Light from Her Mirror (Mirrors Don't Lie Book 3)

by Becki Willis

  “What about the daughter? Does she still live around here?”

  “Oh, no, she’s too uppity for the likes of us!” With a disgruntled sniff, the beautician pumped the chair’s foot pedal with gusto, quickly lowering her client to the ground. “Miss Ethel, you’re ready for the dryer now.” Turning her back to Makenna, she devoted her full attention to the little old lady slowly moving from the chair.

  Makenna knew when she had been dismissed. With a puffed sigh of resignation, she called out her thanks to the retreating figure of the beautician and Miss Ethel.

  Leaving the beauty parlor, she never noticed the silver Cadillac parked across the street.

  ***

  “The Hannah family? Good people. Never cared much for the son-in-law, but you can’t hold that against them.”

  “Who is their son in-law?” Kenzie asked. If they only had one daughter, that son-in-law would be her grandfather.

  The man behind the cash register eyed her skeptically. “Thought you said you were family.”

  “I am, but I’m from Texas. I don’t know any of my family here.”

  “Texas, huh? Thought I heard an accent. How many oil wells you own down there?”

  “Oil wells? Me? Not a one, I’m afraid!” Kenzie laughed.

  “Thought all you Texans were soaked in oil. Now if you don’t mind, miss, there’s a line of customers behind you. Next!”

  ***

  “Nope, never heard of them.”

  ***

  “Can’t rightly recall anyone by that name right now.”

  ***

  “It sounds familiar, but I meet so many people in this business. Say, do you need an insurance policy, by chance?”

  ***

  “Yessum, I knew ‘em.”

  “Are any of them still living in the area?”

  “Nope.”

  “Did you know their granddaughter Maggie?”

  “Sure did.”

  “And?” Makenna prodded the old man from the gas station.

  “And the poor girl died. Nothing more to say.”

  “Do you know anything about her accident?”

  “Told you. Nothing more to say.”

  ***

  “Think I remember that name. Clara, wasn’t that Anne Hannah the one that grew those big peach colored roses?”

  “You mean like the ones you planted in that flower pot you got from Jenny Abraham?”

  “I didn’t get that from Jenny. That came from Molly Perkins. She gave it to me when I fell and broke my hip.”

  “I thought that was when you had your gall bladder taken out.”

  “No, she brought me a bunch of peonies that time, and I planted them next to the rose bush. Didn’t I get that bush from Anne Hannah?”

  “I thought it came off a cutting from Joan Heff’s mother-in-law.”

  “No, that was wisteria.”

  Clara shook her head. “I don’t believe I know any Hannahs.”

  ***

  “Have you been over to Haverhill Corner? Say, did you know the library there is the old jail? Still jail cells down in the basement. Sight of the last public hanging in New Hampshire.”

  “Were there any Hannahs there?”

  “Nah, nobody by the name of Hannah ever hung that I recall hearing. But did you hear ‘bout old Pete O’Fallon? Orneriest old cuss ever hung in these parts.”

  ***

  “Who’d you say? Hannah? I know Hannah Peabody.”

  “No, the last name was Hannah. Aaron and Anne Hannah.” Kenzie clarified the names to the man at the repair shop, speaking loud enough that he could hear. Judging from the display on the wall, his specialty was coo-coo clocks. She guessed the constant noise had impaired his hearing. Even with hearing aids behind each ear lobe, he was having difficulty understanding her request.

  “You say Karen Anne?”

  “No, Aaron. Aaron Hannah.”

  “Arrow hand? You need one for your clock, you say?”

  “No. I’m looking for a family by the last name of Hannah.”

  “Oh, Hannon. Sure, Roy Hannon. Over on Route 5.”

  Kenzie sighed. “Thank you for your help.”

  “No, don’t sell belts. Check down the street at the leather shop.”

  Just as she opened the door, the clocks begin to chime the hour. With a dozen different birds and at least two musical chimes, all sounding at once and with varying decimal levels, it was no wonder the poor man was going deaf.

  ***

  “Maggie who?”

  “Maggie Mandarino.”

  “Sounds like an orange.” The man snickered at his own joke.

  “It’s Italian. Her husband’s name was Joseph.”

  The smile fell away. “Nope, never heard of ‘em.”

  ***

  “Aaron and Anne Hannah? Yes, we handled their services. That was about ten years ago, I think. Such lovely people. Aaron went first, but poor Anne just grieved herself to death, not a year later.” The woman at the funeral home spoke in hushed tones. Whether it was out of reverence or an occupational habit, Makenna was not sure.

  “I understand they had a granddaughter that was killed in a car accident?”

  “Yes, so tragic. She was so young and pretty. And to leave behind those two little girls…”

  Makenna blinked in surprise. This was yet a different variation of the story. “I-I understood the girls were with her. That the entire family was killed.”

  “No, no, she was by herself.” Her tone was still hushed, adding to the conspiratorial feel of her words. “By that time, that no-account husband of hers had already taken those precious little girls and gone. Just disappeared. Poor Maggie, she doted on those children. If a car wreck hadn’t taken her, a broken heart surely would have.” The woman noticed the pallor of Makenna’s skin and leaned forward. “Miss? Are you feeling all right?”

