“Likewise.”
He headed off toward the elevators.
Sometimes it’s too bloody easy.
The nurse on duty upstairs buzzed him into the wing and he walked over to shake her hand and greet her, just in case Amber was a little too enthusiastic with her advanced notice. That nurse, Karen, was also happy to see Corrine’s repeat visitor, and after Badger confirmed Corrine’s date of birth, and that Imani was also a frequent visitor, he made his way to her room.
Corrine sat in a recliner chair staring at a TV, which currently played a golf match. He cleared his throat as he closed the door behind him and she slowly looked over at him.
“Hello, ma’am,” he said. “Corrine.”
His heart sank, thinking perhaps she was non-verbal when a slight smile curved her lips. “Hello.”
Her light brown skin was mottled by age spots in places, and marked by smile lines along the outer creases of her eyes and around her lips. Wispy, mostly grey hair laid at haphazard angles, and he imagined in her youth she’d sported beautiful loose and natural waves. Her hazel-brown eyes peered at him through silver-rimmed glasses.
He walked over and touched her arm. “My name is Rodney Williams, and if anyone comes in to ask, I’m an old friend of yers from church. Okay?”
She nodded. He sensed there was still enough of her mind present he might be able to learn something.
Anything.
He slid a chair over next to her. From his messenger bag he produced a small video camera and a tabletop tripod, which he quickly set up on her side table next to her chair to record video of this in a way that wouldn’t catch him in the frame, especially his face. Then he laid his hand on her arm again.
“Corrine, I’d like to talk to ye about yer family, and about Caleb’s family.”
She nodded. “All right.”
Maybe since this was old information she might retain more of it. At least he wasn’t worried if she talked about shapeshifters to anyone.
Not like they’d believe her.
“Do ye know of anyone in yer family, or in Caleb’s, who might have come from an unusual family? Perhaps they could do things people whispered about? Strange things? And would you possibly have any information about their names, or where they were born?”
“Maybe in the family bible.” She pointed at a shelf, and he nearly crowed with joy. He released her arm and stood, walking over to it and retrieving it, bringing it back to her. She watched as he took pictures of all the records in the front and back of the bible. As he asked more questions, she revealed additional information about where people had lived or were born.
It was far more than he’d had to start with.
He was about to return the bible to its shelf when she said something that caught him by surprise. “But I don’t know anything about Hamish’s family. He’s not in there, of course.”
Badger blinked, stunned. “Hamish? Hamish Lewis?”
She sighed. “I don’t know his last name. I never asked. I’m certain he’s Imani’s father but she doesn’t know. No one does.”
* * *
Once Badger gotover his shock, he gingerly walked Corrine through the story, not wanting to accidentally influence her with his Prime. Corrine Adams had been just shy of her nineteenth birthday when she took a seven-day trip from Brooklyn to New Hampshire to visit some cousins.
She was engaged to Caleb Ronald and their wedding was two weeks away. After they married they planned to move to Georgia where he would work for his uncle at his mill there. It was guaranteed work and housing at a time when both were a precious commodity.
One of Corrine’s cousins was a seamstress and she was making Corrine’s wedding dress. That visit might be one of the last opportunities she had to spend time with these cousins for a while, if ever, and she wanted to make the most of it.
“I loved that mansomuch,” she said, her gaze unfocused as she stared at the wall. “Smart, handsome.” She smacked her lips. “And couldn’t keep his pants zipped to save his life.”
Bollocks. Badger wondered if Caleb also had secret offspring floating around that no one knew about.
“Caleb, ye mean?” he asked, just to make sure.
She nodded. “He was four years older than me but had a taste for much older women. She arched a barely-there eyebrow at him. Especially rich, older white ladies who liked to buy him things in exchange for his time in their beds when their husbands weren’t around.”
