As I drove along the mile-plus length of the gravel road leading to the farm I couldn’t help but shiver when I passed the spot where I had almost been killed the previous summer in order to keep me from exposing the murderer of Gerald Weiss. But as time went by the shivers decreased and I could look back on the experience from a distance, as if it hadn’t really happened to me.
Mark had been a regular at these brunches for many months, but he had declined to come today, saying that if Sandra didn’t want him to live with her she wouldn’t want him to eat with her, either. Instead, he went to the Durham restaurant where he had been a bartender while attending the University of North Carolina to see about getting his old job back. He wasn’t exactly brimming with confidence about the outcome of his “fact-finding procedure,” as the Crescent Heights College policy manual called it.
The only vehicles parked beside the large brown house were Albert’s pickup truck and Sandra’s red Toyota. Albert got razzed by his colleagues about being a college professor who drove a pickup truck, but he shrugged it off. He often invited one of what seemed to be an endless stream of girlfriends to brunch, but perhaps we would be alone today. I hoped so.
Romper, Albert’s yellow Labrador retriever, came bounding up to the car to greet King and me. I let King out of the back seat and she immediately ran off with her friend. Here on the farm was the only place I allowed her to run free without a leash.
I entered the house by the door near the kitchen, carrying an apple pie, and found my three descendants busily working on brunch. Albert and Sandra cooked while Winston ate. I got hugs from Sandra and Albert. This gratified me because I had been a little worried about Sandra’s reaction to my harboring of Mark.
Albert was his usual cheery self, but Sandra had a grave expression on her beautiful face and her long blond hair looked as if it hadn’t been brushed.
I kissed the soft cheek of Winston, which would much too soon be rough with whiskers. He said, “Great- grandma, do you have your car keys?”
He checked out everybody’s car. I gave him my key case and he promptly picked out my car key from among the others. Then he snapped it shut and said, “We don’t want your keys to get lost.”
I determined not to be the first to bring up the subject of Mark. No one mentioned him until we were eating. Then Albert said, “All right, you two. Tell me what’s happening with Mark. I’ve only heard bits and pieces.”
Sandra and I looked at each other. He was her boyfriend. She spoke, somewhat reluctantly. “Mark has moved out.”
Albert said, “The way I heard it, it sounds as if you kicked him out.”
Mark had called Albert yesterday from my apartment, but I hadn’t heard their conversation.
“We came to a mutual understanding.”
That was baloney. But I was only the grandmother and I wasn’t going to interfere.
“Let’s not run around the bush,” Albert said. “Tell me what you know about the charges against him.”
“Charges, not conviction,” I said, unable to hold my tongue.
I saw tears in the corners of Sandra’s blue eyes. But she remained silent. So I told Albert what I knew while the tears ran down Sandra’s cheeks.
When I finished, Albert said, “That is the worst harassment policy I’ve ever heard of. It could ruin his career and there doesn’t appear to be anything he can do about it. It sounds like a modern version of the Spanish Inquisition.” Albert taught history at the University of North Carolina.
“It’s his word against hers,” I said. “And I’ll give you one guess as to who will be believed. It’s even more unfair than that. Somebody tipped off a radical group on campus about Mark, and they staged a nasty protest in front of the building where he was lecturing.”
Albert turned to Sandra and said, “Honey, if Mark gets convicted, you’re still not going to know anything more than you know now. And we won’t ever know whether he received a fair trial. It’s a question of whether you trust Mark or not.”
Sandra’s tears now fell freely. She struggled to speak and finally said, “I don’t know what to do. Why would somebody accuse him falsely?”
“Do you want me to tell him to find somewhere else to stay?” I asked.
Sandra shook her head and barely uttered the word, “No.”
At least she was emotionally involved. I believed she loved him. That thought afforded me some relief. On the other hand, her mental state precluded her taking him back. But I had the motivation to do what I had been thinking about.
I volunteered to wash the dishes and hung around until Sandra was ready to leave, saying that she had some papers to grade. She taught English at a local high school. When I kissed her goodbye I said, “Don’t give up on Mark. He’s as torn up about this as you are. He needs you.”
She said, “Gogi, I can’t make a decision right now.”
“I understand. Maybe something will turn up.” I tried to appear more cheerful than I felt.
“Take care of your blue car,” Winston said to me as he left with Sandra.
I promised him I would. When they had driven into the woods and disappeared I walked back to the kitchen with Albert. I didn’t know of any way to edge into this topic, so I said, “I want to check something out that may have a bearing on this case, but I need your help.”
Albert was instantly on his guard. “If you need my help, it’s probably illegal, immoral or involves driving at night.”
“The latter,” I said, “and possibly one or both of the formers. Have you ever heard of a place called the Club Cavalier near the Crescent Heights campus?”
“No, and I’m wondering why you have.”
I told him about the girl in the Administration Building.
“What is her relationship to this case?” Albert asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “In fact, I don’t even know her name. But she does work-part time, since she’s a student-in the same area with Ms. Priscilla Estavez, head of the Sexual Misconduct Office.”
“That proves nothing, except that she isn’t very loyal to this Estavez person. Why would she be giving you information that might help Mark?”
“You’re asking good questions. It proves that when I trained you in analytical thinking, it took.”
Albert had to smile and he used a softer tone when he said, “I suppose what you want me to do is go to this bar and look for this Shooting Star, whatever or whoever it is.”
“It’s a club, not a bar. And the Shooting Star is a she.”
“How do you know that?”
“I called Club Cavalier and said I had a friend who wanted to see the Shooting Star. I was told that she would be performing Monday evening. And I want to go with you.”
“Mother, that’s not going to happen.”
Albert put on his most defiant attitude. He thrust his chin forward, just as he had when he had been a boy, questioning the authority of his parents. He had looked cute then. He still looked cute, even with an expanding waistline and thinning hair.
“Do you want Mark’s career to be over before it starts?” I asked.
“Bars are rowdy places where men get drunk, use bad language and behave in a disgusting manner. It’s been years since I’ve been to a strip joint. And you’d be as out of place there as a cat at a dog show.”
“Do you want Sandra and Mark to get back together again?”
We went back and forth like that for a while. Finally, I wore him down. He said, “If we don’t go and Mark’s hearing ends up badly, you’ll blame me. At least we’ll take my truck. That’s more macho than your old Mercedes.”
Chapter 6
Albert and I arrived at Club Cavalier about 7:30 p.m., after dark. A scattering of vehicles inhabited the parking lot in front of the building, leaving plenty of room for more. Well, it was a Monday evening. Albert’s pickup truck didn’t look out of place among the older cars and trucks, although I also saw a couple of late-model cars and a SUV.
