Patricia Rockwell - Essie Cobb 02 - Papoosed (17 page)

Chapter Nineteen

“A new baby is like the beginning of all things–wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities.”

–Eda J. LeShan

            Essie sat drumming her fingers on the arm of her chair.  Her heart was racing and her mind was too. 
There must be something else I could do for the little infant asleep on my bed,
she thought.  She looked out her window on the far side of her living room.  Snow was coming down faster than it had been earlier and building up noticeably on the branches of the evergreens in the courtyard outside of Essie’s window.  Poor Santos!  How was he going to search for Maria in this weather?  If Maria was lying on the ground somewhere–injured–he might not see her if she was covered in snow. 
Of course
, reasoned Essie,
people had been known to survive injuries for days until help arrived.
  It had now been almost a full day since Maria had disappeared.  But, surely, the cold weather would make surviving outdoors less and less likely, wouldn’t it?  If Santos couldn’t find some trace of Maria, they would have to report her disappearance to the authorities.  And they’d have to report Antonio too.

            Essie rubbed her temples.  This was not the kind of pleasant retirement she had envisioned for herself when she had moved to Happy Haven six years ago.  Yes, she enjoyed the camaraderie of her fellow residents, but how she managed to get herself into these pickles, she just didn’t understand. 
I’m ninety years old
, she wanted to cry out to the world!  She was not an investigative reporter or a bloodhound.  She just wanted to be able to relax in her lounge chair with her feet up and work on her puzzles.  That thought made her reach over to her end table where she kept a clipboard of some of the most recent puzzles that she was working on.  There were crosswords, picture puzzles, and a variety of other brain teasers.  Essie perused the top puzzle which remained unfinished and chewed on the pencil that was attached to the clipboard with a string.  Quickly, she filled in one of the empty words.

            “Of course!” she said to herself out loud.  “Why didn’t I figure that one out before?  Maybe all this detecting is making me sharper.”  She chuckled aloud, but not so loud that she would awaken baby Antonio.

            She glanced over at the gift box that Hubert Darby had given her.  “Peanut brittle,” she moaned quietly.  “Why couldn’t he give me chocolates?”  She picked up the box casually and pulled off the red bow and ribbon and unwrapped the package.  Inside, she found a beautiful blue velvet jewelry box.  “This isn’t a candy box,” she mused, cautiously lifting the attached lid.  Inside, nestled on a blue velvet bed lay a gleaming golden necklace.  A small heart-shaped pendant shone at the end of a delicate chain.

            “Mothers of Murgatroyd!” exclaimed Essie. “What’s this?”  She lifted the delicate necklace up from its bed so she could examine it.  “What’s going on?”  Looking more carefully at the box, she found a label from the designer on the inside of the lid.  It was a company name she recognized–a company that was known for producing expensive jewelry.  “Maybe this is Hubert’s mother’s necklace.  Maybe he isn’t aware of its value.  Why would he give it to me?  Surely, he didn’t purchase it for me.”  She spoke to herself in a whisper as she continued to ponder the present on her lap.  

            Finally, she closed the lid of the jewelry box and placed it on her end table along with the remnants of the wrapping paper.  “I can’t accept this from Hubert … or anyone,” she said out loud to anyone who might be listening.  “It wouldn’t be appropriate … no matter what this necklace is worth.  And I’m guessing it’s worth quite a lot.”  She grabbed the box and rewrapped the present, attempting to place the tape back in its original position.  When she had it reasonably rewrapped, she placed it back on her end table.

             “I don’t need this now, Hubert,” she said aloud.  “Why couldn’t you have just given me peanut brittle like you said you did?  That would only be a problem for my teeth!”  She slapped her forehead with her palm and rocked back and forth in her chair.  The only good thing in the present situation was that with the quarantine in effect, she wouldn’t have to confront Hubert immediately; she’d at least have some time to figure out how to return the necklace to him politely and explain to him how inappropriate it is for men to give women expensive jewelry when they are merely acquaintances.  At least, she assumed it was expensive jewelry.  Even if it was a very clever fake, it was still inappropriate. 

            The phone rang, shaking her from her contemplation. 

            “Essie,” said Marjorie’s voice, “how is Antonio?  I’m sorry to pester you.  I just miss him so much.”

            “He’s fine, Marjorie,” replied Essie, actually happy for the interruption.  “Did you have someone check on Fay?”

            “Yes, yes!” she said. “They promised they would!  The staff is aware of Fay’s problems, Essie.  They know she can’t or won’t use her telephone, so they will be checking on her a lot until we are all allowed to leave our rooms.  Now!  How is my baby?”

            “Your baby?” retorted Essie.  “Since when is he yours?”

            “Our baby, then,” replied Marjorie. “Is he eating?  Do you have enough formula?”

            “Yes, Marjorie, and, yes,” said Essie. “Nothing has changed in the last few hours since you last saw Antonio.  He’s asleep now, although I’m surprised he manages to stay asleep with all the commotion.”

