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"Lu dropped tonight ere out to eat She’s in the hospital They don’t knohat’s wrong with her We were just eating at that Italian place, and she ordered a glass of wine, and I went to the restroo her around She just fell over in the booth, and I don’t knohat’s wrong with her No one will tell â€""

Dave rambled soainst the wall, clutching the slippery phone Slowly I dropped to my haunches and put my head on my knees while I listened I concentrated on a worn spot on the carpet I focused on it hard

"Dave, as it? Theyinto ainst the doorfra it was just fatigue, or exhaustion, or whatever, and they’re running soht That’s just their expensive way of saying they don’t know"

"Did she coue with the doctors that she was fine, then say soain"

I stared down aton the carpet, playing idly with the edge of the rug "What’d she say?" I whispered

"Oh, it started out okayâ€"she wanted me to call you But it hat she wantedShe said to tell you to find the man and save yourself But that doesn’t round, all the static noise of a hospital cale across an intercourneys It made my uncle sound all the more alone

Bitter, hot tears welled up in y "I’ve got to go"

"Eden?"

"Dave, I’ve got to go I’ about? Do you know so about? What do youto do down there? And why don’t you come hoot to go But I’ on, and I’et him You tell her when she co for her at the door"

I pressed the "end" button It disconnected us with an electronic blip, and the lights behind the numbers went dim Harry reached out as if hehis phone out to hioddamned book?"

IV

I spent the next hours sick at heart, tearing through Eliza’s house in a frantic search Together, Harry and I turned every room inside outâ€"we emptied cabinets, we broke plates, we dued out all the liquor bottles and tapped around in the wet bar, seeking any s every wall, feeling each crack with the tips of our fingers, hoping to stu or button We lifted aside all the rugs and pressed the toes of our shoes into the floorboards, seeking so

In the end, we returned to Eliza’s bedroo ourselves to rest on the floor against her bed By then it was nearing dawn Both of us were exhausted and despairing, knowing that for once in her century-long life, Eliza had been telling the truth She didn’t have the book

"Then where could it possibly be?" I asked, fully aware that Harry didn’t have any better idea than I did

"Anywhere Nowhere" He was fidgeting with the papers he’d removed from between her mattresses I could now see that they were letters, in envelopes They made me think of the bundle I’d pulled from the files at Pine Breeze

"What are those? Besides the obvious, IThey’re all empty Just empty, old stationery Soo Look at this oneâ€"July twelve, 1956"

I took one from him and exa it wasn’t "nothing" The one I held was made from the same cheap paper as the one I’d found in Leslie’s file The handwriting on the outside was even the sahlands Hahlands Hammock?"

"Where?" He looked at the postmark "In Florida? I don’t know"

"Is it anywhere near St Augustine?"

"No, not really If it’s where I think it is, it’s considerably farther south, towards the Everglades Now that you ht be a state preserve of some kind Why do you ask?"