Page 50 of If Anything Happens To Me

“Who is that?” Iris whispered to me. “What if she’s part of Fitch’s scheme?”

“I have no idea,” I whispered back. “Let’s talk to her. Find out what she knows.”

Iris and I walked slowly toward the woman, but Minerva ran over to her and threw her arms around her in a huge hug.

When they pulled apart, Minerva turned to us with a glowing smile.

“This is my great-aunt Daphne,” she said.

I felt shocked and amazed—we were actually meeting one of the Sibylline sisters. She lived right here.

“Good afternoon,” the woman said, offering her hand. “I’m Daphne Agassiz.”

“Hello,” I said, feeling another shock at her last name. I shook her hand and noticed that in spite of her apparent frailty, she had a strong grip. I introduced myself and Iris.

“What brings you to the Miramar?” Daphne asked. “Are you here to take the waters?”

“Take the waters?” I asked.

“Yes. You know that this is a place of wellness. Surrounded by the bay, with salt air and fog coming off the ocean, and the chance to swim and heal,” she said.

“That’s not why we’re here,” Minerva said. “Aunt Daphne—”

“Sit with me, girls. I’m the only one of my sisters left now . . . Minerva, you know it gets lonely, having no one to talk to.”

“Aunt Daphne, we would love that, but I need something first. The brochure,” Minerva said.

“What brochure?” Daphne asked.

“That old one from the Miramar. You know, with the map of the interior, so guests could choose their rooms.”

“Darling, I don’t have it anymore. I donated most of the old mementos to the Silver Bay Historical Society,” Daphne said, then frowned. “Or was it the library? Hmm. I spread them around, not wanting to leave any local establishment out. It could even be at the Elbridge Museum.”

I saw Iris’s shoulders slump, but Minerva seemed galvanized. “The Silver Bay Historical Society is just a few blocks away,” she said. “That’s the first place you mentioned, Aunt Daphne—are you pretty sure it’s there?”

“Oh dear, at my age, I’ve learned that nothing is sure.”

“Well, it’s worth a try,” Minerva said. “If I hurry, I can get there before it closes. Hold tight, I’ll be right back.”

“What do you need the brochure for?” Daphne asked, but Minerva was already racing toward her car.

Daphne sighed. “The young ones are always in such a hurry,” she said. “They haven’t learned yet that life is long.”

“Not for everyone,” I said.

Daphne looked at me with a glint in her eyes. “Death comes for all of us, but in its own time. Or is there something specific you’d like to tell me?”

I glanced over my shoulder at Iris, thinking she would tell Daphne about what Fitch had done. But she was silent, and I saw her backing away. Was this all too much for her?

“Your last name is Agassiz,” I said, turning back to Daphne. “Are you connected to the Agassiz Foundation?”

She nodded. “My family started it years ago. My father, to be precise. He sought a cure for a terrible disease. He knew that this variety of parasomnia affected girls with a rare blood type.”

“Type AB negative?” I asked. I’d never heard of parasomnia, but it must have been the condition that ran in the family.

“Yes, how do you know?” she asked.

“I know it’s the disease that took your two sisters. I’m so sorry,” I said.

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