“Those kids come in here, they never clean the tables,” said Rachel. She took the napkin from Enid and threw it in the trash can. “I don’t have long. Mama’s got dinner waiting.”
“Molly seems like a good mother. I’m sure she worries about you.”
Rachel remained silent, looking down at the tabletop.
“I want to thank you for giving me Rosie’s box. It helped me understand a lot about her.”
Rachel looked up at Enid. “How did you know I left the box?”
“You were Rosie’s best friend. And I know you left it because you want me to know her.” Rachel remained silent, so Enid continued. “You saw the good in her when no one else did. I want others to see the Rosie you knew.”
“Nobody told her the truth, about anything.” Tears streamed down Rachel’s face. Enid reached out to put her hand on top of Rachel’s, but Rachel pulled away. “She was my cousin.”
Enid wasn’t sure she had heard Rachel correctly. “Rosie? She was your cousin?”
Rachel nodded.
“But, I don’t understand. How is that possible?” asked Enid.
“Cause her daddy was my Uncle Frank.” Rachel looked down again at her hands in her lap. “I didn’t really know him. Mama says he was a black sheep.”
Enid leaned back in her seat, trying to make meaning of what she had heard. “Frank was your mother’s brother?”
Rachel nodded.
“And Frank was Rosie’s biological father? The man Rosie’s mother killed?”
Rachel nodded again.
“Why didn’t Molly mention this when we talked about Rosie that evening at her house?”
No response from Rachel.
“Or why didn’t you, when we talked earlier?”
Rachel stood up to leave. “Look, I’ve done said enough. Please don’t tell Mama I told you. I’m not supposed to talk about Uncle Frank.”
Enid put her hand on Rachel’s arm. “Wait, please let me ask you just a few more questions.” Rachel pulled away. “You’re one of the few people left who knew Rosie, or who’s willing to talk about her. Please, Rachel, it’s important.”
Rachel slid to the edge of her seat. “Okay, but you’ve got to make it quick. I can’t be seen with you.”
“Did Rosie know you were cousins?”
Rachel nodded. “Just before she . . . a year before she died, she found a box hidden in Myra’s closet. The letter from Rosie’s mother and Rosie’s birth certificate was in it.”
“That’s when Rosie found out her mother wasn’t dead.”
Rachel nodded.
“Rosie got real mad at Myra for telling her that her mama was dead. Rosie told her she was going to run away and never come back until Myra told her the truth. That’s when Myra told her about her daddy.”
“So Myra told Rosie her father was Frank?” asked Enid.
Rachel nodded.
“Why wasn’t his name on the birth certificate.”
“Myra said that Wynona went to Mississippi to live with Frank, and she when got pregnant, he was real upset and claimed the baby wasn’t his. Then after Rosie was born, he slapped her every time she cried. One day, he got real mad and hit Wynona hard—broke her nose. He threatened to kill Rosie if she cried again. That’s when Wynona got the gun and shot him.”
“That sounds like self-defense. A good attorney should have been able to get her off.”
Rachel shrugged.
Enid took a deep breath and looked around the snack bar. No one was within hearing distance. “Did Myra give Rosie the photo of Frank?”
Rachel shook her head. “No, I gave it to her. When Rosie told me her daddy was Frank Kelly, I told Rosie he was my uncle. She asked me if I had a picture of him, so I snitched it from Mama’s picture album and gave it to her.”
“But why keep it a secret? Why tell Rosie her mother was dead instead of in prison?”
“People here can be mean sometimes. Rosie’s family thought it would be hard on her if they knew her mama killed her daddy.”
When Rachel stood up to leave, Enid said, “Just one more question. What about the letter Rosie’s mother, Wynona, wrote to Rosie? Wasn’t Rosie just two years old when her mother went to prison?”
“Rosie found that in Myra’s closet, too. Myra was supposed to give it to Rosie when she was old enough to understand.”
Enid rubbed her temples to alleviate the throbbing in her head. “But she obviously didn’t.”
