And they were good friends. Annie blinked hard, clearing the mist out of her eyes so she could see her crochet hook again. These were good people, and she was glad to know them all. Still, she couldn’t help wondering who had been there for poor Susan after her parents’ accident, and if she had friends who cared about her now. Well, wherever she was, she couldn’t be that hard to find.
Annie started crocheting again, the rhythm of her hook brisk and determined.
****
When the club meeting finally ended, Annie and Alice stopped for a quick lunch at The Cup & Saucer, and then Alice had to hurry off to her Princessa jewelry party. Annie went next door to the library.
Grace greeted her at the Circulation Desk. “You’re back. How’s that decorating book?”
“It’s got some wonderful ideas in it. I’m going to do my bathroom over.”
“Good idea. I love our old homes, but there’s nothing like a sparkling new bathroom, even if you give it an old-fashioned look.”
“Exactly. And I plan on spending more time looking through your section of books on decorating when I have the chance, but I really came in to ask you about city or state records. Marriages and deaths and that kind of thing. How would I look up something like that?”
Grace smiled. “That’s quite a change from decorating. Are you researching your family history?”
“I’m still trying to find my friend Susan Morris.”
“Any leads yet?”
“I’ve heard that she came back here after she went to college, that her parents were killed in a car accident, and that she sold their house and married a rich man who has something to do with the shoe business.”
The laugh lines around Grace’s blue eyes crinkled slightly. “I guess that’s a start. How about we check the newspapers? If her parents were in an accident, there was probably an article about it somewhere. Do you know when it was?”
Annie considered for a minute. “Susan probably finished high school in 1984 and college in 1988 or so. I’d guess her parents died in ’88 or ’89.”
“Unfortunately, the articles in The Point aren’t indexed. Unless you want to go through a couple of years’ worth of microfiched back issues, you might want to check the state’s death records on the Internet first. When you have a date of death, you can see what the paper had to say about it. Come on back to the Reference Room with me. We’ll see what we can find.”
Annie followed her across the main part of the library into the room that housed the reference books, computers, and microfiche readers. It was a school day, so most of the computers were unoccupied. Annie sat down at one.
“Any suggestions on where to start?”
“Try the state of Maine death records,” Grace advised. “And let me know if you get stuck.”
“Thanks.”
Grace gave her a little wave and disappeared back into the library’s Great Room. Annie stared for a moment at the computer screen. The whole state of Maine, huh? She took a deep breath and plunged in; “state of Maine death records” brought up the state’s official website and a list of items for genealogical research, including “Index of Maine Deaths, 1960–1996.” OK, maybe this wouldn’t be one of those needle-in-a-haystack searches. In fact, it was kind of fun so far.
She clicked on the death index and was rewarded with a page that would let her input the name, town, and dates she was looking for. All right, let’s try this out. She typed in “Morris” and “Jack” and “Stony Point,” giving the date range as 01/01/1988 through 12/31/1989. That ought to be close enough.
Immediately one record popped up: MORRIS, JACK L. - 8903367 - STONY POINT - 4/19/1989 - 48 years.
Annie felt a sudden sadness. She had hardly known Mr. Morris, but he had died so young. About Wayne’s age when he’d had his heart attack. Too young. Far too young.
She repeated the search process for Susan’s mother with the same speedy result: MORRIS, ELLEN P. - 8903368 - STONY POINT - 4/19/1989 - 45 years.
Too sad. Too sad.
OK, plenty of time for getting all emotional later on. Business now.
She had used the microfiche reader before, so it didn’t take her long to find the April 20, 1989, edition of The Point.
LOCAL COUPLE KILLED IN TRAFFIC COLLISION
by Robert T. Adkins
PORTLAND — Lifetime Stony Point resident, Jack Morris, 48; and his wife, Ellen Morris, 45; were killed yesterday afternoon when their 1985 Chevy Blazer was struck by another vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle, whose name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, also died at the scene of the accident. According to the Portland police, the ongoing investigation indicates that hazardous road conditions caused by yesterday’s heavy thunderstorms may have been a contributing factor in the collision. The Morrises are survived by their daughter, Susan, also of Stony Point.
It was just a stark little article on the middle page of the paper where they put the fillers. With a sigh, Annie printed out a copy of the page and of the obituary that ran two days later. Apart from being listed as surviving the couple, there were no other mentions of Susan.
“How’s it coming?” Grace asked when she came back into the Reference Room.
Annie showed her the printouts. “That’s all I’ve found so far.”
“Why don’t you check the records on when she sold the house?”
“That’s a great idea. Any suggestions on how I’d do that?”
“Look up the Lincoln County public records. There should be some information on their site.”
Annie went back to the computer. From the several possibilities that appeared, she settled on the one that said “Lincoln County Registry of Deeds.” When the site came up, she browsed around until she found a place where she could enter Susan’s name and a date range from January 1989 through December 1990.
