Dead To Life

Chapter 6

Chapter 6Sara brought bottled water from the fridge rather than drink more coffee that late in the day. She and Huxley read a few more of the letters and folded them away once again. Then Sara noticed something peculiar in the next letter. “Oh, Hux, look what she told your parents.”

July 15, 1971

Dear Audrey and Mather,

We are still working hard at our jobs. So many people with different lives is hard to keep track of. Evelyn went to collect late rent from a tenant. When she was in the apartment, she heard the tenant scream. The woman's toddler fell out of the window four floors up. That's the top floor. The baby died. The windows high up don't have screens because they're impossible to install. The mother must have left the window open and the toddler went out.

The police questioned Evelyn and the mom and Evelyn got really scared. She told the police that there was a flowerpot beside the window and the toddler used it to climb up. The little boy was born retarded and the mother thought it might have been for the best and Evelyn agreed. I am sick about this and do not know how Evelyn could agree to such things. Lots of things happen in an apartment building this size.

I have received a few letters from Rocky with some pictures. He sent you the same ones. He's so handsome, even in his work clothes. He is my one and only. I will love him forever.

Our anniversary on July 4th was sad for me. Sometimes I cry and get depressed. Evelyn feels that way too. I think she's still in love with him. She gets moody and real angry and won't let me talk about him. Rocky is lucky. He has two of us waiting for him. I hope Evelyn is okay that I will be the one to marry him. She keeps the pictures of him and her. Some were taken at Playland at the Beach. She keeps them because there are rumors The City will tear Playland down. I know she keeps them because she's still in love with him. She keeps a picture of them together on her nightstand.

That's all the news I have today. Thank you for always writing me back.

Yours truly,

Emma

“Wow, Hux, back then they still used the term retarded instead of Down Syndrome.”

“Sad about that baby.” He shook his head.

Sara held onto the letter, re-reading it. “Wait a second.”

“What is it?”

“If we don't find Emma, would we be able to find the sister? I'll bet those two didn't stay together through the years though.”

“Why do you say that?”

She pointed to several lines in the letter. “Evelyn is not very happy that her sister is engaged to her former boyfriend. It was enough of a problem that Emma spoke of it to your parents.”

“You're doing it again.”

“What am I doing?”

“Thankfully doing, Sara. You're reading hidden meanings behind the words. You pick up things that most people miss, like that lost girl you found last year.”

“I remember. It was that first case I took after I came home from Hawaii.”

“You sensed the situation correctly from reading her diary. Just like now, with this letter. You may be onto something here.”

“I sense more than a bit of animosity from Evelyn toward her sister. And regardless she's aware of her sister's jealousy, Emma is pretty naive.”

“I don't know how you do it.”

“You do it, Hux. You know how to read your intuition.”

“But you're so fast.”

“You also have a photographic memory. You remember things once you've seen them. You think that doesn't help?”

Huxley squeezed her hand and read the letter again. Then he scattered the fading photos on the tabletop until he found several of Rocky in his uniform. Huxley stood again suddenly, his chair scraping the floor. He held Rocky's picture and looked at it, almost put it down, and looked at it again.

“The last thing Rocky told me before he left was that he'd teach me how to ride his motorcycle when he returned.” His eyes glossed over. He paced, finally standing again near the counter, stealing glances at the photo he held, and staring out the kitchen window till he calmed.

Huxley was fascinated with motorcycles, but Sara understood why he would never ride one. He, too, had waited, wanting that first ride to be with his brother. She picked up other photos. Huxley had grown to look so much like Rocky.

“Beside her sweet looks, Emma must have been a nice person to catch your great looking brother.”

Huxley eased back into his chair and laid the photo down. They continued reading letters, mostly between Rocky and his parents, and looking at the aging photos. Some engagement shots of Rocky and Emma lay among the treasures. The stunning engagement ring was front and center in the picture of their hands. A large center diamond stood high with a large diamond on each side. The backs of the pictures were dated July 6, 1972.

“Two days later, he shipped out.”

“They look happy.” Sara needed to keep Huxley's emotions buoyant. “Look at Emma's long silky dark hair and eyes.”

In all her pictures, she wore the same tiny red stud earrings. Then they found pictures of Emma and Evelyn at a birthday party with a cake on the table.

“Evelyn's pretty too. Her hair's a little lighter and shorter.”

Evelyn wore a box chain necklace with the turquoise stone pendant. What looked to be a thin Italian chain bracelet was the only jewelry Emma wore.

“Evelyn's not as pretty. What a beautiful smile Emma has.” Huxley sighed heavily. “They'd have been happy together.”

