The Body in the Kelp by Katherine Hall Page Page A

was why he had left the ministry. Tom wasn’t a doormat, but he had a sense of his own limitations, humility in the presence of imponderables. Faith slid in somewhere between the two. She hoped she’d go around, and not over, but knew too that humble was not her best pie.
    â€œFaith, whatever are you thinking about? You have the most peculiar expression on your face—sort of like the two corners of
your mouth can’t decide whether to go up or down,” Pix commented.
    â€œThat’s about it, Pix. I was thinking about good and evil,” Faith replied, not realizing until she said it that that was what she had actually been considering.
    There was silence for a moment as they all looked at her. Then Elliot Frazier asked, “Is this in light of the auction? I ask that because the day triggered many thoughts for me, starting with the whole event. Was it good or evil of Matilda to separate things that way? We knew her well, and I am still puzzled that she wanted to have the house dismantled after she died. The things in it were as much a part of the house as the structure itself for her.”
    â€œI hadn’t connected my thoughts to the auction, but you may be right. I certainly have been restless since yesterday. There seemed to be so much tension, and I don’t even know all these people.” Faith looked at him with a feeling of respect. An insightful man.
    The Fraziers had moved to Sanpere almost forty years ago. They were in their early thirties then, with two small children. Elliot had had a serious heart attack and they had wanted to get away from the stress of life in Washington, where he had built up a thriving accounting firm. At about the same time, Louise had inherited enough money from her family to enable them to buy their lovely old house on Sanpere. Elliot never had another heart attack. He had retired years before from the job he got the first year they were here—postmaster of Sanpere Village. They were the exception to the rule—most people on the island had forgotten the Fraziers weren’t born on Sanpere. They moved comfortably among all the groups on the island. Sanpere had few secrets the postmaster and his wife hadn’t heard—and kept.
    â€œI think I know why Matilda divided things,” Louise offered. “She might have felt slightly guilty about leaving the house to Roger and Eric, but more likely she wanted to get everything cleaned out. Have someone start fresh, which I’m sure she wanted to do herself at times, much as she worshipped those ancestors of hers.”

    â€œYou could be right,” Pix said. “The end of an era.”
    â€œExactly.” John closed the gate on the conversation, and Faith realized it was getting late. She resisted their attempts to convince her to stay for dinner and set off through the woods with Benjamin in tow. The path led close to the shore at times, and Faith could glimpse the sunset through the trees. The sun was a fiery-red rubber ball making a straight path across the water, the clouds streaming out along the horizon like purple and scarlet kite tails. Life with Ben was reducing her to kindergarten imagery.
    The rocks that sloped down to the water were already in darkness, and on the other side of the cove she could see a few lights at Prescott’s lobster pound and the houses to either side. Bird’s tiny cabin stood out against the sky. There were no lights on, and Faith wasn’t sure Bird even had electricity. She had seen her with the baby on the shore again and this time had received a brief nod and slight smile in answer to her greeting. The baby, who appeared to be under a year old, still looked pale, and whether this was from the macrobiotics or lack of sunshine penetrating the sling Bird carried it in Faith didn’t know.
    The porch light at her own cottage blinked a welcome as she emerged from the woods carrying Benjamin, who had suddenly decided he wanted to be