Beach Music

It is 1985. Jack notices that a man has been following him around Rome for a few days. Jack reassures Leah (now eight years old) and their maid, Maria, that they have nothing to fear from the mysterious man.

Jack walks Leah to school, and then speaks with the man who has been following them. He is a private investigator, hired by Shyla’s sister Martha. Martha wants to speak with Jack, who has had no communication with her family since he moved to Rome. He agrees to meet her for dinner.

Marth and Jack have dinner at Del Fortunato’s, Jack’s favorite restaurant and one that Shyla loved too.

Jack is angry and confrontational with Martha, who demands to know when he will bring Leah to South Carolina. Jack cannot forgive Martha and her parents for trying to take custody of Leah. Martha admits that it was wrong of them to do so. She tells him that she is trying to understand why Shyla chose to die and that their mother has something she wants to say to Jack in person.

During dinner, Jack notices Martha frequently looking over his head at someone. Her private investigator is at the restaurant, watching them. He tells her to get rid of the investigator, and then invites Martha to stay with Leah while he is on a trip to Venice. He worries because he hasn’t yet told Leah that her mother died by suicide.

In Venice, Jack meets his high school friends Mike Hess and Ledare Ansley. Mike, a Hollywood producer, wants Jack and Ledare to write a TV show based on their hometown and their families, beginning with their grandparents’ generation. Both refuse at first. Later, they will agree.

The next day, Jack enjoys showing Ledare around Venice. Jack and Ledare grew up together and dated in high school.

Ledare is divorced from Capers Middleton, another of their childhood friends. Capers treated Ledare poorly throughout their marriage. Jack resents him for this—and for other reasons as well. (Much later, readers will discover that Capers betrayed Jack and their other friends in college when they were on trial for crimes related to demonstrations against the Vietnam War.)

At dinner, Mike brings up the TV show project again. Jack refuses to join the project because he doesn’t want to write about Shyla. Mike asks Jack about another childhood friend, Jordan Elliot. Jordan faked his death years ago, but Jack knows Jordan is alive and is a priest in Rome. Mike suspects that Jack knows something.

Back in Rome, Jack drops Martha off at the airport for her flight home to South Carolina.

When Jack returns from the airport, he and Leah discuss Martha’s visit. Leah tells Jack that Martha asked Leah if she was Jewish, as Martha’s whole family is. Leah wasn’t sure of the answer. Leah then reveals that she has known for a long time that Shyla died by suicide; Leah overheard their maid, Maria, talking about it on the phone. Leah tells Jack that she wants to meet the rest of their family.

The next day, Jack visits Jordan Elliot at the Church of Saint Anselmo. Jordan, a priest, hides in a confessional so that he and Jack can speak privately. Jack warns Jordan that Mike believes he’s still alive and is looking for him. As he’s leaving the church, Jack notices a camera pointing out of a confessional booth, taking pictures of Jordan. Jack recognizes the photographer as the same private investigator who had been working for Martha.

Ledare visits Rome. Jack shows her around the city, stopping to pay his rent at the antiques shop that his landlords own. They tease Ledare that she must marry Jack.

Jordan Elliot follows Jack and Ledare around Rome. When they stop for lunch, Jordan is waiting in the men’s restroom for Jack. Jordan shows Jack the photographs that were taken at the Saint Anselmo confessional; someone left them for Jordan to find. Mike Hess has written Jordan a letter, asking to meet; to keep himself hidden, Jordan plans to move to a different monastery and warns Jack that they won’t have any contact for a while. At the end of their conversation, Jack laments that all this hiding is still necessary, and Jordan responds that there is no statute of limitations on murder.

At dinner that evening, Leah surprises Ledare with her knowledge of Ledare’s shared high school experiences with Jack and Shyla; Leah has read their high school yearbook many times.

Jack receives a telegram from his brother stating that their mother is dying of cancer. At first, Jack thinks it is a joke because he has had so little contact with his family, and because his mother is notorious for pulling stunts to get attention or sympathy.

At Ledare and Leah’s urging, Jack calls his brother, Dupree. Dupree confirms that their mother has leukemia. Jack agrees to fly home and visit his ailing mother, telling Leah that he will take her on his next visit, as it is “time [she was] united with Frankenstein’s family” (108).