The Ghosts of Aquinnah (24 page)

Hannah walked into the dining room and immediately saw a note on the table. For an instant, she thought it was Stella's ghost leaving more papers for her to read. She shook her head and laughed at her own silliness, recognizing the handwriting on the piece of paper as Jon's. Picking up the note, her chuckle quickly vanished.

“
Hannah, I've moved out and am staying with Becky. I've left the furniture here for you. I think we both know this is for the best. Jon.”

Short and to the point, without an ounce of affection or love. Or even of regret. Hannah tossed the note back on the table and sat down on her dining room chair. Which really was her chair. Hannah scowled at Jon's suggestion that he had been doing her a favor by leaving the furniture in the apartment. Quite big of him, since he had still been in medical school when Hannah bought 90% of the furniture in their place.

Hannah glanced around the apartment and couldn't deny that it was actually a relief that Jon was gone. And if he'd already moved in with his surgical nurse Becky, he'd clearly been involved with her for some time. Hannah had suspected this, and even questioned him about it, but he'd consistently denied it. Hannah took some comfort in the fact that she'd suspected he was lying. But she was angry that she hadn't let him know it.

Too late for that now, she thought. She let out a breath and got up from the table. Retrieving her bag from the living room floor, Hannah walked to her bedroom and unpacked the few items she had brought with her to the Vineyard. She rolled up her dirty clothes and tossed them into the hamper in her closet, put her toiletries and few cosmetics back in their home in the bathroom, and hung up her raincoat. With that, she was done unpacking.

She sat down on her bed and tried to process the fact that Jon really was gone. While she didn’t think she could handle the emotional issues right now, and wanted to simply stuff them away, she knew she had to deal with the practicalities involved. For one thing, she needed to make sure the bills for the apartment were squared away. The last thing she needed was to come home and find her electricity turned off because Jon had left without paying the bill.

As Hannah ticked through the bills in her head, she realized that she actually didn’t have a problem at all. The bills were all in her name, and had been since she and Jon had first moved here. He was still in school at the time, and it had made more sense to have everything in Hannah’s name since she was already gainfully employed. Back then, it had seemed like a fair trade to pay the bills while he was finishing school. After all, he’d be making significantly more money once he was done and working as a surgeon and could take over his share and more then.

Sitting on her bed now alone in the apartment they had shared, Hannah couldn’t believe her own stupidity. Jon had been using her for years and she had simply rolled over and allowed it. While he had indeed paid for his share of their expenses once he’d started working, he’d never made up for all the years Hannah had been their sole breadwinner. She had been an idiot, and there was no one to blame but herself. She should have kicked Jon out years ago.

Hannah glanced at the clock on her bedside table, only to find that Jon had apparently taken it with him. She guessed that the clock didn't count as furniture. She wondered what else he had decided to take when he had moved out, but she didn't have time to go looking around to find out. She’d already wasted enough time thinking about him. She only had a few hours before her appointment with her interview subject and she wanted to take a shower and get cleaned up before she left. She also had some digging around to do on her laptop.

Hannah had been thinking about Stella Winslow's story on the ferry ride back to the mainland and all during her drive back up Route 3 to Boston. She remembered a show she had watched some months back called “History's Mysteries,” where a team of professionals, including a forensic anthropologist, had investigated old unsolved cases to attempt to bring some sort of resolution to them. She specifically remembered that the forensic specialist was on the faculty at Harvard. That was an easy detail to remember. She had found him so good looking while watching the show that she wished she had taken some of his classes while she was a student.

After finishing her shower, Hannah booted up her laptop and brought up the website for the “History's Mysteries” television show. She quickly brought up the cast profiles and found the man she wanted. Dr. Tim Corcoran, a professor of forensic anthropology, whose role on the team was to scientifically examine human skeletal remains. Hannah was well aware that the chances of getting authorization to exhume Josiah Winslow's remains were probably less than zero, but she had to start somewhere. And with both Harvard credibility and television clout behind him, Tim Corcoran felt like her best chance to get what she wanted. She just needed to convince him to help her first.

Hannah had found Corcoran likeable while watching the show, not only because of his drop-dead good looks but also because of his no-nonsense, down to earth demeanor. He had a slight Southern drawl and a twinkle in his brown eyes that made him appear charming even when he was discussing the grisliest of topics. Of course, his strong jawline, hint of stubble, and short brown hair with a few sophisticated touches of gray hadn't hurt either. Hannah imagined the show's producers had been beside themselves when they’d found a science geek who just happened to look like he could have worked as a model in his younger years.

As she stared at Corcoran's head shot on the website, she couldn't help but feel that he was just the person to help her with her search. He was undoubtedly besieged with requests after his work on the show, but there was no harm in trying to reach him and asking for an appointment. As a writer, she knew perfectly well that anyone who wanted a story couldn't be bashful about it. And she knew without a doubt that she wanted this story.

She glanced at the time at the corner of her screen and realized she was going to be late for her interview if she didn't get going. She brought up Corcoran's email address at Harvard and quickly wrote a short, concise message to him explaining her situation and asking for an opportunity to meet with him concerning the mystery she hoped to solve. She checked for typos and hit send, and hurried off to her appointment.

