Chapter 22 Tay

CHAPTER 22

TAY

"X marks the spot," Tay whispered to herself as she stared at the map yet again. "Oh, Sarafina. What were you thinking?"

Tay rubbed her tired eyes and pulled the survey maps forward. She tried to find the same pattern that was featured on Sarafina's map, but nothing matched. Muttering to herself about "impossible tasks," she dropped the maps on her desk and leaned back in her seat. Her gaze wandered across her desk, out the picture window, and into the bookshop until she found Luke. He stood at the counter, ringing up two women who were buying a ridiculously large stack of books, both talking excitedly. She had to laugh at the faintly exasperated expression on his face as he tried to navigate the conversation.

He was such a nice guy. She turned her attention to the three books stacked on the far corner of her desk. Every day, she found another book left there by either Rose or Luke. She'd noticed that Rose tended to like sentimental books, while Luke's were more character oriented. It was nice, because it gave Tay a multiflavored reading experience.

She reached over and picked up the top book, the faint vanilla book scent wafting up to meet her. She wished she could just disappear into it right now and leave this frustrating puzzle behind for a while.

Tay placed her hand flat on the book. During the ups and downs of her life, books had greeted her, held her, warmed her, and made her both laugh and cry. They'd been with her in her loneliness and in her darkest hours. And in the past few months, they'd kept her company when she couldn't sleep. Better yet, she'd found that disappearing into a book while she faced a problem would sometimes reveal an answer she hadn't yet thought of. Maybe I should just read for a while and let my brain rest until—

The door opened and Rose limped in. "Figured out that weird map yet? It's been two days now."

"Not yet," Tay admitted, putting the book down. "Luke and I are going to have another brainstorming session this afternoon."

Rose made her way to the chair next to the desk, her cane thumping on the wood floor. "Luke's been telling me how important this research on Sarafina is to you." Rose sat down and leaned her cane against the wall. "I know she was one of the first women journalists and all that, but who tortures their own child with cryptic codes and poorly drawn maps and—"

Tay laughed. "Easy, now! Lucy was super close to her parents, so I'm sure there was no torture involved. Maybe Sarafina did all of this to make it more fun. We don't know."

"Fun? Pah!" Rose frowned. "You want to write about a real hero, then write about Elizabeth Friedman. She was a cryptographer through Prohibition and both world wars. Now, that was an interesting woman, and I'd bet my bottom dollar she didn't draw stupid maps like that."

"Elizabeth Friedman knew Sarafina, and they corresponded on occasion." Tay stood and leaned across the big desk to a stack of purple folders. She dug through them, pulled one out, and placed it in front of Rose. "Some of their letters are in here."

Rose opened the folder and looked at the top letter. "This doesn't even make sense."

"That's because it's written in code."

"Good Lord!" Rose slapped the folder closed and tossed it back on the desk. "I suppose all of these letters have been decoded by now, right?"

"The decoded version was on the back of that same page."

"Oh." Rose reclaimed the folder and looked at the letter once again. She read the translation, pausing once to guffaw here and there. "Your ancestor had a nice sense of humor, didn't she?"

"At times."

Rose put the letter back into the folder and returned it to Tay's desk. "When you're done here, what are you going to do?"

"Tonight? If we don't figure out how to interpret the map, I'll probably go home and have some of Ella's cheeseburger casserole and—"

"Not tonight!" Rose sent her an exasperated look. "I meant, what are you going to do once you've solved this little mystery? Are you going to stay here and work, or are you going to pack up and go back to Boston and teach at that college with your ex looking over your shoulder all the time, or—"

"I don't—" Tay bit back her irritation. "I don't know what I'm going to do then. I haven't thought that far ahead."

"You should. Luke, Lulu, and I have gotten used to having you here. It would be nice if you'd tell us what you plan on doing next. If you're going to leave, then we should know."

Will they miss me? Tay hadn't thought about it, but… she would miss them, too. "To be honest, I haven't really given it a lot of thought. It's been nice to be here, though." She glanced past Rose to the bookshop and saw Luke helping some customers carry their new books to their waiting car. It's unusual to see a store offer that kind of service. Only here, in Dove Pond, would that happen.

She liked that far more than she'd realized. "I don't want to return to Boston." The words tumbled from her lips, surprising her.

She pressed her fingers to her mouth. "I didn't mean to say that."

"But you did," Rose pointed out. "So stay here."

"It's not that easy. I'd have to find a new job and a place to live."

"You can stay with your sisters until you get that sorted out, can't you? There are a lot of colleges around here. Appalachian State is very close, in fact. That's a good college."

Tay couldn't argue with that. But still, she wasn't yet ready to make a decision. "It's a very good college. I'll think about it."

