Jude
Would you be able to give me a quick introduction into perfume making? Jude McConnell works on the financial side of things at House of Cordell. But he'd have gained an understanding about perfume and perfume making. That's knowledge your cousin Cedric has and would expect Jude McConnell to have. I've read books about it, but there's no substitute for talking to an expert.
Gemma
Certainly. Join me at the shop after close of business one day this week and I'll give you a crash course.
She'd been planning to return to her hotel room in time for their call tonight, but seeing as how he was like a business associate, and she was on a getaway, that suddenly felt too extreme.
Gemma
By the way, I'm on a quick trip to Portland. Can we skip tonight's call and resume tomorrow?
Jude
Yes. I'll call you then at the usual time.
She was visiting one of her favorite cities. Her business associate had just let her off the hook for tonight's scheduled phone call and she should feel glad about that.
Instead, inexplicable disappointment drifted down her like flour through a sifter.
* * *
“I was a Code Girl?” Gracie asked the following evening.
“It looks that way,” Gemma answered.
All the co-conspirators on task Reunite-Gracie-With-Her-Love-Story were present in the living room of Gracie and Paul's former home, now Colette and Stevie's house.
Gemma had spent last night in Portland and the day sightseeing there. Ten minutes ago, she'd returned to Bayview and parked Orange Thunder in Colette's garage. The others had gathered here earlier for dinner and been awaiting her arrival. Almost as soon as she'd hugged each of them, she'd begun relaying the conversation she'd had with Professor Rusk and passing along his translation of Gracie's note.
“I don’t remember working as a Code Girl,” Gracie confessed.
“Do you remember working in a factory making weapons?” Colette asked.
“No.”
“What?” Stevie asked.
“The idea of you as a Code Girl makes a lot of sense to me,” Colette stated from her standing position near the fireplace. When Gracie was here, Colette always insisted her mom sit in her recliner, the one next to Stevie's. “You’ve never been the slightest bit handy, and it’s always been all but impossible for me to imagine you working in a factory like you said you did. But math? You’re unbelievably good at math. The government would’ve wanted you touse your skills for their cause.”
“It reminds me of that British movie,” Simone said. “The one with Benedict Something-or-other in it.”
“The Imitation Game.” Gemma nodded. “But unlike the people in that film, it sounds like you,” she said to Gracie, “might’ve been involved in an effort that was made up of dozens and dozens and dozens of women.”
“Extraordinary,” Simone murmured.
“Girl power.” Colette pumped the air with her fist, then went to the drink cart against the wall and poured gin and vermouth into a martini shaker. “Box in northwest corner under dormer. Huh. The attic is the only floor of this house with dormers.”
“That'sifthe note is referring to this house,” Simone said.
“One way to find out. We go upstairs and check.” Colette added ice, then rattled the martini shaker vigorously. The noise of a martini shaker had always been the soundtrack of Gemma's visits with her grandparents. Colette looked to Stevie and raised her voice. “Do you think the box Mom's referring to in her note might still be located in the northwest corner?”
“I'd think so,” he answered. “The northwest corner is very deep back in there behind many, many boxes. I’ve added boxes while we’ve been living here but I haven’t moved any of the existing ones.”
“Were any of Gracie and Paul's belongings ever taken to a storage facility?” Simone asked.
“Goodness, no. I'm too cheap for that and I know Mom is too, because I pay her bills. We're happier piling dozens of boxes in the attic.” Colette strained liquid from the shaker into a glass, expertly sliced off a peel from a lemon, pinched the back of the peel over the glass, then ran it around the lip. A hearty sip, followed by “Ahhh.” Then another hearty sip for good measure before she set the glass on the drink cart and clapped her palms. “Who's coming upstairs with me to find the box?”
