Free A Quiet Death by Marcia Talley Page B

most recent address I have for her is in New York City, so I thought I’d start there.’
    â€˜Didn’t you tell me that the letter you addressed to her in New York City came back, addressee unknown.’
    â€˜It did, but Thirty-nine Fifth Avenue is an apartment building. If I’m lucky, somebody still living there now will remember her.’
    Ruth set her mug down on the black Formica tabletop, worry lining her normally smooth brow. ‘The train, Hannah? Are you sure ?’
    I shrugged. ‘Have to climb back on the horse that bucked you.’
    â€˜Does Paul know what you’re up to?’
    I rested my knife against the rim of my plate. ‘No. He fussed that I was obsessing over Lilith and Zan, which is true. I was – am – obsessing over their story. Paul put up with it while I was recovering from the accident because it kept me home and out of trouble, but I think he was secretly pleased when I put the letters away and got back to my knitting.’
    â€˜So to speak,’ Ruth grinned.
    â€˜No, really,’ I grinned back. ‘I actually finished a sweater.’
    â€˜Won’t Paul notice that you’re missing?’
    I shook my head. ‘Paul’s in Colorado Springs.’
    â€˜What the hell’s he doing in Colorado?’
    I tore off a bit of toast and dredged it through the egg yolk remaining on my plate. ‘The Navy–Air Force game is today. He’s flown out on a party plane with a bunch of his Naval Academy buddies.’
    Ruth gave me a look that I’d often seen on our mother’s face whenever we were trying to pull a fast one. ‘He’s going to have a cow when he finds out!’
    I shrugged. ‘“It’s much easier to apologize than it is to get permission,”’ I said, quoting Grace Hopper.
    â€˜So, how come you’re not going to the game, Hannah?’
    â€˜No scientific instrument yet invented is sensitive enough to measure how little I care about football.’
    Ruth smothered a laugh with her napkin. ‘Want me to come to New York with you? I could get Neelie to cover the store for the day.’
    Cornelia – nicknamed Neelie – was my widowed father’s girlfriend. The Alexander girls – my sisters, Ruth and Georgina, and I – thoroughly approved of Cornelia Gibbs and couldn’t imagine why our father hadn’t asked her to marry him yet. It had been almost a decade since our mother’s death. But we knew from experience that there was little to be gained from pushing the man. There’s not much you can tell a retired navy captain. They’re accustomed to being in charge.
    â€˜I appreciate the concern, Big Sis, but some challenges simply have to be faced alone.’
    The waitress appeared, and Ruth held out her mug for a refill. ‘It’s your funeral, Hannah, but for heaven’s sake, be careful!’
    An hour and a half later, I parked my car in the Amtrak garage at BWI and bought a ticket on the next train to New York City. I thought I had the Train Thing under control until the Northeaster actually pulled into the station and it was time to climb aboard.
    One step forward, two steps back, the heebie-jeebies had taken hold. Except for the conductor, I was alone on the platform.
    â€˜Are we holding you up?’ asked the conductor. ‘You getting on or just sightseeing?’
    I took a deep breath, and dashed up the steps into one of the middle cars before I had a chance to change my mind.
    Three hours later, I got off at Penn Station.
    Miraculously unscathed.
    It’s a twenty-five minute hike from Penn Station to 39 Fifth, but cabs can be expensive, so I ruled them out. I had no appointments, no schedule to keep, so I’d planned a leisurely stroll along a route that would take me past Macy’s windows and down Broadway. I took my time doing it, too, zigging across town on the numbered streets and zagging down the avenues, enjoying