you tell us?”
Alice looked blank.
“Do you know where the daughter lives? Her name?” Janya asked gently.
“No. I don’t think so.” Alice stared into space. Janya was afraid she was finished, but she began again in a moment.
“Once I was telling him about Karen. My…” She seemed to lose track for a moment, then she nodded. “My girl. Karen. I said…I think…that it seemed like forever to me since she died. Forever since I had seen her.”
“Yes?” Janya said. “That must make you sad.”
Alice looked grateful. “He said his daughter…” She bit her lip; then she shrugged.
“That his daughter died, too?” Tracy asked.
“No, I think he said…it had been a long time since he’d seen her, too, but she was still alive.” She brightened a little. “Yes, that’s what he said.”
“He didn’t say where she lived, did he?”
“No. At least…I don’t think… My head. It’s like smoke rising. Sometimes I can see through it. Sometimes? Not.”
“That’s more than the rest of us knew,” Janya said. “It is good you remembered.”
“I think there was more.”
“More?” Tracy looked perplexed. “What? Daughters?”
“Family. More family. Only I can’t think why that seems…right.”
“Well, it’s pretty clear he had a daughter,” Tracy said. “And now we’ll see if we can find her name and address somewhere. Maybe we’ll come across an address book.”
“The refrigerator?” Alice asked.
“It’s very kind of you. I really appreciate your help.”
Alice smiled, and Janya got a glimpse of the woman she must have been before her daughter died and her health betrayed her. “Good.”
The others marched back into the office. Tracy was the first to speak. “Does anybody else on this key want to come to the party?”
“Do you think she knew more and just forgot it?” Wanda asked.
“I’m surprised she remembered that much. Lee said he asked her about Herb and she didn’t remember a thing.”
“Me, I have days like that. Menopause is turning my brain to scrambled eggs. And hot flashes cook ’em up something awful.”
“Menopause can certainly affect good judgment,” Tracy said brightly.
“Now listen here, I can walk right out and leave you to dig without my help.”
“But what fun would we have without you?”
Janya wasn’t sure what was going on, but the two women seemed to have established a truce of sorts. Neither looked angry, but there was tension in the air. To head off problems, she scooped up the file folders again and handed them to Wanda.
“If you go through these, I will finish looking through the desk, then I’ll see if there is anything in the big file cabinet. Tracy, you might want to start on the top box in the closet. It was not sealed. Maybe he used it recently.”
“Aren’t you the organized one?” Wanda said. “Everywhere I turn, somebody from India is telling me how to do things. I called about my cell phone service yesterday, and the next thing I knew I was talking to somebody in Bangalore.”
Janya guessed that she was supposed to feel pleased. “India is a large country. I could not fix your cell phone.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’re much prettier than he was, too.” Wanda marched out with her folders.
“I’ll just get that box,” Tracy said, and did.
Twenty minutes later, Janya joined them in the living room where Wanda was taking up the sofa and Tracy a big chair. She arrived just in time to be served a cola in a glass filled to the top with ice. Alice set one in front of each of them, then gestured to the last chair, as if she wanted Janya to take it.
“How’s the refrigerator?” Tracy asked.
“Clear of anything…” She stopped.
“That might spoil?”
Alice nodded. “Now I have to go. Lee will be home.”
“How’s his car these days?”
Alice looked perplexed. “He drives it.”
“Well, I’m glad he got it fixed.” Tracy put her box to one side and stood. “Thank you again for coming, Alice.”
“Lee was gone.” She nodded at the others; then she left, walking slowly out the door.
“She’s as sweet as shoofly pie, but that woman’s one egg short of a custard,” Wanda said.
“She had a stroke about the time her daughter died. Combined with the stress, I’m sure the past year’s been difficult. Maybe she’s just catching up,” Tracy said.
Wanda looked up from her folders. “How do you know so much about her? She tell you that? You’re suddenly the sympathetic landlady?”
“Lee did.”
“The two of you chat a lot?”
Tracy closed the flap of the box and set it on the floor. “When it comes to chatting with men, I’m afraid I’m out