  Makenna was slow in answering. Her mind was reeling with this new revelation. “I-I’m confused. Did you know Maggie?”

  “Why of course. Everyone in town knew Maggie. We were so pleased when she came back here to raise her children.”

  “Came-Came back? Where had she been?”

  “Why, she lived with her parents, of course. Until she went to college, anyway. I understand she met that man on her first week of school. They were married less than six months later. Her parents tried to stop her, of course, but she was madly in love. Even when her father disowned her, she stayed with her husband. It couldn’t have been easy, giving up that fine life in the city, but she seemed happy in their little cabin in the woods.”

  Dozens of questions swirled in Makenna’s mind. She began with an easy one. “Do you know where the accident took place?”

  “I think in Texas somewhere.”

  “But you handled the arrangements?”

  “As a favor to the family, of course. Dear, I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me now. A family is coming in to make arrangements at any moment and I must be available to them.”

  “But, I have more questions!”

  “I’m afraid they’ll have to wait.”

  “Can you at least tell me where Maggie was buried?” Makenna asked, just as the door opened and a grief-stricken family began shuffling through.

  The funeral home director went to greet them, brushing past Makenna with one last tidbit of information. “In the family cemetery, dear. Her father finally allowed her to come home.”

  ***

  “That is so fascinating!”

  Kenzie had wandered into the leather shop, thinking an elderly proprietor might recall her great grandparents. She had not expected to find a middle-aged leather worker with such obvious talent. She watched as he took a scrap of left over leather, cut it in the shape of a star, and then created an intricate design with his hand tools. The final step was to cut two slits and add a thin wooden pick.

  “I’m glad you like it. It’s yours.” The man held the tooled leather hair clasp toward her with a smile.

  “Oh, it’s
lovely, but I didn’t come in to buy anything.”

  “I know. You’re looking for your family. That’s why I’m not selling you anything. I’m giving this to you.”

  “You-You can’t do that.”

  “Why not?” the man smiled. He appeared to be in his mid-forties and had a nice smile. It softened the angular lines of his too-thin face. “It was a piece of scrap leather.”

  “But it turned into something so beautiful!”

  “Scraps can be like that sometimes.”

  While Kenzie pondered his quietly spoken words, he wrapped the leather piece in tissue. “You look like her, you know.”

  “Who?”

  “Your mother.”

  Her breath caught in her throat. “I-I never mentioned my mother.”

  “Didn’t have to. One look at you, and I knew you were Maggie’s daughter.”

  “You-You knew my mother?”

  The man smiled again, his eyes taking on a far-away look. “Fancied myself in love with her. She came here every summer to visit her grandparents. In fact, I made her a barrette very similar to this one for her sixteenth birthday.” He pushed the tissue wrapped gift her way.

  This time, Kenzie accepted the offering. Pressing it to her heart, she treasured this tiny link to the past. “Tell me about her,” she whispered, her voice greedy.

  “She liked to sing. I remember she always made up silly little songs. Had one for me, even, something about Cal hide. That’s my name, Cal,” he explained, still smiling.

  “So she had a sense of humor?”

  “Definitely. Loved to play jokes on people, too. And to flirt. Guess that’s what made me fall in love with her. She had a way of making a man feel special. Anybody, actually, not just men. I noticed the same thing about you, the minute you walked in. You have a knack for people.”

  “She came here during the summers?”

  “From the time she was about six or seven until she was a sophomore in high school. That was the last time I saw her, the summer she turned sixteen.” Regret thickened his voice.

  “Why didn’t she come back after that?”

  “I heard she got an internship in her father’s office that next summer. And by then, I’d gone away to college.”

  “You didn’t see her when she came back here to live?”

  “Nah, got a job down in Boston. Didn’t move back here until about five years ago, when I took over my father’s business.”

  “So you never knew my father?”

  “Never had the pleasure of meeting the man who finally pinned Maggie down. He must have been something.”

  Kenzie chose not to comment on that. “I-I don’t remember my mother,” she admitted. She was surprised to find tears gathering in her voice. “I understand she died in a car wreck.”

  “That’s what I heard. Awfully sorry about that.”

  Her brows puckered as she carefully chose her words. “There seems to be some confusion on when and how it happened. So far, I have more questions than I do answers. I-I even heard rumors of my own death. That my sister and I were in the car with her, even my father. What-What version did you hear?”

  Cal the leather-tooler studied her for a long moment. He began wiping away the dust and bits of tanned leather from his workspace, concentrating on cleaning up as he slowly answered. “To be honest, I heard all the different stories. Most of them, I didn’t believe.”

  She was breathless as she asked, “Such as?”

  “Well, one theory was that your father took you two girls and left Maggie for another woman. That she ran off the side of a mountain because her heart was broken.”

  “But you didn’t believe it?”

  “Course not. First of all, Maggie would never give up like that. She would have fought tooth and nail to get her children back. And second of all, no man would be fool enough to leave a woman like Maggie to begin with.”

  Kenzie smiled, holding the gift of his words close to her heart. It was a beautiful sentiment.

  After a moment, she asked about the other theories.

