Chapter Eleven
Tatania slipped out of the cottage. Enough about Zeus. Tatania swiveled her ears three times, made herself invisible and joined the advertised tourist jaunt to La Jolla for the day. No one knew she was in the shuttle car. And as long as she stayed on the back of the seat or reclined on an arm rest, she was out of danger of any human sitting on her. She’d caught a scent of something at Carlos and Charity’s house that she wanted to explore.
Tatania could walk through walls, make herself invisible, and fly when she chose. She would have preferred to travel with Jack and Grace in the plane appropriately named after her. But the humans couldn’t become invisible. And that limited their sleuthing abilities.
When she got to Carlos and Charity’s kitchen, she couldn’t smell any fish. Probably why they couldn’t attract any cats here. A dog followed her in yapping again. Tatania knocked over the lid on a Spratt’s dog biscuit cannister and flung it at him. That distracted the dog so she could shut the door behind him.
She walked from the kitchen through the hall bookcase she’d known was a secret passageway. It opened to a small room without windows. Carlos sat drinking brandy alone and fingering his riding whip. He looked towards Tatania. She knew he couldn’t see her. Yet something about him chilled her.
Tatania pick up the scent again. She followed it to a packet of letters hidden in the wall. It smelled familiar. Beyond mildew. Maybe a bit like the Spreckels garden on Glorietta Bay. She pawed through the letters. She glanced back at Carlos, head hanging in the chair, a pitiful sight. Tatania began to read. Most humans didn’t know it, but when Tatania rolled over books and papers, she was reading the contents.
Sometimes she thought about hiring a dog to fetch. Or carry her papers. Maybe she should have brought a human.
She left the house, still invisible, and crawled under the car seat before the humans returned from their La Jolla excursion. She hated the nauseating feeling of not being able to see out the window. The rumblings of the road sickened her. She swallowed hard until she picked up the scent of Coronado. Then Tatania jumped out of the car quickly. It looked like the sea breeze was blowing letters in the wind. No one could tell the letters were attached to a certain cat.
Chapter Twelve
Grace stared at the bay across from Coronado Tent City. Her late Uncle’s yacht was at its prestigious dock at the Yacht Club. Her late uncle’s mistress, Julia, lived on the yacht with their baby, Charlotte.
“Lets go visit Julia,” she said.
They walked past Coronado Tent City’s happy group of sun bathers and its petting zoo, and the Merry Go Round, now filled with children, the evidence of nights with adults swept away. The sun shone on Coronado like a favored child.
“Is Julia a patient of Dr. Daniels?” Jack asked.
“I don’t think so. We could just pick up some Coca Cola and flowers for her.” Grace looked at the flowers outside Tent City’s market. Jack obliged and bought both.
He carried the Coca Cola and a bouquet of daisies and they walked past the glorious Victorian Hotel Del Coronado with its red turrets and ignored their own lot across from it. Julia and Grace had exchanged a standing invitation to call on each other when they formed their unexpected friendship after Grace’s uncle’s murder.
Julia rocked the cooing baby and shook her head when Jack asked if she wanted a Coca Cola. “When I was pregnant with her, all I could drink was Coca Cola. All I could eat was crackers. I’m taking a break from both for a few years now.”
Charlotte giggled, reaching up for her Mom’s face.
Grace shuddered when she looked at the water. She kept imagining someone like the heroine in An American Tragedy drowned again. Could it have happened in Coronado?
She thought of Lucky Lindy and hoped his luck held. He’d be flying over the Atlantic from New York to Paris soon.
“A skeleton. Are you afraid to build there now?” Julia asked when they told her the story.
“No. It’s not like anyone said we’d build the house over her dead body,” Jack joked.
“That we know about. I think the skeleton could be older than anyone we know,” Grace said.
“Sometimes Jack reminds me a little of your Uncle Charles. He could keep laughing through almost anything. And make me feel like everything was going to work out.”
“Laughter is our coping mechanism under stress,” Grace said.
