In the Still of the Night

her?”
    Addie shrugged. “I have no idea. But you might ask Julian West about her. She was claiming to Lily that she and Julian were ‘acquaintances’ in their youth. That’s not the version she told me.“
    “Tell me that one,“ Walker said, licking the point of his pencil.
    “Before I knew Anthony—he was the man I was to marry—I knew Lorna. She’d served on the board of the school where I taught. For some reason she decided to be chummy with me. I must have looked like a gullible listener. She told me about her relationship with Julian West.”
    Addie went on to recount what she could remember of Lorna’s story. Lorna had been, she said, a part-time worker at the library where he did a lot of his research in Washington, D.C. He often asked her for help in finding government documents for his research. They started seeing each other. First lunches at a nearby park, then he’d have his driver take them around sightseeing, and eventually it was evenings with just the two of them at the small apartment he kept in Washington.
    “She was a bit smirky about that, as if I couldn’t be expected to understand about sex. They were to be married, but he went to the Great War and left her a letter. He said he and his cousin and their manservant might not ever come back and that she must forget him as he had a strong premonition that he would die.“
    “Did you think this story was true?“ Walker asked.
    “I guess I did at the time,“ Addie said. “She gave lots of little details that made it seem true and I believed it. But as I came to know her better, I stopped believing anything she said. She might have just made it all up to impress or shock me. Though I can’t imagine why she’d enjoy doing that.“
    “What kind of details?“ Lily asked.
    Addie crossed her legs and sat back. “Oh, things like how he was so private and wouldn’t take her to his home upstate. That she asked about his cousin John and he would say ‘He’s my cousin, what is there to know?’ And when she asked about his manservant—I assume that’s the man he brought with him here—he wouldn’t talk about him either.”
    Addie lowered her voice. “She liked knowing things about people. She told me, and I don’t know if this is true either, that she didn’t ever contact West again. That he was so charming and handsome and intelligent, but also so secretive and reclusive that she didn’t feel he’d make a good husband after all. She’d turned it around that she rejected him, rather than being rejected.”
    Walker tapped his pencil on his knee. “I guess I’ll have to ask him about this. Was there any sort of passionate greeting when they met here? I mean passion in all its senses. Joy or hatred.”
    Lily answered. “Remarkably little. I wouldn’t have guessed they had such a history and this is the first I’ve heard of it. Bud Carpenter just said something like, ‘Oh, Captain West, it’s Miss Lorna Pratt,’ and West greeted her politely. There was no particular sign of like or dislike on either side.“
    “That was my feeling as well,“ Addie said. “Ships that had passed in the night,“ she said, then blushing slightly added, “So to speak.“
    “Did either of you suspect she’d come here to renew their ‘friendship’?”
    That was a tactful way to put it, Lily thought.
    “She only told me she admired his books and had known him when they were young,“ Lily said. “There was no hint of any strong ties or lingering resentment or anything else.”
    Walker continued to tap his pencil on his knee. “Miss Jonson, were you in your own room all night?“
    “Yes. And,“ she added, determined to let him know the worst, “my room is connected by a bathroom, closet and small hallway to Lorna’s room.“
    “Did you lock your outside hall door and the one that connected with hers?“
    “I did. I didn’t want to have any intimate chats with her.“
    “Had she locked her side?“ Walker asked. Addie looked surprised and offended. “I wasn’t interested in finding out. I have no idea.“
    “Did you hear anything overnight? Any conversation from her room?“
    “I wouldn’t have with the passage between the rooms and both doors closed.“
    “No hint of any unusual sounds overnight?“ Walker persisted.
    “I sleep like a fallen log, sir. Always have. I heard nothing.”

    When Addie was excused, Walker asked Lily to stay behind. “What she said about the man she intended to marry—was that what she told