Chapter 6 Tay

CHAPTER 6

TAY

Tay closed the folder, pushed her glasses back on her head, and pressed her hands over her tired, hot eyes. The Dove Pond Library was a lovely place, filled to the brim with rows and rows of well-organized but dusty, vanilla-scented books. What made the library so valuable to Tay wasn't the books that sat on the shelves, but rather what was stored in the climate-controlled basement. It was there, in boxes, large file cabinets, and several old display cases, that the historical records for their town sat.

For the past week and a half, she'd made the library conference room her research center. Once she was through using the town archives, she'd wrap things up here and head over to Rose's Bookstore and start going through the old Register s. Rose hadn't exactly agreed to give Tay access to the Day family archives, but Tay was hopeful it would happen when the time came.

For now, she had other things to do. She sighed and pulled her notebook closer. Over the past few days, she'd touched William Day's love letters again and again, hoping to find more clues. It was heartbreaking work. Whatever his situation was, it was frighteningly dismal. The darkness of his jail cell, and the sense of hopelessness that dripped from his dirty stub of a pencil, shook her to her core.

And yet, she'd found no answers to her many questions. "None," Tay muttered. She propped her elbows on either side of her notebook and dropped her head into her hands, staring down at her scribbled notes. What am I missing?

"More coffee?"

Tay looked up to find Sarah standing in the doorway, a pot of coffee in her hand. Tay forced a smile and slid her mug closer to the edge of the table. "I can always use more coffee." Sadly, the coffee Sarah made in the library break room was more like hot water with a faint hint of coffee flavor than actual coffee. Ava warned me to get some from her tearoom or to stop by the Moonlight for a to-go cup. I should have listened.

Sarah refilled Tay's mug and then disappeared for a brief moment to replace the pot in the break room before returning with her own mug. She sat down beside Tay and looked at the papers, folders, and notebooks spread over the table. The tin—and its contents—occupied the center. "Find anything interesting today?"

"No. I should look through the town's expense records during this time and make a list of—"

Sarah stifled a yawn. At Tay's amused look, she flushed. "Sorry. I love hearing about your research, but I didn't get to sleep until late because I was reading. You were up then, too. I saw your light shining under your bedroom door when I got up for a glass of water."

Tay shrugged. "I haven't been sleeping well lately."

Sarah's gaze moved over Tay's face, a hint of worry in her eyes. "Is everything okay? You've been really quiet since you got home. Unusually so."

"I'm just busy with this stuff. It's absorbing." Thank goodness for that. Focusing on Sarafina had been a welcome relief. "You should get more sleep. Remember when you used to sleep in class because you'd stayed up too late reading the night before?"

"You'd think I'd be over that, wouldn't you? But you know how I am once I get started on a book." Sarah's gaze flickered over Tay's face. "What's keeping you up? Did you get another book from Rose's?"

"Not yet. I'm sure it's just jet lag."

"Still?"

Tay didn't like that Sarah looked worried. The last thing I need right now is a bunch of questions.

"Hey, when's your book about the Casket Letters coming out? You worked on that project for a long time."

That was a good question. As Richard had signed the contract with the publisher before she joined, she'd left him in charge of the details. But Sarah was right, and the publication date should have been decided. "I'll have to ask about that."

Her gaze cut to the small but expensive fountain pen that rested on a stack of papers. She should get rid of that thing even if it was the only present he'd given her.

Sarah raised her eyebrows. "You finished the book, though, right?"

Tay nodded. "Yup. My colleague should have edited it by now." Come to think of it, she should have heard from Richard about the edits, too. She'd spent long months collecting the research for that book, assembling it into chapters, and writing it one careful line at a time. After that, she'd sent the finished chapters to Richard for his input, which had mainly been tiny, inconsequential line edits.

Their original agreement had been quite different. They were supposed to research and write the book together, authoring alternate chapters, but Richard kept prevaricating and missing deadlines. He'd blamed it on his responsibilities as department chair until she'd finally stepped in and completed his portion of the book as well as her own.

I shouldn't have done that. It almost physically hurt to think about it. She was now one of the millions of wronged women in the world, those who had trusted someone based on nothing more than how they'd made a person feel special. I hate that. I hate that that's all it took.

"Tay?"

