Page 93 of Is Anyone Listening?
"The usual sad, tragic, ‘wish I could have helped her’ commentary. She did admit that Lily's death might have been a factor in my dad's departure, especially since it had come so soon after my grandfather's death."
"Could those two be connected?" Morgan asked.
"I don’t see how."
"Do you think if you keep pushing her to talk, she'll eventually crack and spill the family tea?"
I smiled sadly at her words. "No, I don't think that. Something will have to happen to force her to change her mind, but it won't be me asking. As for my plan today, I'm going to go back into town and start talking to more people in the small shops and cafés. They all know who I am now. And maybe I can get Finn to go with me. If he joins forces with me, more doors will open, and more people will talk. He's my ticket to information."
"What about Tyler Pierce? What's he up to?"
"I haven't spoken to him since late yesterday afternoon. I'll check with him after we hang up. Maybe he got a lead on Jessica. That would be a good break."
"Okay, good luck. Let me know if I can help."
"Unfortunately, I think this is on me. But next time we decide to follow a cold case to its original setting, you can take the lead."
"Next time? I'm just hoping you survive this time."
"Me too."
Setting aside my phone and computer, I went into the bathroom to shower and then dress. Today was a new day, and I was going to go into it with confidence. I'd created some cracks in the wall surrounding these cases,and hopefully one of them would split right open.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I got downstairs at the tail end of breakfast and managed to grab some oatmeal and fruit before the servers started clearing. There was a new crew of guests in the dining room, no one I recognized, and maybe that was a good thing. I saw only polite smiles, no suspicious ones.
As I finished breakfast, Ellen came into the dining room and slid into the chair across from me. She had a folder in her hand.
"Good morning," I said tentatively.
"You want to learn more about our family, so I pulled together a few photos." She opened the folder and took out the first one. "This is your grandfather and me on our wedding day, fifty-eight years ago. I was eighteen when I married him. And I had your father nine months later."
"You were young," I said, staring at the picture for a long minute. My grandmother looked like a beautiful teenager with long brown hair and a hopeful, joyous smile that I'd never seen on her face. My grandfather was tall and lean with a warmth to his happy grin that made me want to instantly like him. Ellen had said he was rigid and demanding and set in his ways, but that's not what this man looked like.
"We were very young," Ellen said, a nostalgic note in her voice. "I met Richard the summer I came here to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins. I grew up about two hours south of here. Richard was the cutest boy I'd ever seen. He was tall and tan with a sunburned nose that always freckled. He loved boats and being out on the ocean. He was full of life, and I was immediately taken with him. I was supposed to go home at the end of the summer. I was supposed to go to college, but I couldn't leave him. We got married that September. My parents were furious. But I was in love."
I lifted my gaze from the photo to look at her. "Was it a happy marriage?"
"For many, many years," she said, a nostalgic gleam in her eyes that turned a little sad. "But we had our share of challenges, arguments, differences of opinion. We grew up, and we weren't always on the same page. Richard wanted a stay-at-home wife who just wanted to take care of her son and husband. And I did those things for a long time, but I wanted more. I wanted to have something that was mine."
"He let you sell your house and buy this inn, so he must have come around."
"To be honest, I forced his hand. Your father was almost out of high school, and I told Richard that it was my turn to have something of my own." She paused. "He said I'd have plenty to do with my volunteer work. I helped out at the library. I was on the social committee for town events. It all sounded like more of the same, and I couldn't stomach the thought that that was all there was going to be."
I was shocked at how much she was revealing, and I didn't want to stop her by asking a question, so I waited for her to continue.
She cleared her throat. "After many discussions, some of which were very loud and very angry, I told Richard that wasn't going to work for me. The inn was up for sale, and I wanted to buy it. And if he didn't agree, then I was going to leave and find some other way to do what I wanted to do."
"That couldn't have gone over well."
"It was a difficult time," she said. "And there weren't just fights between me and Richard, but also between Richard and David. Our lives were changing, and we all wanted something different. But I believed in my heart that we would all be better off if we pursued our dreams. For me, that was this inn. For David, it was going to college and making something of his life."
"And for my grandfather?"
"He had his life. He had his business, his family. He had everything he'd ever wanted. It was our turn."
"So, you were on my father's side in terms of him leaving town?"