Several records popped up, but it was the third one from the bottom that made Annie smile. MORRIS, SUSAN S. - BLANCHARD, PAUL & JUDITH - Deeds - Stony Point - 07/26/1989 - 1564-101. So Susan had sold the house in July of that year. Now what about the marriage records? If she had married around the time she sold the house, it should be easy to find the name of her husband.
Annie wrote down the information from the deed registry, but just as she was about to start looking for marriage records, Grace’s voice came over the intercom. “The library will be closing in five minutes. Please return all reference materials to the Reference Desk. If you have items you would like to check out, please bring them to the Circulation Desk now. Thank you, and please visit the Stony Point Library again soon.”
Annie glanced at her watch. Five minutes till five o’clock already? The Internet could eat up time faster than anything she could think of. At least she had found out a few things, and she had some actual dates to go on. It was a start.
She picked up her purse and the microfiche copies she had made and went into the main part of the library. Several people were waiting to check out books, so she gave Grace just a wave and a smile before going out to her car. She had a feeling she’d be back soon enough.
When she pulled up in front of Grey Gables, she saw the red Mustang parked in the driveway next door and decided to drop in. Alice opened the door, stylish in a black sweater set that must have set off her line of jewelry to perfection.
“Annie!”
“Hey, neighbor. You busy?”
“Never too busy for you, neighbor.” Alice smiled and opened the door wider so Annie could come in. “Just got back from my Princessa jewelry party, and I have one for Divine Décor in a little while, but I was taking a break for a few minutes.”
“Oooh, it feels good in here.” Annie rubbed her hands together, glad to be inside the carriage house’s cozy living room.
“We may have a little more snow tonight. Have a seat. You want coffee? I have some on.”
“That’d be great.”
It took Alice only a minute to return with two steaming cups of coffee and a little plate of peanut butter
cookies.
“I made these for the Princessa jewelry party. Might as well finish them off.”
Annie took one. “How did it go?”
“Pretty well, actually. Sales are always up when Christmas is coming. How was the library? Find out anything?”
Annie handed Alice the newspaper report about the death of Susan’s parents and their obituary. “Gwen was right about Mr. and Mrs. Morris, and Susan did sell the house in 1989.”
“You’re a regular Sherlock Holmes as usual. And the husband?”
“I didn’t get a chance to look into the marriage records yet. But I’ll see what I can find out at home. Grace was really helpful in showing me where to look, though. I may have to go back to the library. We’ll see.”
“Isn’t there someone else in Susan’s family you could contact? A niece or an uncle or a cousin or something?”
“I don’t think so.” Annie took a bite of the cookie she had taken. “Delicious as always.”
“Thanks.”
“Anyway, I don’t think Susan had any family. I don’t remember her talking about anybody but her mom and dad.”
“Didn’t she—?”
“Her aunt!” Annie clasped one hand to her forehead. “Of course, the one she stayed with when she lived in New York. It’s so obvious, it never even occurred to me. Her return address has to be on some of those letters Susan sent me back in school.”
“See? That haystack just got a lot more manageable. All you have to do is get back on the Internet and do a reverse lookup on that address, and more than likely it will tell you the name and telephone number of whoever lives there. Easy peasy.”
“Easy for you, maybe. But thanks for the suggestion. I’ll see what I can find out.” Annie beamed at her. “I knew you were my best friend for a reason. I think Susan must have mentioned her aunt’s first name in one of the letters, too, and I’m almost positive her last name was Morris.”
“Just think, you might have Susan’s phone number by tomorrow afternoon.”
“That would be great. I don’t know why, but I really would like to talk to her again and know that she’s OK.”
“Why wouldn’t she be?”
Annie shrugged. “I don’t know. I’d just feel better if I knew for sure. She always seemed to want so badly for somebody to be her friend. I don’t like to think of her being alone in the world.”
Alice reached over to squeeze her hand. “You were always nice to her. Not like me.”
“You?” Annie shook her head. “OK, maybe the two of you were never best friends, but I don’t remember you being mean to her or anything.”
“Maybe not mean, not really, but I was always jealous.”
“Really?”
“Oh, you know. The two of you spent so much time together, and your grandmother was always having her over. I guess I felt a little left out sometimes. And Susan was tall and graceful, just like I wasn’t.”
Annie smiled. “Neither of us has ever been what you could describe as tall, and both of us had our clumsy days.”
“And I guess I was jealous of her looks too.” Alice stared regretfully into the depths of her coffee cup and then took a drink. “All that blond hair.”
“You could get a wig.”
Alice laughed and half choked. “You would have to say that right when I took a big swallow.”
“Sorry about that.” Annie didn’t quite suppress a giggle. “I was going to tell you not to feel bad, because we’ve grown up some since that time.” She winked. “But maybe not.”
“Just for that, I’m turning you out into the cold.”
“Oh, I forgot.” Annie drained her coffee cup and popped the rest of her cookie into her mouth. “Divine Décor, right? Where is it tonight?”
“Camden. It’s not that far, but I’ve never been to that part of town, and I want to make sure I get there on time.”
Annie gathered up her purse and the printouts she had brought with her. “You’ve been a tremendous help, neighbor.”