Tay looked up to find Sarah eyeing her with a concerned look. Determined to turn her sister's attention elsewhere, Tay pushed her notebook to one side. "Want to see what I've figured out so far about the mysterious man in the photos?"

Sarah perked up. "Yes, please!"

Tay dug through some of the papers on her desk and handed one to her sister. "I'm fairly certain he is one of the men on this list."

"Why do you think that?"

"The man wasn't wearing a ring, so most likely he was a bachelor. Second, we know Sarafina moved away when she nineteen, but her hair was up in the photographs, so the photos were taken between the years of 1894 and 1897. I checked the census records, and there were a total of twenty-one single men in Dove Pond around that time."

Sarah's eyebrows rose. "Census records? I never thought of those."

"They're online and are pretty easy to find. They're very useful."

"How handy!" Sarah looked at the list. "What will you do with this?"

"I'm going to Rose's tomorrow to start looking through the old Register s for mentions of these guys. I'll also check the church records to see if their families went to the same church as Sarafina's. That sort of thing."

Sarah handed the list back to Tay. "I'm impressed."

Tay smiled. "Thanks."

"I hate that you have to go to Rose's to access the old Register s. We should have had a complete set of those newspapers in the town archives here. But back in the day, they stored them in the town hall basement in open boxes right beside the heating system, which caused a huge humidity problem, so they got moldy."

"That almost hurts to hear about."

"Records like that are precious. Thank goodness for the Day archives." Sarah eyed the stack of letters from William. "I saw you touching these earlier. Did you find out anything new?"

"No," Tay admitted. "His emotions are stealing every bit of emotional bandwidth I have." And she didn't have a lot left.

Sarah sighed. "You can see from his letters that he loved her and was a truly caring man. How did he become a train robber?"

"I don't know, but I'm determined to find out."

"You will," Sarah said firmly. "No one does research as well as you."

"Yay, me!" Tay said with her fist in the air.

Sarah laughed and then glanced at her watch. "Oh! I need to go." She stood. "I wish I could stay and help, but I've got to get everything ready for our Silent Book Club."

" Silent Book Club?"

"People bring their books, or check out a new one, and then they sit and read together."

"That sounds sorta fun. In a way."

"I love it! The membership has been growing every month, too." Sarah eyed the stacks of materials that filled the conference table and grimaced. "We were hoping you could do your work at Momma's old desk, but it's way too small. You need more space than I realized."

"This place is fine."

"Not really. Tay, I'm sorry to even mention this, but there are meetings scheduled for this conference room."

Great. Just great. "Starting when?"

"It's getting close to budget season, so soon. I think the first meeting is in two days."

Tay hid a wince. "I'll find someplace else to work. No problem." Which was a lie. To be honest, it wasn't the small size of Momma's desk that had made Tay move here. Every time one of her sisters walked through the house, they'd invite themselves in and start asking questions, as Sarah had just done.

Tay wasn't used to that. She worked alone. Sometimes, when she was in Boston, days would go by when she wouldn't speak to anyone except the occasional food delivery driver, and that was usually by text.

She liked being alone. Or she thought she had until, unexpectedly, she hadn't. When she looked back on the time of her Greatest Mistake, she couldn't help but wonder if her own self-imposed loneliness hadn't made her an obvious, and willing, target.

Her chest tightened, and she forced herself to shove away her unpleasant thoughts. She should be good at doing that, but somehow, it seemed that each time she tried, her thoughts got heavier. She suddenly realized that Sarah was still staring at her with that same concerned gaze.

"Tay, are you—"

"Hello, you two!" Ava appeared, carrying two bags marked MOONLIGHT CAFé . She placed them on the table. "Making progress?"

Sarah pulled her gaze from Tay and sent Ava a smile. "Tay's already got a lead on that guy in the photographs."

"Maybe." Tay started replacing papers into their folders. "We'll see if it checks out."

"Give yourself some time," Ava said. "You've been in town less than two weeks."

Sarah added, "Tay made a list of all the bachelors from that time period."

"Can you do that for the present time? But just the bachelors with rizz. Kat and Zoe would love that." Ava slid one of the bags to Tay. "I brought you lunch. Sarah said you didn't eat at all yesterday."

Sarah eyed the other bag. "Is that for me?"

