They walked back toward the dock, and Ashley sensed this was why J. Land Crockett had sent her here, to this hauntingly beautiful place. Not just to see the island, but to learn about the women for whom it was named, especially about one woman, Judith Land.

She didn’t want to ask herself why.

“Was she happy?” Ashley asked. The wind had softened into a murmuring breeze, and the birds pranced and sang in the brush and trees.

“God, I hope so.”

“Didn’t she marry before she died?”

“Oh, yes—most definitely. She’d met her Prince Charming, except he was a dashing, penniless Hungarian count of little or no importance—except to Judith, of course.”

Andrew Balaton, Ashley thought. Father of Sarah Balaton, the owner, perhaps, of the collection of jewels Ashley and David had found in a vault in Switzerland more than four years ago.

“Where did they meet?” she asked.

“In the refugee camps,” Lillian said quickly. It was obviously not something she wanted to discuss.

But Ashley did. “What were they like? The camps, I mean.”

“Crowded and sad and dreary, and yet somehow filled with hope and determination. Hungarians are a difficult people to understand, and I don’t pretend to.”

“What were you doing there?”

She sighed. “Judith and I were on a whirlwind tour of Europe. At the time, I was a would-be journalist whom no one took seriously. When the uprising in Hungary hit world headlines...well, I wanted to be where the action was. I dragged Judith out to see the camps. I found my first story there; Judith found her husband.”

Somehow Ashley suspected that wasn’t even close to everything, but Lillian was already beginning to pull back. “They were married soon after?” Ashley asked innocuously.

Lillian walked ahead of her; the dilapidated old dock was in view now, but Ashley wasn’t ready yet to leave. “They were married the day after Christmas, just a few weeks after they met.”

“And she died when?”

“The following August.”

“How tragic.”

For a long time, Lillian would say nothing, and they came to the dock. Taking the lead, Ashley walked out onto a cluster of jagged rocks, which radiated the warmth of the afternoon sun. She couldn’t bear to get back on the boat and skid off to Badger Rock Island, to a gruff old man and more unanswered questions. She thought of Jeremy, and the image of him surprised her, not just because of its being there, unbidden, but also because of its intensity. He was a difficult man, once met, to forget. But how would she even begin to tell him all this? And how could she stand to listen to him guess what it all might mean?

“But at least she had a few months of happiness,” Ashley said, hoping to egg Lillian on once more.

Lillian shook her head sadly, but there was a touch of humor, too, in her expression. “You don’t keep up on the tales of Hollywood legends, do you, Ashley?”