"Do that." Rose looked up as the bell rung, but it was just Luke returning. "We've had a difficult year, my family. I'd be lying if I said we were all okay now. To be honest, Caitlyn took a bit of my pride with her to prison."

"Your pride?"

Rose sighed. "I saw her the month before things went south. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't say anything. I told myself she'd tell me if she needed help."

Tay thought of all the lies Richard had told her and how she'd foolishly believed them all. "Sometimes it's easier not to notice the bad things. I think we've all been guilty of that at some time or another."

Rose shook her head. "And maybe, if I'd paid more attention, I could have helped Caitlyn. I'll never know."

"It's not your fault. Caitlyn made those decisions. And she's the one who has to pay for them."

"But now I wonder if I can trust myself to—" Rose swiped at her eyes. "Goodness, look at me. I don't usually ignore bad news, but I did then and look what happened. Worse—" She glanced back out into the bookstore. As if reassured that Luke was far away, she added, "To be honest, I've caught myself doing it since, too. I hate that."

"It's tough once you lose your confidence. You have to earn your own trust back. And you can only do that when you admit the truth to yourself, whatever it is."

"I suppose so." Rose absently ran her hand over the folder in her lap. She was silent as she sat there, a thoughtful expression on her wrinkled face. "I have a bit of a problem right now. It's nothing— Well, that's not true. But I can't keep avoiding it the way I have been."

"If there's anything I can do, let me kn—"

"Lord, child, there's nothing you nor anyone else can do about this. I'll have to work my way through it on my own." Rose seemed to realize her tone of voice had been a bit harsh, because she forced a smile. "But thank you for that. It was sweet of you. We're all glad you're here, especially Lulu."

"She's an amazing child." Tay looked out to where Luke stood at the counter, his gaze occasionally moving to the clock over the door. Tay knew he was already thinking about picking up his niece. "I wouldn't worry about Lulu. She's lucky to have such a great uncle."

"He's a good boy." Rose shot Tay a questioning look. "You know that, don't you?"

Tay's face grew warm. "I do."

"He's handsome, too. Don't you think?"

Tay nodded. She knew he was cute and charming and kind. She just wasn't sure what to do with those realizations, none of which were new, but all of which made her feel awkward.

"Well, handsome as he is," Rose continued, "he's clearly lacking as a cartographer. Let me see this map Sarafina drew."

"It's not the original." Tay handed it to her. "Luke traced a copy of it. As you can see, the lines don't match any roads here in town or any of the county maps, either. We've looked."

Rose squinted at the map and then handed it back. "What a horrible rendering. All I saw are boxes and lines and an X. It could be roads or property lines or fences or— Good Lord, it could be any-thing."

"We're narrowing it down. So far, we've figured out what it isn't, so that's something."

"You'll figure it out." Rose got to her feet and reclaimed her cane. "You're smart and you've come this far. I know you won't quit."

Of course she wouldn't quit. How could she?

"I guess I'd better head back to work. Luke has to go get Lulu soon." Rose waved and then left, closing the door behind her.

Tay leaned back in her creaky chair, her gaze following Rose as she made her way to where Luke stood at the counter. He said something to his grandmother and then grabbed his coat and headed for the door.

Tay watched him leave, listening to the little bell ring as the door swung closed. He wouldn't be gone long, but she noticed how small the bookstore seemed when he was gone. It was as if the walls had all moved closer together and—

Walls. She stood so abruptly that her empty chair went rolling backward into the bookshelf behind her. If she drew a box around the crisscrossing lines on the map, it would no longer look like intersecting streets, but would instead look like the blueprint of a building. Oh my gosh. It's a floor plan, not a map!

She held up the floor plan. The gaps could be either windows or doors, the long lines were walls, while the small rectangles were most likely furniture of some sort. What buildings were associated with Sarafina? There was Dove House, of course, but it was so distinct with its huge foyer, large porch, and round turret that she couldn't see a match. What other building was associated with her? She went to the Baptist church, and she worked—

Tay's eyes widened. She worked here, at the Register.

She held the map up, her gaze moving from it to the bookshop and back. The offices lined up, and so did the front door and the bow window beside it. Some time ago, Rose had said that the two presses had sat on tables in the middle of the room that was now the bookstore.

It fit. Every aspect was represented, which put the X in one spot.

She was still standing there, too shocked to move, when Luke came back with Lulu. He settled her into her seat at her table and had just started to take off his coat when he saw Tay.

Her expression must have still looked stunned, because he immediately joined her. "Hey, is everything okay?"

"I figured it out," she managed to say, her heart pounding wildly. Her hand shaking, she held the paper up. "It's here."

"What?"

"The X is right there, in this building." She pointed to where Lulu's little table and chair sat. "Sarafina hid her family secret under the floor of the Dove Pond Register ."