"No."

Sarah's shoulders fell. "Well, darn."

Ava grinned and sat down. She opened the other bag and pulled out a plastic container and a fork. "I saw Blake at the Moonlight. He ordered the meatloaf platter for you and said you should come as soon as possible, or it'll get cold. He looked pretty cute in his sheriff uniform."

Tay reached for her food. "I've always had a soft spot for a man in uniform."

"So does Sarah."

Sarah sniffed and said stiffly, "I don't need to stay here and be teased."

Tay opened her box. "Mm. Turkey, avocado, and bacon. Ava, I owe you a lunch."

"Yes, you do." Ava waved Sarah toward the door. "Begone! I saw your assistant librarian on my way in. She said she'd already had her lunch, so she can cover the desk while you're out."

Sarah picked up her coffee. "I guess I'm not of much use here." She headed for the door. "Tay, call me if you need anything else from the town archives."

"Will do."

As the door closed behind Sarah, Ava turned to Tay. "It's funny, but I was thinking that the man in the photos was William. Don't you think so?"

Tay shook her head. "According to the newspaper articles I've read about the train robbery, William had dark hair. Plus, he was left-handed. I saw that when I touched his letters. The man in the photos is right-handed."

"How can you tell?"

"His pocket watch. It's in his right pocket." She reached for the open tin and pulled out the photo. "See the chain?"

"Oh wow. I didn't even notice that." Ava looked back at Tay. "How did you get the names of the town bachelors?"

"From the 1900 census. They did a census every ten years, but the one from 1890—which was the one I needed—was destroyed in a fire in Washington, DC, in 1921. So I got copies of the later one and correlated it with the birth records from both the Baptist and Methodist churches here in town."

Ava's gaze moved over the neat stacks of folders that sat on the table. "You're really, really good at this. I didn't know they did censuses that far back."

"The first one was done in 1790, which is why researchers love them. Of course, they're not always accurate, but they can give you a good start." Tay picked up her sandwich. "Sadly, there were a lot more bachelors in Dove Pond back in the day than I expected—twenty-one, in fact. I was hoping there would only be a dozen or so, but a lot of people had huge families back then."

"Farmers."

"Yup. Someone had to plow those fields." Tay took a bite of her sandwich.

"Did you find anything else?"

"Not yet." Tay wiped some mayonnaise off her fingers with her napkin. "To be honest, since Sarafina loved codes, I was hoping there might be one in William Day's letters, but I couldn't find any indication that's true."

"Secret codes." Ava shook her head. "That's some Batgirl stuff right there. And to think that Sarafina used to live here, near Bat Cave, North Carolina, too. Coincidence? I think not."

Tay grinned. Bat Cave was a little town not far from them that had been named after a deep cave where a large number of bats lived. They were easily disturbed, though, and thus a bit of a nuisance to the surrounding area. "Remember when Dad used to tell us that was the original Bat Cave, created by Bruce Wayne and staffed by Alfred?"

Ava scowled. "I got in a fight at school with one of the Coopers over that story. I should never have believed Dad."

"He told a lot of stories. His version of things was always more fun than the original, too."

Ava picked up one of her potato chips. "I loved his stories. I think that's why all of us are such big readers." She frowned. "I wonder why Sarafina loved puzzles so much?"

"That's a good question. I have no idea, really." Tay took another bite of her sandwich and eyed her special red folder, which held a copy of every letter Sarafina had sent that had a secret code or puzzle of some sort in it. "I'm hoping to figure that out as we uncover her history. We know so little about her formative years, and yet who we are as adults is set in place during that time."

Tay knew this was true for herself. Her three older sisters had always been super outgoing, and the center of their high school social scene. Tay had always been included in their invitations out and such, so she'd never had to develop her own network of friends. That had all changed when she'd left for college on her own. For the first time, she'd been without the support of her more outgoing sisters, and socializing suddenly hadn't been so easy.

At first, she'd been agonizingly lonely, but once she'd dived into her studies, she'd found that she didn't have time for friends. Or that's what she told herself, anyway.

Still, in some ways, being alone had been a positive experience. Having faked being an extrovert for so long before going to college, she'd rediscovered the pure pleasure of a silent and sometimes nearly empty library. The peacefulness of eating without having to make conversation. The tranquility of sinking into her research efforts without having to apologize or make time for someone else.