Sara placed her hand on his and squeezed. “We can't change the past.”

They studied the few remaining photos of Emma and Rocky together.

Huxley sighed. “Emma barely reaches his shoulder. She must have been tiny.”

“And he was massive. Just look at his build.”

“That's why Palmer Dane told us when he got sick, Rocky carried him on his back through the jungle. Palmer knew he was sick and would be killed. He ran for his life. He got shot and wounded but got rescued by the Hmong people.”

Sara needed to ask, though she knew Palmer and Huxley had become close. She gently touched his hand. “Do you feel any resentment that Palmer got away, and the rest, including Rocky, didn't?”

“No, Sara, you said it. 'We can't change the past.' Someone lived… someone lived to help us find the rest.” His answer was quick, mostly likely came straight from his heart.

Sara studied the photo. “He has blue eyes, too, but not the same topaz color as yours. Still…”

Huxley smiled. “Our family was always known for our blue eyes.”

Another photo showed the sisters among friends. Another showed the sisters side-by-side with a line of girls.

“Look at that, Hux.” Sara was surprised. “You almost can't tell the sisters apart.”

They looked closely. Emma looked to be a bit shorter than Evelyn. It would be easier to tell the sisters apart by their heights.

Another close-up showed the sisters with a couple of other girls. Sara studied the photos for a while. “I can see why Rocky would be attracted to either girl, but Evelyn doesn't smile as much as Emma.”

They needed to find these sisters. She studied the features of both in the close-up photo. Neither had birthmarks, moles, freckles, or any blemishes on their skin. Their faces would have changed with age, so Sara wanted to remember their facial structures and other attributes. Either sister would be crucial to the identity of the key.

In Emma's next letter to Audrey and Mather, she explained what Rocky had suggested.

January 10,1972

Dear Audrey and Mather,

Rocky surprised me with a suggestion. I wanted you to know in case he hasn't told you. It was an off-the-wall idea because he knows I get depressed about him being so far away. He wants me to move to Honolulu. He said Evelyn can probably manage the apartment building with the assistant manager. He will be passing through Honolulu when he comes home. He wants to show me the Hawaiian Islands before we settle down. We might even live there because he loves Hawaii.

He knows retired military friends who live there and are on the Board of Directors for their new apartment building. They need an experienced apartment manager. Rocky said I have the experience they need. I have thought about leaving this building because the memories of my family make me sad. I'm not sure what to do but I'd be closer to Rocky.

Evelyn doesn't want me to go. I think she's real jealous. Sometimes I think I could strangle her just to straighten her out. She changed for the worst when Rocky and I got engaged. I have to make her see if she replaces me as Manager, she could make a better salary. She always needs money and could stop borrowing from everybody. She confuses me. Should I go to Hawaii?

Thank you,

Emma

Huxley opened one more letter from his parents but only scanned it. “They told Rocky about Emma's comment about strangling Evelyn. They asked her not to think about harming her sister. They were hesitant about her being able to support herself in Honolulu, but if Rocky's friends would hire her, then she had a place to stay as well as a job.” He folded the letter again. “If things didn't work out, I know Mom and Dad would help her get back to San Francisco.” He stuck the letter back into the pile.

“That comment about strangling her sister must have surprised your parents.” Sara gestured toward the pile of letters, neatly stuffed back into their envelopes. “That's it? No further correspondence?”

“Just another one from Emma to Mom and Dad.” He didn't bother to show it and stuffed them all back into envelopes. “Chit-chat about what was going on at the apartment building.”

“And the deteriorating relationship between the sisters, right?” She went to close the kitchen window.

“You intuit that without reading these last ones?”

“Yes, because it bothered Emma enough to keep mentioning it, even though she didn't say anything specific. Sisterly rivalry, you think?”

“That's all we have to get us started.” Huxley stacked the photos and dropped them back into the manila envelope. “That's where communication ends but look at these.” He showed Sara the last two sealed letters his parents had sent to Emma in San Francisco. Both were stamped, Return to Sender – Addressee Unknown. One was date stamped January 20, 1973, the other March 14, 1973. “Mom was surprised she hadn't heard from Emma again after October of '72. It was one big mystery.”

“Seems we have only one recourse.” Sara looked at him hopefully. “San Francisco is where we should start.”

Not until recently did she realize traveling must be in her blood. After all, how could she as an eighteen-year-old dash off after her family's deaths and her finishing high school? She had escaped to Puerto Rico where she knew no one and didn't speak the language. She'd traveled some in the Caribbean. She'd also been to Vietnam three times and lived briefly on Kauai in Hawaii. Now she was willing to go wherever this special investigation took them.