Red Lily

plastic surgeon, Harper thought, had shaved a good ten years off her seventy-six. “I’m pleased to meet you, Miz Fitzpatrick. I realize this is an odd sort of intrusion, but I wonder if we might come in and have a word with you?”
    The color of her eyes might have been faded, but the expression of them was sharp as a scalpel. “Do I look like the simpleminded sort of woman who lets strange men into her house?”
    “No, ma’am.” But he had to wonder why a woman who claimed good sense would believe a screened door was any sort of barrier. “If you wouldn’t mind then, if I could just ask you a few questions regarding a—”
    “Ashby, you said?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”

    “Any relation to Miriam Norwood Ashby?”
    “Yes, ma’am. She was my paternal grandmother.”
    “I knew her a little.”
    “I can’t really claim the same.”
    “Don’t expect so, as she’s been dead some time now. You’d be Rosalind Harper’s boy then.”
    “Yes, ma’am, her oldest.”
    “I’ve met her a time or two. First time being at her wedding to John Ashby. You have the look of her, don’t you?”
    “I do. Yes, ma’am.”
    She slid her eyes toward David. “This isn’t your brother.”
    “A family friend, Miz Fitzpatrick,” David said with a full-wattage smile. “I live at Harper House, and work for Rosalind. Perhaps you’d feel more at ease if you contacted Miz Harper before you speak to us. We’d be happy to give you a number where you can reach her, and wait out here while you do.”
    Instead she opened the screen. “I don’t believe Miriam Ashby’s grandson is going to knock me unconscious and rob me. Y’all come in.”
    “Thank you.”
    The house was as neat and well-tended as its mistress, with polished oak floors and muted green walls. She let them into a generous living room that was furnished in a contemporary, almost minimalistic style.
    “I suppose you boys could use a cold drink.”
    “We don’t want to put you to any trouble, Miz Fitzpatrick,” Harper told her.
    “Sweet tea’s simple enough. Have a seat. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
    “Classy,” David commented when she left the room. “A bit pared down, but classy.”
    “The place, or her?”

    “Both.” He took a seat on the sofa. “Ashby-Harper is a very slick entree. Charm wouldn’t have worked on her.”
    “Interesting she knew my grandmother—she’s some younger—and that she was invited to my mother’s wedding. All these little intersections. I wonder if one of her ancestors knew Reginald or Beatrice.”
    “Coincidence is only coincidence if you don’t have an open mind.”
    “Living with a ghost tends to leave it gaping.” Harper got to his feet as Mae came back with a tray of glasses. “Let me get that for you. We very much appreciate your time, Miz Fitzpatrick.” He set the tray on the coffee table. “I’ll try not to take up too much of it.”
    “Your grandmother was a kindhearted woman. While I didn’t know her intimately, your grandfather and my first husband had a small business venture together many years ago. A real estate venture,” she added, “that was satisfactorily profitable for all involved. Now, why has her grandson come knocking on my door?”
    “It has to do with a bracelet from your mother’s estate.”
    She angled her head with polite interest. “My mother’s estate.”
    “Yes, ma’am. It happens that I bought this bracelet from the jeweler who acquired it from the estate.”
    “And is there something wrong with the bracelet?”
    “No. No, ma’am. I’m hoping you might remember some of the history of it, as I’m very interested in its origins. I’m told it was made sometime around 1890. It’s made up of ruby hearts framed in diamonds.”
    “Yes, I know the piece. I sold it and several others recently as they weren’t to my taste and saw no reason to have them sitting in a safety deposit box as they had been since my mother’s death some years ago.” She sipped her tea as she watched him. “You’re curious about its history?”

    “Yes, ma’am, I am.”
    “But not forthcoming with your reasons.”
    “Oddly enough, I have reason to believe it—or one very like it—was in my family. When I discovered that, I found it interesting and thought satisfying my curiosity would be worth a little time in trying to trace it back.”
    “Is that so? Now, that I find interesting. The bracelet was given by my grandfather to my grandmother in 1893, as an anniversary