Rachel shook her head. “I told you Myra was paid money to tell her that. That’s what Rosie said.”
“When I asked you earlier, you said you didn’t know who paid her.” Enid realized she had raised her voice and looked around to make sure no one had heard her. There was a woman at the drink dispenser, texting on her phone.
“I don’t know.”
Rachel stood again to leave, and this time Enid didn’t try to stop her. “Thank you,” she called out to Rachel as she walked away. As Rachel disappeared from sight, Enid realized she had been so floored by Rachel’s revelations that she forgot to ask her about the goat hairs.
Enid bought a cup of coffee and sat down in the booth again to process the conversation. The coffee was dark and bitter, just like everything she was learning about Rosie’s short life.
CHAPTER 33
Enid couldn’t wait to tell Jack about her conversation with Rachel, so she sat in her car, parked at the convenience store, and pulled out her cell phone to call him. Just as she retrieved it from the bottom of her tote bag, it rang, and she saw Jack’s name flash on the screen.
“I was just getting ready to call you. You won’t believe it—”
Before she could finish, he interrupted her. “Helen called, and I know who Frank is.”
Enid hid her disappointment at having her surprise announcement snatched away by Jack’s friend at the newspaper, especially since he sounded so anxious to tell Enid. “What did she find out?”
“His name is Frank Kelly. She found an archived article from Mississippi about Rosie’s mother killing him. The killing didn’t get more than a couple paragraphs under local news. Just another domestic murder. The Madden Gazette never reported on it, because Wynona wasn’t living in Madden, so the family was able to keep it under the radar.”
“That explains Fern’s donation. It was hush money. Did Helen give you any more information?”
“According to the article she found, Frank dropped out of school when he lived in Madden and moved to Mississippi, working odd jobs. He was arrested a few times for petty crimes. Wynona Garrett was living with Frank when she killed him. She claimed self-defense but was convicted of second-degree murder.”
“Did you know Frank Kelly was Molly Anderson’s brother?” Enid asked matter-of-factly.
Jack was silent for a few seconds. “What did you say?”
“I said Frank was Molly’s brother. That made Rachel and Rosie cousins.”
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Jack laughed. “I saw the article, and there was no mention of Frank’s family here. I guess that means your meeting with Rachel was pretty productive. Good job!”
“I wonder why Molly withheld that information about Frank when I had dinner with her?”
“She obviously wanted to keep it private,” said Jack. “After all, he was somewhat of a scoundrel. Not somebody you’d jump up to claim as family.”
“It just seems odd.”
Enid summarized the rest of her conversation with Rachel. “I wonder who paid Myra to lie to Rosie? That seems so mean and unfair.”
There was a brief silence before Jack responded. “I really think you need to talk with Cade about all this. There’s a lot more to this situation than we thought. It looks like the Blackwell family had its own secrets.”
* * *
Enid punched in Cade’s cell number for the third time. Twice, she had changed her mind before hitting the green button. This time, she let the call go through.
Cade answered after a few rings. “Hello. Enid?”
The sound of his voice sent a stabbing pain through her heart. “Hi. How are you?”
“As well as can be expected, I guess. Montana is hard to get used to. It’s beautiful, but it doesn’t feel like home. Not yet anyway.” His cleared his throat. “I miss you.”
As much as she missed Cade, today he was a source of information. Still, she couldn’t stop herself. “I miss you too. Are you taking care of yourself?”
For the next few minutes, Cade told her about the new job and the apartment he had rented. He had decided not to buy a house for now. Enid knew that in personal matters, Cade could be indecisive.
Enid reminded herself why she called. “I need to ask you a few things about Rosie.”
Cade let out a long sigh. “I should have guessed that’s why you called.”
Stay focused on what you need. “Cassie, the innkeeper, showed me a photo of you that was taken not long after Rosie’s death. You were at an event at the inn, a picnic or some kind of outing.” Enid waited for Cade to respond, but he was silent. “You were with a blonde woman, a Jensen family member.”
