The Deepest Water by Kate Wilhelm Page A

police called me, looking for you. Jud said you were going to the coast with Jonelle and a couple of other friends, and that’s what I told them. Then… I just got in my car and began to drive, and I ended up in Bandon and checked into a motel. There didn’t seem to be anyone I could talk to. Or maybe I had to be alone. I came back for the service, then took off again. Now they’ll have to question me, I guess. I’ll tell them why Jud called you, about our engagement, but I had to tell you first.”
    “I’m glad you did.” He had sounded so happy, and she had said no, she couldn’t make it.
    Silently they walked past the barn, past the administration building. Other people were leaving now before the rain moved in, the first people they had seen. Their silence continued as they drove back into town.
    At the Safeway lot Willa motioned toward the side. “I left my car over there. I imagine the police will want to talk to me first thing in the morning. Will you come back to work yet?”
    “Yes. I’ll be there tomorrow. After… after they ask you questions, let’s go out for coffee or something.” She reached for Willa’s hand and for another moment they sat there holding hands. Abby was thinking that of all the people Jud had known, loved, and left, they probably were the only two people who had really loved him; knowing exactly what he was like, they had loved him.
    8
    It was no use, Abby thought on Monday at the museum. She and two other graduate students were supposed to be packing up statues that had been on loan, but she kept forgetting what she was doing, and became as immobile as one of the figures being crated. When Willa finally appeared at the door of the workroom, Abby fled with her. Willa had been in her office for hours with the lieutenant and his detective assistant.
    Abby didn’t ask a thing, and Willa didn’t volunteer anything as they left the museum, threaded their way through a vast parking lot crammed full, crossed the street, and entered a cafe. At the table, with coffee before them, Willa finally spoke.
    “There must be a hundred different ways to ask the same question, and they used them all.” She was wan and listless, withdrawn. “Didn’t we tell anyone at all we planned to be married? Not even my mother?” She grimaced. “That would be like hiring a television spot, or a float to go up and down every street in town broadcasting the news.” She took a deep breath and looked out the window. “How can you prove you were home by yourself if you didn’t see anyone, or if no one saw you? I don’t know.” When she lifted her coffee cup, her hand was shaking.
    “It doesn’t mean anything,” Abby said quickly. “They’re asking everyone questions like that, not just you.”
    Willa looked at her sadly and didn’t respond. After a moment, she said, “You might as well go back home. You must have a lot of things to attend to.”
    “The condolence notes,” Abby said. “Walk the dog. Wait for the agent to call. Then I’ll have to go to the cabin for a few days.” But it was true, she was useless at work, she might as well be home.
    She found she could only read a few of the condolences before she had to stop, get up, and walk away, and she kept listening for the doorbell, for the telephone, for a call to say they had found him, they had the killer, it was over. The day and night seemed without end.
    Christina Maas called on Tuesday; she would take a late flight to Eugene, and could they go to the cabin the following day, Wednesday? Maybe Abby, she suggested, could buy a few things for them to eat, breakfast stuff, snacks, lunch, and they could eat dinner out. Her suggestion sounded like an order, but Abby was grateful for anything that forced her to act.
    “The movie contract is a done deal,” Christina said before she hung up. “I’ll tell you about it when I see you.”
    Abby picked her up at her motel on Wednesday morning. Christina was wearing fawn-colored wool slacks,