And I also gave Kate a smidgen of hope that I’d find some way to break this new will, but after looking at just about every empty co-op on the West Side, the only sure thing I came up with is that Jim and Eileen are nice people who must just luck into sales, because they sure don’t listen when you tell them what you want to see.
“Nothing so far,” she admitted sadly to Kate, when she stopped by the townhouse. “But as I always say, it ain’t over till it’s over.”
“Oh, Alvirah,” Kate said. “I think it’s over. What bothers me is that I feel as if I’m living on an emotional roller coaster. I keep thinking of Bessie on that last Monday when I left her sitting there, watching her shows-you know how much she enjoyed One Life to Live and General Hospital-and going on about them, talking a mile a minute, telling me all about each character, and how they were all the time doing these terrible things to each other. And all the time she was planning to do something terrible to me.”
That night Alvirah had one of her crime-solving bouts of insomnia. At one in the morning she finally gave up, went out to the kitchen, made tea and rewound her tape from the beginning.
Hercule Poirot, she thought. Think like him!
At seven, when Willy came out of the bedroom rubbing his eyes, he found a triumphant sleuth. “Willy, I may have a handle on this,” she announced with an excited smile. “It starts with Bessie’s signature on the will. You can’t tell much from a copy. This morning I’m going to march myself right down to probate court and get a good look at the original. You never know what I might find.”
“If there’s anything to find, you’ll find it, honey,” Willy said, his voice still sleepy. “My money’s on you.”
21
He had been offered something big-a bigger job than he had ever been in on before, bigger even than the one he had done for the fake computer company. It wasn’t his usual style, but Lenny decided to take the risk-one big payoff, and he’d be set for years. Besides, he had decided it was time to take off for Mexico, especially now that Star’s mother was in town and was on the hunt for her.
The story in the New York Globe had really rattled him. It described everything about the way Star was left on the rectory stoop; all the details were there. Suppose one of the nosy neighbors in his apartment building started counting on their fingers and remembered that it had been exactly seven years ago that he had arrived with his infant daughter-that thought really bothered Lenny. And who knew?
Someone might even remember the shabby blue stroller with the stain on the side.
There even had been a lot of talk about the case on some of the radio shows. Don Imus in particular had zeroed in on it. He had the police commissioner on his program, and the commissioner had said that if the person or persons who had taken the baby were found, they might be charged with kidnapping and face the possibility of a long prison term.
“When you find any valuable object that isn’t yours, even if you don’t know who the owner is, you’re supposed to turn it in,” the commissioner said. “That’s the law. And what could be more valuable than a human infant?”
He and Imus had talked about the note, which had been quoted word for word in the article. “The fact that the mother wanted a good home for her child doesn’t mean just any home,” the commissioner had said. “That child became a ward of the city when the mother gave it up, and speaking for the city, we want her back. I would hope if anyone has even a suspicion of who might have that child, he or she will call in immediately. I guarantee no one will know who made the call, and the reward will be given without publicity.”
Something else dawned on Lenny that Tuesday morning as he stirred sugar and hot milk into a cup of strong coffee he was taking to Lilly. His aunt’s health was worse
– she hardly had gotten out of bed the last few days-and he knew that if she went to the hospital and talked about Star to anybody, social workers probably would come to the apartment to check on her.
When he reached Lilly’s bedroom, her eyes were closed, but she opened them when she heard his footsteps. “Lenny, I don’t feel good,” she said, “but I know if I go to the doctor, they’ll put me in the hospital. I want to be able to see Stellina be the Blessed Mother in the pageant, so I want to wait awhile to go. But when I do go in the hospital, I want you to let her stay with Gracie Nunez till I get back. You promise?”
Lenny knew that the pageant was next Monday afternoon, the 2lst; that was also the day of his big job. He also knew that there wasn’t even a chance Lilly would be able to go to the pageant, but if she could hold off that long before going to the hospital, everything would be great for him. Once the job was done, he would make Lilly go to the hospital, and when she was securely out of the way, he and Star would be on the road, probably by midnight. She’s my lucky star, Lenny thought, and I’ve got to keep her with me.
He placed the coffee cup carefully on the wobbly night table next to the bed. “I’m going to take good care of you, Aunt Lilly,” he promised. “It’ll break Stellina’s heart if you’re not there to at least see her in that nice outfit you sewed for her. And I agree that when you do go to the hospital, it would be a good idea if she stays with Mrs. Nunez until you come back. I have to work, and I don’t want her to be here all alone.”
Lilly looked pathetically grateful. “Grazie, Lenny, grazie,” she murmured, patting his hand.
The white tunic and blue veil were on a hanger on the clothes tree next to the dresser. As Lenny looked over at them, a gust of wind from the slightly open window sent the veil fluttering, and he watched as it drifted to the right and touched the chalice on the bureau.
Another warning, Lenny thought. The fact that the police had been at St. Clement’s seven years ago because of the theft from the church had been prominently mentioned in the Globe article. The history of the chalice, and even a picture of it, had been a featured story on another page of the paper.
Lenny would have liked to grab the chalice and get rid of it, but he knew he couldn’t risk that. if it disappeared, then Lilly would cause a stink, and Star would tell all her friends.
No, the chalice had to be put on hold too. But only for now. When he and Star finally did take off, there was one thing he knew for sure: That chalice was going to end up at the bottom of the Rio Grande.
22
Sondra could no longer bear to read a newspaper or turn on the television or listen to the radio. Alvirah’s story about the baby had set off a media furor that made her cringe with shame.
On Monday night she had fished in her suitcase and found the unopened bottle of sleeping pills the doctor had prescribed, for when she had one of her occasional bouts of insomnia. She never had taken even one of them, preferring to tough it out rather than yield to the temptation to use something she considered a crutch. But by Monday, she knew she had no choice. She simply had to have some sleep.
When she awoke at eight on Tuesday morning, however, her cheeks were wet with tears, and she remembered that in her vague, troubled dreams she had been weeping.
Groggy and disoriented, she finally managed to sit up and tentatively put her feet over the side of the bed.
For several seconds, the hotel room seemed to spin around her, the flowered draperies blending with the striped fabric on the couch in a kaleidoscope of color. I would have been better off either to have stayed awake all night-or to have swallowed every pill in the bottle, she thought fleetingly. But then she shook her head. I’m not that much of a coward, she told herself.