Cade’s raised his voice. “It’s not what you think. Yes, I was at the inn, but the woman I was talking to was just someone I was trying to get some information from. Her name is Madelyn Jensen.”
“Cassie told me you stayed at the inn and that you met with Madelyn several times.” Enid regretted pulling Cassie into the middle of all this and especially hated sounding like a jealous wife.
Cade’s voice was more stern this time. “What do you want me to say? I told you I had looked into Rosie’s death.”
Enid took a deep breath to calm herself. “I didn’t call you to argue, but when we talked earlier, you said you looked into it. You didn’t tell me you spent time in Madden.” Or that you were spending time with Madelyn. “If you know something I need to know, please tell me. I’ll find out anyway, you know.”
Cade chuckled softly. “I’m beginning to see that.”
Enid filled Cade in on what she had learned from Rachel about Rosie’s mother and father. When she got to the part about someone paying Myra to lie to Rosie, she confronted Cade. “Who would do that? And why? Do you have any idea?”
Cade was silent, and Enid knew from experience he was wrestling with himself about how much to tell her. “I didn’t know Rosie’s father was related to Molly Anderson. That’s good investigative work you did.”
Cade’s praise spread throughout Enid’s body like a warmth, even though she knew that if Cade had looked harder, he would have discovered the same information. “Thanks, but I’m asking you to tell me what you found out. With or without your help, I’m going to do this story.”
Cade’s tone sharpened. “I can’t believe you’re doing this. It’s not just any story. It’s my family you’re digging around in.”
Enid could feel herself losing control. “Your family? What happened to our family? And you’ve never put a story ahead of me?” She tried to control the quiver in her voice.
“I never had to choose between the two. I just did my job. And I never wrote about your family or worked on a story you asked me to drop.” Cade paused. “Look, Enid, I don’t want to fight with you, but I don’t understand your obsession with this story, or with Rosie. Is it just because Mother asked you not to do it? Is that what this is all about? Are you willing to ruin our marriage just to spite her?”
Enid’s frustration overcame her. “No, I’m not trying to spite Fern. Don’t you care about Rosie? Aren’t you the least bit ashamed that everyone in the family has forgotten her? And you, of all people, an investigative reporter. You could have found out what happened, but you dropped it. Why? Are you so afraid of your mother that you walked away from finding out the truth just to keep her happy?”
“Whoa. Hold on. How was it my responsibility to write about Rosie? I didn’t tell her to get hooked on drugs and shame our family name.” He hesitated briefly and then spoke so softly Enid could barely hear him. “Let’s not do this to us.”
Is there still an “us”? “Don’t you understand that if I walk away from this story, I’m selling myself out again?”
Cade sighed. “No, I don’t have the foggiest idea what you mean.”
“When my mother got sick, I walked away from my dream. I’ve tried to rationalize it a hundred different ways, telling myself I was being a good daughter, that I did the right thing. The truth is . . .” Enid stopped herself. Maybe Cade is right. Maybe we shouldn’t do this to us. “The truth is, I resented you for being able to live the life you wanted, doing what I wanted to do.” She paused and could hear Cade breathing, but he remained silent. “This time you’re moving to Montana to pursue what you want and you’re asking me to give up what I want just to keep you happy. Have you thought this decision through?” She paused to compose herself. “This time, I won’t sacrifice my own needs again for someone else. Besides, I promised Mother before she died that I would return to what I really wanted to do.”
“I never asked you to leave journalism. That was your decision.”
“No, but you complained that we were using our money to take care of my mother.” God, I hate the way this conversation is going. “And you were happy for me to work seventy hours a week doing a job I loathed so we could buy nice things.”
“What are we actually fighting about? I don’t know any more.”
“Neither do I, Cade.” She lowered her voice. “Neither do I.” Enid had never felt as alone as she did now.
“Ask me what you want to know, and then I never want to talk about this again.”
