Page 142 of The Newcomer
“Nothing boring about being dependable,” Ava insisted. “I don’t like to hear you run yourself down like that, Letty. You are every bit as beautiful as your sister was, but in a different way. You’re sort of a wise old soul, aren’t you?”
“That’s what my grandmother used to tell me,” Letty admitted. “I think me moving to New York to try and become an actress was just a way of trying to rebel against what everybody expected of me.”
“Nothing wrong with spreading your wings and following a dream, especially when you’re young,” Ava pointed out. “I wish I’d done that, instead of getting married when I was just a kid.”
“I’m not so young anymore,” Letty reminded her. “I’m thirty-three. I don’t have a college degree, or a career, or a home. What I do have is a four-year-old child depending on me to make better choices than her mother did.”
“You will,” Ava said, patting Letty’s arm. “What’s going to happen with Maya now?”
“As it turns out, Tanya had a will. And she named me as Maya’s guardian.”
“A will? And she wasn’t but, what did you say? Thirty-two?”
“It was very unlike Tanya,” Letty agreed. “She’d gone through alot, but I think for the first time in her life, she was thinking about someone besides herself. I’m not saying she was a model citizen. I mean, she was a willing participant in Declan Rooney’s scheme, and then she let Evan think he was Maya’s father, but that was her idea of self-preservation.”
Ava scowled. “God knows that rascal Rooney wasn’t father material.”
“And neither, as it turns out, is Evan Wingfield. I’m not naïve enough to believe that him being arrested today is the end of this story. He’ll fight tooth and nail to get what he wants.”
“Even from a prison cell? Even after he finds out he isn’t Maya’s biological father?”
“It was never really about Maya. This is about money. He’s probably got a lawyer arranging bail right this minute.”
“Would a judge really award custody of a child to a murderer?” Ava asked.
Letty drained her mug and stood up. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
57
MAYA CURLED UP ON THEbed beside her with Ellie tucked in the crook of her arm. When her breaths became even and slower, Letty smoothed the child’s curls, kissed her forehead, and eased away.
She fixed a cup of tea and took it and her phone out to the patio. It was midafternoon, sunny, and the breeze wafted through a strand of sea oats on the nearest dune. She scrolled through the call log on her phone until she found the number she wanted, praying the woman on the other end would pick up.
“Hello? This is Samiya. Who’s this?”
“Sammi? It’s Letty Carnahan, Tanya’s sister.”
“Oh, Letty!” the lawyer exclaimed. “I’ve been so worried. Are you and Maya all right? I’ve wanted to call, but didn’t want to cause complications.…”
“We’re fine. Now. I think I should catch you up with what’s going on.”
Letty gave Sammi a brief recap of the past week’s events, ending with the most recent development. “Evan Wingfield was arrested down here this afternoon.”
“Down here?” Sammi said.
“Right. I forgot you don’t know where we went after Tanya was killed. We’ve been living in a little motel in Treasure Island, Florida.”
“Treasure Island? You mean, like the Robert Louis Stevenson story?”
“Not quite,” Letty said with a laugh. “It’s a beach town nearSt. Petersburg. There’s a long story about how and why we ended up at the Murmuring Surf, but it was actually all Tanya’s doing.”
“The Murmuring Surf? It sounds charming.”
Letty sat up and looked around. The tiny patio garden was alive with blooming jasmine and hibiscus and the herbs and flowers Harry Bronson had nurtured. She could see the pale turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico from here, and hear the rustle of palm fronds against her window.
“Actually, I guess it is pretty charming,” Letty said. “The thing is, now that I know Evan is no longer a danger to Maya, I guess I need to figure out what happens next. For both of us.”
“Yes,” Sammi said. “Well, there’s a lot for us to talk about, especially concerning Maya’s future. As we expected, Mr. Wingfield filed notice that he intends to challenge your sister’s will, and your guardianship. One quick question: has he been charged in connection with your sister’s death?”
