The Ghosts of Aquinnah (27 page)

“
Great.”

Tim continued to eye the bones, gently touching them with gloved hands. “There's something that's bothering me about these bones,” he said.

“
What?” Hannah asked, surprised that he sounded so puzzled.

“
I can't say for sure since I'm not a medical doctor, but I feel like there's something wrong with them. They're weaker and more brittle than I'd expect. I feel like I could snap them like a twig if I wanted to.” Tim let out a breath and stood up straight. “I'm going to ship the bones to Harvard as well and have them x-rayed. I want a medical pathologist to take a look at them.”

“
Is this allowed? Shipping the remains off the island, I mean.”

“
Sure. It's all part of the court order. And we'll treat them respectfully, obviously. Mr. Hammond can sign the remains over to my care, and then I'll be responsible for getting them back to him for reburial.”

“
So you're thinking Josiah had something wrong with him,” Hannah said, more as a statement than a question. “That could give him a motive for suicide then.”

“
It could, but this is just a theory on my part. Like I told you, I'm not a medical doctor and I have no qualifications to make any kind of medical diagnosis.”

Hannah couldn't help but chuckle. “Don't worry, I wasn't planning on quoting you and then suing you for fraud.”

“
Well, that's good to know,” Tim said, chuckling himself.

Hannah found herself so wrapped up in the possibilities she had nearly forgotten the fact that she was in an embalming room in the basement of a funeral home - until the stench of formaldehyde hit her again and she felt a wave of nausea wash back over her.

“
You okay?” Tim asked. “You suddenly look a little green around the gills.”

“
That's because I am,” Hannah said. “I don't know how you ever get used to formaldehyde. God, what a disgusting smell.”

Tim laughed. “I don't even notice it anymore.”

“
Well I don't just notice it, I actually feel like I'm going to vomit. I think it's time for me to get out of here.”

“
I'll be right behind you. I just need to set the transports up with Mr. Hammond.”

“
I'll wait outside,” Hannah said.

“
I guess this isn't a good time to ask about dinner?” Tim asked.

Ignoring his chuckle as she ran from the room with her hand over her mouth, Hannah quickly walked up the steps and outside the home where she gratefully gulped in fresh air. In spite of her nausea, she couldn't shake her excitement over Tim's findings. And, now that she was away from the stench of the formaldehyde and instead smelling the fresh sea air of Vineyard Haven harbor, she realized that she was hungry. And that she couldn't wait to have dinner with Tim.

****

Hannah had booked two rooms, one for herself and one for Tim, back at the Hammett House, and waited for him on the porch of the house now as he cleaned up after his day spent with Josiah Winslow's remains. Hannah had decided to take him to dinner at the Village Inn in nearby Menemsha. While Sandy’s was her favorite place to eat on the island, the Village was the place she'd always wanted to try and never had. So she'd decided there was no time like the present and booked a reservation for two at the pricey and secluded restaurant.

She didn't regret her choice when she and Tim were seated at a window table overlooking Vineyard Sound and the Menemsha harbor. Hannah had seen more Menemsha sunsets than she could count, but none from a view quite like this. The sun was a perfectly round ball of orange in the sky, which had turned a deep shade of magenta above it. Stripes of pink danced above the dark blue water.

“
It's spectacular,” Tim said, taking a sip of water. Hannah had forgotten that Chilmark was a dry town and restaurant patrons needed to bring their own alcohol if they wanted drinks with their dinner. She felt like an idiot, but Tim didn't seem to care.

“
It is,” Hannah said. “Not many other words to describe it.”

Tim had ordered lobster, while Hannah had chosen the pan seared bluefish. The waiter came to the table with their orders and placed the delectable meals in front of them.

“
Can I get you two anything else right now?” he asked.

“
No thanks,” Hannah said. “We're good.”

The two dug into their dinner and ate in a comfortable silence as both enjoyed the ambiance and the view.

“
So,” Tim finally said, taking a break from devouring his lobster. “What made you start researching this story for your book?”

“
I told you,” Hannah said. “I got the idea while researching
The City of Columbus
.”

“
Yeah, but that's a hell of a leap. How do you go from a shipwreck to speculating that a doctor who treated one of the survivors killed himself?”

Hannah shrugged. “What can I say? One thing just led to another.”

“
Come on.”

Hannah took a sip of water and stared across the table at him. “You'll think I'm crazy if I tell you the whole story.”

“
I doubt that.”

“
I think it's a safe bet.”

“
Come on, Hannah. You're talking to a man whose idea of a good day is spending hours with old bones. I'm not exactly the judgmental type.”

“
Fine. But if you think I'm nuts, just keep it to yourself.”

“
Deal.”

Hannah sighed and told the story, beginning with Stella's appearance on the webcam. She considered leaving the old newspapers left on her bed out of it, but figured she might as well just spill the whole thing. Once you'd divulged that you made contact with a ghost through a webcam, there wasn't much point in being shy about the rest of the tale.

