told Rishi Wanda’s theory that foreigners should not send money to their families, and Rishi had suggested that Janya stay away from her. There was prejudice in this country, just as there was at home, just harder to gauge. Rishi said it was safest not to try to fight it.
“I guess I could help,” Wanda said. “Although I’ll plant my behind somewhere comfy while I do it, that’s for sure.”
“Did you by any chance bring in Herb’s mail?” Tracy asked. “There’s a pile of it on the coffee table. Recent mail.”
“How would I have done that? You took the key, remember? Short of breaking a window and tossing the mail on the floor, I didn’t have access. Frankly, I never thought about his mail.”
Janya looked over the things on the desktop while the other two discussed who could have left the mail on the table. She thumbed through an old edition of Webster’s dictionary, then an accounts book with shaky penmanship detailing how much Herb had paid for lettuce, milk and other groceries each week. There was information on how much he paid for utilities. What was left each month from his meager Social Security check.
“He was not a rich man,” Janya said, closing the ledger. “From this, it seems he lived from month to month.”
“No addresses, like people he was sending money to?”
“We should look at it more closely, but I think there was no money to send.”
“Bummer,” Tracy said.
“Where do you want me to start?” Wanda asked.
Janya’s search of the desktop had turned up little. She opened the deepest drawer and found a collection of nearly a dozen file folders. “Perhaps with these?” She scooped them out.
“I’ll just take them into the living room and see what’s what….”
Janya started to reply when Tracy put her hand on her arm to silence her. “What’s that?” she mouthed.
Wanda was listening, too, her head turning side to side, as if she were hoping one ear might be better than the other. “Somebody’s out there,” she whispered.
Janya heard a noise that sounded as if something soft was being dragged across the floor. Tracy’s gaze met hers. Together, they shrugged.
Wanda was the first to respond. She turned and marched out of the office, through the bathroom and into the hall leading to the living room. “Okay, I don’t know who’s here, but you’d better plan to speak well of yourself.”
Janya followed, although somewhat reluctantly. No one was in the living room. But now there were sounds coming from the kitchen.
“Great,” Tracy said softly.
Janya heard the refrigerator door open and close, then the dragging noise again. By then Wanda was standing in the kitchen doorway, but Janya could see one lavender sleeve and one thin hand.
“Alice! You like to have scared us to death,” Wanda said.
Janya and Tracy joined her in the doorway. Alice looked up, as if she weren’t surprised to see them. “I brought the mail.”
The women looked at each other. Tracy was the first to speak. “You have a key?”
“The door was open.”
“I don’t mean today. The other times you’ve been over here. You’ve been bringing the mail in every day since he died?”
“Herb gave me one.” Now Alice looked confused. “Was that…a bad idea?”
“No, no. Of course not,” Tracy said. “Only I didn’t know, that’s all. And I couldn’t figure out how the mail ended up on the table.”
“He said…” Alice, in a lightweight lavender warmup suit, appeared, as she always did, to be struggling. “Somebody needed one. In case.” Her face sagged. “I should have checked….”
“Oh, please don’t worry.” Janya understood and hurried to reassure her. “No one could have helped him. He died suddenly. Very quickly.”
“I had a key, too,” Wanda said. “And I never checked, either, Alice. Maybe he thought if we both had one, he’d be safer.”
“I saw you walking over here…today. I thought I would clean out the refrigerator. It’s the least I can do. Things will spoil.”
Janya was afraid Tracy would dismiss Alice and send her home, perhaps from kindness—which was sometimes the cruelest reason to chase another person away. But Tracy nodded, as if she thought that was an excellent idea.
“That’s very nice of you, and something I didn’t even think about. We were just going through his things. We’re trying to find out if he has family anywhere. We don’t know who to notify.”
“Oh, he has a daughter.”
Tracy looked delighted. “Alice, you remembered! Lee said you didn’t know anything.”
“Why would Lee say that?”
“He asked…never mind. It’s great you did. What else can