Her grandmother, Sarah realized, had brought a photo of her first husband taken on this ship, where she had last seen him. Moved by this, she carefully returned the photo to the briefcase. But it was as she gathered the scattered envelopes that she received a shock. The letters, postmarked during 1942, were addressed to Mrs. Elliot Parsons.
Parsons. Elliot Parsons.
Robert was related to Ada. He was her grandson. She knew it as surely as she knew anything. Her mind reeled. Robert was Sarah’s cousin-her adopted cousin, at any rate. And all this time-all this time!- Ada had made a guessing game out of her grandson’s identity. Why?
Mechanically, Sarah began putting the letters away. She came across one other item, a drawing. A cartoon. The subject of the cartoon had aged, but he was easily recognized. The Adam’s apple was exaggerated of course, and so was the blush. “Capt. Dolman, our fearless leader,” was scrawled at the bottom of one corner of the drawing.
The room seemed to be closing in on her and she stood up and made her way into the sitting room. She turned the light on, and moving to the portholes, opened one, and took a deep breath of the cold air. She sat down in a nearby chair. She was glancing at the carpet, noting a pair of parallel lines on it. Wheel marks from a dolly or handcart, she thought to herself, just as she heard a key sliding into the lock.
She braced herself for a confrontation with Ada, but it was not Ada who opened the door. Robert Parsons stood before her.
“Sarah? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“ Ada ’s worried about you,” he said, closing the door behind him, crossing the room to sit near her. “She’s been waiting for you to bring her key back. Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, glancing at the open porthole.
“I’m fine, cousin.”
He stiffened. “She told you-and apparently didn’t do a very good job of it.”
“No, I found out quite by accident. By being clumsy. I knocked over a briefcase full of letters from your grandfather. I didn’t mean to snoop, but…well, I didn’t read the letters.”
“Sarah, I’ve never wanted to hide anything from you. Ada insisted, and I let her talk me into it. I never should have gone along with it.”
“Why? Why didn’t she want me to know?”
He hesitated, then said, “For two reasons. The first is that she didn’t want you to get hurt. She was afraid- after the way the Milington’s treated you-she didn’t want you to feel as if I were more important to her than you are. I’m not Sarah-honest to God, I’m not.”
When she didn’t reply he said, “You’ve been her granddaughter for years. If you don’t want to share her, I’ll understand.”
“Oh, it’s not that!” she said. “It’s just-just a lot to take in.”
“Yes, it’s a lot for me to take in, too, and I’ve had a year to get used to the idea. She didn’t even know I existed. I managed to track her down when I was trying to learn more about what happened to my grandfather-to Elliot Parsons. Ada and my father were estranged.”
“Because of his stepfather? Ada next husband?”
“Yes. So you know about that?”
“Not much.”
“When my dad died, I wanted to learn more about his side of the family, and meet this grandmother of mine. I also wanted to know more about my grandfather. At first, I just wanted to find out if my father’s story was true, that his father had died aboard the Queen Mary, while on the passage to Europe. I learned much more. And I told Ada what I had learned.”
“About his murder?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the second reason she didn’t want to tell me?”
But before he could answer, there was a knock at the door of the suite. “Robert? Sarah?” they heard Ada ’s voice call.
Robert opened the door to admit Ada and Captain Dolman.
“Here’s your key, Grandmother,” Sarah said.
Ada studied her as she took the key, then rounded on Robert. “You told her!”
“No,” Sarah said, and explained how she had learned that Robert was Ada ’s grandson. “And he is just about to tell me the second reason you didn’t want me to know about it.”
“Nonsense!” she said firmly. “Now, although the party was wonderful, I’m completely exhausted, so all of you will please leave my room. All except Sarah.”
“ Ada -” Robert began.
“Now,” she said, giving him a look that would have sent an emperor running. It was more than enough for Captain Dolman. For several long minutes, it seemed that Robert would refuse to obey.
“I’ll be all right,” Sarah said. His frustration evident, Robert finally followed Dolman’s lead.
But in the meantime, Sarah had given some thoughts to the events of the day, and when the door closed behind Robert, she asked, “Where is Senator Hastings?”
“How should I know?”
“You know. Why did you invite him?”
“He practically invited himself.”
“I don’t believe that. He’s not running in your congressional district; he’s not your state senator. And he is certainly not the type of person you would back in either race.”
“Whom I invite to my own birthday party-”
“A party on a ship where, according to Robert, your first husband was murdered-”
“Robert will have to learn to keep quiet. Although I daresay you might receive more of his confidences than anyone else would.”
“I should hope so. I’m his cousin.”
“He doesn’t think of you in that way, Sarah. I can guarantee you that much. And that is not to say that he doesn’t want to be related to you.”
Blushing, Sarah said, “Don’t try to change the subject, you wily old woman.”
Ada smiled, but didn’t reply.
“You invited two men I’ve never heard you mention before, and you were with both of them before the festivities began. One of them disappeared not long after the party starts. The other man hasn’t been three feet from your side all night; you have a funny little caricature of him drawn by your late husband.”
“What you think you’re getting at, I’m sure I don’t know,” Ada said.
“I think you were getting at something-or rather, someone tonight, Grandmother. Maybe it’s too late for justice-legal justice. But you’ve arranged for revenge, haven’t you?”
Ada said nothing. She moved to the porthole, looked out at the harbor.
“Grandmother, you can trust me. I-I may not be family, but I love you as much as-”
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Ada said, her voice quavering. “Of course you’re my family. I don’t want you to come to any harm, don’t you see? And you wouldn’t like this particular brand of revenge.”
Sarah took a deep breath, and said, “Have you murdered a state senator, Grandmother?”
Ada turned to look at her. “You think I’m capable of that?”
“No,” Sarah answered.
“Thank God for that, at least.”
“Well, if you haven’t killed him-” She looked around the room, an idea suddenly occurring to her. Horrified, she said, “Grandmother-the trunk! You’ve locked him in the trunk!”
“Yes,” Ada said.
“Where is it? Where’s the trunk?”
“Sarah-”
“It’s in Robert’s room, isn’t it? That’s why Robert had the other key to your room-you didn’t give it to him, he already had it.” Her eyes went back to the carpet. “The wheel marks-that’s what made them. Oh, Grandmother! It
