“I thought Increase Mather’s letter gave more weight to the idea it was some kind of book,” Kim said. “Especially the part where he mentioned it stimulated debate among the students.”
“Perhaps,” Edward said.
“Wait a second,” Kim said suddenly. “I just had another idea. Something I hadn’t thought about. Why was Ronald so keen to get it back? Doesn’t that tell us something?”
Edward shrugged. “I think he was interested in sparing his family further humiliation,” he said. “Often entire families suffered when one member was convicted of witchcraft.”
“What about the possibility it could have been self-implicating?” Kim said. “What if Ronald had something to do with Elizabeth’s being accused and convicted of witchcraft? If he did, then maybe he wanted to get the evidence back so he could destroy it.”
“Whooo, hold on!” Edward said. He backed away a step as if Kim were a threat. “You’re too conspiratorially inclined; your imagination is working overtime.”
“Ronald married Elizabeth’s sister ten weeks after Elizabeth’s death,” Kim said heatedly.
“I think you are forgetting something,” Edward said. “The test I ran on Elizabeth’s remains suggests that she’d been chronically poisoned by the new fungus. She’d probably been having psychedelic trips on a regular basis, which had nothing to do with Ronald. In fact he might have been having his own if he were ingesting the same grain. I still think the evidence had to do with something Elizabeth made while under the hallucinogenic effect of the mold. Like we said, it could have been a book, or a picture, or a doll, or anything they thought related to the occult.”
“You have a point,” Kim conceded. She took the letters from Edward and put them in the Bible box. She glanced down the wine cellar’s long hall with its complement of furniture filled with paperwork. “Well, back to the drawing board. I’ll just have to keep looking in hopes of finding the evidence described.”
“I finished my meetings,” Edward said. “Everything is going smoothly regarding the new lab. I have to compliment you on your contractor. He’s going to start today by digging the utility trench. He said his only concern was finding more graves! I think finding Elizabeth’s spooked him. What a character.”
“Do you want to go back to Boston?” Kim asked.
“I do,” Edward admitted. “There are a lot of people I want to talk to now that Omni is soon to be a reality. But I don’t mind taking the train like I did the last time. If you want to stay working here on your project, I think you should.”
“Well, if you wouldn’t mind,” Kim said. Finding the letters had at least encouraged her. 9
Friday,August 12, 1994
August had began hot, hazy, and humid. There had been little rain all through July, and the drought continued into the following month without remittance until the grass on the Boston Common in front of Kim’s apartment changed from green to brown.
At work, August brought some relief for Kim. Kinnard had started his two-month rotation at Salem Hospital, so she didn’t have the anxiety of facing him daily in the SICU. Kim had also concluded negotiations with the department of nursing to give her the entire month of September free. It was put together with a combination of accumulated vacation time plus personal time off without pay. The nursing office hadn’t been happy with the request, but they had compromised in order not to lose Kim altogether.
The beginning of the month also provided Kim with some time on her hands because Edward was away constantly. He was busy flying around the country on secret recruitment missions for Omni Pharmaceuticals. But he did not forget her. Despite his pressing schedule, he phoned every night around ten, just before Kim went to sleep. He also kept up the daily flowers although on a more modest scale. Now the deliveries were a single rose a day, which Kim felt was much more appropriate.
Kim had no trouble filling her time. In the evenings she continued her background reading on the Salem witch trials and Puritan culture. She also made it a point to visit the compound every day. Construction was proceeding at an extremely rapid rate. The crew at the lab was more numerous than the one working on the cottage. Nonetheless, progress at the cottage did not slow, and finish painting was begun even before all the cabinetwork had been completed.