To the Grave: A Genealogical Crime Mystery #2 (Jefferson Tayte) by Robinson Steve

Author:Robinson, Steve [Robinson, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery & Crime
Published: 2012-06-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

The Tanners Bar at the hotel Tayte was staying at was typically quiet for an out-of-town hotel bar on a Sunday evening. The decor echoed the lobby area, featuring more dark wood and bright furnishings, such as a line of acid-yellow stools at the bar that stood out all the more because they were vacant. Tayte had suggested to Joan that they go through for a drink after he’d read the letters she’d brought to show him and they had made themselves comfortable at one of the tables; Joan with a whisky and water, Tayte with a Jack Daniels over ice.

He’d made good use of his notepad, adding Mel Winkelman to the information he had on Danielson, and he’d tried to give the letters back to Joan, but she’d told him to keep them, saying that she’d held onto them too long already and that she thought he would be able to make better use of them now.

“So Danny proposed to Mena,” he said, sipping his drink as he mulled the information over. He was thinking hard about what Joan had told him about Danny at her home earlier and how much the letters seemed to conflict with the idea that he’d raped Mena. Every instinct he had now told him that something wasn’t right with that picture.

‘I know what you told me about Danny earlier,” he said, “but I can’t believe that the man who wrote these letters to Mena could have begun such a relationship by raping her.”

Joan took a deep breath. “That’s why I wanted you to see them,” she said. “I’ve doubted my own ears ever since Mena brought them to me. I’ve been confused about it for a very long time.”

“And have you drawn any conclusions over the years?”

“No, not really. It’s just a feeling, much like the one you now have after reading them.” She paused, hovering her whisky glass before she took a sip. “You know, I often imagined that Mena had run away from home and had a good life, but when she never came back for her letters, as the years passed, I began to wonder if that could be true.

“Right now, I’m wondering why she felt the need to give them to you at all,” Tayte said. “Why she felt that she couldn’t keep hold of them herself. My only conclusion is that for some reason she was afraid of losing them and who better to give them to for safe-keeping than her best friend?”

“I’ve thought the same thing,” Joan said. She gave a little smile and added, “I like to think that Danny came for her after the war and took her back to America with him. If he had it would explain why she never came back for her letters - because she was with Danny and had no further need of them. But I don’t know.”

“It’s a possibility,” Tayte said. He snorted. “Maybe I’m looking in the wrong country. I could have stayed home.”

Joan wasn’t smiling. She raised her glass to her mouth and drained her drink back.

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