Breaking Ground (28 page)

After a fairly long pause, Clif said simply, “Could be.”

Howard began to chew on the pencil he waved, baton-like, to conduct board business. Julie sensed he was having doubts. Loretta was closely examining the printed agenda that lay before her, and Dalton was looking around the room, as if an answer might be written on the wall. Henry broke the silence: “Perhaps we need to think about all this,” he said. “We've been short-handed for a year, so what's the harm in putting this off till next month? Just so we can all think about it.”

“An excellent suggestion,” Howard said. “It never pays to be hasty.”

“But what about Frank Nilsson?” Loretta asked. “If he's eager to become a trustee and we don't proceed now, will that look bad? Will it put Julie in a bad position since she sort of interviewed him for this?”

“Julie?” Howard asked. Julie said she had made no promises and was careful to say the board had a good deal of other business and might not get around to considering new trustees for a while. “Then I think our attorney's remarks carry the day,” the chair continued. “I speak for myself, of course,” he said in the commanding tones that Julie and the others knew meant that he was in fact speaking for all of them, whether they knew or liked it. “Then let's agree to continue this discussion at our August meeting. Obviously this has been a confidential discussion, and
I suggest to the clerk that the minutes merely reflect the fact that the board briefly and privately considered the prospect of electing additional trustees. No need to spread this matter on the record, I would think.”

Loretta moved adjournment, and it was happily seconded. As the trustees headed for the door, Julie looked at her watch: 5:20. If she could clear out of here quickly, she and Rich could still have some time before they had to leave for dinner. When she looked up after gathering stray papers from the table, she was relieved to see she was alone. But as she walked through the door and turned back to close it, Clif appeared. “Don't suppose you've heard any more about the shovels?” he asked.

For entirely different reasons, she assumed, Clif was as interested in those shovels as she was. “No,” Julie answered, “but you should probably talk directly to Mike Barlow about them. He doesn't keep me informed about the investigation.”

“No, I suppose he wouldn't, but I thought he might return them to the society, not knowing they were mine. If he does …”

“I'll be sure to let you know, Clif.” Hoping he would follow her lead, Julie began walking away from the classroom and across the exhibit area toward the exit. “I need to lock up and activate the security system,” she said when they reached the outside door. “Could you just hold these?” she added as she handed him the sheaf of papers she had collected from the meeting.

“About Frank Nilsson,” Clif said awkwardly when he returned the papers to her at the bottom of the stairs.

“What about him?”

“You have to understand how small towns work. I hear lots of things at the bank. I don't go around telling folks everything, but it seemed to me the historical society needs to know about Frank's financial situation. But I wouldn't want him to know where the information came from.”

“Of course not. I certainly won't tell him. Like I said, I can just let him know the board has a lot of business right now and won't be electing new trustees till the fall. In fact, Rich and I are having dinner with Frank and Patty tonight, and I can just casually let him know.”

Julie smiled and started to move away.

“Up at the skiway?” Clif asked.

“Yes.”

“Probably going to use Frank's sauna?”

“He mentioned it, yes.”

“Take a bathing suit,” Clif said as he turned and walked in the opposite direction.

If she didn't need to set the security system on Swanson House, Julie would have walked straight home and dealt with the meeting papers tomorrow. But she stopped at her office long enough to deposit them and lock the door and set the system. As she walked briskly past the construction site she smiled to see Rich's car turning off Main Street and swinging into the back drive of the house.

While Rich drove, Julie filled him in on Luke's and Frank's alibis, Clif's comments about Nilsson's financial situation, swearing him to secrecy, and the missing Oakes diary. Then she told him about the two Tabor letters.

“But you knew that, right?” he asked.

“That the Swansons needed the money? Right. But they also refer to bad blood and an old dispute over ownership. They just help to fill in the picture. The Nilssons are up there on the right,” she added. “Maybe you should pull in here so we can finish this first. It's just 6:30, so we don't need to rush.”

