“I don’t know that you’ll find out anything,” Wanda said, handing her the folder. “The receipts are from a while ago.”
“I’ll give it a try. Can’t hurt.”
“You like jigsaw puzzles?” Wanda asked. “This is like putting one together, figuring out who he was.”
“It is a shame we didn’t take the time to do it while he was alive to appreciate the attention,” Janya said.
“I’m feeling a tad weak in the knees.” Wanda got slowly to her feet. “I’m going home and rest my bones. But I’ll take the rest of these folders, if you want, and see what we’ve got.”
Janya looked at the clock beside the television and realized that the morning had flown by. “I should go, too, but I can take mine, as well.”
“I’ll take the next box with me,” Tracy said, standing, too. “We got a start. Let’s stay in touch. Let me know if you find anything, okay?”
They walked together to the door. “If I find anything of interest, I will tell you Friday at the dance class,” Janya said.
“Then you’re going?”
“I plan to.”
“I’ll take you over,” Tracy said. “It’s no trouble. Then you can tell me what you discovered in your folders.”
Janya was surprised. She realized she was actually looking forward to it.
chapter twelve
With summer vacation right around the corner, Tracy was positive she was not going to be hired as a swimming instructor. If Gladys Woodley had passed Tracy’s application to her husband, she had done so without a recommendation.
On Friday morning Tracy sealed the last of three envelopes, bills she’d put off until she couldn’t wait any longer. The balance in her checking account was shrinking as fast as a supermodel on the Hollywood Cookie Diet. Lee’s proposed sales pitch to Florida developers was probably in the works, but she knew it wouldn’t bear fruit right away. Maribel had brought a couple of men to walk over the property on Wednesday, but afterward the Realtor had admitted that they planned to wait and see what happened with Wild Florida’s lawsuit.
As she dressed for the dance aerobics class, Tracy wondered if she should go. She was getting plenty of exercise at home, and she was embarrassed to face Gladys. But she had promised Janya a ride, and she owed the young woman at least that for all the help she had given. A new session would start after next week, and then she could find an excuse not to attend.
Janya, with what looked like books under her arm, was walking toward Tracy’s house when Tracy stopped to pick her up. Today the other woman was dressed in a short-sleeved blouse with embroidery around the neck and sleeves, and loose pants. She wore black shoes with rubber soles, although they were nothing like the tightly laced up Reeboks Tracy wore. Her hair was braided and pinned off her neck.
“You look ready to go.” Tracy shifted once her passenger was inside and took off again.
“I must stop by the library on the way home, so you won’t need to bring me back.”
“I was going to stop myself. We can go together, unless you have something else you need to do afterward.”
“No, only the library. Although I wonder. Rishi suggested that perhaps city hall might have records for Herb.”
Tracy thought that sounded promising. “Maybe we can make a quick stop there, as well.”
As Tracy flew along the road to the bridge they fell silent, but when traffic forced her to slow, Janya took a slip of paper out of a small cloth purse. “I made a short list of what I found in Herb’s papers. But I don’t think any of it will help you. I would have come to your house to tell you if I’d thought it would.”
Tracy had a feeling this was going to be that kind of day. “I saw Wanda for a few minutes yesterday. She didn’t have anything helpful, either. She gave back her stuff, and I pitched it.”
“Before he lived in the cottage, he lived in an apartment in town, but the building was transformed into luxury condominiums—he kept the notice—so it is unlikely any of his neighbors remain.”
“It’s like there was a campaign to wipe out all traces of the old guy.”
“Started by him, it seems. There was so little in his file. Jokes he had torn from magazines. Medical records. Photographs—”
“Really? Names on the back?”
“They were of a dog named Rutabaga.”
“He must not have liked the dog very much.”
“There were registration papers for his car—no other