“When did my Uncle Charles buy this yacht?”
“He had it when we met.” Julia looked at the ground.
The affair still felt awkward to Julia though Grace was beyond judging anyone’s life choices.
Jack took the baby. She reached up with one hand and patted his face.
“No wonder you’re pretty. Look at your Mom,” Jack said to the cooing baby girl.
“The water seems still here,” Grace said.
“I was grateful for that. When I was pregnant, I don’t think I could have stood a rocky mooring. And your Uncle would come and lower the small boat and we could comfortably go over to Tent City for a bite.”
Grace and Jack got up and looked at the little boat on the side of the deck. It would be easy enough to lower. And with still water, one could carry a body into it. Grace felt like jumping. She had to find Zeus.
“It was wonderful to see you and Charlotte again.” She kissed Charlotte first and then Julia.
“I need to look for Zeus.”
“I understand.” Julia took Charlotte back from Jack.
“You’re a natural,” she said.
Chapter Thirteen
“Zeus,” Grace kept calling on their way back to the Hotel del Coronado. The couples in rowboats on the bay usually looked innocuous. Today they looked like harbingers of doom. She had an irrational urge to scream at women to get out of the boats while they still could.
She smiled wanly at the hotel doorman.
“Grace,” Annie called from the woman’s balcony.
“Go chat with Annie. I’m going to call the cops and find out if they’ve heard anything from Molly’s parents.”
“Carlos looks guilty to me,” Grace said, sitting down. “Why doesn’t Carlos say anything? If he’s not guilty, who would he protect? Charity?” Grace looked at Annie with her ever present cigarette and brandy.
“He can’t.” Annie took another sip of brandy.
“Why? What’s stopping him? He doesn’t seem to love Charity. Why would he take a jail sentence for her? You know he looks like the obvious suspect.”
“He can’t say anything. Because…” Annie stopped and took a drag from her cigarette.
Grace felt impatient. Why wasn’t it possible to speed people up when they’re talking? With all the ingenuity of the 20s, flying machines, Victrolas, and talking pictures, why couldn’t they ever change people that said too little too slowly so they would say more and quickly, and people who said too much to say less?
Then Grace felt guilty. She saw the pain and trepidation on Annie’s face.
“He was passed out drunk. He doesn’t remember anything. You must never tell anyone that I told you.”
“You did have an affair with him.”
“No. It makes me something of an anomaly,” she threw back her head and laughed. “There was someone. You know that. Jose found out. I panicked when my boyfriend went away to Officer’s training. Even then, there was talk of Wilson wanting to get us into the war in Europe. I went to Mexico to forget about everything. And I met Jose. We had a few drinks. And it seemed like a fun idea to drive him back in my car. I put him in the back seat with a blanket over him. Dear, your mouth is open.”
Grace shut her mouth. One hand went to her chest.
“What did you say at the border? To the customs people?”
“They asked if I had anything to declare. I said I’d had a great time.”
A waiter turned the dial on a radio next to the women. Babe Ruth hit another home run.
“That’s as certain as the sun rising,” Annie said.
&nb
sp; “I keep praying for Lucky Lindy. That he makes it across the Atlantic.” Grace stared at the radio as if she could summon news from it.
“Seventy-five percent of Air Mail pilots are killed a year. Some of the planes are like flying coffins. Lucky Lindy could be an understatement. That man is blessed by God. Looks, smarts, verve, adventure. Sounds like Jack. Hold on to that one.” Annie put another cigarette in her holder.
Smoking more than eating. No wonder she seemed to stay so effortlessly thin. Grace thought to herself.
Zeus came running in with something in his mouth.
Grace picked him up immediately.
“My baby’s home.” She smiled, stroking the silky dark fur. He had something dangling from his teeth.
“That’s a beautiful lace,” Annie said.
Grace gently dislodged it.
“It looks like an ancient christening dress.” Annie held it up to the light.
