Threads of Evidence by Lea Wait Page A

“They’d have a big barbecue and lobster bake, catered and all. An open bar. And music. Usually, a local group, although I seem to remember their having a disc jockey one year. Children brought balls and Hula-hoops and kites and played on the hill in back of the house. Men sometimes started up a softball game. The party would start at four in the afternoon and end with fireworks.”
    â€œIf everyone in Haven Harbor went, it must have been crowded.”
    â€œWell, not everyone went. But a couple of hundred guests showed up each year. Little kids were everywhere, and romancing couples found dark corners. It wasn’t only the yacht club set, who knew the Gardeners best. Everyone in town was invited, so you never knew exactly who would turn up there. It was a wonderful, friendly way to end the summer. Until the last party, of course.”
    I put down my fork. “The night Jasmine died.”
    Gram nodded. “I was dating Henry, your grandfather, then. I remember that night especially because he was leaving for college in a few days. He was a senior at the University of New Hampshire, and he’d just given me my ring.” Gram looked down at her naked left hand. “At my age I don’t need an engagement ring. I told Tom that. But I was only twenty then, and thrilled to have a diamond, no matter how small. I was on top of the world that night. The only sad part was that Henry would be leaving for school soon. But we were young, we were engaged, and we had our whole life together ahead of us. The world was ours.” She smiled, remembering. “It was a beautiful evening. Not cool, the way it sometimes gets in early September. A bit of wind came up about eight o’clock, though. I remember Henry went to his car to get me a sweater before the fireworks started.”
    â€œDid you know Jasmine?”
    â€œKnow her? Not really. Oh, of course, I knew who she was. Everyone knew the Gardeners. But she had her own friends. She loved to sail, and she spent a lot of time at the yacht club.”
    â€œWhere the rich kids were,” I added.
    â€œTo be fair to Jasmine, she didn’t seem to care much about where someone came from. In those days some of the locals worked at the yacht club or taught classes there. Or even were members. Haven Harbor was never like one of those ritzy places down the coast, where you practically had to own a yacht to belong to the club. Plenty of people in town were members.”
    â€œBut you weren’t one of them.”
    â€œNo. I waitressed in the dining room there. That’s where I saw Jasmine and her friends.”
    â€œI didn’t know you’d worked at the yacht club!”
    Gram smiled. “You don’t know everything about me. I never thought those couple of summers were very important. Everyone in town worked somewhere, the way they do now. After a couple of years at the yacht club, I moved on to other jobs. Henry and I got married after he graduated. You’ve seen the pictures of our wedding.”
    Gram and her Henry had been married in the Congregational Church—the same church where she’d be married again, in three weeks. My grandfather had died before I was born. Would I ever be as happy with someone as Gram had looked on her wedding day? Not that I was looking to get married soon. But sometimes I wondered.
    â€œWhat was that night like—the night Jasmine died?”
    â€œIt was lovely. Wonderful and fun, as always. I’ll admit Henry and I weren’t paying much attention to other people. We danced and we ate clams. We both loved fried clams. People kept coming up to us and congratulating us on our engagement. I only remember seeing Jasmine a couple of times. Before the end, of course.”
    â€œSo you were there when her body was found.” Why have you never told me this? I thought.
    â€œWe were sitting on the hill in back of Aurora, overlooking the harbor, watching the fireworks. I was