’s I’d walk down our street, turn right onto the main road, and then a left onto… oh! I can almost see the street sign. That big live oak always blocked the first half of the word… Cobble something! Cobblestone Court!” She smiled triumphantly. “The house number was one. I remember that because she had one dog, one cat, and one child. I don’t think she had a husband either. Seems to me she lived on a wing and a prayer and by selling her baked goods.”
Scribbling the information into her notebook, Lucy asked James if she could use his phone. He led his parents back to the checkout desk and spoke to them in between accepting late fees and handing patrons their scanned books and receipts.
“Your materials are due back February twenty-third,” he told a little girl who had checked out five books from the Baby-sitters Club series.
Milla watched the child walk away-her pigtails swinging back and forth like a metronome’s needle. “Wait until Eliot learns he can bring home piles of books from his daddy’s library.” She moved closer to James. “I’m sorry you couldn’t get me on the phone, dear, but me and Jackson were busy. We got married this morning.”
“You did?” James looked from her beaming face to Jackson’s. He noted that his father’s expression showed a mixture of both pride and relief. “That’s wonderful! You just went ahead and did it! Congratulations!” He hugged Milla tightly.
“You’re not angry?” Milla sighed in relief. “I worried you might feel excluded, but my dear, I was in such a rush to make things official. When I meet your boy I want to be his grandma, not just Pop-Pop’s girlfriend!”
Jackson tapped the face of his wrist watch. “My wife’s been on the run all mornin’. The van’s loaded to the roof with crap. Toys, pictures, lamps, curtains, a rug. I think she bought out the damn toy store. I haven’t even had my third cup of coffee yet,” he growled.
Milla linked her arm in Jackson’s. “I couldn’t help myself! I’ve wanted to be a grandma so badly and now I am one! James, get ready, because I plan to spoil your son rotten!”
“Your son ?” Lucy’s voice came out as a croak. She stared at James in disbelief. “Did I hear that right?”
James hadn’t stopped to consider how this news might affect others, like his supper club friends. He’d simply assumed that everyone he knew would share his joy and would congratulate him on his happy reunion with his son. But there was an ashen appearance to Lucy’s face that made him realize that the revelation he had a child with his ex-wife might not be welcome news to some people. As he struggled to speak, James suspected that, if Lucy still harbored any romantic feelings for him, they were about to be irrevocably destroyed.
As his parents sidled quietly away, James opened the scrapbook he kept close at hand. He opened to the last page and showed the photograph to Lucy. “It’s true, Lucy. I only found out yesterday. This is Eliot Henry. My son.”
Without making a sound, Lucy glanced at the picture, looked up at James with wounded eyes, and fled.