Page 51 of Trick of Light
Gabby nearly laughed at his misspeak, but managed to keep a straight face. “Why was she so shunned?” Tamara hadn’t mentioned anything like that.
“She never got married, she had a baby out of wedlock. Free spirit. She helped girls take care of any surprises they didn’t want. Any girl didn’t want her baby, she knew where to go.”
“She performed abortions?”
“That sounds bad, when you put it that way. She grew certain herbs, that’s all, it was up to the girl if she wanted to take them. Lisette helped birth babies, too, so she wasn’t shunned when people needed her.”
Gabby got the impression that Buzzy had admired Lisette. Maybe a crush on an older woman?
“The worst was when they took it out on Tamara.”
“Was she shunned too?” The idea made her both sad and angry.
“Not as much, but a little. Tamara didn’t go to school with us, didn’t come to church. But we played with her just like anyone else. Things loosened up over time. No one cared when Tamara had her baby without marrying her man. That Sophie was such a sweet pretty girl. So sad when she died. There were whispers she was poisoned, you know.”
“Really? Can you say more about that?”
“Don’t know more than that. Just island gossip.”
Gabby wanted to question him further, but Barnaby had said his mother died giving birth to him. So it sounded like exactly what Buzzy claimed—island gossip.
She pulled him back to her original question. “So you’ve known Tamara for a very long time. Did you trust her enough to get treatment from her?”
“Here we go again.” He folded his hands on his cane and leaned forward. “Even though it ain’t none of your business, no, I didn’t take any of her herbs and shit. I have a heart condition and I’m on beta blockers and a few other things. She wouldn’t take a chance on any bad interactions.”
“Wait. You’re saying she refused to treat you?”
“That’s right. I consulted with her. She knows her stuff. I even asked her if I should go off my meds and drink her nasty teas instead. She told me no. She said I was doing good and if I would just cut back on the alcohol I could live a long time yet.” He lifted his beer bottle in a toast, then drank half of it down. “But there’s living and there’s living, if you know what I mean.”
Interesting. He’d met with Tamara, but received no actual treatment. And yet his name was mentioned as another of her alleged victims. “Did you tell the police that she didn’t give you anything?”
“Sure I did. I wouldn’t lie about it. I told them exactly what happened.”
She nodded, lost in momentary thought. For all she knew, Buzzy had been crossed off the list of potential victims, leaving Safiya, Andy, and Amelia. She’d make Andy Highgrove her next interview.
“Thank you, Buzzy. I appreciate your time and your hospitality.” She always liked to be extra polite to her interview subjects, even beyond the super-politeness her mother had drilled into her. “One more teensy question. Do you know why Amelia would have left her house to Tamara?”
“That house is about to fall off its pier blocks. Don’t even have a real foundation. It’s a money pit, a boondoggle. We all laughed when we heard some famous piano player bought it. My guess? She had a grudge against Tamara. No other reason I can think of.”
Gabby hadn’t thought of it like that. “What did she have against Tamara?”
“Amelia was a spiteful old thing. Could have been anything.”
Not very helpful. “All right. If you think of anything else, like the last time you saw Amelia and Tamara together, or?—”
“That one’s easy. I saw them talking at the town meeting about the Sea Smoke Fund. They were arguing, I know that. Most everyone was at that meeting. Folks are worried about what’s gonna happen out here.”
“What do you mean?”
Buzzy leaned back, settling his rear deeper into the chair. He was probably getting tired, she realized. The man was nearly ninety, after all. “Supposedly there’s a bunch of folks who got chased away, and now their great-great- grandchildren or whatever might be able to come back and…do what? Claim their old land? What if someone’s living on it? The Carmichaels were the ones who got rid of ’em, and if they want to pay them off, fine by us. But letting them come back when the rest of us have been working hard just to make a living out here, that don’t sit right with everyone. Folks got heated. Gary Stern threw a chair.”
Gabby had heard hints about a fiery town meeting, but this was the first time she’d heard any details. “I didn’t realize the possibility of giving back land was on the table.”
“Hopefully it ain’t no more. It’s a bad idea. That girl Sasha is okay. Pretty thing. Heard she’s a nurse. Nothing against her. It’d be good for the island if she built a new house and stayed out here. But that’s where it ought to end.”
As always, when it came down to an individual person, it was harder to hang on to that fear of “the other.” Gabby had seen that same dynamic many times. Fear of the “other,” until the “other” turned out to be just a regular human being.
“Do you happen to know where Amelia stood on the issue?”