            “What commotion?”

            “Santos was here earlier,” she reported, “and now he’s out looking for Maria.”

            “Where?” asked Marjorie excitedly.  “Did you get a lead on her?”

            “No, Marjorie,” replied Essie, “no lead, but the longer she remains missing, the more I worry that she’s injured somewhere and unable to contact anyone … or worse yet … dead.”

            “Oh, Essie,” exclaimed Marjorie, “I hope not!  So where is Santos looking?”

            “In the woods next to her home,” said Essie.  “I … we were thinking that maybe she and Gerald fought and she ran out to get away from him and he chased after her.  Maybe that’s when he got in that car accident.  We know Maria couldn’t drive and didn’t have a car and we know she wasn’t in the car with Gerald, so we are assuming she was on foot and probably couldn’t get very far from her apartment.”

            “I hope he finds her,” said Marjorie, sighing deeply.

            “Me too,” agreed Essie.  “And that’s not all of my problems!” she confided in a whisper.

            “What else?” queried Marjorie.

            “You’ll never believe it!” Essie huffed into the receiver.  “The peanut brittle that Hubert Darby gave me turns out to be a gold necklace!”

            “What?”

            “Yes, it’s true.  I just opened the present and instead of candy, there was a jewelry box from Kreigsted’s!”

            “Kreigsted’s!  Oh, Essie, they’re expensive!” gushed Marjorie.

            “I know!” replied Essie.  “It’s a blue velvet box.  Inside is this beautiful gold pendant!”

            “Is Hubert wealthy?” asked Marjorie. “He doesn’t seem wealthy.”

            “What does a wealthy man seem like?” snickered Essie.  She was amazed that Marjorie would hone in on the most unimportant aspect of her problem.

            “I don’t know,” she replied, “I mean, he doesn’t act like he has a lot of money.”

            “No, he doesn’t,” Essie agreed.  “I’m thinking maybe it’s his mother’s or something.  Maybe he doesn’t even realize that it’s worth something.”

            “What are you going to do, Essie?”

            “I’m not going to keep it,” she said, “that’s for certain.  I’ll have to return it.  Obviously, not now.  But as soon as the quarantine is lifted.”

            “It’s going to hurt Hubert’s feelings, Essie,” said Marjorie sadly.  “He really has a crush on you.”

            “Marjorie,” said Essie firmly, “I can’t accept expensive presents from a man I barely know.”

            “I don’t know why not,” suggested Marjorie coyly, “I would.  Hubert can give me expensive jewelry if he wants.”

            “Oodles of doodles, Marjorie!” exclaimed Essie. “Have you no scruples?”

            “There’s nothing wrong with accepting a gift from a man!”

            “Peanut brittle, no!  Expensive jewelry, yes!”

            “Essie, you don’t even know for sure that it’s expensive.”

            “I’m pretty sure that it is,” said Essie, now thinking about the necklace in the beautiful box that remained wrapped in its original green paper on her end table. 

            “You know who would know for sure?” offered Marjorie.

            “Who?”

            “Opal,” replied Marjorie.  “She rambles on often enough about that ‘namesake’ opal she wears around her neck.  She thinks she’s an expert on all things jewel-related.  I’m going to call her and …”

            Essie interrupted her.  “Marjorie, I’m sorry I even mentioned Hubert’s gift.  This just isn’t something I want to have to worry about now … or have you and Opal worry about.  We have to think about Antonio … and his mother.”

            “What can we do for either of them now?” pleaded Marjorie.

            “Nothing,” said Essie eventually with a sigh.

            “Then, let me talk to Opal about your necklace.  I’m sure she’ll know whether it’s worth something and she might even have an idea about what you should do with it … and Hubert Darby.”

            “Oh, all right!” agreed Essie.  The two women said their good-byes and Essie pulled herself out of her chair and rolled over to her bedroom door to see if her little charge was still sleeping.  He was.

            There was a soft knock on her door.  Essie scooted quickly to the door and cracked it slightly.  Santos stood in the hallway dressed in his winter jacket and hat.  He was stomping snow off of his shoes and looking around cautiously from side to side. 

            “Miss Essie,” he whispered.  “Can I come in?”

            “Yes, yes, of course,” she replied, opening the door to allow the young man to enter.  Santos moved inside quickly and went directly to Essie’s bedroom door where he looked briefly in to see baby Antonio still sleeping.

            “Not good news, Miss Essie,” said Santos.  “I find this.”  He abruptly removed a small rectangular-shaped white plastic nameplate from his pants’ pocket.  Essie took it from his freezing fingers and examined it as she leaned against the handles of her walker.  It appeared to be a nametag that an employee might wear at work.  On the back was a long pin where the tag attached to the employee’s clothes.  The pin was bent backwards and a small remnant of white cloth was attached to it.  On the front side of the nametag were printed the words “Happy Haven” in bright blue cursive letters at the top, and in the middle typed on a strip of adhesive marking tape, the name ‘Maria.’”