She hadn't been a complete hermit, of course. She'd been friendly to her fellow professors and had stayed in close touch with her sisters. But forming deeper relationships beyond the acquaintance level had held no appeal and always seemed to cause complications she didn't want to deal with. Like with Richard.

Tay's sandwich suddenly lost all taste.

"Tay? Are you okay? You look upset."

"I'm fine." Tay forced a smile, shut the food container, and returned it to its bag. "I was just thinking about the Dove Pond Register. That's a treasure trove of information and could tell me all sorts of things about the guys on this list. Those old papers mention every birth, death, town meeting, social event—they're amazing."

Ava wiped her hands on her napkin and tossed it into her empty sandwich box. "I'm surprised our mayor hasn't gotten those records scanned yet. Grace is a huge fan of modernization. You should see how she's updated the accounting system."

Grace Parker was the town mayor and was married to one of Sarah's oldest friends, Trav, who had always lived next door to the Doves. "It's a huge and complex job to archive historical documents. Every piece of paper has to be individually analyzed, categorized, and then preserved before you can even begin the scanning process. It's very labor-intensive and thus expensive."

"If it's expensive, then that explains why Grace hasn't had it done." Ava picked up the closest folder and flipped through it. "Who's Lucy? She wrote a lot of letters to Sarafina."

"That's her daughter. Lucy was a character in her own right. She was in France when World War II started, and she refused to leave despite the danger. She was married to a French doctor, and she stayed with him in Paris even after the line collapsed. They were trapped there for months. They made good use of their time, though, and helped a lot of people escape."

"It sounds as if Lucy was a brave soul. That makes me wonder why she didn't follow the clues in that poem Sarafina left her that would have exposed that family secret."

"Whenever people asked her about it, Lucy said she didn't want to know anything about her parents' past. She loved her mother and father as they were."

"You were going to make copies of that poem for us." Ava looked at the piles of folders. "Where is it?"

"Sorry, I forgot about that. I'll do it today." Tay got up and went to one of the stacks at the far end of the conference table. She'd just pulled a folder from the pile when a tap-tap-tap in the hallway heralded the arrival of a round Black woman dressed in a bright blue suit and hat, holding a cane in one hand.

Tay immediately dropped the folder and went to hug the woman. "Aunt Jo!"

"Don't look surprised. You had to know I'd come." Aunt Jo held Tay at arm's length and scowled. "You've been home for a while now and haven't come to see me once."

"Sorry. I had a rental car, but I had to turn it in, so I've had to get rides from my sisters." To be honest, Tay had thought about visiting Aunt Jo but had decided against it, as the woman had a way of seeing right through a person. She'd been their mother's best friend since forever, so Tay and her sisters were close to her, and her hugs always made Tay think of Christmas and cake.

"I shouldn't look at you, much less hug you, but you know how considerate and sweet I am." Aunt Jo patted Tay's cheek and then sank into a nearby seat and hung her cane on the edge of the table.

"How did you know I'd be here?"

"Oh, a little bird told me."

"Ella?" Ava asked.

"Might have been. Ran into her at the hardware store this morning. She was picking up some flowerpots. Said she was going to make some flower cupcakes for TikTok and thought it would be fun to set them in a real flowerpot like actual flowers." Aunt Jo shook her head. "I swear but I can't believe that girl gets paid to do things like that."

"Me neither," Ava admitted.

Tay agreed. "She makes a lot of money doing it, too, judging by that new car she just bought."

"BMWs are expensive," Aunt Jo said. "Personally, I'd rather have a convertible coupe than a boring sedan, but no one asked me, so—" She sniffed her disapproval.

Tay handed the folder to Ava and then sat back down. "What brings you to town?"

"You. And I needed some dog food for Moon Pie, too."

"Where is Moon Pie?"

"He fell asleep on a dog bed when I was at the Mayhew's pet store buying him an antler chew. Ed said I should just leave him and pick him up when I headed home." Aunt Jo patted the closest stack of folders. "What's in all of these? Anything interesting?"

"This is all research I've done on Sarafina Dove."