  “Heard the man she married was a dreamer. Some say she followed him off to the ends of the earth, searching for lost treasure.”

  “But?”

  “But the Maggie I knew was too practical for that. Her treasure was in these White Mountains. She wouldn’t go off chasing a fool’s dream like that.”

  “What other stories did you hear?”

  “Heard rumors about the Mafia. I knew Maggie would never tangle with them, but I’m not so sure about her father, and of course, I never knew her husband. Even heard the Mafia had her whole family killed, ran them off the road in a fiery accident down in Texas.”

  “But you didn’t believe that, either?”

  “Well, I was actually leaning toward that one. Seemed more plausible than the others. But the minute you walked in, I knew it was wrong. I knew you had to be her daughter.”

  “I don’t know what happened to my mother,” Kenzie blurted out. She did not know this man, but she felt a connection to him. He had known her mother, after all; he had even been in love with her. That gave them common ground. “I-I was raised by another woman. I’m estranged from my father, so I can’t ask him what happened. I don’t even know if my mother is living or dead.”

  “I’m sorry to say this, but I know she must be dead. Your mother would have never left you and your sister, of that I am positive.”

  “We came here looking for answers, but no one will tell us anything about our past. You’re the first person I’ve found who will talk to me.”

  A sad smile touched Cal’s lips. He looked up at Kenzie, his mouth opening to say something, when his gaze went past her to the street outside. A curtain seemed to fall across his face, shutting off all his emotions. The smile fell from his lips, the light dulled in his eyes. As he pulled himself erect, his thin body stiffened. “I’m sorry you can’t find your answers, little Maggie.”

  Baffled by his sudden change in demeanor, Kenzie followed his gaze out the window. The woman from the cafe stood across the street, staring in their direction.

  “Who-Who is that woman?” Kenzie whispered.

  “What woman?”

  “You know what woman! The one across the street, the one staring over here.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stepped from around the counter and pushed past Kenzie, going to the door of the shop. He flipped the switch on the lighted ‘OPEN’ sign. “It’s five o’clock and I’m afraid we’re closed.”

  “I don’t even know my grandparents’ names. Please, I have more questions!”

  “But I have no more answers,” the man said, his voice sad. His eyes involuntarily slipped across the street, to the woman who was no longer there. “I’m sorry.”

  “Please, Cal, tell me what is going on!”

  Cal held the door open, his expression determined. “I’m sorry, but they aren’t my secrets to tell. Enjoy your barrette.”

  ***

  Across the street, Makenna was making her last stop of the day when she spotted the woman from the cafe outside on the sidewalk. The young clerk behind the counter had not been able to shed any light on her family, but perhaps she could still be helpful.

  “Excuse me, one last question. Do you know who that woman is out there?”

  “The one in the floral skirt? I don’t know her name, but I’ve seen her around before. I think she’s a politician or something.” When Makenna gasped, the young woman looked at her in concern. “Are you all right, ma’am?”

  “I-I think so. Thank you.”

  Makenna waited inside the shop, watching as the woman from the cafe slid behind the wheel of a silver Cadillac and drove away. Only then did she step outside, eager to find her sister and leave.

  Chapter Twenty

  They met in the center of the street.

  Kenzie came rushing out of the leather shop, intent on finding the woman she had just seen on the sidewalk. Makenna rushed out of the gift shop, intent
on finding her twin.

  Their words were the same when they rushed up to the other. “You’re never going to believe this!”

  “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here!” Makenna said, tugging on her sister’s arm.

  “No, I just saw the woman from the cafe. I have to find her.” Kenzie craned her neck, trying to get a glimpse of the mysterious woman.

  “No, we have to get away from her. Come on.”

  Horns blared at them as they hurried out of the middle of the roadway. “Where’s Yoko?” Makenna asked, looking around. She was too flustered to remember where they had left the car.

  “Around the corner. What is wrong with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”

  Makenna took off down the sidewalk at a fast pace. “Or something,” she agreed, tugging on Kenzie’s arm. “I think they may have found us.”

  “Who?”

  “The Mafia. Or the partners in Modern Power. I’m a little confused on who is who at this point.”

  Kenzie immediately began looking around, her skin pricked with apprehension. “Why do you think they’ve found us? And why do we have to get away from the woman in the cafe?”

  “Because she’s some sort of politician. She must be part of the scam.”

  Kenzie gasped. In spite of their hurry, her feet stalled on the sidewalk, rooted in fear. “She-She’s been following me! I’ve seen her several times today.”

  “I know, I thought I saw her a time or two, but I convinced myself I was being paranoid. Apparently I’m not.” They were in sight of Yoko. “Which one of us has the keys?”

  “We both have a set,” Kenzie reminded her.

  “Oh, right.” Flustered, Makenna dug inside her purse until she found her copy. “We have to make absolute certain no one follows us back to the cabin.”

  “Fine, you drive.”

  It took them twice as long as normal to make the trip out of town. They wound through a residential section before taking a roundabout route home, backtracking twice and stopping every few miles, waiting to see if any cars were following them. Before the final turn down their country lane, they found a hidden driveway and pulled in, making certain no other cars were in sight.