A Timely Vision

stove, mute testimony to the stove’s disuse. There were plenty of pictures of her only son, Derek, and his two children. Derek lived in California. As far as I knew, he hadn’t been back to visit in many years.

The house looked a little sad and lonely, not neat and orderly like Miss Mildred’s house. There were boxes, crates and turtle rescue signs everywhere. Every other free space was taken up with sewing projects. Heaps of material waiting to be cut into quilt squares dominated her living room.

I looked quickly through the kitchen and living room but didn’t see any sign of her purse. I glanced out the door and saw Tim still moving baskets. How hard could it be to find a purse? I went back over the same territory with more determination. Still nothing.

I made my way into Mary Lou’s bedroom, wishing I didn’t have to. It felt a lot like spying on her, but I guessed if she wasn’t worried about it, I wouldn’t be either.

The bedroom was a mess, with clothes strewn everywhere. I pushed a few shirts off of her beautiful antique vanity but still no sign of the purse. I turned on the overhead light and glanced in the bathroom. Nothing in there either.

I was about to call Carter Hatley’s cell phone (I knew Mary Lou didn’t have a cell phone) when I glimpsed what looked like a purse next to an open ironing board near the bed. I shifted some of the clothes away from it and success! I carefully searched for her checkbook in the surprisingly neat confines of her purse and fished it out with all the excitement of catching a two-hundred-pound tuna.

I didn’t want to be in her house without her for any longer than was necessary. As I turned to run back out the door, my gaze fell on a black dress. Suddenly, I felt the slow-motion sensation I usually felt when I found something important.

The dress was draped across the ironing board, four or five other dresses with it. Immediately the thought hit me: She has a dress just like Miss Elizabeth’s. I put the checkbook on the bed and picked up the dress.

I was right. The same classic style: black dress with pink hearts, just like the one Miss Elizabeth had been wearing when I found her. It appeared to be made out of the same cotton material and even had the same fluted neckline and puffed sleeves.

For a few minutes, I stood there looking at it. A thousand thoughts raced through my brain, but I rejected all of them. This had to be some kind of terrible coincidence. It had nothing to do with what happened to Miss Elizabeth. A lot of local women might have a dress like this one if one of the local boutiques had sold it a few years back. It didn’t mean anything.

As I was telling myself this, the stack of clothes I’d shoved out of the way fell to the floor. Despite the heat outside and decided lack of air-conditioning inside, I felt a chill rush over me. It raised goose bumps on my arms and sent a prickle across the back of my neck.

Under the pile of clothes was a gray wig, too similar to the way Miss Elizabeth wore her hair for there to be any mistake about it. Despite my reluctance to touch it, I picked it up and studied it.

I don’t know what possessed me, but I put it on loosely over my hair and held the black dress up against me. I looked at myself in the full-length mirror that hung on the closet door and almost jumped out of my skin.

“Holy Mary Mother of God!” Tim backed out of the room as quickly as he’d come in.

I couldn’t find my voice as I stared at myself in the mirror. I didn’t move, didn’t turn away from the ghastly reflection.

“What the hell is going on, Dae?” He strode back in with a determined look on his face. “Where did you get that? Is that someone’s idea of a sick joke? I’ve heard of people doing things like this for Halloween, but it isn’t funny.”

I moved, finally feeling free of the spell that had come over me. I took off the wig and held the dress back to look at it. “It was here. There has to be some reasonable explanation for it.”

“What do you mean? It doesn’t have to make any sense. Put it down and let’s get out of here. Did you find the checkbook?”

I nodded. “Why would Mary Lou have this getup?”

“Who cares? Let’s get out of here, huh? You’re starting to creep me out.”

“I don’t think we were supposed to see this, Tim.”

“Don’t even say it, Dae. It’s only a dress. There are probably hundreds of them, thousands of them. And lots of older women wear wigs, right? They cover hair loss and stuff with them.”

“Mary Lou dyes her hair Gentle Sable Brown. I was at Curves and Curls when she was having it done. Nobody wears a gray wig to cover that.”

“I don’t care.” He snatched the wig from me and threw it on the bed. “We don’t have any business being in here, looking at her private things. Put the dress down and let’s get back to the beach. They’re going to wonder what’s taking us so long.”

“Tim, think about this for a moment,” I urged. “Someone brought Miss Elizabeth’s purse to Miss Mildred. That person made her think it was her dead sister. We’ve kind of assumed she saw Miss Elizabeth’s ghost and that maybe someone from OBX Land Trust made her think that. But what if it wasn’t them? What if it was Mary Lou?”

“Now you stop and think! Why would Mary Lou do such a thing? Are you really saying you think she had something to do with Miss Elizabeth’s death? That’s crazy talk. Your blood sugar must be low or high, whichever it is that makes people do crazy things. Mary Lou didn’t hurt Miss Elizabeth. She sure didn’t dress up like a ghost to take her purse back to Miss Mildred. Get a grip, Dae, and let’s get out of here.”

I bit my lip, but I couldn’t leave. “We can’t ignore this. We have to tell someone.”

“I’m a sworn officer of the law.” His face contorted with anger. “I can’t go in people’s houses, pick up their things and accuse them of murder. It wouldn’t stand up in court, for one thing, and I’d lose my job for another. We have to go.”

“You can’t do it, but I can.” I picked up the wig again. “We have to know what happened. Can’t you see that? We have to confront her with it.”

“Then what? She falls all over herself to tell us the truth? If what you’re suggesting is true, Dae, Mary Lou went out of her way to throw the blame on someone else. I’m not saying she’s hard, but someone like that has it thought out. You know what I mean? We’ll have to talk to the chief, get a search warrant and then confront her at the station. That’s the way it’s gotta be done. Nice and legal.”

“I’m taking it with me.” I heaped some clothes over the spot where I’d found the dress. “If we leave it here and she destroys it, we’ll never know what happened. There has to be another way.”

I thought Tim might try to stop me, but he stepped aside. “I’m not saying Mary Lou had anything to do with this, but you do what you think is right. You always do. Hell, I think she might be related to me. That’s a whole nightmare if she is convicted of a crime. The chief might never trust me again. They say it’s genetic.”

“We can’t stand here discussing it.” I found an empty shopping bag and stuffed the dress and wig into it. “I’ll think of something. You can pretend you didn’t know anything about it. I don’t think the chief will think any less of you if you’re related to Mary Lou. Besides, there might be some other explanation for why it’s here.”

“You mean besides Mary Lou killing Miss Elizabeth, then trying to blame it on Miss Mildred?” He shuddered. “We need to get out of here now. I don’t think that breakfast burrito is sitting right with me.”

I swept up the checkbook as I walked out of the house, determined not to doubt myself. Taking the dress and the wig was the right thing to do, but I needed to figure out what my next step should be. Mary Lou was as much a part of my life as the two sisters. She was even dating Gramps. But something was wrong. I didn’t believe I’d found the dress and wig for nothing. I had to think of a way to get Mary Lou to tell me why she had them. I could only hope Tim was right and there was a good explanation besides the one that had crept into my brain.

We got back in the police car, and Tim cautioned me about what I could say. “If you say anything about finding that dress and wig, no one will be able to use it in a court of law.”

“I don’t plan on saying anything. What would be the point?”

He nodded. “Exactly. It’s obviously a mistake. Maybe the dress and wig don’t go together. Maybe she had the