“Here you go,” I said.
She started. “Do you have to sneak up on people like that?”
“I’m sorry,” I said, although I’d been doing anything but sneaking.
She snatched the glass out of my hand and took a long drink. “I need to sit down for a few minutes. I see that horrid cat is in the best chair. Get rid of it, will you?”
I wasn’t about to get rid of Charles, but I would lift him out of the chair. I did so and Ms. Sanchez dropped down with another disapproving sniff as Charles ran off to hide behind a potted plant.
“Isn’t she a charmer?” Charlene whispered to me when the guests had moved on.
“I wonder what she found so interesting in that book.”
“You noticed that too, did you? A blast from the past probably. An unpleasant memory stirred.”
Gradually the guests began to disperse. Women called taxis or headed for their cars after thanking us for a lovely evening, exchanging hotel details and phone numbers, and confirming arrangements for tomorrow. Some were going to their hotel bar for another drink, and some were heading back to their beds after a long traveling day. They’d meet again as a group in the morning for a visit to the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk, then spend the afternoon at the beach with a picnic lunch catered by Josie’s Cozy Bakery, followed by dinner at Jake’s Seafood Bar. More beach time on Sunday and then a farewell lunch at the Ocean Side Hotel, where many of them were staying.
As the evening wound down, Mary-Sue had pointedly ignored Ms. Sanchez and kept herself well away from the older woman. The people she’d been talking to said their good nights, and she was left standing alone. Ms. Sanchez approached her. “Mary-Sue Delamont, I thought I recognized you lurking at the edges of the room.”
My ears pricked up. Mary-Sue told me she didn’t know Ms. Sanchez.
Mary-Sue’s face darkened. “Hardly lurking, Helena. I have a perfect right to be here. I was as much a part of this class as any of the others.”
“Your qualifications were never in doubt. It was your behavior that got you sacked.”
Mary-Sue glared at the older woman. A vein pulsed in her throat, and she gripped her empty glass so hard I feared it might break. I stepped up to her and held out my tray. “Can I take your glass?”
She turned to me. “Thank you. You and your colleagues have been perfect hosts.”
“It’s our pleasure having you here,” I said.
Ms. Sanchez walked away, not trying to hide her smirk.
Eventually only the three women who’d come with Bertie, Sheila, who was still talking to Louise Jane about ghostly presences, Ms. Sanchez, and the library staff were left.
“It’s still early,” Ruth said. “Who’s up for that walk to the marsh?”
“Is it safe?” Lucinda asked Ronald.
“Perfectly safe. We’ll bring flashlights.” He glanced at her feet. “If you stay on the boardwalk, you’ll be fine in those shoes.”
“As long as no one wanders off by themselves,” Louise Jane said, “and gets eaten. Or worse.”
Lucinda’s hands flew to her chest, and she gasped. “What does that mean?”
“She’s kidding.” Ronald gave Louise Jane a warning look.
“I’m kidding about being eaten,” Louise Jane said. “No crocodiles live in these parts, and the mosquitoes aren’t bigger—not by much anyway—than anyplace else. Although … some say when the wind blows from the north …”
“Whatever,” I said. “You’ll enjoy a walk. It’s lovely out there.”
“What happens when the wind blows from the north?” Sheila asked.
“I don’t think we need to hear that fable right now, Louise Jane,” Bertie said. “Don’t you have to help with the cleaning up?”
“Charlene and Lucy can manage,” Louise Jane said.
I’d been about to decline the walk in order to get started on cleaning up. No way was I going to do it all by myself while Louise Jane entertained guests. “I’ll come too. We can do the dishes later, Louise Jane. You remember Charlene has to leave by nine forty-five, don’t you?” Charlene’s mother was disabled and needed care. Charlene had arranged for a friend to come to their house to have dinner and watch a movie with Mrs. Clayton until ten.
“Sorry,” Charlene said. “I can come in early tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Louise Jane, Ronald, and I can manage. Can’t we, Louise Jane?”
Louise Jane grumbled but wisely said nothing.
I carried a load of used glasses into the break room and found my keys in a drawer. A tiny flashlight was attached to the chain in case the light over the door was off when I got home one night.
Back in the main room, the handful of remaining guests were gathering to depart. Phones were out, and the flashlight apps being switched on. Ronald carried a solid Maglite we kept in the circulation desk in case of power failure. Bertie explained that the 1000-watt light high above us in the great first-order Fresnel lens flashed in a regular pattern of 2.5 seconds on, 2.5 seconds off, 2.5 seconds on, and 22.5 seconds off. When it was off, it could be very dark outside if the night was cloudy. We were quite a distance from the lights of Nags Head to the north; to the east was the open ocean, and nothing lay to the south but Cape Hatteras National Seashore and a few scattered small communities.
“This is exciting,” Mary-Sue said to Sheila.
“I hope we see a ghost,” Sheila said.
“I don’t,” Lucinda said.
“Are you coming, Helena?” Bertie asked. “I’ve promised you a ride back to town, but you can wait inside if you like.”
“A brisk evening walk, I always say, makes for a good
