own.”
Chapter 52
Mrs. Elnora St. James had a clear voice and an equally clear mind-and a strong opinion about the Glendale- Marsh Parrishes. This was a topic in which she was well versed. Diane found it easier just to let her talk about the family at her own pace and to interject a question only occasionally.
“The two brothers, Luther and Henry, couldn’t have been more different,” Elnora began. “Henry was smart and kind. Luther was dumb and mean. The land belonged to Henry. Their father left it to him. Luther was allowed to live in a small cottage near the north boundary marker, and he was bitter about that. He made Henry’s life miserable. Henry left the land to his son, Leo Parrish, and Leo let Luther work it while Leo traveled. Leontine, Leo’s twin sister, married and moved to New York. Stop me if I’m going too fast for you.”
“You’re doing fine,” said Diane, glad that Beth had provided her with a Parrish kinship chart or she’d have a hard time keeping up.
“Leo Parrish was supposed to have found some treasure-I guess Ruby told you about that?” she said.
“Yes, she did. But I’m more interested in the family history,” said Diane.
“You’d be about the only one,” said Elnora. “Now, where was I?”
“Leontine moved to New York,” said Diane.
“Yes. Leo lived with her for a while there, I think. He didn’t like coming back to the family farm, and I can’t say as I blame him. We sure didn’t like being neighbors with Luther and his boys.”
“Did Leo will the land to Luther?” asked Diane.
“Why no. Leo willed it to his sister, Leontine. Luther just took it,” said Elnora.
“Took it?” said Diane.
“Stole it,” declared Elnora. “Wrote Leontine and told her it was his land, should have been his land all along, and if she didn’t like it, that was too bad. Though his language was probably more colorful.”
“She didn’t do anything about it?” asked Diane. So far the history of the Glendale-Marsh Parrishes wasn’t getting her anywhere, but she kept hoping, and Elnora was interested in talking.
“Not anything direct, she didn’t. She was afraid of her uncle. Isn’t that a shame, being afraid of your own kin, especially an uncle? But Luther was mean, so was his sons. They’d have as soon killed her as look at her. So Luther took the land, but in the end Leontine got the last laugh.”
“How was that?” asked Diane.
“Leontine was the owner of record, so the tax bills for the land went to her home in New York. And she didn’t pay them; nor did she tell Luther they weren’t paid. You’d think the fool would have realized he had taxes due. But he might have thought Leontine was too scared of him not to pay them herself. Anyway, the unpaid taxes built up over the years. And one day when Luther was an old man, the sheriff came and ordered him off the land. Said it had been sold on the courthouse steps for nonpayment of taxes. I would like to have been a bird in a tree when the sheriff came to the door. I understand ol’ Luther was fit to be tied. He died a year later, probably from stewing over losing the land. Him and the boys tried to protest, but the tax people told Luther it wasn’t his land and he had no interest to protest. I bet that made him mad all over again.
“His boys, Martin and Owen, was living with him. They thought the land was their inheritance and now they had nothing. It was kind of sad for Owen. He had a family.”
“Do you know what happened to his family?” asked Diane.
“They lived around Glendale-Marsh for a while. Every now and again you’d hear about one of them getting into trouble. Owen’s boy was in trouble a lot. He got some girl pregnant and had to get married. I don’t know how long that lasted. In the end, ol’ Luther died and the two boys drifted away. We were glad to see them go. They were a mean bunch. They were always coming around and stealing stuff from us, like they was entitled.”
“Did they ever look for the treasure?” asked Diane.
“I’m sure they did. Martin tried to contact Leontine one time, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with them.” Elnora started laughing. “That treasure was like a curse from Leo, too. Luther was always running treasure hunters off his land. I believe he had more potholes dug on his property than we had in the entire state of Florida.”
“What do you think of the treasure story?” asked Diane.
“I don’t know. Leo was a smart boy. I’m sort of thinking he had something buried somewhere. Too bad he went missing. A lot of boys went missing in the war. That was a sad time.”
“Have you ever heard of a Llewellyn family?” asked Diane.
“Well sure, everybody knows them. James Llewellyn founded the town of Glendale-Marsh. Their house is on the historic registry. It’s a ruin-the house was built of shells and cement. What do they call that?”
“Coquina,” said Diane.
“That’s it. Coquina and tabby. I guess being from a museum you’d know about that stuff,” said Elnora.
“We have a display of coquina and tabby with our shell collection,” said Diane.
“All that’s left standing of the old house is some of the walls. I visited it once. You can still walk inside the old ruins. The rooms were tiny. I think the people must have been smaller back then. I know lots more about Glendale-Marsh, but you was asking about the Parrishes. Was I any help to you?”
“A tremendous help,” said Diane.
“I’m glad to do it. It’s nice that someone is interested in the family for a change and not the treasure.”
“Have you ever heard of a family called Sebestyen?” asked Diane.
“Sebestyen, that’s an odd name, isn’t it? Why does that sound familiar to me?” She paused for several moments. “I know why-that was Leontine’s daughter’s married name. Do you know them?”
“I’ve just heard of them,” said Diane.
“I think maybe I talked to their son once a long time ago. What was his name? Glen, or something like that? Let me think.”
She paused for a long time. For a moment Diane thought they had been disconnected.
“His name was Quinn. That was it. He was here. I think he was looking for the treasure. He was asking about the Llewellyn’s, too. His wife taught history, he said, and they wanted to take some pictures of the house and the graveyard. I remember thinking at the time that he looked a lot like Leo. I don’t know when was the last time I thought about that.”
“Do you remember how long ago that might have been?” asked Diane.
“Oh, I don’t know, fifteen or twenty years maybe? That’s a guess. It was quite a while ago,” she said.
“I’ve kept you long enough. Thank you again, Elnora,” said Diane.
“I was glad to do it. It’s so nice that Ruby’s visiting Juliet. She’s missed her so. That child has had a hard time. I guess you know.”
“Yes,” said Diane. “I know.”
“Did you find out what you need to know?” asked Ruby when Diane hung up the phone.
“I found out a lot. I’m not sure it will lead to who’s doing this, but I have some ideas. I’m making progress.”
Diane could see that Ruby was dying to know what her friend Elnora said, so she gave her a rundown of the conversation.
“Well, what does Leo’s relatives and the Llewellyns have to do with Juliet’s kidnapping?”
Diane realized that Ruby and Juliet didn’t know anything about the investigation so far, and the story was much too long and complicated to go into now. Besides, she had to get back before Frank found her missing. The last thing she wanted was to listen to him lecture her on taking care of herself.
“I promise, I’ll tell you all about it when I can. Right now, just sit tight and you and Juliet enjoy pay-per- view,” said Diane.
She opened the door and almost ran into Juliet and the security guard. When museum Security picked Juliet up to take her to work in the morning and brought her home again in the evening, it was also shift changing time for them. The new guard went to the adjoining room and the old guard was leaving.
“You want me to walk you to your car, Dr. Fallon?” he asked.
