A Thread of Darkness by Sally Goldenbaum

Author:Sally Goldenbaum
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Published: 2019-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Sometimes information came from odd places and arrived when you were least expecting it. It was a chance encounter Kate had with her elderly neighbor two days later that sent her rushing off to Po’s early Monday morning.

Old Danny Halloran usually gave Kate a teasing smile as they met on the driveway to pick up the morning’s newspaper, Danny in his robe and Kate ready to start her day. He and his wife, Ella, had lived next door to the Simpsons since long before Kate was born. They had been old since Kate could remember, but nothing about them ever seemed to change much, not the shuffle of Danny’s walk, not the pudgy, ornery face of Ella, her thin gray hair pulled back into a knot at the base of her wide neck.

It wasn’t just Kate who liked Danny. He didn’t hoot and holler when the neighborhood kids played ball on his yard or even broke a window. Danny loved having them around and finding out what was up in their world. His wife wasn’t nearly as friendly. Ella’s plump face was pulled into a perpetual frown. But she had a good soul underneath. At least that’s what Kate’s mother repeatedly told her, ever fearful that Ella’s disposition would make her the object of the neighborhood kids’ pranks.

“So, what’s up, Katie girl?” Danny asked as they met at the end of their driveways, where they came together like “kissin’ cousins,” in Danny’s words. “Anything new about that Frenchman’s wife?”

Kate bent down and picked up both of their Monday morning papers. “Nope, Danny, no news.” She had just jumped out of the shower and her thick, damp hair curled loosely around her ears and shoulders. “Maybe there’ll be something in today’s paper.”

“I heard about that quilt that she had hanging on her wall, Esther Wood’s quilt. Ella heard about it at the Elderberry Salon when she went to get her hair done.”

Kate hid her surprise. How did that news get out so soon? But probably the police had checked it out, took pictures, maybe, of Jacques’s house. Once one neighbor knows, it’s all over. “Yeah, go figure.” She turned and started to walk back up her driveway.

“She was Ella’s friend, you know.”

“Esther Woods was Ella’s friend?” Kate stopped in her tracks and stared at Danny.

“Well, maybe not ‘friend.’ Ella’s not big on friends, don’t you know, but Esther Woods used to make clothes for her a while back. That was when Ella got out more, and a’course before the Woods lady died.”

“So, Ella went to her home?”

“Yep, now and again. I drove her over myself. Small little place, not far from the railroad tracks.”

“Did Ella know Esther’s husband?”

“Saw him once or twice, I think. Anyone who ever set foot in a Crestwood tavern knew Al Woods—he hit ’em all, no tavern beyond his reach. Awful man. Even my Ella thought it a crime for Esther to stay living there with him, and she used to tell her as much. But she had no place to go and she needed a roof over her and the kid’s head.

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