CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

As I complete my chores, I think about what I discover the day in the Greenwoods' bedroom.

I am no longer sure if this has anything to do with Lila. Surely, the family is in dire financial straits, but the earlier certainty I feel has faded. There's not enough evidence to suggest that Lila was concerned with any artifacts. If anything, she was more concerned with Violet's past than with any Civil War documents, and that concern would be more than enough reason for the family to murder her.

And there's no way that document is worth eighty thousand dollars. That auction house can't be reputable. I research the Second Battle of Fort McAllister, and it's barely a footnote. Who would pay the equivalent of my annual salary to own a scrap of paper where a garrison commander of a minor fort surrenders to the Union Army? If it were Lee's surrender to Grant, I might believe it, but Major… I can't even remember his name. Anderson? Andrews? It's preposterous.

Either way, the fact that she catches me snooping in her garden puts me in danger. James cares about appearances, and no doubt he doesn't want the world to know that his wife is one bad day away from being committed. If it gets back to him that I'm aware of his wife's condition, then I'm in serious trouble.

Could that be what led to Lila's demise? Annabelle thinks it was because of her snooping into the family's past, but maybe it's simpler than that. What if, like me, she caught Elizabeth having an episode in the middle of her snooping?

I need to be careful. More so than I have been. No more snooping through the gardens. No more rifling through papers. No more digging for information on Elizabeth.

But what do I do then? If I can't talk to Elizabeth, who do I turn to for information? Annabelle's given me all she has. Christopher is protective of his mother, and James is obviously not someone I can probe for knowledge. Nathaniel is likely avoiding me, and if I find him again, his anxiety might cause him to tell on me after all, and that could prove fatal.

I think it might be time for me to talk to Clara Beaumont again. I don't know that I trust her, but she seems to have an idea of what happened to Deirdre McCoy if nothing else.

That might be my path to an answer. The avenues to information Lila Benson's murder are closing fast, but maybe I can sneak around the back, so to speak. If I can learn exactly what happened to Deirdre, then I might be able to put pressure on the Greenwoods. If I can generate official interest in Deirdre's case, then maybe someone will reveal something I can use to find an answer for Lila.

Maybe.

It's so frustrating to have to walk on my tiptoes. It's like the answer is on an island in the middle of a lake that's filled with crocodiles. It's there. It's within reach, but the only way to it is to risk being eaten alive.

I wonder if Lila felt a similar frustration. Was she close to her own answer only to find that the path to knowledge was lined with pitfalls and traps?

I finish my chores and decide to pay Clara a visit before the day ends. The family will be home soon, but if I'm questioned, I see no reason to be dishonest. So far as I know, they have no reason to think that Clara could be working against them. If anything, I can profess ignorance and simply say we met in the park one day and she asked me to dinner.

I wash up and dress to go out and head downstairs.

Where I walk right into a fight between the Greenwoods and George Baumann.

"That document belongs to posterity!" he thunders. "You have no right to save it for monetary gain!"

"What document?" Elizabeth shouts. "If it even exists , I haven't found it. And if I find it in my own house, I am welcome to do what I please with it."

"Even if it means denying our descendants a piece of history?"

Well, so much for all of my hypotheses. Evidently, that document is valuable. And Elizabeth might not be crazy. And Lila might have even been killed because she was trying to steal the document for herself. Or maybe she wasn't even killed at all, and she was simply fired and whisked away on the threat of being charged with theft.

Hell, maybe she even has the document and is now enjoying the last laugh somewhere far away.

"The history will exist with or without a piece of paper, George," Christopher scoffs.

"Oh, sure," George says, rolling his eyes. "So let's just shrug our shoulders and bite our thumbs at every item of historical consequence. Forget about the pyramids, we'll just turn them into a resort hotel, right?"

"They'd make money that way," James says with a trace of amusement.

"Because that's what matters," George thunders. "Money."

"No one's ever paid their tuition with trinkets," Annabelle says.

"Trinkets? Trinkets? " George laughs. "Trinkets. The sacred remnants of our nation's history, and you call them trinkets."

"Oh, for God's sake," Elizabeth says. "It's not the blood of Christ, George. It's a fucking formality that someone signed and some other fools are willing to pay through the nose for."

"Why don't you buy it?" Christopher offers. "When we find it, why don't you buy it from us? We'll give you a fair price."

George turns a shade of deep red. "You know I don't have that kind of money."

"Oh, we know," Annabelle says. "That's why we're not even talking about letting you have it."

"Why you—"

He takes a step toward Annabelle as he does this. That's a mistake. Christopher flinches toward him, but James reaches him first. He plants a hand on George's chest and shoves backwards. George stumbles back, saved from falling on his backside by the front door. He stares aghast at James, but it's clear he realizes the danger he's in.

Just in case, James makes it clear. "It's time for you to go, George. You're dangerously close to hurting yourself."

George's lip trembles with fear and fury. He draws himself up to his full, unimpressive height and says, "You're making a big mistake. All of you. I'll see you ruined."

He throws open the door and rushes outside. Elizabeth bursts into tears, and the others move to comfort her. Annabelle looks up and sees me. She meets my eyes and shakes her head.

I take the hint and return upstairs. My visit with Clara is suddenly much less important.

So the artifact is valuable. And both George Baumann and Elizabeth Greenwood are desperate for it. The question is, which of them is desperate enough to kill for it?

Perhaps instead of visiting with Clara, I'll see what secrets George Baumann is hiding.