Chương 9
Richard was furious.
Margaret approved.
“She should protect herself.”
“She lied.”
“She worked for your wife and probably thought she worked for you.”
“She knew.”
“Maybe.”
“You’re defending her?”
“I’m defending caution.”
Richard walked to the apartment window.
Margaret had stayed more than one night.
They were on night four.
Neither had mentioned the broken rule.
Richard turned.
“What do you want from me?”
It was a dangerous question because he meant it honestly.
Margaret put down her book.
“I don’t know yet.”
“I can’t do anything with that.”
“I’m not a quarterly objective.”
His mouth tightened.
“I didn’t mean—”
“I know.”
She removed her glasses.
“You keep trying to turn this into something you can complete. DNA test. Records. Lawyers. Calls. You want a list with boxes.”
“I want to fix it.”
“You can’t.”
The words landed between them.
Richard looked older than sixty-seven.
Margaret continued more gently.
“You can find out what happened. That is not the same as fixing it.”
He sat opposite her.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Be uncomfortable.”
“For how long?”
She smiled despite herself.
“There you are.”
He laughed once.
Then neither spoke for a while.
Margaret listened to the refrigerator hum.
Richard picked at a loose thread on the armchair.
Eventually he said, “I hated you for dying while I was angry.”
Margaret looked at him.
He kept his eyes on the thread.
“I thought my last real conversation with you was a fight. I replayed it until I couldn’t remember what you actually said.”
His voice remained controlled.
That made it worse.
“I remember saying I wanted you out of my life. I don’t know if I said those exact words.”
“You didn’t.”
He looked up.
“You said, ‘I can’t live with you in every room I’m in.’”
Richard closed his eyes.
Margaret remembered because the sentence had followed her for years.
“I meant—”
“I know what you meant now.”
“I didn’t then.”
“No.”
He breathed slowly.
“I’m sorry.”
Margaret looked at him.
This apology was different from the others.
She nodded.
“I’m sorry too.”
Richard’s face tightened.
“For what?”
“For making loving me exhausting.”
He stared at her.
Then, unexpectedly, he smiled.
“Yeah.”
Margaret’s mouth fell open.
“You could hesitate.”
“You asked for honesty.”
“I asked for human decency.”
He laughed.
She did too.
The laughter lasted only a few seconds.
It did not heal anything.
But it belonged to them.
A week after the gala, Dana Mercer agreed to an interview with attorneys for both Richard and Margaret present.
Margaret did not attend.
She asked Denise to go.
“I’ll dislike her before she opens her mouth,” Margaret said. “That won’t help.”
Dana’s account arrived that evening in careful notes.
Celeste had told her Richard wanted complete separation from his mother.
Dana believed her because Richard himself had complained repeatedly about Margaret and because Celeste handled more of his personal life each year.
After the landslide, Dana received a call from a county employee correcting Margaret’s missing status.
Dana passed that information to Celeste.
Celeste instructed her not to disturb Richard until he returned from Asia.
Then, according to Dana, Celeste said she would handle it personally.
Three days later, Dana asked whether Richard knew.
Celeste said yes.
Dana did not ask again.
Months later, Margaret began calling.
Celeste told Dana the older woman had become unstable and that Richard wanted no contact.
Dana blocked calls.
Returned letters.
Redirected mail.
She claimed she never knew Richard believed Margaret dead until much later.
Elaine considered that claim questionable.
Margaret considered it human.
People knew astonishingly little about facts they were paid not to examine.
The stranger discovery concerned the locket.
A former household employee remembered Celeste asking whether Margaret owned any identifiable jewelry after the landslide.
The employee had mentioned a gold locket Margaret wore often.
Celeste later purchased a similar antique oval locket from an estate jeweler.
Records confirmed the purchase.
That second locket was placed with personal effects presented to Richard before the memorial.
Richard had never opened it.
He had placed it in the coffin.
Margaret sat at the apartment table listening while Elaine explained.
She touched her own locket.
Its chain had been repaired by a jeweler Richard insisted on paying.
“You bought a fake copy,” Richard said to Celeste two days later.
It was the first time Margaret had seen Celeste since the ballroom.
They met in Elaine’s conference room.
Separate lawyers sat at opposite ends of the table.
Margaret almost refused to attend.
Then she realized she wanted one thing Celeste’s emails could not provide.
Not a confession.
A choice.
Would Celeste keep lying when the lie no longer protected anything?
Celeste wore a plain black dress.
No sequins.
No diamonds except her wedding ring.
She looked tired.
“That isn’t how I thought of it,” she said.
Richard laughed in disbelief.
“How did you think of it?”
Celeste looked at the table.
“As something for the memorial.”
“You let me believe it was hers.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me put it in the coffin.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Her attorney touched her arm.
Celeste shook him off.
“No. We’re past that.”
She looked at Richard.
“Because I was a coward.”
The room became quiet.
Margaret watched her.
Celeste did not cry.
“I had already told you she was gone,” she said. “I had already let you believe no correction came. Then the memorial plans started. Your office wanted personal effects. I panicked.”
“You panicked for twelve years?”
“No.”
Celeste looked at Margaret.
“After a while, I chose it.”
Margaret felt no satisfaction.
She had expected some.
“You sent the legal letter,” Richard said.
“Yes.”
“You had my mail returned.”
“Yes.”
“You told security she was dangerous.”
“I said she was harassing us.”
“You knew who she was.”
“Yes.”
Richard stood.
Elaine said his name.
He remained standing but did not move closer.
“Why didn’t you tell me when she came to the townhouse?”
Celeste’s composure finally cracked.
May you like
“Because I knew you would leave me.”
The simplicity of it silenced him.
