"Does he live here now?"
"He is deceased, I'm afraid." Damn, I thought.
"What do you know about him?"
"White male, died at age sixty-eight of a stroke. Had a son in Black Mountain, which was why Kelsey wanted to retire here, I guess. The son's still here."
"Do you have his address?"
"} can get it." He looked over at me.
"What about the son's first name?"
"Same as his father's. Her house is right around this bend. Look how dark the lake is. It's like a tar pit."
"That's right. And you know Emily wouldn't have followed its shore at night. Creed's story verifies that."
"I'm not arguing. I wouldn't take that route."
"Benton, I don't see her car."
"She could be out."
"Marino's car is there."
"That doesn't mean they aren't out."
"It doesn't mean they are." He said nothing. The windows were lit up, and I felt as if she were home. I had no proof, no indication, really, but I sensed her sensing me, even if she was not conscious of it.
"What do you think they're doing in there?" I asked.
"Now, what do you think?" he said, and his meaning was clear.
"That's cheap. It's so easy to assume people are having sex."
"It's so easy to assume because it's so easy to do."
I was quite offended because I wanted Wesley to be deeper.
"That surprises me, coming from you."
"It should not surprise you coming from them. That was my point." Still, I was not sure.
"Kay, we're not talking about our relationship here," he added.
"I certainly didn't think we were." He knew I wasn't telling the whole truth. Never had I been so clear on why it is ill-advised for colleagues to have affairs.
"We should go back. There's nothing more we can do right now," he said.
"How will we find out about her car?"
"We will find out in the morning. But we've already found out something now. It's not there right this minute looking like it hasn't been in an accident."
The next morning was Sunday, and I woke up to bells tolling and wondered if I was hearing the small Presbyterian church where Emily was buried. I squinted at my watch and decided probably not, since it was only a few minutes past nine. I assumed their service would start at eleven, but then, I knew so little about what Presbyterians did.
Wesley was asleep on what I considered my side of the bed. That was perhaps our only incompatibility as lovers. We both were accustomed to the side of the bed farthest from the window or door an intruder was most likely to come in, as if the space of several feet of mattress would make all the difference in grabbing for your gun. His pistol was on his bedside table and my revolver was on mine. Odds were, if an intruder did come in, Wesley and I would shoot each other.
Curtains glowed like lamp shades, announcing a sunny day. I got up and ordered coffee sent to the room, then inquired about my rental car, which the clerk promised was on its way. I sat in a chair with my back to the bed so I would not be distracted by Wesley's naked shoulders and arms outside the tangled covers. I fetched the printout of the image enhancement, several coins, and a lens, and went to work. Wesley had been right when he'd said the enhancement seemed to do nothing but add more shades of gray to an indistinguishable blob. But the longer I looked at what had been left on the little girl's buttock, the more I began to see shapes.
The density of grayness was greatest in an off-center part of the incomplete circular mark. I could not say where the density would be in terms of the hours on a clock, because I did not know which way was up or down or sideways for the object that had begun to oxidize beneath her body. The shape that interested me was reminiscent of the head of a duck or some other bird. I saw a dome, then a protrusion that looked like a thick beak or bill, yet this could not be the eagle on the back of a quarter because it was much too big.
The shape I was studying filled a good fourth of the mark, and there was what appeared to be a slight dent in what would be the back of the bird's neck. I picked up the quarter I was using and turned it over. I rotated it slowly as I stared, and suddenly the answer was there. It was so simple, so exact in its match, and I was startled and thrilled. The object that had begun to oxidize beneath Emily Steiner's dead body was indeed a quarter. But it had been face up, and the birdlike shape was the indentation of George Washington's eyes, and the bird's head and bill were our first president's proud pate and curl at the back of his powdered wig. This only worked, of course, if I turned the quarter so Washington was staring at the tabletop, his aristocratic nose pointed at my knee.
Where, I wondered, might Emily's body have been lying? I supposed any place might inadvertently have a quarter on the floor. But there had been traces of paint and pith wood too. Where might one find pith wood and a quarter? Well, a basement, of course-a basement where something once had gone on that involved pith wood paints, other woods like walnut and mahogany.
Perhaps the basement had been used for someone's hobby. Cleaning jewelry? No, that didn't seem to make sense. Someone who fixed watches? That didn't seem right, either. Then I thought of the clocks in Denesa Steiner's house and my pulse picked up some more. I wondered if her late husband had repaired clocks on the side. I wondered if he might have used the basement for that, and if he might have used pith wood to hold and clean small gears.
Wesley was breathing the deep, slow breaths of sleep. He brushed his cheek as if something had alighted there, then pulled the sheet up to his ears. I got out the phone book and looked for the son of the man who had worked at Shuford Mills. There were two Robert Kelseys, a junior and a Kelsey the third. I picked up the phone.
"Hello?" a woman asked.
"Is this Mrs. Kelsey?" I asked.
"Depends on whether you're looking for Myrtle or me."
"I'm looking for Rob Kelsey, Junior." «"Oh." She laughed, and I could tell she was a sweet, friendly woman.
"Then you're not looking for me to begin with. But Rob's not here. He's gone on to the church. You know, some Sundays he helps with communion, so he has to head on early. "
I was amazed as she divulged this information without asking who I was, and I was touched again that there were still places in the world where people were trusting.
"Which church might that be?" I asked Mrs. Kelsey.
"Third Presbyterian."
"And their service starts at eleven?"
"Just like it always has. Reverend Crow is mighty good, by the way, if you've never heard him. May I give Rob a message?"
"I'll try him later."
I thanked her for her help and hung up. When I turned around, Wesley was sitting straight up in bed staring sleepily at me. His eyes roamed around, stopping at the printout, coins, and lens on the table by my chair. He started laughing as he stretched.
"What?" I asked rather indignantly. He just shook his head.
"It's ten-fifteen," I said.
"If you're going to church with me you'd better hurry."
"Church?" He frowned.
"Yes. A place where people worship God."
"They have a Catholic church around here?"
"I have no idea." He was very puzzled now.
"I'm going to a Presbyterian service this morning," I said.
"And if you have other things to do, I might need a lift. As of an hour ago, my rental car still wasn't here."
"If I give you a lift, how will you get back here?"
"I'm not going to worry about that." In this town where people helped strangers on the phone, I suddenly felt like having few plans. I felt like seeing what might happen.
"Well, I've got my pager," Wesley said as he placed his feet on the floor and I got an extra battery from the charger plugged in near the TV.
"That's fine." I tucked my portable phone into my handbag.
20