Enid was tempted to tell him to forget it and hang up. Try to think of him as any other person you’re interviewing for information. She took a deep breath and jumped in. “Who paid Myra to lie to Rosie?” The minute she asked the question, she was filled with a sense of dread. “Do you know who it was?”
Cade said nothing for a while and then spoke softly. “She was doing what she thought was right—for me, for the family.”
Enid’s mind quickly began piecing the bits of information together. “Wait. Are you telling me Fern paid Myra?” Enid could feel herself getting angry. When Cade didn’t answer right away, she added, “Cade, please answer me.”
“You know how important family image is to Mother. Her only sister, Wynona, was younger than Mother and always getting into some kind of mess, so Mother covered for her. When Wynona killed Rosie’s father, Mother convinced her that Rosie would be well cared for and better off not knowing her mother was still alive. So, Mother paid Myra to take Rosie in and raise her.”
“I don’t mean to judge Fern, but she didn’t have the right to withhold that information from Rosie. I’m having a hard time understanding how protecting an image is more important than doing what was right for Rosie.”
Cade exhaled deeply. “I know you’re never going to understand why Mother did it, but in her own way, she was protecting Rosie, in the only way she knew how. The family’s reputation was at stake, and she wanted Rosie to have as normal a life as possible—without the baggage of having a mother in prison. Myra needed money to care for Rosie, and so they made a deal. She paid for Myra to raise and care for Rosie, with the understanding that Myra would never tell Rosie about her Mother being alive. Mother convinced the local news not to report on it. After all, it happened in another state and Wynona wasn’t living in Madden any longer.” Cade coughed and cleared his throat. “Mother also donated money to the town to renovate a building for the women’s club. She wanted the Madden residents to remember her family for something positive, I guess.”
Enid wanted to scream at Cade about Fern’s insensitivity but decided nothing good would come of it. “So what about the Jensen woman you met with. How does she figure in all this?”
Another sigh from Cade. “Madelyn is the niece of Chief Jensen. I met her at the annual Glitter Lake Inn picnic. That’s the photo you saw. When she told me who she was, I told her I was writing an article about small town life. She told me she
had moved away from Madden to go to college and then law school. She set up a practice in Columbia and came back to Madden only for holidays and a few birthday parties here and there.”
“She must have had something you wanted since she kept meeting with you at the inn.” Enid scolded herself for letting her jealousy surface.
“We met at the inn because Madelyn didn’t want to be seen around town with a reporter. You know how small-town gossip can be. When Madelyn and I met, she made it clear she had nothing to do with her uncle, the police chief, and stayed as far away from him as she could. In fact, she alluded to the fact that he was into some dangerous and illegal activities.”
“So, she just told you all that, on your first meeting with her?”
“After we talked a little while, I told her I was really in Madden to check on Rosie’s murder. She told me about the biker gang and that she suspected Uncle Dick was on the take, so to speak. I promised not to use anything she gave without confirming it with another source. I think she wanted someone to expose him for taking money from the gang. And apparently, Uncle Dick had screwed her side of the family out of some inheritance Madelyn thought they were due when her grandfather died.”
“Are you saying Madelyn thought the bikers killed Rosie?”
“That was the general impression of everyone in town, according to her.”
Enid tried to imagine what it would be like living in a town where you couldn’t trust the police because they were being paid off. She then thought of Cassie’s son and how, like Rosie’s murder, it was not fully investigated. “What did you find out in your research?”
Cade cleared his throat. “I wasn’t there to investigate the Madden Police Department or Chief Jensen. If Rosie was buying drugs from the bikers, and they murdered her, then—”
Enid interrupted him. “Are you saying she got what she deserved?”
“No, that’s not it at all. At Rosie’s funeral, Myra had pulled me aside and told me about her ‘arrangement’ with Mother. She asked me if she had been right in lying to Rosie. When I got back to Charlotte, I confronted Mother about her role in it. Mother went to pieces and begged me to let it go. After all, Rosie’s murder was the second one in our family. She just wanted it all to go away. From that day on, we never spoke of Rosie again.”
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