Rich turned into the parking area for another set of condos and turned off the engine. Julie asked what he thought about the alibis. “I think they cancel out,” he said. “Nilsson couldn't have murdered Mary Ellen, and Dyer couldn't have broken into your house. And if Nilsson's alibi about being in Boothbay Harbor holds up, he couldn't have broken into your house either. And if Dyer is telling the truth about being at Birch Brook when Mary Ellen was killed, then he—”

“Everything depends on their telling the truth. If one or both is lying, then it's another matter.” Julie sat silently for a moment and then said, “We'd better get going.”

“Sure you want to?” Rich asked.

“A purely social evening, yet in my role as historical society director.”

“Ah, I see,” Rich said, nodding sarcastically.

He pulled the car into the Nilssons' driveway. “Nice digs,” he said. “Doesn't look like he's ready for debtors' prison quite yet.”

Frank Nilsson answered the ring of the bell and greeted them heartily. “Just getting the sauna warmed up,” he said. “Nice that it cooled off again. Should feel good.”

“I haven't taken a sauna in years,” Rich said. “I'm really looking forward to it.”

Patty came out from the kitchen, and Frank introduced Rich and led the three of them downstairs and across the room where Julie had looked through the boxes of Oakes papers. “Just out through here,” the host said as he opened a door at the end of the room. Beyond it lay a large room that at first appeared to be the unfinished part of the basement. “Sauna's right there,” he said and pointed to a cedar door with a long glass panel. “This is where we come to cool off, and over there's the shower and changing room. You brought suits?” Julie held up the canvas boat bag she was carrying. “Okay, you can use the changing room here. Take a shower if you like—some do it before as well as after, but I think I'll wait. We'll go get changed and be right back.”

Julie and Rich went to the door he had indicated and changed into their bathing suits. As they reentered the bare basement, the Nilssons came through the other door. Frank opened the sauna door and gestured to Julie and Rich to enter. She had been so busy today that she hadn't thought about the sauna until she stood in front of the door. For a very brief moment she froze, imagining the tight space and wondering if she could go through with it. But when Frank opened the door she saw that the room was quite large—easily ten feet wide and fifteen or twenty feet long. She was amazed and relaxed at once.

Inside, happy that she was feeling so comfortable, she said that the smell made her think of her mother's cedar chest, Frank laughed and explained: “Whole thing's cedar. Resists moisture—and it does smell nice, doesn't it? Here, come try the benches.”

A single bench ran the length of the room, and on the two ends were double benches, the lower ones jutting out into the room so you could step on them to reach the uppers. Julie sat on the long one, and Rich joined her while Patty settled onto a lower one on the end. Julie could feel Frank's eyes on her as she crossed her legs. He's checking me out, she thought, and not too subtly either. Maybe it had been wrong to come here.

“Now for the steam,” Frank said as he stood up. “I'll start.” He walked over to a wooden bucket, dipped into it with a large metal scoop, and splashed water onto the electric heating unit. Steam rushed up at him, and he quickly stepped back. “Have to be careful when you do it. Stand away so the steam doesn't hit your eyes.” He ladled out several more scoops of water, and the room, large as it was, was enveloped in steam. Frank sat down beside Julie rather than joining his wife on the bench at the end of the room. “You can add some water in a minute, Julie. I'll show you how when the time comes.”

Julie, still feeling the distaste of Frank's ogling, wondered exactly how Frank would show her—helping himself to a few feels as he directed her in the use of the scoop? “Maybe Rich should go first,” she said.

“Sure,” Frank said. “But we can wait a minute. Smell that? It's not the cedar now. There's pine pitch in the water—nice clean smell, isn't it?”

Julie and Rich agreed that it was. Rich started a conversation with Patty about how often they used the sauna. Patty was as bright and pleasant as she had been with Julie yesterday when the two of them had looked through the boxes of family papers.

“Okay,” Frank interrupted. “Time for some more steam. Rich?” Rich took his turn with the water and rejoined them on the bench. They sat in silence for several minutes, soaking in the steam. “Your turn,” Frank said in Julie's direction as he leaned toward her. But
she jumped up and asked Rich to help her with the water before Frank could offer instructions. She enjoyed splashing the water and stepping out of range of the steam; the smell of the pine pitch was pleasing, and she said so.

