The Hayloft. A 1950s Mystery

the window and said, “Is Ed still sick?”
    “Eddie’s fine,” she said. “I just wanted to say hello.”
    “Hello.”
    “Hello.”
    We laughed. She poked her head through the car window and kissed me. I felt like I was two-timing Sylvia. But it wasn’t as if I had initiated the kiss. The door opened, and Ed came out. Kate quickly pulled her head out of the car, and we strove to look innocent.
    Kate and I said good-bye as Ed climbed into the car. If he saw what happened, he didn’t let on. I backed the car out of the driveway, shifted into first gear, and drove away. We were going to a picnic of the Western New York High School Mathematical Society. The group met periodically, and members from various schools gave presentations on mathematical fallacies and stuff like that.
    I had just been invited to join, and in fact, the picnic was the first function I was attending. Ed had been a member since the beginning of the school year. It was interesting that mathematical ability ran in both of our families, even though we had been separated for several generations. Barney also belonged, but he was driving separately with Dr. Graves and another member from the Carter High junior class.
    After I asked Ed how he was feeling and he answered that he was feeling all right, I said, “I have something to tell you about the necklace.”
    Ed looked wary and said, “What’s that?”
    “It’s not in the hayloft.”
    “What did you do, dig out the bales all the way down to the floor? We agreed to wait until spring.”
    “No, but I did manage to climb down to the floor and look for it.”
    “You shouldn’t have done that.”
    Ed’s voice was heated but not passionate. I knew why. I mentally braced myself and said, “I know you lied about the location of the necklace. I know that Ralph said it was in the southwest corner of the hayloft.”
    “Have you been going through my things?” Ed was almost yelling now, his English accent very pronounced. “So that’s what you were doing the day you were there with Kate. You bloody bastard. Asking Kate to the dance was a cover. Or maybe a bribe. She helped you find it.”
    “Leave Kate out of it. I did it myself. Yes, I went through your stuff, and I found Ralph’s map. But that’s no worse than you lying about it.”
    Ed wasn’t through yelling. He kept going on and on about what a terrible person I was. I was afraid he was going to attack me, and I would wreck the car. Maybe I should pull over.
    “Not only did you go through my private possessions, you took one of my magazines,” he ranted.
    “Do you have them catalogued or something? Yes, I took your bloody magazine. Your mother came home early, and it was either take it or have her find it. Look, we both are at fault. You lied to me, and I went through your stuff. But the point is, there is no necklace. I searched the hole thoroughly, and it just ain’t there. So either there never was a necklace, or somebody removed it.”
    Ed was silent for a few seconds while he contemplated that statement. Then he said, “How do I know that you didn’t find it and keep it for yourself?”
    “Do you think I would be telling you about doing this if I had found it and didn’t want to share it? I would have hidden it someplace else. Then come spring when the bales were cleared, we would look for the necklace together, and it wouldn’t be there, and I would put on an innocent pose.”
    “Since you say you didn’t remove all the bales, maybe you’re making up the story of looking for it to get me off the track. Maybe you didn’t look for it at all. But with me out of the way, now it’s all yours.”
    I was about to say that Sylvia had seen me look for the necklace, but I didn’t want to drag her into it, especially since the fact that we had been together might get to Aunt Dorothy. Nothing I said was going to persuade Ed.
    “If you like, you can come up to the hayloft. I’ll show you how I got down to the floor. You can go down there yourself. Then maybe you’ll believe that I actually did it.”
    Ed had an apprehensive look on his face. Maybe he was claustrophobic, like Natalie. In any case, that shut him up for a few minutes. When he spoke again, he was a lot calmer.
    “Sorry I spouted off about the necklace, old man,” he said. “I guess I hoped it was true. Now I realize that it was a figment of Ralph’s imagination.”
    “That’s a good point,” I said. “Why did Ralph create the map in the first place?