Quilt As You Go (16 page)

Aiden started to speak, but Harriet poked him hard in the back and whatever he'd intended to say came out as a cough.

"You'll do no such thing,” Harriet said. “I would have offered in any case."

Harry Willis turned back and waved to his brother to park the car.

"We're in,” he called.

Aunt Beth stayed until the two youngest Willis boys were settled in their rooms then returned to the peace of her own cottage.

"I better go, too,” Aiden announced. “The feral cat people are bringing a group of females in, and I got spay duty. We're starting early in the morning, so I'll need my beauty rest. I'll check with you later in the day and make sure you're surviving."

Harriet kissed him lightly on the cheek, and he pulled her to him in a gentle hug. He tilted his face to the ceiling.

"This brace thing is killing me,” he muttered.

"You've made that clear,” Harriet said with a rueful smile. “I'm sorry."

He kissed her then held her for another minute before turning and going out the door.

Harriet was still in the studio a few moments later, when she heard a soft knock on the outside door.

"Hey, did you forget something?” she asked as she opened the door. Her smile faded when she realized it wasn't Aiden.

"Sorry,” the man on her porch said. “I hope it's not too late to come by to see my brothers.

"Oh, Gerry, hi,” Harriet said, recognizing him. “Aiden just left. I thought maybe he'd forgotten something. Come in."

He looked at her arm strapped to her side.

"How's the arm?” he asked. “Mom told me what happened."

Gerald Willis Junior was the only one of Mavis's sons who actually lived in Foggy Point. He was already working when his father disappeared, and according to Aunt Beth, he'd been the one who felt most responsible for taking care of Mavis.

"Sorry you're stuck with my brothers. If we weren't in the middle of a remodel, Katy and I would have had room. As it is, we have two teenagers and a ten-year-old living in three rooms."

"Don't give it another thought. Come into the kitchen. I'll call your brothers."

But Harry and Ben had heard their brother's voice and were already waiting when she ushered him through the door.

"Hi, guys,” Gerry said, and took a seat between his brothers at the kitchen island.

"Can I get you something to drink?” Harriet asked. “I've got lemonade or I can make coffee."

The trio decided on coffee, and Harriet loaded the coffeemaker while the brothers made small talk about their day's travel. She laid out mugs, sugar, milk and spoons, and when the coffee was finished, she poured the steaming liquid.

"Would one of you turn off the pot when you're done?” she asked and started for the stairs.

"Actually, could you stay and talk with us for a little while?” Ben asked. “Gerry told us what Mom said, but you were there. And Mom said your...” He pointed at her shoulder. “...injury happened when you went back to look at the place where you found our dad."

"There's really not a lot to tell,” Harriet said. “I was watching the main battle with your mom. We were sitting high enough in the bleachers to see the far side of the field and the edge of the forest. I noticed someone lying there, and thought it was one of the re-enactors. The battle took place, and when people got up to take their bows, the man at the edge of the forest didn't move. Your mom and I went over there, and unfortunately, it turned out to be your dad."

"He was already on the ground when you first saw him?” Gerry asked.

"Yes. I didn't look over there at first because, of course, everything was going to be happening on the main field, but I think he'd been lying there for a little while."

"This is all too weird,” Harry said. “I mean, our dad has been dead for more than half my life. Is there any possibility it isn't our father? Could it be someone who looks like our dad—maybe a cousin of his or something? Did they do a DNA test?"

Ben looked at Gerry. “You
are
sure, right?"

"It's our dad,” Gerry said. He'd gotten up and was pacing the length of the kitchen, his back to his younger brothers.

"You seem awfully sure,” Ben said. “Did you see his body?"

"I didn't need to."

Harry stood and grabbed his brother by the arm, turning him.

"You knew.” he stated. “All this time, you
knew
."

"Gerry,” Ben said, “is that true? Have you known all these years that our father wasn't dead?"

A muscle in Gerry's jaw twitched. “It's not that simple."

Before anyone could react, Harry reared his arm back and threw a solid punch at his brother's jaw. The blow landed with enough force to stagger Gerry, who grabbed at the edge of the counter before sinking onto his rear end.