“Thought you'd like it,” Frank answered. “Now we have to be careful. See that timer? I set it when we came in. It's best to limit yourself to fifteen or twenty minutes for the first round. When the timer goes off we step outside and cool down. Take a quick shower if you like. Then come back for another round. I call it
layering
. It's what really relaxes you.”

Rich resumed his conversation with Patty, and Julie and Frank sat quietly until the bell on the timer sounded. “Everyone out of the pool!” Frank said. The unfinished basement seemed freezing now, though it was obviously only the sharp contrast with their body heat that made it so. “You don't want to shiver,” Frank explained, “but it's good to get just about to that point before you get back in.” They circled around the room, Rich now asking Frank about the house and the sauna.

“Planned the sauna from the beginning,” Frank answered, “and I'm glad I did. It's a great family experience, and we enjoyed it with the kids in the years before they left.”

Rich inquired about the Nilsson children, and Patty rather than Frank responded, enthusiastically reciting their college choices, their majors, their prizes and achievements. “Ted graduates this year, Sue next. Hard to believe,” Patty said. “They're both working this summer. Sue's in Portland and Ted's working for Frank at Boothbay. Ted's staying at our camp there, and Sue will join us for a couple of weekends when I spend the month there.”

“Patty,” Frank sharply interrupted, “I doubt Julie and Rich share your fascination for our wonderful offspring.” Before Julie could counter him, he continued: “Let's do a second round.” He held open the door to the sauna while the three others reentered
and took up places on the benches. As Frank ladled more water onto the stove, the rising steam filled the room. “Twelve minutes should be enough this time,” he announced as he set the timer. “So, what were we talking about?”

Julie was tempted to return to the Nilsson children, not that she really cared but to spite Frank for cutting off his wife so impolitely. Instead, she decided it was a good opportunity to bring up the question of Frank's joining the historical society's board, because with Patty and Rich present she could do it quickly and casually. Although the steam made it hard for her to see his face as clearly as she wished, Julie thought she saw a flicker of annoyance after she mentioned that the board was postponing the election of new trustees until the construction project was well launched. If he was annoyed, his response didn't show it: “Probably smart,” he said. “I've got my hands full with Birch Brook anyway, but keep me on the list. Now, speaking of full hands, shall we have some Akvavit, Patty?”

His wife rose obediently and started for the door. “I'll bring it down,” she said. “I'm getting pretty hot anyway.”

“Akavit?” Rich asked.

“Ak-va-vit,” Frank corrected him. “Danish—means water of life or something. Traditional sauna drink—chug down a couple of shots of ice-cold Akvavit and some little sausages and you really understand what sauna is all about.”

Rich offered to help, explaining that he, too, was feeling pretty hot. Before she realized it or could act, Julie was alone with Frank. Neither spoke as Frank added more water. Julie was beginning to experience the steamy heat in an unpleasant way, feeling it was wrapping around her like a smothering blanket. When Frank sat beside her on the long bench, she was tempted to move to one of the smaller end seats. Before she could, he put his hand on her bare knee and patted it gently, in an almost fatherly way.

“It must be hard for you, Julie,” he said, “to be working with that board of dinosaurs. I was looking forward to coming on, as your friend and supporter. But I guess they're not ready for me.”

“It's not a question of whether they want you on the board, Frank,” she said, putting her hand on his as if to reassure him and then gently moving it off her knee. “It's just a timing issue: Things are so busy they want to get some stability before adding to the board. I know they're eager to have you join.”

“You're a good soldier,” he said. He stood, headed to the bucket, and, using the metal scoop, dribbled water across the heating unit. “When the time's right I'll still be happy to get involved,” he said as he started back toward the bench, still carrying the scoop. He walked slowly toward her, twirling the wooden handle in his right hand, which made the nine-inch round scoop itself rotate slowly. “I'm sure you've got plenty to do with the project,” he continued as he stood over her now, still twirling. “You really ought to keep focused on that. Not worry about other things so much.”