“This is lovely. That’s not cheap lace. And it’s high grade cotton.”
The tiny gown had layers of lace and cotton.
“Zeus where have you been?” Grace couldn’t let go of him.
“I knew he’d come home. Tomcats always do. It’s just they come home on their schedule. Not on yours.”
“Like everything with cats.”
Grace stood up. “I want to let Jack know Zeus is back.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Meow Baby,” Jack said. He reached to pet Zeus. Grace had nearly collided with Jack when he ran up the steps of the hotel as she was carrying Zeus to Tent City to show him.
“Lets go to my room,” Grace said.
“Welcome back Zeus.” The elevator operator smiled at the cat in Grace’s arms.
“I called the cops when you were at the Revolutionary Colonial Daughters lunch. They seemed to accept we’d be investigating too.”
“Did you check the fingerprints on the glass?”
“Yes, they didn’t match the bottle. I kept that to myself.”
They entered the room just in time to see Tatania jumping through the window with papers in her mouth.
“She’s back,” Grace squealed. Ever since Zeus disappeared, she felt anxiety when Tatania wasn’t in sight.
Tatania felt slightly like a St. Bernard carrying brandy. Bit demeaning for a cat. But solving this mystery was paramount for the humans. And she felt forever grateful to Jack for rescuing her from drowning when she was a kitten.
Tatania jumped on the bed the instant Grace put Zeus down on it, as if the cats were communicating telepathically. Tatania groomed Zeus’s ear and put a paw around his neck, welcoming him back while sniffing him.
She sniffed Zeus and then looked back at the christening gown.
“Where would Zeus get a christening gown?” Grace held the delicate fabric carefully. It was old but had been maintained like the women in rich California beach towns.
“Someone has been handling that recently. That doesn’t look old.” Jack pointed to a light dusting of sand on the gown.
“Unless Zeus picked up the sand carrying it,”
“Zeus is probably avoiding the beach since he heard the plane noise.” Jack shook his head, “The sand would have already been on it when he picked it up somewhere else.”
“Are you hungry?” Grace picked sardines out of the ice box for the cats.
Tatania meowed loudly. She batted the letters around.
“What did you bring us angel?” Jack asked.
They began to read together.
Dearest Carlos:
Haven’t been feeling well. And your news helped. Mother asked if I’m gaining weight. Daddy snapped at her to leave me alone. He told me, “You look perfect.” He says Mother is too critical of me. He’d be so disappointed in me if he knew. That’s why I must leave quickly. We can tell him after we’re married. We must telegraph Daddy as soon as we’re married. He’ll be so worried. I wake up every hour. The only time I feel calm is when I shut my eyes and imagine dancing under the stars with you again in Coronado. Love and Kisses to you my darling until we’re together again.
Molly xxxxoooo
Grace stared at Jack. “They danced in Tent City like us. And it all ended badly. When they came home, she must have discovered she was pregnant.”
“And Carlos’s evil dance began.” Jack grimaced.
“When I think of what life must have been like for Molly, thinking she was coming to a new life, a family with the man she loved, and she walked right into the hands of her murderer, Jack it’s painful to read.”
“I know.”
“How can anybody be trusted?”
“I’m not anybody.”
Grace still held the letters, crying softly for a woman she’d never meet.
Dearest Carlos:
I’m remembering when we celebrated Bastille Day with the wine on the beach under the Coronado stars. For both of us. I’m still not feeling well. Daddy yelled at Mother to leave me alone again. I’m never sure if we should celebrate or mourn the demise of the French Aristocracy. I know there’s talk that we may fight with the French in that awful war. I know we owe a debt to France. Without France and Lafayette, we never would have won our Revolution. I fear for my baby. I want the world safe.
Love to you always and I will dream of when we will be together again.
Molly
P.S. I’m enclosing a lock of my hair.