"It's pretty cool stuff." Ava pointed to the folder that was now open in front of her. "This is a poem Sarafina wrote to her daughter, Lucy, that holds a key to a family secret. It's written in some sort of code."

"Code?" Aunt Jo leaned forward, her bright gaze scanning the paper. "Be still, my heart!"

Tay had to smile. Everyone loved secret codes. No wonder they'd been used by marketers through the ages, who'd printed them on everything from Popsicle sticks to cereal boxes. "Historians have tried for years to figure out what Sarafina's last coded poem to her daughter could mean, but no one's done it yet."

"Historians are too busy thinking about facts." Aunt Jo scooted her chair closer, the legs scraping on the tile floor. "What sort of family secret is this poem supposed to reveal?"

"No one knows," Tay said.

Aunt Jo looked unimpressed. "If I did all the hard work it takes to write a decent secret code, or riddle, or whatever you call it, then I'd make darn sure there was a treasure of some sort at the end of it as a reward."

"Sarafina told her daughter it hid a family secret, not a family treasure."

"Humph. I'm going to pretend it leads to a real treasure. I bet I can solve it, too. I do the New York Times crossword every day, and I only have to look up one, maybe two, answers at best."

Ava snorted. "I've seen you do those at my tearoom, Aunt Jo. You look up more than two answers. It's more like a dozen or mor—"

"Give me that poem!" Aunt Jo snatched it out of Ava's hand. "I'll read it out loud. Let's see what we can come up with." She cleared her throat. " A truth, a name, a number. Told to all yet soon mentioned by none. So he carved it in stone where peace meets up in oaken silence. "

Aunt Jo placed the poem back on the table, pursed her lips, and stared at the ceiling, immediately lost in thought.

"Hmm." Ava settled deeper into her chair, crossed her arms, and tilted her head to one side.

Tay repeated the poem to herself, her lips moving silently. She knew it by heart and hadn't been able to make heads nor tails of the thing even after hundreds of attempts. Still, it didn't hurt to try again, so she pulled her notebook closer and picked up a pen just in case inspiration struck.

The silence lengthened and time ticked by while Aunt Jo frowned at the ceiling and Ava, her arm now propped on the table, rested her chin in her palm, her eyebrows lowered.

Tay realized she wasn't thinking about the poem at all but was instead doodling a circle over and over and over. She sighed and set down her pen. "I still can't figure it out."

"Me neither." Aunt Jo handed the poem back to Ava. "It's too hard for me."

"I got nothing," Ava agreed, dropping it back into the folder and sliding it toward Tay. "We apparently aren't very good at puzzles, any of us."

Tay had to laugh as she put the folder back on the stack. "I told you it was unsolvable. At least for now."

"What a pity," Aunt Jo said, looking disappointed. "Maybe it's just a poem and not a riddle at all."

"There's something there, I'm sure of it," Tay said. "That's how Sarafina did things. One time, she and her husband sent out invitations to their annual Christmas party with a poem like this. Their parties were swanky and attended by all the best people, too. But the poem didn't give a time or date or even a place. Everyone had to figure it out or they wouldn't know where or when to show up. It was the talk of the season."

"That's a fun idea," Ava said. "Did a lot of people show up?"

"About half of them, although there's evidence there was a lot of information-sharing going on. Her codes and riddles were never easy."

Aunt Jo rubbed her hands together. "Between that hidden tin box Dylan found in your house and this poem-puzzle-code, I feel like I'm in a real-life Agatha Christie novel."

Ava chuckled. "It's a pity Sarafina typed her poem, or Tay could touch it and get an idea of what she meant."

"Wait a minute," Aunt Jo said. "They had typewriters back then?"

Tay nodded. "The first one was patented in the 1860s. I saw one of the early models, and it had treadles on it, like an old sewing machine."

"No way!" Ava shook her head. "I can't imagine that. But I guess it's a good thing it was invented."

"They opened new career opportunities for women, once the business world began to utilize them."

Aunt Jo cut a curious glance at Tay. "I take it you've already touched the letters from the tin. Your sisters shared them with me, and I have to say, they just about broke my heart."

"Oh!" Ava said brightly. "You don't know. Tay says the author was William Day."

"What? The train robber?"

"None other," Tay said. "And he was deeply in love with Sarafina."

