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Wireman poured himself a fresh glass of tea with a
hand that was not quite steadyI found that
interesting and disquietingThen he glanced at
his watch, which he wore nurse-style, with the
246
face on the inside of his wrist"In half an hour
or so I really have to go up and check her," he
said"I'm sure she's fine, but-"
"What if she wasn't?" I asked"If she fell, or
something?"
He pulled a walkie-talkie from the pocket of his
chinosIt was as slim as a cell phone"I make
sure she always carries hersThere are also Rapid
Response call-buttons all over the house, but-" He
tapped a thumb chanel jumbo on his chest"I'm the real alarm
system, okay? The only one I trust
He looked out at the water and sighed
"She's got Alzheimer'sIt's not too bad yet, but
DrHadlock says it'll probably move fast now that
it's settled in He shrugged
almost sullenly, then brightened"We have tea
every day at fourWhy not come up
and meet the lady of the house? I'll even throw in
a slice of key lime pieDo you think she's
the one who left that message on my answering
machine about Duma Key not being a lucky place for
daughters?"
247
"SureAlthough if you expect an explanation - if
you expect her to even chanel costume jewelry remember - good luckBut I
can help you a little, maybeYou said something
about brothers and sisters yesterday, and I didn't
get a chance to correct youFact is, all
Elizabeth's sibs were girlsThe
oldest was born in 1908 or thereaboutsElizabeth
came onstage in 1923Eastlake died about two
months after having herSome kind of infection
Or maybe she threw a clotwho's to know at this
late date? That was here, on Duma Key
"Did the father remarry?" I still couldn't
remember his name
Wireman helped me out
"You're not going to tell me he raised six girls
out hereThat's just too gothic
"He cartier watches tried, with the help of a nannyBut his
eldest ran off with a boyMiss Eastlake had an
accident that almost killed her"They were two years older than
ElizabethIn 1927 they disappearedThe
presumption is they tried to go swimming, got
swept away by an undertow, and drowned out there
in the caldo grande
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We looked at the water for a little while - those
deceptively mild waves running up the beach like
puppies - and said nothingThen I asked if
Elizabeth had told him all of thisAnd she's mixed up about what she
does rememberI found a passing mention of an
incident that had to be the right tiffany silver jewelry one on a Web
site dedicated to Gulf coast historyHad a little
e-mail correspondence with a guy who's a librarian
in Tampa Wireman raised his hands and waggled
his fingers in a typing mime"Tessie and Laura
EastlakeThe librarian sent me a copy of the
Tampa paper from April 19th, 1927The headline on
the front page is very stark, very bleak, very
chillingElizabeth would have been four,
old enough to understand what had happenedMaybe
old enough to read a newspaper headline as simple
as THEY ARE GONEThe twins dead and Adriana, the
oldest, eloped off to Atlanta with one of his
plant chanel jewellery manager |
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