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THE REAL ADVENTURES OF JONNY QUEST

Synopsis: Jessie, Jonny and Hadji find themselves a reliable source of information.

Categories: E, F

"The Big Goodbye"

by Eric R. Umali

Chapter 5 - "Pearl River Interlude"

It was nearly noon the following day when the taxi pulled up in front of the Sunrise Condominums, near a sign that read "Modern Mature Living".  Jessie, Jonny and Hadji had taken the bus from Manhattan to Pearl River that morning, and now were walking up to the building's impressive front entrance.

"Pretty impressive," said Jonny.

"Indeed," Hadji agreed.  "They must have refurbished the buildings recently to provide a more modern facility."

Jessie shook her head.  "It looks nice enough, yeah, but you won't be seeing _me_ spending my 'golden years' cooped up in a place like this."  She opened the door, and they entered.

A dark-haired young woman sat behind the receptionist's desk, filing her elaborately polished nails.  She raised her eyes when the three young people came up before her.

"Can I help you?" she asked with such a nasal whine that Jessie fought not to flinch.

"We'd like to speak to Veronica Montrose, please."

"Are you family?"

"No," said Jonny, "but we're doing a report for school, and we needed to ask her a few questions."

"If it's not too much trouble," Hadji added.

The receptionist waved dismissively towards several soft chairs opposite the desk.  "Have a seat over there," she instructed, "I'll give- what name did you say again?"

"Veronica Montrose."

"I'll give her a call, and ask if she'll see you."

They obeyed as the receptionist made the call, hearing little of the conversation.  Finally, she hung up.  "Ms. Montrose will be down in just a bit."  She bent again to her nails.

After a few minutes, during which Jonny searched in vain through the magazine rack, a door down the hall opened.  There was a soft thump, and softer footsteps, then again.  Slowly, an elderly woman behind a shiny chrome walker made her way towards the lobby.  Coming forward gradually, the three young people looked curiously at each other.

When the woman was a few yards away, Jessie rose to greet her.  Before she could speak, a closer door opened, and an attractive woman with silver-gray hair stepped briskly up to Jessie and offered her hand.

"Hi- Veronica Montrose."

"Jessie Bannon," the younger woman said, glancing at the woman with the walker.

Veronica followed Jessie's gaze, then turned to the older woman.  "Time for your constitutional, Enid?"

"Same as always," she replied with a stronger voice than expected.  "Same routine for ninety years."  Enid set to her walking once more.

Veronica turned back to Jessie.  "Do I know you, Ms. Bannon?"

"No, you don't."  Jessie waved to the her friends, who rose immediately.  "Any of us.  But we do know your sister.  After a fashion, that is."

The woman's eyes narrowed slightly.  "My sister?  How would you possibly know her?"

"Is there someplace where we can sit and talk?" asked Jessie.

"Of course, of course.  We can speak in my apartment."

Veronica led them through the door.

**********

A few minutes later, the four of them sat at Veronica's coffee table.

"How do you know my sister?"

Jessie leaned over and unzipped her backpack, pulling out the heavy steel box.  She placed it on the table.  Veronica blanched.

"Where did you get this?" she demanded.

"I moved into an apartment in Manhattan a few days ago.  My friends and I were doing some work on it when I found this box hidden in one of the walls.  I guess you recognize it then."

Veronica nodded.  "I've never seen it myself, but my sister told me all about it.  She kept all of her most precious belongings in this box."  Gingerly, she opened the lid, and picked through the papers and other objects, with an almost reverential respect for them.  Finally, she took the diary.

Jonny leaned forward.  "We apologize for having opened it, ma'am, but we needed to know whom the things belonged to."

"That's quite all right," the woman said absently, as she began gently leafing through the pages.  Jessie, Jonny and Hadji sat in silence as Veronica read a passage here and there, lips moving, as if framing the words physically would make them more real.  Finally, and with visible reluctance, she closed the small leather-bound book and placed it carefully on the table before her.

"Thank you," Veronica said softly, "for bringing these to me.  Nothing in the world was more important to Jenny than this diary."

Jessie cleared her throat.  "Ms. Montrose-"

"Oh please, call me Veronica."

"Veronica, we, ah- we read a few of the entries from the beginning of the diary."

The woman nodded.  "Understandable."

"The way Jenny wrote," said Jonny, "the Forties seemed like a really incredible time."

"Oh, they were, my young friend," she replied, "they most certainly were.  Even with the country- the whole world in the middle of a war, things seemed just so much more innocent... more hopeful.  Things didn't seem nearly as complicated as they do now."

"Your sister was having the most exceptional time in New York- fresh off the bus and getting a job in a revue run by a... well..."

Veronica smiled.  "A mobster?"

"That is what we figured," said Jonny.

"Well, you're right about Mr. Z," Veronica said, "he was a mobster.  One of the biggest around.  But, oh, the three of you don't know the half of it."

Hadji brightened.  "Would you tell us what became of your sister, and why she never claimed her belongings?"

The older woman rubbed her chin.  "Almost no one knows what really happened, you see.  And if I tell you, you'll understand why."  She rose and walked towards a set of floor-length curtains and pulled on the cord, exposing a glass door which opened onto a small balcony.  Sunlight poured into the room and Veronica stood silhouetted in the light.  She turned.

"Okay, then," she said finally, then returned to her seat.  "What was the last entry you read?"

"June 31, 1943," said Jessie, excitement beginning to creep into her voice.  "Your sister had been working at the Silver Slipper for a week, and had just had a run in with an employee of Mr. Zulacco's named Jimmy."

"Jimmy," repeated Veronica.  The name brought a smile to the woman's face and a brightness to her eyes they young people had yet to see.  "His full name was Jimmy DiSantis, and he was much more than just an employee.  If there was something that Mr. Z wanted done, 'Shotgun' Jimmy DiSantis was the man who made sure it was done."

TO BE CONTINUED...