They smiled at each other.
Maggie put down her wineglass. “I hate to interrupt, but before we talk about the wedding I need to tell you what happened this afternoon when I was walking on the beach.”
“What? Did you find a whale? Or the man of your dreams? If it’s that, we’d better call Will and tell him not to drive down from Maine after all,” Gussie teased.
“No calls to Maine necessary,” said Maggie. “But I did find a man. A dead man.”
Chapter 3
Godey’s Fashions for April, 1873.Hand-colored steel engraving from Godey’s Lady’s Book. Trifold, as usual for large Godey’s fashion plates, so it would fold inside the monthly magazine. Depicts five women and one young girl, all wearing bustled dresses. One, a bride, in white satin dress and transparent veil, so readers could see the dress. Another, in purple mourning attire, with a black cape. The others are wearing elaborate dresses of beige, bright blue, and pale blue. The girl, who’s playing with a rabbit pull-toy, wears a similar dress, with a capelet top and shorter ruffled skirt. Godey’s was published between 1830 and 1898. It included black and white and colored fashion plates, recipes, embroidery patterns, beauty hints, and fiction, essays, and poetry by luminaries like Hawthorne, Emerson, Poe, Longfellow, and Stowe. Sarah Josepha Hale, its editor from 1836 until 1877, advocated for women’s education and child welfare. 11.25 x 9.25 inches. Price: $65.
“What?” Jim put his wineglass down, and Maggie could almost see him wanting to reach for a legal pad and pencil. He was a lawyer.
“Where? What happened?” asked Gussie.
“I found a man’s body on the beach, not far from here.” Maggie pointed out the window toward the beach. “I called 911. Your local police chief, Ike Irons? He said he knew you, Jim.”
Jim and Gussie exchanged looks. “Everyone in Winslow knows Ike Irons. Go on.”
“He came, and so did the ambulance. They confirmed what was obvious. The man was dead. Irons had them take the body to the medical examiner’s office.”
“I thought I saw a police car leaving when I drove up! I was so excited to see you I didn’t think anything of it. What did the man look like? Did Ike say who he might be?” Gussie asked.
“He did, actually. The man’s name was Dan Jeffrey.”
Gussie’s hand went to her mouth. “Oh, no. Poor Cordelia.”
“You knew him, then?” Irons had said the man was a neighbor, but “neighbor” could mean proximity, not necessarily friendship.
“We didn’t know him well,” Jim put in. “He’d only lived in Winslow a couple of years. But his cousin Cordelia’s been here for—what would you say, Gussie? Ten or fifteen years? She was here when I moved to town, and that was more than ten years ago now.”
Gussie nodded slowly. “I’d say closer to twenty years. I remember a young family lived in that house about the time my nephew Ben was born. I think they had a baby about his age. He’s twenty-one now. And dying to see you, by the way, Maggie. You’re his favorite unofficial aunt.”
“None of that’s important now, Gussie,” Jim reminded her gently. “What’s important is that Cordelia’s going to be alone again, with no one to share her loss.”
“What about his daughter?” Maggie asked.
“What daughter?” Gussie looked at her.
“Maybe I misunderstood,” said Maggie. “I thought the police chief said Dan Jeffrey’s daughter had called to report him missing a couple of days ago.”
“There’s no daughter I know of,” said Jim, shaking his head. “Only his cousin, Cordelia West. Maybe Ike was confused.”
Gussie turned to Maggie. “Cordelia’s a dear woman, but very shy. She’s deaf. She doesn’t read lips, she only signs. And very few people here in Winslow sign. So she’s alone.”
Maggie frowned. “I wonder why she chose to live here, then. So many people do sign today. And there are lots of ways those who are hearing impaired can communicate.”
Gussie shrugged. “I’ve wondered that myself. But she keeps to herself. Or she did until about two years ago, when her cousin Dan appeared and moved in with her. He signs, and he took her out with him places. She seemed to enjoy being with people more. And now he’s gone.”
“He wasn’t like Cordelia, that was for sure,” said Jim. “He had a bit of a drinking problem, and from what I heard, could be a nasty drunk.”
“It’s a small town,” Gussie added, “and he was new in town. So he was the one blamed when problems came up.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Ike Irons had a file on him, that’s for sure,” Jim agreed. “But except for that fight he and Bob Silva got into over at the Lazy Lobster a while back, I don’t know of any real trouble he got into.”
“Well, he won’t be able to blame Dan for anything that happens in the future,” said Gussie. “I only met the man a few times and didn’t see a lot in him, but I feel sorry for Cordelia. Tomorrow I’ll stop in and let her know I’m thinking of her.”
“I’d be happy to go with you,” Maggie volunteered. “I can sign a little. We have ASL interpreters in classrooms at Somerset County for students who need them, of course, but I took courses so I could start to communicate a little with my students who were hearing impaired.”
“That would be wonderful,” said Gussie. “We’ll do it.”
“I hope you ladies won’t mind my leaving you alone tonight, but I have a lot of paperwork to catch up with,” said Jim.
“Bless you, Jim,” said Gussie. “You’ll be missed, but somehow I think we’ll cope. Maggie and I have so much to talk about.”
“I had a feeling that might be the case,” he said. “In fact, I arranged with the Winslow Inn to have a double order of your favorite steamed mussels and two stuffed lobsters delivered to your place,” he paused and looked at his watch, “about ninety minutes from now.”
“No wonder you’re marrying this man!” Maggie said. “He’s perfect. Except for ensuring that we have wine chilling in the refrigerator there. You forgot that, Jim!”
“Actually, I didn’t,” he grinned back. “I just forgot to mention it.”
“Thank you, dear,” said Gussie. “I hope you don’t have to work too late.”
“Not to worry. I’d rather work now than the first week after I’m married. I want to have a clean desk then. So I have an agenda, too. Shall we all be off?” He stood up, and Maggie followed.
“Wait! Before we leave here, I want to give Maggie a preview of the wedding,” Gussie said, a bit slyly. “I thought I’d show her the dress your mother chose for her. And had shipped all the way from Atlanta.”
“You haven’t told her?” Jim looked at his bride-to-be incredulously. “I can’t believe you haven’t told her.”
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Gussie said, with a stern look at him.
“You have a dress for me?” Maggie asked. “When we talked about dresses a month ago you said the wedding wasn’t going to be formal, and I should bring my favorite cocktail dress. I brought a couple with me; I thought you could choose whichever one you thought would work best with whatever you’d decided to wear.”
Gussie shook her head. “Remember, I said I needed you to come to the Cape early?”
“Of course. I had to pull in a lot of favors to get people to cover all my classes for ten days,” said Maggie. “I assumed you needed help getting the house ready before the wedding.” She gestured at the unpacked boxes.
“I do. Believe me. At my old home, and here, and at both the old and the new Aunt Agatha’s Attics,” said Gussie. “I still can’t believe that in this housing market my dear sister Ellen managed to sell the building with both my house and store, so I need to move both before the wedding.” Gussie paused for a moment and shook her head, as though still trying to convince herself it was true. Then she looked back at Maggie. “But, no, those little details are only the beginning.” She headed her scooter toward the closed door to the future guest room. “Follow me.”