Lisa Goldstein by Walking the Labyrinth

Author:Walking the Labyrinth
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-06-04T14:28:43+00:00

* * *

EIGHT

DISAPPEARING ACTS

Molly’s first thought was that Samuel Allalie had the family look she had come to recognize. He was short and muscular, and when he smiled he showed the same gapped teeth they all seemed to have. He transferred the backpack he was carrying to his other shoulder and shook her hand warmly.

“I’m Sam Allalie,” he said. “I’m glad to meet you, Molly. Finally.”

“So am I,” she said, showing him and John into her apartment. “Sit down, please. Would you like some tea? Or biscuits?”

He smiled again. “My grandparents used to offer guests tea and biscuits. It’s a British custom, I think.”

“My aunt Fentrice does it. Not that she gets very many visitors besides her bridge club.”

“Aunt Fentrice. So she’s still alive.”

Molly blinked in surprise. “Very much so. Didn’t you know?”

“No. She left the family and never said a word to anyone after that. We looked for her for years — ” Samuel turned to John. “Our family’s very good at finding people, but she seemed to have disappeared completely. How did you find her?”

“I’m very good at finding people,” John said.

“John — ” Molly said.

“I know how to use a computer, and how to tie into databases across the country,” John said. “Driver’s licenses, social security cards — ”

“Aunt Fentrice never learned to drive,” Molly said. “Lila does all her errands. And I don’t think she ever got a social security card either. She started working long before you needed one.”

“No, but you know what she does have? A credit card.”

“A credit card?” Molly said, amazed. “Fentrice?”

John laughed. “That’s right. Uses it pretty heavily, too. I got her address and phone number from that and tried calling a few times. She wouldn’t talk to me, so I decided to go after Molly here instead.”

“Well,” Samuel said. “So Fentrice is still alive. But John told me that Joan and Bill died in a car accident. I’m sorry, Molly.”

“Thank you. You’re her—you’re my mother’s brother, aren’t you? What was she like?”

“A lot like Fentrice and Thorne, I gather. Wild, determined to go her own way. And she left the family just like Fentrice did, though I never knew she had had a child. Or that she found Fentrice. I wonder how.”

Samuel looked at John, who shrugged. “There’s a lot about this family I don’t know,” John said.

“Like what happened to Thorne. Like why Joan left the family— or why Fentrice did, for that matter.”

“I’m going to interview Fentrice next.”

“Great,” Samuel said.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Molly said. “Fentrice doesn’t see too many people. I said I’d ask her if she’ll talk to John, that’s all.”

“I’ll wish you luck,” Samuel said. “Oh, and I brought this. Maybe it’ll help.” He opened his backpack and drew out a large leather book, brown and stained with ink and coffee cup rings. “This is my father Callan’s journal.”

“Callan’s …” Molly said. She reached for the book, held it reverently. The cover, she noticed, was made of imitation leather and cracked in several places. “Was there anyone in this family who didn’t keep a journal?”

Samuel laughed.

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