“I don’t know if you’ve heard of Fernleigh Cabanes?” Hester interrupted.
“I interviewed Mr. Cabanes for the paper last year,” said Odelia.
“He’s an amazing artist in his own right, of course, and so when he agreed to accept Jayme as a student, we were thrilled.”
“I got a scholarship from the Baxter Foundation,” Jayme explained.
“We were very lucky,” said Hester. “Tuition was out of our reach.”
“So last Saturday there was an incident,” Jayme said, then directed a glance at her grandma.
“Go on,” Mrs. Liffs encouraged her.
“A woman suddenly appeared in class. She said her name was Veronica James, and that she was Dave James’s wife. And then she accused me of having an affair with her husband, which of course is ridiculous, as I’ve never even met Dave James, and also, I’m way too young to have an affair with the guy. He’s probably eighty or ninety.”
“He’s seventy-two,” Hester said. “Same age as me. And far too old for Jayme, of course. But more important than these ridiculous accusations is what Fernleigh told Jayme next.”
“He said it’s actually Dave James who set up the Baxter Foundation, and who personally selected me for the scholarship. And also, he’s been following my work, and discussing it with Fernleigh.” A blush had settled on her cheeks. “I was pretty shocked, of course. Can you imagine? Dave James? Personally selecting me for a scholarship?”
“Which is why we’re afraid Veronica James will start to make trouble for Jayme. If she thinks her husband and Jayme are involved in some way, she might try to cancel the scholarship, and in doing so cause irreparable damage to my granddaughter’s future.”
“But why?” asked Odelia. “Why would she think there’s something inappropriate going on between her husband and Jayme?”
“I have absolutely no idea,” said Jayme. “Like I said, I never even met the guy. And I didn’t even know it was him that set up that scholarship.”
“I think I might have an idea what’s going on,” said Hester, a grim look on her face. “And it all dates back to events that took place more than fifty years ago.”
Jayme stared at her hands.“Gran told me the most amazing story. Wait till you hear it.”
“Once upon a time, before Dave becamethe Dave James, we used to date,” said Hester.
Odelia’s eyebrows shot up. This was a development she clearly hadn’t anticipated.
“This was way before Tollie the Turtle. Dave was just a struggling young artist back then, and I was a fellow student at the academy where we met.”
Odelia glanced to Jayme.“So Jayme is…”
“Oh, no,” Hester laughed. “We never got that far. You see, what happened is that Dave and his parents went on a trip to the South Pacific that summer—our last summer,” she added with a touch of wistfulness. “Only the boat they were on was caught in a nasty storm. They got adrift and it took a couple of weeks before Dave was finally found.”
“What about his parents?” asked Odelia.
Hester shook her head.“They never made it. Dave was the only one who survived. Oddly enough, when he did come back, turns out he’d lost part of his long-term memory, either from the shock of losing his parents, or because he hit his head in the storm. At any rate, he didn’t remember anything, and had to start his life practically from scratch.”
“So… he didn’t remember you?”
“No recollection whatsoever. I was suddenly a stranger to him. Which came as something of a shock to me, I can tell you, since we’d made plans to get married in the fall, and arrangements had already been made.” She held up her hands. “Look, I didn’t blame him. Of course I didn’t. We tried to get back together, but it just didn’t work. He did his best, but our history together, our past, it was all gone. And even though I’d hoped to make him fall in love with me all over again, that kind of stuff only happens in the movies.”
“So you split?”
Hester nodded, and I could see the story still affected her, for her eyes suddenly turned moist. Jayme placed her hand on her grandmother’s arm, and also appeared quite impressed with this hitherto unknown part of her grandmother’s past.
“So we went our separate ways, vowing to remain friends, and I still run into him from time to time.” She accepted a tissue from Odelia and wiped her eyes. “At least one good thing came out of that whole mess, and that’s Tollie.”
“His cartoon character.”
“Comic strip character,” I corrected her, but she didn’t hear me.
“No, the real Tollie,” said Hester. “The turtle he met on the desert island where he spent those weeks, and who he claims saved his life and his sanity.”
“You mean that Tollie is an actual turtle?”
“Oh, absolutely. The cartoon Tollie is based on the real Tollie—the turtle Dave met on that island.”
“I didn’t know that,” said Odelia with a smile.
“See, Max!” Harriet called to me from the opposite side of the room. “Tollie is a real turtle, just like Harriet will be the real… me!”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said. Frankly I’d heard all I was prepared to hear about this comic strip she and Gran were planning.
“So obviously Veronica knows about our past history,” said Hester, “and must have made the connection to Jayme’s scholarship and Dave’s interest in her work, and come to the conclusion that there’s something going on that’s not entirely on the up and up.”
“Okay, so I apologize if I seem a little slow here,” said Odelia, “but what is it exactly that you want me to do?”
“Well, we’ve heard a lot of good things about you,” said Hester, nodding to her granddaughter.
“There’s a kid in my class named Ivan Stasiewicz,” said Jayme, picking up her cue from her gran. “And he told me that when his uncle got in trouble with the town council last year over some back taxes he owed, you jumped in and bailed him out.”
“Also,” Hester added, “a very dear friend of mine told me you were instrumental in solving a theft at her home. Some of her bracelets were stolen and you found them. And of course I’ve been a loyal reader of the Gazette all my life, and I never miss an article. You’re an ace crime solver,Odelia. So we were thinking…”
“That maybe you could talk to Veronica James…”
“And convince her that there’s nothing going on between Dave and my granddaughter.”
“And make sure she doesn’t cancel my scholarship.”
“Don’t you think it would be easier if you talked to Dave?” asked Odelia.
Hester shook her head.“Absolutely not. The last thing Veronica needs is for an ex-fianc?e of her husband’s to go sticking her nose in. It would only make things worse.”
Odelia glanced to Jayme.“Do you think Dave’s connection to your grandmother is the reason he offered you that scholarship?”
“I don’t know,” said Jayme with a shrug. “I like to think it’s because of my talent.”
“And I’m sure that’s the only reason,” said Hester. “After all, Fernleigh did say that Dave has been keeping tabs on Jayme and telling him what a remarkable talent she is. Now that certainly has got nothing to do with me. That’s all Jayme. She really is a marvel.”
“Thanks, Gran,” said Jayme.
“No, but it’s true, hon,” said Hester, patting her granddaughter’s hand affectionately. “And I also know that you didn’t get it from me.”
“What about your parents, Jayme?” asked Odelia. “What do they have to say about all this?”
“My parents died when I was three,” said Jayme.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
“I’ve raised Jayme as my own,” Hester explained. “Which is why this has affected me so much.” She gave Odelia an imploring look. “Would you please help us?”