built by Josiah Walker, logging baron who constructed the building as his private home 150 years ago then moved to Seattle
has served as:
jail
house of worship
bordello during prohibition
rooms, floors, and wings added over time to make exterior resemble a gothic wedding cake, a patchwork of grey stone and red brick, with turrets, porticos, and useless little Juliet balconies tacked on randomly
inside – rabbit warren of oddly shaped rooms, winding corridors, and staircases, some imposing and some no better than ships ladders.
impossible to heat or clean effectively
picture gallery with long-dead town worthies
stuffed Great Auk in the natural history diorama on the second floor
Victorian dolls in display cases
hairline crack in the dome over the grand staircase
clock tower at the top, iron spiral staircase leading to trap door beneath clock’s inner workings
four floors
Angela Marie Smithfield
Ted Davis’ mom
Antonia (“Toni”) Masters
realtor
tailored pants suits with stiletto heels
lipstick always matches nail color
blonde
husband – Pete
Andrew Stein
newest board member
planning consultant
moved to down from East Coast (Boston or Philadelphia)
good looking, average height and build, thin face with a hawkish nose, fashionably-framed glasses, dark hair cut close
mid-thirties
Archibald McNair
board president
professor emeritus of history at the university
84 years old
Carmen
mistress to Jeff
cousin of Andrew
Catherine Walker
great, great granddauther to Josiah and Lydida Walker
board secretary
long drive home from museum, 30 minutes, surrounded by woodland
didn’t have a happy childhood
museum docent
distant relative of Josiah Walker
shy, hates talking in public
drives a Prius
lives with her mother
has at least two cats
father killed in a car crash before he could explain (chapter 6)
Charles
the manatee
Chase Morgan
Ted Davis’ best friend in childhood
Dorothy
Jeff Hansen’s wife
Dr. Ruth Bader
town’s resident sage
counselor, author, former legislator, and wicked bridge player
seventy something, looks fiftyish
Emma
Achibald McNair’s wife
Jasmine
Ted’s mom’s astrologer
Jefferson (“Jeff”) Hansen
banker
lied about wife being sick
has a mistress – Carmen
has a key to Carmen’s apartment
wife – Dorothy
Josiah Disparais Walker
Catherine’s great, great grandfather
logging baron who constructed the building as his private home 150 years ago then moved to Seattle
distant relative of Catherine Walker
mutton chops
Civil War Union vet from Pennsylvania
made his money in the booming logging industry
married to Lydia Walker
Lindsay DeMan
young female museum director
hasn’t been in a relationship for a while
Lydia Walker
wife of Josiah
Margaret
the great auk
Marilyn
Cathrine’s mom
Mr. Van
museum education curator (when Catherine was young)
Mr. V for short
Paul Hanson
no relation to Jeff Hansen
developer looking for a building with character
wants to create a high-end community with condos, galleries and a café
Pete Masters
husband of Antonia (“Toni”) Masters
drives a Porsche
lonely and bored
secretly wants to be a writer and write western romance novels set in Utah during the Nixon era
Sunburst Fawn-Flower
barista at Subdued Brews Coffee and Pub
lavender dread locks
three silver rings in her lower lip
kind and open, knows all the regulars by name
writer working toward and MFA
on her eighth draft of sci-fi romance set under the sea, set in the City of Atlantis
Ted Davis (v. the world)
full name: Theodore Chandler Davis III
birthday March 31, 1990
only child of Angela Marie Smithfield and T.C. Davis, Jr.
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