so that none of the landscaping would be affected if there was any public work in that area?”
“Yes. I remember your dad talking about that at the time. He intended to do something with that property outside the fence, but he never got to do it.”
“Maggie, you were wrong about something. Daddy was not fired because he had a drinking problem. He was fired because Elaine Carrington started flirting with him, and when he didn’t respond she got rid of him. Peter told me that. Where did you get the idea that it was because of his drinking?”
“I don’t care what your husband told you. Your father had a drinking problem, Kay.”
“Well, according to Peter, he certainly wasn’t drinking when he was working.”
“Kay, when your father told me that he’d been fired, he was upset, terribly upset.”
“That was only a few weeks after Susan Althorp disappeared, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, as I remember it was exactly fifteen days later.”
“Then the police must have questioned Daddy as well. He was still working there.”
“They questioned everybody who worked on the estate or even visited it. You were staying here with me the night Susan disappeared. Your father had some of his friends in for a poker game at your house. They were at it till midnight, and I gather when it broke up they were all feeling pretty good. That Greco fellow was way off base insinuating your father’s suicide had anything to do with Susan Althorp.”
“I’m sure of that, but he did have a point. Daddy’s body was never recovered. Why were you so sure he committed suicide?”
“Kay, I went with him to the cemetery on the sixth anniversary of your mother’s death. That was only a month before he killed himself. Six years and still he broke down and cried like a baby. He told me he missed her every single day, and it wasn’t letting up. Something else. He loved working on the Carrington estate. Sure, he had other families up there he worked for, but the Carringtons were the only one who would let him do exactly what he wanted. It was a terrible blow to be thrown out of that job.”
Maggie got up from her chair, walked over, and put her arms around me. “Kay, he loved you like crazy, but your dad was in serious depression, and when you drink and are depressed, terrible things happen.”
We cried together. “Maggie, I’m so scared,” I admitted. “I’m so scared of what may happen to Peter.”
She didn’t answer, but she might just as well have shouted what she was thinking: Kay, I’m scared of what may happen to you.
I called Peter on his cell phone. He was still in the city and wasn’t going to be home until at least ten o’clock. “Take Maggie out for dinner,” he said. Then he even laughed when he added, “Tell her it’s on me.”
Maggie and I went out for “a plate of pasta,” as she puts it. Our conversation led her to reminiscences about my mother, and once again she told me the story about how she had stopped the show when she sang that song. She sounded so poignant when she sang that last line, “I heard that song before,” Maggie said, her eyes glistening as she hummed the tune, off-key. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her about my visit to the chapel that afternoon long ago, but I held back. I didn’t want a lecture about how foolish I’d been.
Following dinner, I dropped her off at her door, watched until she was inside, then drove home. There were some lights on in the gatehouse, so I assumed that the Barrs were there. I never can tell if Elaine is in, though. Her house is too far away from either the front gate or the mansion to see any lights coming from it.
It was only nine o’clock. The mansion felt really scary to go into alone. I could almost imagine someone hiding inside the suit of armor in the entrance hall. The outside lights sent muted shadows through the stained-glass windows. For an instant I wondered if they were the same lights my father had installed, the ones he’d rushed
“Yes. I remember your dad talking about that at the time. He intended to do something with that property outside the fence, but he never got to do it.”
“Maggie, you were wrong about something. Daddy was not fired because he had a drinking problem. He was fired because Elaine Carrington started flirting with him, and when he didn’t respond she got rid of him. Peter told me that. Where did you get the idea that it was because of his drinking?”
“I don’t care what your husband told you. Your father had a drinking problem, Kay.”
“Well, according to Peter, he certainly wasn’t drinking when he was working.”
“Kay, when your father told me that he’d been fired, he was upset, terribly upset.”
“That was only a few weeks after Susan Althorp disappeared, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, as I remember it was exactly fifteen days later.”
“Then the police must have questioned Daddy as well. He was still working there.”
“They questioned everybody who worked on the estate or even visited it. You were staying here with me the night Susan disappeared. Your father had some of his friends in for a poker game at your house. They were at it till midnight, and I gather when it broke up they were all feeling pretty good. That Greco fellow was way off base insinuating your father’s suicide had anything to do with Susan Althorp.”
“I’m sure of that, but he did have a point. Daddy’s body was never recovered. Why were you so sure he committed suicide?”
“Kay, I went with him to the cemetery on the sixth anniversary of your mother’s death. That was only a month before he killed himself. Six years and still he broke down and cried like a baby. He told me he missed her every single day, and it wasn’t letting up. Something else. He loved working on the Carrington estate. Sure, he had other families up there he worked for, but the Carringtons were the only one who would let him do exactly what he wanted. It was a terrible blow to be thrown out of that job.”
Maggie got up from her chair, walked over, and put her arms around me. “Kay, he loved you like crazy, but your dad was in serious depression, and when you drink and are depressed, terrible things happen.”
We cried together. “Maggie, I’m so scared,” I admitted. “I’m so scared of what may happen to Peter.”
She didn’t answer, but she might just as well have shouted what she was thinking: Kay, I’m scared of what may happen to you.
I called Peter on his cell phone. He was still in the city and wasn’t going to be home until at least ten o’clock. “Take Maggie out for dinner,” he said. Then he even laughed when he added, “Tell her it’s on me.”
Maggie and I went out for “a plate of pasta,” as she puts it. Our conversation led her to reminiscences about my mother, and once again she told me the story about how she had stopped the show when she sang that song. She sounded so poignant when she sang that last line, “I heard that song before,” Maggie said, her eyes glistening as she hummed the tune, off-key. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her about my visit to the chapel that afternoon long ago, but I held back. I didn’t want a lecture about how foolish I’d been.
Following dinner, I dropped her off at her door, watched until she was inside, then drove home. There were some lights on in the gatehouse, so I assumed that the Barrs were there. I never can tell if Elaine is in, though. Her house is too far away from either the front gate or the mansion to see any lights coming from it.
It was only nine o’clock. The mansion felt really scary to go into alone. I could almost imagine someone hiding inside the suit of armor in the entrance hall. The outside lights sent muted shadows through the stained-glass windows. For an instant I wondered if they were the same lights my father had installed, the ones he’d rushed
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