The Celebrity by Robert Elmer

Author:Robert Elmer [Elmer, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-76912-1
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2010-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

22

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.

—THE BEATLES

Are you here with Mrs. Abel’s school group?” A couple days later, the gray-haired woman just inside the front door of the Crosby House Historical Museum stood by her guest book, ready for Jamie to sign in like everyone else. Not that it mattered, but he sighed with relief to see it wasn’t the same woman as before, the one he’d met when he’d visited the museum his first day in town.

“Not exactly.” Jamie stepped aside as another gaggle of fifth graders came piling through the front door, shedding the rain much the way a Labrador retriever shakes off after a dip in the pond. Adult chaperons shed their rain slickers and hung them on a pair of coat trees by the door.

He thought about coming back later, but the rest of the schoolkids crammed into the parlor so tightly that turning around soon became nearly impossible. No, he didn’t really want to venture out into the drizzle again real soon. Besides, he’d come here for a reason.

“Everyone!” A woman up front signaled with her hand in the air for their attention. To their credit, most of the kids quieted right down while she explained the rules, what they couldn’t touch, how to take notes on what they would learn about the history of the Crosby House mansion and Klickitat County. Jamie clutched his own notebook, but for different reasons.

He already knew Riverdale had more than its share of attractive turn-of-the-century homes, especially along Horse Heaven Lane and off the end of Main Street. Several had even been restored pretty nicely, often trimmed in creative shades of blue, pink, and violet, colors the original owners would never have dreamed of. But none matched Crosby House with its audacious twin turrets and grand gingerbread style, a house that compelled anyone driving by to stop in for a look. Dr. Emmett Crosby had seen to that when he built the grand home for his young bride in 1897, and at the time he’d spared little expense in the rich paneling and detail.

“Apparently he wanted to impress his new wife,” explained the museum docent, “since she came from one of the better families in Boston and her father seemed publicly skeptical about her moving away to the Wild West. After all, Washington had only just become a state, and Riverdale was pretty much in the middle of nowhere at the time.”

Was? Jamie didn’t dare say it aloud as their volunteer tour guide went on to explain how the home’s proud builder had obviously come out on the winning end of several big land deals in the area. He brought up craftsmen from San Francisco, and at the time it had been the most expensive new home outside Seattle. All to impress his father-in-law? Poor Mrs. Crosby would never live in the home, though. She’d been laid to rest in a Boston graveyard several weeks before she could board the train west.

“That’s a shame,” Jamie told the woman who had met him at the door.

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