“Anytime.” Alice went with her to the door. “And I want to know what you find out about the aunt in New York, OK?”
“Sure. Have fun tonight.”
Annie waved and scurried back to her own front porch and into the house. It was getting colder. She took a few minutes to start a fire in the hearth and then looked through the day’s mail. Then she opened the drawer in the end table next to the couch and took out the stack of Susan’s letters.
She had read them over several times since she first discovered them, remembering the friends and happenings Susan had written about, looking for clues they might hold. Was there any use in reading them over again? Something she had missed?
She ruffled the corner of the yellowing envelopes and saw the return addresses on each of them flip past. Many of the letters had been mailed from Susan’s aunt’s house in New York, but several were from 214 Elm Street in Stony Point.
What was the house like now? Annie remembered it being a huge white building, very old, very square and straight, with black-shuttered windows and a pretty little fan-shaped window above the front door. Like Grey Gables, it had two stories plus a large attic full of places to explore and to hide in. She hoped for Susan’s sake that this Tom Maxwell had kept it nice. Being a handyman, he should.
Maybe she’d drive out and look at the old place again one of these days. It had been pretty old when she visited Susan there. No matter what kind of shape it was in now, it would be worth looking at.
In the meantime, Annie would keep working on her Maine sweater. Winter was just around the corner now. Even during the day, she had to turn up the heat. The sweater would be a necessity before much longer, and she could use a nice peaceful evening by the fire to crochet and think. Tomorrow she’d do some more research and track down Susan once and for all.
4
“You’re our first customer.” Grace stood up from her station behind the Circulation Desk and walked with Annie over to the Reference Room. “Still looking for Susan Morris?”
“I’m working on it. I tried to do some searching on my laptop at home this morning, but I realized I don’t have a clue what I’m doing.” Annie took her notepad out of her purse and opened it up. “If you have a few minutes, I’d appreciate it if you could give me some pointers on looking up what I need.”
“It can be a little overwhelming, can’t it? There’s so much to choose from.”
“Exactly. If you could point me in the right direction, that would sure save me time.”
“That’s what I’m here for. Let’s see what we can find.”
Annie followed her into the reference area and sat down at one of the computers. Grace looked over Annie’s shoulder at the screen.
“OK, what sort of information are you looking for today?”
“I’d like to know when Susan got married, and who her husband is.”
Grace nodded. “The best place to start would be the state’s marriage records. What else are you looking for?”
“She lived with an aunt in New York City when she went to high school. I’d like to find out where that aunt is.”
“Did you try looking her up by name?”
Annie chuckled. “That’s where the overwhelming part comes in. Do you know how many Kimberly Morrises there are in New York City? Alice told me you can get a phone number just by entering the address, but I don’t know what kind of site that would be or how to find it.”
“Supposing the aunt is still at the same address, you could try this white pages site and use their reverse lookup.” Grace jotted the web address down on a piece of scratch paper and gave it to Annie. “It’ll give you the phone number for the address you want and the name of the people living there. Provided it’s not unlisted, of course.”
“That’s perfect. I really appreciate it.”
Grace nodded. “And I’ll be right up front if you need more help.”
Annie thanked her and turned to the computer. She typed in “state of Maine marriage recor
ds.”
The link took her back to the official state site and then to a marriage index. She entered the bride’s name and town but left blank the fields for the groom’s information. For the marriage date, she put in the entire year of 1989. “That ought to bring up Prince Charming.” She hit Enter. A couple of seconds later, a message popped onto the screen: No records found that meet your search criteria.
Annie frowned. Maybe Susan hadn’t gotten married as soon after she sold the house as everyone thought. Annie changed the date to cover 1989 through 1990 and hit Enter. No records found that meet your search criteria.
Maybe, since Susan had already sold the house, she hadn’t listed her town as Stony Point. Annie cleared the box for the bride’s town and hit Enter again. No records found that meet your search criteria.
Her frown deepened.
“Fine,” she murmured and expanded the dates of the search to cover 1985 through 2005. “If Susan was married anywhere in Maine anytime within those twenty years, this will find her.” No records found that meet your search criteria.
She went back to the browser and tried a few more sites, but those came up with nothing, wanted a written request for information, or charged for their services. Until she had a bit more to go on, Annie wasn’t ready to go that route.
The marriage part was going to be a little more difficult than she expected. Maybe finding Aunt Kim would be a little easier.
She brought up the telephone directory Grace had suggested and entered the return address from Susan’s New York letters. Almost instantly, she had a telephone number and a name. It wasn’t Kimberly Morris as she had hoped, but it was a place to start.
“All right, Mayberry, Sheldon H., let’s see what you know.” Annie stepped outside to call the number on her cell phone and waited while it rang. And rang. And rang. Just as she was about to give up, there was a click on the other end of the line.
“Hello? Is that you, Carol Ann?” The voice clearly belonged to an elderly woman. “You were supposed to call me yesterday. You never called.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. This isn’t Carol Ann.” Annie felt a little bit guilty for the shortcoming. “My name is Annie Dawson. I’m calling—”
Letters in the Attic Page 3