Darling Carlos:
I feel so much better knowing that we’re going to telegraph Daddy as soon as we’re settled and married. I worry so about disappointing him. He always sticks up for me and tells Mother she’s too critical. In a way, I think Mother won’t mind because this will confirm for her that at least she’s right about the weight gain.
I close my eyes at night and dream I’m dancing under the stars with you again, on the pier outside the Dance Pavilion.” Love to you my Darling until we’re together again.
Molly and Baby xxxxoooo
Dearest Carlos:
I’m so relieved I slipped away when mother was out for the day to the City to shop and got the funds from Western Union. Daddy won’t let me get a job. Now I know I’m on my way to you. I think I’ll sleep for the first night in weeks. I mean I usually wake up every hour.”
Love to you my Darling. Memories of you alone sustain me.
Molly
Darling Carlos,
I miss you everyday. At night, I remember the beach at Coronado, and you, touching me under the stars. My mother is becoming suspicious. She’s trying to make me go to dances at church to meet other boys. My Dad tells her to just leave me alone. She also asked if I gained weight. My Dad stuck up for me again. I know he’d be disappointed in me if he knew about the baby. He always thinks the best of me.
All my love to you, Darling,
Molly xxxxoooo
“Jack, I wish she could have told someone besides Carlos. Someone could have helped her. She thought she was alone but she wasn’t. He must have wired her money with his Polo playing wins or poker wins.”
Dear Molly:
“Don’t worry. I’ve arranged for us to stay in Reno through my lawyer. I wish I could come to New York and we could go directly there but Charity would send bloodhounds after me. Better for you to come here and for me to make a clean break. My lawyer says that after three months in Reno, I can have a clean divorce and we can marry.
When you’re here, I’ll tell Charity I’m leaving. Then she’ll do anything to avoid a scandal and we’ll be safe. Her type is fond of saying they appear in the papers only three times in life. Proper. Born, married, dead. That’s it for the newspapers in Charity’s circles.
I think of the morning we met and how awful it was until I saw you. I was just going through the motions, getting up, going to the Polo field, and then, you were there, in all your golden loveliness. I noticed your hair first. It was the color of the sun. You’re the sun to me. And I’m a mere planet revolving around you.
Your humble servant,
Carlos
Golly Molly
Your letter arrived just as I was thinking about walking to the post office. I imagine you waiting for the mailman, waiting to hear from me, and I hope my words give you the hope that will sustain you. I promise you that it will be only a brief stay in Reno. And then, we’ll get married. I don’t want you to travel to Reno alone because things might be too rough hewn there. Too many just divorced men around! Joking with you. It’s just that I think we should have a few days in Coronado together. I’ll let Charity know everything, and she’ll probably plan a trip abroad for a year to avoid seeing any newspapers and we can meet with my lawyers together.
Soon we’ll be together always. I never envisioned life with any other woman the way I do with you. The past is irrelevant. We’ll meet with the lawyer together to make sure everything proceeds correctly.
Love, Carlos
Carlos:
Reno sounds so exotic. Are there still cowboys and miners there? I don’t care where we are as long as you and I and the baby are together. I don’t care if we live in a shack without running water or heat in the winter. I know you think I’m terribly spoiled because I live in a big house with servants. I’m not. I want only to be with you. Anywhere. I never felt alive until I met you. I keep my bedroom curtains open at night, look at the stars, and the moon, and imagine you seeing the same moon, under the same stars, and I know we’re still linked. I know we’ll be together soon. Carlos, we’re going to be so happy. And Daddy will understand. Once we’re married.
All my love to you Darling,
Molly and Baby xxxooo
Beloved Molly:
You must not worry. I will take care of everything. And Charity and I have been separated for years. It’s been a marriage in name only. I felt alone until I met you. If you feel poorly, just have some crackers and Coca Cola. Or Red Rock Ginger Ale. I’m afraid my humble pen can never express the depth of my feeling for you. I know it will be difficult to leave your parents. I hope that with time, they will accept me. I will wire you more money for the train. Be careful, a woman alone will be like a fox among wolves.
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