Tim listened intently, his brown eyes watching her quizzically. “So that's it?” he said when Hannah had finished.

“
Yes. That's it.”

“
So what part was supposed to make me think you're crazy?”

Hannah was taken aback, until she noticed the grin on his face. “Oh, I don't know,” she said, laughing. “I guess the bit about reading the old newspaper reels.”

“
Oh, okay. Yeah, that's batshit.”

Hannah laughed again. “Alright, smartass. So what do you really think of my story? Do you think I'm batshit?”

“
I don't,” Tim said. “I think it's interesting.”

“
You do? So you believe in ghosts?”

Tim shrugged. “I don't know. But I don't just discount them.” He took another bite of lobster and stared out the window as he chewed. “In my line of work,” he finally said, “I've had some strange occurrences that I can't really explain. And that, frankly, I've always kept to myself.”

“
Like what?”

“
Like I'll be working with a set of remains and somehow I get the feeling that the person these bones used to be is trying to help me see the truth about their deaths. If I'm alone in a room with the bones, I almost start to feel like there's someone there with me. I can sense a presence.”

Hannah's eyes widened. “When I found the newspaper on my bed back at the Hammett House, I felt like there was someone with me in the room.”

Tim nodded. “So you know what I mean.”

“
I guess so.” Hannah stared across the table at him as he took more of his lobster. “I have to admit, I'm surprised you're interested in this sort of thing.”

“
Why?”

“
Because you're a scientist. I thought science was all about things that can be explained.”

“
It is. And that's what I look for in the bones. Explanations to what happened in the past.”

“
Still. It's surprising.”

Tim shrugged. “I guess I'm just a different kind of scientist. And you remember how I told you I grew up around Lexington?”

“
Sure.”

“
Like I told you, I didn't grow up down in the holler. But that doesn't mean I didn't have relatives there. I had a great-aunt who lived out in the hills and she was one of the best storytellers I've ever known. I loved visiting her because she'd tell me all about the ghosts in the hills and the legends...” Tim smiled fondly. “Crazy shit, but I never doubted her that some of it was true. When you're in a place as steeped in history and lore as the Appalachian Mountains, you have to respect that there are things we can't really explain about the people who've been there before us.”

“
And might still be sticking around?” Hannah asked.

“
Exactly.”

Hannah leaned back in her chair and smiled at him. “I have to admit, it's really refreshing to talk to you. I've only told a few people about this story, but they've thought I was crazy as can be.”

“
Well, maybe we're both headed for the nuthouse together.”

Hannah stared out at the Sound below them, remembering testimony she had read from Christopher's indictment that he had disappeared from his employer's home at Menemsha on the night of Josiah's death. She thought about him working on the docks and looking at the same ocean and sky she was looking at now. She wondered if he had ever walked along the jetties that lined the channel the way she had with her father when she was a kid. Not for the first time, she wished she had a picture of him in her mind like she did the others. There was something sad about the fact that he would always be a faceless young man.

“
Penny for your thoughts,” Tim said.

Hannah turned away from the window and back to her dinner companion. “I was just thinking about Christopher. During my research into the case I learned that he worked on the docks in Menemsha. So he would have been looking at the same view we are at some point. Or at least close enough.”

“
So why do you think Stella made contact with you?” Tim asked.

“
I don't know. But I think she just wants the story of what happened to come out, even after all this time.”

“
But why you?”

Hannah remembered the sense she had from the articles she had read, that Stella was alone except for her husband. Through time, she somehow sensed a kindred spirit in Stella. Maybe Stella felt the same way about her.

“
I think maybe she just thought I might be someone who could understand her.” Hannah let out a deep breath. “My parents were killed a few years ago in a car accident and I don't have any siblings so I've been pretty much alone ever since.”

“
I'm sorry.”

“
Thanks. I think Stella felt alone in her life except for her friendship with Christopher Casey. I think maybe she thought I'd feel a connection to her.”

“
Do you?”

Hannah shrugged. “Maybe. I don't really know. I know I felt something when I saw her on that webcam though. She just looked so sad and lost...” She paused and suddenly looked across the table at Tim.

“
What?” he asked.

“
When we were at the cemetery earlier it dawned on me that even if I learn what happened to Josiah, I still don't have the whole story.”

“
How so?”

“
I have no idea what happened to Stella. I hadn't thought about it because I was so wrapped up in the murder of Christopher, but I wonder what happened to her. What kind of a life could she have had after such a tragedy? Plus, she was accused of infidelity and it was clear that the majority of her neighbors believed she had been unfaithful to her husband.”

“
That would have been a hell of a scandal back then,” Tim said.

“
How could she have kept living here after all that?”

“
Maybe she didn't.”