“Good to see you again, Pauline. We were wondering about something you bought a while back. Can we come in?”
“No. Tell Julian I’ll send him a check when I’m ready to.”
“We’re not here for Julian,” says Nana. “It’s about an item from the old hotel by the river.”
“Oh yes, the Florablanca Inn. I heard some out-of-town money bought it up.”
“They did,” says Nana. “You remember Rhodes from the other day? He’s the architect overseeing the restoration.”
Pauline turns her attention to Rhodes, looking at him like she hadn’t noticed him standing there until this moment.
“You were at the estate sale.”
“I was, yes.”
“What do you want with me?” she asks, suddenly taking interest. “You know, I haven’t had a man—" She starts to walk towards him, but Nana grabs her hand.
“He’s here on business, Pauline. Julian said you bought the chandelier that was in the hotel lobby.”
“I did.”
“Do you still have it?” asks Rhodes.
“I reckon I do somewhere.”
“You don’t know?” I ask. How can you not know if or where you have an entire chandelier?
She looks at me and stares. “That’s none of your business, girl.”
I roll my eyes.
“Pauline,” says Nana, “we’re looking to buy it from you so it can go back into the hotel.”
She takes a sip of her drink and tilts her head back. “It won’t be cheap.”
“My client has deep pockets,” says Rhodes.
“Come on, then. It’s out back, but we’ll have to go through the house since the fence fell.”
We follow her through the house, stopping to retrieve a set of hidden keys from a hallway buffet table. It smells like rotten plants and old perfume. A thick layer of dust covers almost everything, and the rooms are more packed than the ones at the estate sale a few weeks ago.
“Sorry about the mess,” she says. “My maid quit on me about twenty years back.”
“I can’t imagine why,” I say under my breath. Rhodes hears me and puts a finger to his lips.
We reach to the back porch, which is covered in old furniture that’s warped and rotten from being exposed to the weather. I shake my head. A lot of these pieces were probably beautiful at some point.
“Watch out for snakes,” Pauline says as we navigate the weeds.
Once we get to the carriage house at the back of the property, Pauline unlocks the door but is unable to open it due to the underbrush. Rhodes steps forward to help, kicking the weeds back while pulling on the decaying wood slab until it’s finally ajar enough for us to slip inside.
The carriage house is in even worse shape than the main house. An old Mercedes convertible is parked on the left side, but the top has been eaten through and the interior has started to rot. Countless paintings and vintage mirrors are leaning against the walls, and an open chifforobe reveals moldy, tattered clothing. It reeks of must and decay, and I can’t help but cover my face with my cardigan to keep from breathing in the dust and mold.
Once my eyes adjust to the dim light, I see on the right side of the room, opposite the car, a huge lump covered in a dirty white sheet. Pauline, still nursing her cocktail, grabs a corner and tries to pull it back, but it catches. Rhodes motions for her to step back, and I help him carefully remove the sheet to reveal the chandelier.
It’s resting at a catty-corner angle, but it’s still striking. It’s tiered like a wedding cake, and each layer has elegant looping arms curling up to hold the candle-shaped lights. Hundreds, if not thousands, of crystals adorn every inch of the piece, and even in this dark, awful space, it’s easy to appreciate how beautiful it once was. I look at Rhodes, whose face is alight as he stares open-mouthed.
“Pauline, why did you buy this if you were just going to hide it back here?” Nana asks.