To her amazement, Hannah saw a response from Corcoran in her inbox when she returned home several hours later. He was intrigued by her story and wanted to meet her for lunch the following week at a cafe near Cambridge. Hannah knew the place and had been there many times with Jon as it was close to Massachusetts General. Amazed at her good fortune, Hannah replied immediately, thanking Corcoran for his interest and accepting his lunch invitation.

Hannah felt giddy as she walked to her kitchen and tried to figure out what to have for dinner. It was only when she got to the kitchen that she remembered she didn't actually have any food. She hasn't been to the grocery store since returning from the Vineyard that morning. She sighed when she opened the refrigerator and realized she didn't even have Half & Half for her morning coffee.

Knowing a trip to the store was unavoidable, Hannah grabbed her purse and headed back outside. She was completely exhausted and feeling the effects of her long day of travel and work, but she still felt a sense of elation about the chance to meet Tim Corcoran and discuss her theories about Josiah Winslow with him. She realized as she walked to the small grocery store around the corner from her apartment that she hadn't spent any time at all thinking about Jon and the fact that he had left her.

****

Hannah had always heard that people who are good looking on television or in the movies are actually better looking in real life. She hadn't really believed it. But then she saw Tim Corcoran. When she entered the Cambridge Cafe and scanned the restaurant looking for him, it was incredibly easy to pick him out. Sitting in a room full of young and largely attractive college students and medical residents, he was easily the best looking person in the room.

She walked to his table and introduced herself.

“
Dr. Corcoran?” she asked. “I'm Hannah Forrester.”

Corcoran pushed his chair back from the table and stood up to greet her. He was taller than Hannah expected, she guessed around 6'3”, and, in spite of her own height, he towered over her when he shook her extended hand.

“
Ms. Forrester. It's nice to meet you.” He gestured towards the chair across from him. “Please, have a seat. I hope you don't mind I ordered some coffee already. I got here early.”

“
Oh, no, I don't mind at all.”

“
This place has the best coffee in Boston.”

“
I agree with that. I'm anxious to get some myself.”

“
I forgot you said you've been here before.”

“
Right, I have. With my...” Hannah stopped herself. She had no interest in talking about Jon, and he wasn't her boyfriend anymore anyway. “I've met friends here before.”

As the waitress came to the table and asked if Hannah would like a drink, Hannah quickly ordered a coffee herself and scanned the menu in front of her while her companion asked for a refill. When the waitress returned with Hannah's coffee and a fresh pot for the two of them to share, Hannah tried to work up her nerve to approach the reason she was here in the cafe in the first place. She decided to forgo small talk and just get to the point.

“
So, Dr. Corcoran...”

“
Please, call me Tim.”

“
Of course. Tim,” Hannah said. She cleared her throat. “First off I just want to say how much I appreciate your willingness to meet with me.”

“
My pleasure. The case you mentioned in your email sounded interesting to me. And the fact that it involves Martha's Vineyard appealed to me.”

“
Really? Why?”

“
When I first came to Harvard as a student, I dated a girl who had family there. I visited the island with her a few times and fell in love with it. It's always stuck with me even though I haven't been there now in years.”

Hannah smiled. “They say once you get the Vineyard's sand in your shoes you'll always return.”

“
I can definitely understand that.”

The waitress returned and took their lunch orders. Hannah and Tim both laughed when they found themselves ordering the same sandwich, roast beef and cheese on a French bread roll.

“
You have good taste,” Tim said.

“
You too,” Hannah said. She took a sip of coffee and smiled at the taste she remembered quite well. “How do they make their coffee this good? I'd kill for their coffee beans.”

“
Careful making that kind of a statement around me. You know what I do for a living.”

Hannah laughed. “You know, to be honest, I really didn't think you'd get back to me. I was sure you'd be too busy with the tv show.”

Tim cocked his right eyebrow. “You haven't heard? The show was canceled.”

“
Oh, really? I'm sorry to hear that. I thought it was a great show.”

“
Unfortunately not many people agreed with you. In fact I think you and my parents are the only ones who thought so.”

Hannah chuckled. “I'm sure that isn't true.”

“
Yeah, maybe not. My aunt liked it too.” Tim smiled and took a sip of his own drink. “Honestly though, that's one of the reasons I was intrigued by your email. I found myself at loose ends a bit when we got the news of the cancellation.”

“
Really? So it was a surprise then?”

“
We knew the show was on the bubble, but the producers were confident we'd get another season. The network had told them it was almost a certainty. So we had all of our cases arranged and I'd made room on my calendar to travel to the various locations we had lined up, only to have the network change their mind last week and give us the ax. Suddenly I had a cleared calendar and nothing to fill it with.”

“
I guess I had good timing then.”

“
You did.”

“
Well I'm sorry your show was canceled. But I can't deny I'm glad I caught you at the right time.”

The waitress returned with their lunches and both dug in.

“
So tell me more about your Martha's Vineyard mystery,” Tim said between bites of his sandwich.

Hannah took another drink of coffee and launched into her tale, including her desire to write a book about the story of Stella Winslow, leaving out only the fact that she believed the ghost of Stella was somehow leading her on this quest. Instead, she pretended she had merely become interested in the story while reading about the wreck of
The City of Columbus
. She didn't want the man to think she was insane before he even considered helping with her case.