"I'd say so, judging by those letters." Aunt Jo picked up the photograph of Sarafina and the mysterious boy. "This is from the tin, too. I've seen it. Is this Sarafina?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure who the man is yet."

Aunt Jo tapped the photograph with one red-painted nail. "If you ask me, I'd say that man's a McCleary."

Ava and Tay exchanged a look.

Tay moved a little closer to Aunt Jo. "Why do you think he's a McCleary?"

"Just look at him. Tall, with thin blond hair, a weak chin, and narrow eyes. Slightly handsome blond weasels, the lot of them. Although they look less handsome and more weaselly as they age."

Ava reached over and picked up Tay's list of bachelors. "There's a McCleary on here."

Aunt Jo handed the photograph to Tay. "The last of the McClearys died when you were little, so the line is gone, but once you've seen that kind of face, you don't forget it."

Tay looked at the photo. That was the funny thing about history. No matter the number of written records, oral histories sometimes preserved the more important details. "If you're sure this man is a McCleary, then it must be Marcus McCleary. He was on my list of bachelors."

"He was one of the train robbers, too," Aunt Jo added.

"What?" Ava's eyes couldn't have gotten any bigger.

"Oh my gosh, Aunt Jo, you're right!" Tay put the photograph down and leaned over to find a purple folder. "I saw his name in the articles about the trial. Several of them said that, at the time of the robbery, he and William were as close as brothers."

Tay pulled out an article and showed it to Ava. "Aunt Jo, I'm so glad you came by!"

Aunt Jo beamed at them both. "I'm glad I could help. I have to say, though, I wonder why McCleary and Sarafina are in those photographs together?"

Ava put down the article she'd been reading. "Maybe it was a classic love triangle. Maybe both McCleary and William Day had a thing for Sarafina."

"Nonsense." Aunt Jo reclaimed the photograph Tay had set down and then dug the others out of the tin. "Look at their body language. You can tell they're not fond of each other."

Tay took the photograph from Aunt Jo and looked at it. "But she looks so happy in this one photograph."

"Yes, but she's not looking at McCleary, is she? She's looking directly at the camera. No one looks at a camera like she wants to kiss it."

Tay dropped back in her chair. "She's looking at the photographer."

"Exactly. And if she and William Day were an item, then he must be the one taking that photograph."

Ava looked at Tay. "Was William Day a photographer?"

"I don't know." Tay's mind raced through the intriguing possibilities. "Cameras were around then, but they weren't common. That's one more thing for me to research." It was a new lead, and an exciting one. Even though she was sitting down, she gave an excited shimmy. "Aunt Jo, you've given me a lot to think about."

"Of course I have." Aunt Jo picked up her cane and stood. "Now that I've saved the day yet again, I'm going to leave you two alone here to do whatever it is you were doing before I arrived, and head on down to Ava's Pink Magnolia Tearoom. I've earned myself a cupcake for all the hard work I've done here."

"Do you need a ride home?" Ava asked. Aunt Jo had given up driving when her eyesight grew weak, and the people in town took turns taking her wherever she needed to go.

"No, thank you. Nate Stevens from the hardware store has already promised to drive me and Moon Pie home. I'm to call him whenever we're ready."

Tay got up and gave Aunt Jo a fond hug. "You're the best. Thanks for helping out."

"My pleasure." Aunt Jo smiled warmly. "It's nice to be useful now and then."

"Let me walk you outside."

"I wouldn't say no to that." Aunt Jo waved goodbye to Ava and then took Tay's arm. They walked quietly through the library, but the second they stepped outside into the brisk wind, Aunt Jo pulled her coat closer and faced Tay. "So? What happened to send you racing home? And don't tell me ‘nothing,' because I can see in your eyes that it was something."

Tay tried to hold her smile and failed. Trust Aunt Jo to be able to see through her. She always did. "I've had some trouble."

"I knew it." Aunt Jo slipped her hand into the crook of Tay's arm and led her to the bench in front of the park. "Sit."

"But I—"

Aunt Jo pushed Tay onto the bench and then sat beside her. "Out with it."

This was the very reason Tay had avoided visiting Aunt Jo. "It's been a difficult few months. Things—something—hit me harder than I expected, and I'm trying to get over it."