Ben pinned Harry's arms behind his back. “Stop.” he said. “Just stop."

Harriet helped Gerry to his feet.

"Are you okay?” she asked in a quiet voice. “Do you want me to call anyone?"

He brushed her concern aside. “I'm fine,” he said. “And I deserved that."

"Let me at least get you some ice.” She dug in a drawer for a sandwich bag then opened the freezer and filled the bag with ice cubes. She wrapped the bag in a dish towel and handed it to him.

"I'm calling James,” Ben said. “He should be in on this."

James, Mavis's second son, was an attorney in Port Townsend.

"We don't need to drag James over here this late,” Gerry said around his ice bag.

"You don't get a vote,” Ben said. “You didn't think we needed to know about Dad, either."

Harriet thought about calling Mavis but decided it wasn't her place to tell the boys’ mother. She also didn't want to draw attention to the fact she was still there listening.

"Dad is dead. Just because he wasn't dead for the last twenty years doesn't change the fact that he's dead now,” Gerry said.

"Things are going to get crazy when everyone finds out. We need to understand the implications,” Ben said. “We need to prepare."

"Prepare for what?” Gerry shouted.

"If Dad wasn't dead, Mom's been falsely collecting his insurance.” Ben ticked his points off on his fingers. “And maybe getting Social Security payments. And we still don't know why he left.” He looked at Gerry. “Do we?"

Gerry shook his head indicating they didn't.

"We don't know if Dad was involved in something shady—I mean, he left suddenly. People don't leave like that unless they screwed something up."

"Ben, everyone already knows this stuff,” Harry said, rubbing the knuckles on his right hand.

Harriet noticed for the first time how red and swollen it was. She prepared another bag of ice and handed it to him.

"The police have Dad's body,” Harry continued, “all the old timers in town know Dad died twenty years ago. What's new?"

"If Gerry knew Dad was alive, other people probably did, too. This changes
everything
,” Ben said.

"Ben,” Harry said, “I agree we need to tell James—and Pete, too,” mentioning Mavis's middle son for the first time. “But not tonight. Gerry's ‘secret’ changes things for us, but
only
for us. Not for Mom, not for the police. Two and Three are coming tomorrow anyway.” He used the number nicknames he had invented when he was a toddler, trying to master his four brothers’ names.

"Have you been in touch with Dad all this time?” Ben asked, putting his cell phone back in his pocket and finally asking the question Harriet wanted answered.

"No, I haven't.” Gerry got up from the floor and started pacing again. “It's not like Dad and I made some plan together. He called me to his office one day. He gave me a piece of paper with the address of a post office box and a polymer formula. He said he was leaving on a business trip the following day. He said no matter what I heard after that, I shouldn't believe it. He told me not to tell anyone else what he'd said. Then he told me that if I ever started seeing orders for that polymer come across my desk, I should send a postcard to the address. A blank postcard. That's it."

"And you didn't hear anything else all this time?” Harry asked.

"I heard nothing for almost twenty years. When Dad left, I was a clerk in the purchasing department. When I became manager of the department, I made a habit of reviewing all chemical purchases, just in case. For nineteen years, nothing out of the ordinary happened. I caught a few counting errors by my own employees, but no sign of the polymer.

"Then, about two and a half months ago, someone ordered a small quantity of the stuff. I didn't do anything right away, because the product development people order small quantities of all sorts of chemicals, and besides, I wasn't sure Dad was still out there.” He picked up his ice bag and held it to his jaw again.

"Sorry,” Harry said, and hung his head momentarily.

Gerry put the bag down and took the two ibuprofens Harriet handed him.

"I decided to check out who was using the chemical and what they were using it for,” Gerry continued. “I went down to the production area, and I got the run-around on who had placed the order. The best I could get was that a new project was coming up, and they were preparing for it. Brett, one of the production managers, said he'd heard Carlton had purchased a new product from a company that was closing. He said they were relocating their own managers and technical people. He said they had probably ordered the stuff under Carlton's account number because they aren't set up here yet."

