A Timely Vision

shot. Ladies and gamblers liked them.”

Tim whistled. “You know your guns.”

“In my business, it pays to know a lot about everything.” I handed the derringer to Kevin since he was its owner now. “I’m sure it could tell some stories.”

“Any money in there?” Shayla tried to see in the drawer too.

“This is a beauty!” Kevin appreciated the piece. “No telling who it belonged to.”

“Or what it was used for,” Tim added.

“Who cares?” Shayla was done with the find. “Let’s go upstairs and open the door.”

Kevin pocketed the derringer after examining it to make sure it wasn’t loaded. “That was completely amazing, Dae! I know everyone says you find things, but you really have to see it to believe it.”

“Blah. Blah. Blah.” Shayla tugged at his arm. “Wait till I read your palm, Kevin. Now that will be something amazing. What Dae does is okay, but nothing compared to what I can do.”

I ignored the double meaning behind her words. Shayla could be so needy sometimes. I’m not a psychologist, but I’m sure her insecurity had something to do with her childhood. Her mother had abandoned her and her fisherman father when she was very young. If I hadn’t known that about her, I would’ve stopped being friends with her a long time ago.

“Now ladies,” Tim said, “you don’t have to fight over Kevin. I’m here and willing to do whatever is necessary to keep you happy.”

Now that surprised me. In all the time I’d known Tim, I’d never heard him say anything like it. He always focused on me. Perhaps there was more to him than what I already knew. I still didn’t want to marry him, but it gave me some food for thought.

“All right.” Kevin smiled at Shayla. “Let’s go upstairs. Do you want to take the elevator?”

She giggled. “An elevator? That sounds great! Maybe Tim and Dae would like to take the stairs and meet us up there.”

I knew how to take a hint. Besides, I’d seen the old wrought-iron elevator cage in the lobby. I got the creeps when I looked at it. “We’d rather take the stairs,” I told them. “Third floor, right?”

Tim puffed out his chest. Clearly he thought I wanted to be alone with him. “Don’t be scared, Dae. I’ll take care of you, like I always have.”

I could hear the elevator motor pulling the cage up to the third floor as we started up the stairs. The stairwell was dark and probably filled with things I’d rather not see. Every so often, I heard a squeaking sound and wasn’t sure if it was a bat or a rat. In a building that had sat empty for so long, anything was possible.

“This is some place.” Tim huffed a little as we climbed to the second floor. “I think we should’ve taken the elevator.”

I looked out the window on the second-floor landing. This side didn’t face the beach. Bushes were spread out along the drive and down to the road. Their shadows seemed to move as the clouds passed through the moonlight. A few cars went by, their headlights fading quickly into the distance.

“I hate elevators. Even the safe ones with music and lights. I wouldn’t go in that elevator for anything.” I stepped on something hard and bent to retrieve it. The feeling of time slowing told me it was something important.

In the dim moonlight, I made out a tiny key. It was too small to open a room. It looked like the kind of key that would open a jewelry box or diary. No matter, it would belong to Kevin like everything else here. My fingers itched to explore everything in the Blue Whale and discover its treasures. I shoved the key in my pocket and started up the last flight of stairs.

“I might be having a heart attack, Dae.” Tim wheezed up behind me. “Slow down. This was supposed to be r omantic.”

“If you got out of that police car and walked like everyone else in Duck, you wouldn’t be having such a hard time on these stairs,” I taunted him. Honestly, the mileage on those cars was incredible considering how small Duck was. More than once, I’d pushed the town council to buy bicycles, but the police had threatened to go on strike.

“Are you two ever going to get up here?” Shayla yelled down the stairs. “I don’t even want to think what’s going on down there.”

The fact that she was yelling down at us made me think nothing much was going on with her and Kevin up on the third floor. That lightened my heart a little, but I put it down to jealousy.

“You know,” Tim huffed, “I wanted to ask you something important while we’re alone, Dae.”

I knew it was uncharitable of me, but I couldn’t help but grimace.

“I know I’ve asked you before,” he continued. “I don’t know if you’ve ever taken me seriously. I’m a stable man, Dae. You’ve known me all your life. I’d make a good husband. I cook and clean up after myself. I’ve been doing laundry since I was nine.”

It always went the same way. I wished he’d take no for an answer. I felt cruel having to refuse him over and over again. But better to be alone than with someone I didn’t love.

“And someday, your grandfather will be gone, and you’ll be alone. You should marry me before that happens. We can live with him and take care of him. That house is plenty big for all of us and a few kids. So what do you think? Will you marry me, Dae?”

At that moment, a flashlight beam played over us. I realized Kevin had been close by, close enough to hear Tim pop the question. “Sorry. I thought you guys might be lost,” he said.

Kevin’s voice had that strange tone people use when they’re curious about something they’ve heard or seen but they don’t want to pry. I wanted to assure him that there was nothing intimate about the moment, but I couldn’t do that to Tim. It was one thing for me to make fun of him in my own mind but another to help someone else make fun of him.

“No, we’re fine.” Tim’s breathless voice came from behind me.

I couldn’t really see Kevin’s face because the flashlight beam was pointed in my general direction. It was an awkward moment, at least for me. I didn’t want Kevin to get the wrong idea about me and Tim. “Did you open the door yet?”

“Not yet,” Kevin assured me. “We were waiting for you.”

Maybe he’d think I felt embarrassed about him overhearing the proposal and not mention it again. I certainly hoped so as I started up the stairs, without answering Tim’s still-lingering question. Tim followed, a bit more slowly, and we met up with Kevin on the third-floor landing. Here, the window overlooked the ocean. The light rippled on the waves coming in at low tide.

“I’m glad you finally found them,” Shayla said as we approached her. She was standing next to the door of the locked room, one hip resting against the wall. The sarcasm in her tone was obvious, at least to me. She hadn’t wanted Kevin to come back and look for us.

“Well, we’re all here.” I walked up to the door and pretended an excitement I wasn’t really feeling. There was a damp, moldy smell to the place that I hoped Kevin would be able to get rid of before he tried to rent out rooms. It was the smell of decay and neglect, maybe even dust and cobwebs. I wanted to be out walking the beach, trying to find that elusive ghost that Shayla took for granted. “Let’s see what’s inside.”

Kevin stepped up and inserted the key in the lock. It made a grating sound as it turned. The door swung open on stiff old hinges. There was a strange whoosh of air that carried an unpleasant odor. I supposed any room would smell bad after being closed up for thirty years.

This room faced the ocean too. I could see the beach through the dirty panes. The moonlight flowed in like a spotlight, illuminating the room. A desk with an old crook-neck lamp was barely visible in one corner, a simple bed and chest of drawers completing the room.

“Is this it?” Shayla asked in a very quiet voice.

“What were you expecting?” I responded.

“It looks like someone’s sitting at the desk over there.” Tim pointed. “Must be a trick of the light.”

Kevin walked closer to the desk. The beam from the flashlight shone on something I’d hoped never to see again—a dead person. But this time, it was only the skeletal remains. Empty eye sockets stared back at us. Bony fingers rested on the desk.

I heard Shayla gag beside me, and we both stepped back from the grisly scene.