"?‘Something,' huh? I don't suppose that ‘something' has two legs and needs a good wallop up the side of his head?"

Tay had to laugh. "That would describe him exactly. I dated this guy and he cheated on me and—I hate to admit this, but I can't seem to let it go. I try not to think about it, but I do. It's worse at night. If I don't distract myself, I end up lying there awake, thinking and thinking and—"

"Whoa! Easy, child. You're spinning up. I can see it."

"Sorry. I should be over this, as it's been months. He was a complete and total jerk, too. I should be furious, but I can't seem to find the energy for it. I'm—" Lost. Emotion clogged her throat, and she swiped a tear from her cheek.

Aunt Jo folded her into a swift hug, wrapping her in a momentary cocoon of warmth and love.

Tay soaked it in and then gently untangled herself. "I needed that hug."

"Let me know if you need another. I have extras and carry them with me." Aunt Jo took Tay's hand between her own. "Meanwhile, stop being so hard on yourself. You haven't had much practice with this sort of thing, so of course you're not good at it. Want to know who probably is? Your sister Ella. Before she met Gray, she went through men the way most women go through breath mints."

"She used to date a lot." A crazy lot, in fact.

"But not you." Aunt Jo squeezed her hand and then let her go. "You're like me. You've always been careful who you got tangled up with. Maybe a little too much."

"I wasn't careful this time. There were so many signs he wasn't being honest with me, and I ignored them all."

"So you were too trusting. Now you know that. Next time, you won't be."

Tay sighed. Maybe that was true. "I don't think there will be a next time."

"Oh, I don't know about that." Aunt Jo patted Tay's knee. "Wait before you swear off men altogether. You never know what will happen."

Tay didn't think she'd ever trust again. Not for a long, long time, anyway. Still, she managed a smile. "Thanks for listening."

"That's what I'm here for. I promised your momma when she got sick that I'd be here for you girls. Call me if you need to talk some more. Don't make me chase you down like a stray cat. If you do, I'll send Moon Pie after you, and you know how bilious he gets when he's been forced outside in the cold."

"Your bulldog has a legendary temper," Tay said, although, to be honest, Moon Pie was most famous for his chunkiness and his loud snoring. Still, if it made Aunt Jo happy to think he was a protective sort of dog rather than a napmeister, Tay wasn't about to argue. "I'll call. I promise."

"Good. That's what I want to hear. I'll be waiting." She gave Tay another big smile, and they both stood. "Are you sure you don't want a nice cup of tea before you go back to your work?"

"I'll take you up on that another day."

"Fine then. I'd best be off. Take care, sweetheart." She waved and then headed in the direction of Ava's tearoom.

Tay waited until she saw Aunt Jo go inside; then she went back to the conference room.

Ava was already collecting her things. She shot Tay a regretful look. "I wish I had more time to help, but I've got a lot going on today."

"Heading to the tearoom?"

"No. I've got that covered, but we're expecting a truckload of mulch at the warehouse for my landscaping company, and I need to be there to unlock the door."

"Of course. Sarah needs this room for some meetings, so I'm going to go ahead and get everything boxed back up. Tomorrow, I'm going to Rose's Bookstore to start going through the old Register s."

"I'm glad you have some new leads. That's something."

"It's a start. There's so much I want to know about Sarafina and William, things we might never figure out. How they met, how long they were in love, how the train robbery occurred, and—oh, so many things." She probably wouldn't figure out the answer to every last question she had, of course. Research was funny like that. A good researcher might find assorted bits of information about important historical persons or events, but without a direct eyewitness account, those finds often ignited a firestorm of new questions rather than offering up answers.

As Ava pulled on her coat, her gaze moved over the stacks of folders and papers that surrounded Tay. "It's going to take you a long time to pack this up. I'll stop by later if I can."

"Thanks, but I've got it. You'd better get going." Tay waved goodbye to Ava and then set to work.

She had a lot more research to do, but she was starting to feel hopeful. Now she had a new name to research, too, that of Marcus McCleary. One more name, one more clue.

Still, from what she'd seen so far, she felt that William Day was the key to unlocking the secret of how a young girl from their tiny town became such a fierce and intrepid reporter. All Tay had to do was follow the clues, wherever they led.

Come on, good luck. You owe me this much, at least.