"So, you sent the postcard.” Ben said.

"I did. And to tell you the truth, I didn't think anything would come of it. The first couple of years, I thought Dad would show up with some explanation so all this would make sense. Then, for a few more years after that, I told myself he probably did have an accident, or a heart attack or something. If he'd really left us behind, no one would know to notify us."

"Did you ever try to find him?” Ben asked

"How was I supposed to do that?” Gerry protested. “Don't forget, it was twenty years ago. Everything wasn't a computer keystroke away. He was supposed to have died in Malaysia, but other than that, he could have been anywhere. I couldn't leave my job and go searching the world. Besides, I couldn't afford to go anywhere."

"So the first thing we need to do is hire an investigator and figure out where he's been,” Ben suggested.

The brothers bickered for a minute about how to go about hiring and paying for an investigator. It was clear Mavis hadn't told them about Ilsa yet. Harriet didn't want to be the one to break the news, but it couldn't be helped.

"Guys,” she said, and held up her good hand to silence them. “I can save you some time and money."

"Do you know something?” Harry asked.

"Of course, she knows something,” Ben said, “Why do you think she said that?"

"Does anyone need more coffee?” Harriet stalled.

"Let me do that,” Ben said, and took the coffeepot and refilled their mugs.

When everyone was settled again, Harriet took a deep breath and began.

"There's no easy way to tell you all this, so if you could, let me get it all out before you ask any questions.” She proceeded to tell them about Ilsa and the Netherlands, and then Lauren's discovery about their dad's sale of his invention and the resulting money.

"Dad remarried?” Harry said.

"Dad's a millionaire?” Ben said at the same time.

"What do we know about this woman?” Gerry asked.

"I don't think we know anything about Ilsa, except for what she told us,” Harriet said. “She claims to have followed your dad here. I'm not sure how else she would have ended up here unless she got the information from him in some way, or followed him. I know it doesn't mean anything, but I've spent a few hours with her and she seems sincere. From listening to her talk to your mom, she either knew your dad for some amount of time or did really thorough research."

"We should be able to call Dad's cousins in Holland. At least we could verify that much,” Gerry said.

"Lauren did find the information about the fiber formula under Gerard Van Auken, which is the name Ilsa knew him by, so that must mean something, too,” Harriet said.

"I can't believe our dad left us and married someone else,” Harry said in a hollow voice.

"This is
all
pretty unbelievable,” Gerry agreed.

"There's one more thing,” Harriet said. “I'm not sure if this was a coincidence or if it's connected, but your mom was called to go babysit for your brother Pete during most of the re-enactment. She got back just before we saw your dad lying at the edge of the forest. She told me she thought something was off about the request. Pete told her their babysitter had to attend an out-of-town funeral, and then Mavis ran into the girl at a coffee shop. She fled when Mavis recognized her."

"You're not trying to say Pete's in on this, are you?” Gerry asked. “Why would Dad ask Pete, of all people?"

"I don't know what I'm trying to say. It just seemed weird. It came up all of a sudden, and then the girl was in town when she was supposed to be gone. I think that's a pretty big coincidence."

Gerry stared at the ceiling. “This just keeps getting better,” he said.

"What's so important about that particular polymer?” Harry asked. “Is it poisonous or environmentally dangerous?"

"No more so than any of the other chemicals we use to make the fireman's turnouts. None of the stuff we use is without its dangerous properties, but nothing radical. But I'm a business guy, what do I know. We can ask one of the chemists tomorrow, if you want."

"Speaking of tomorrow, it's going to be here before we know it.” Harriet took her cup to the sink and rinsed it before putting it in the dishwasher. “I'm going to bed. Can I trust you not to tear the place up?"

"I'll behave,” Harry said. “I'm sorry I over-reacted. This has been a lot to take in."

"I'll take responsibility for the coffeepot,” Ben offered.

Harriet thanked him, called Fred and went up to bed.

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Mavis was drinking
tea in the kitchen the next morning when Harriet and Fred came downstairs.