‘Lucy says Buddy thinks Johnna is doing this to hurt you.’
I shook my head. ‘Buddy has played us from the start. I don’t care anymore if you believe me about Denise Conway, but this thing with Lucy was a setup.
He spent the whole evening talking to her and driving around with her because he knew I would point my finger at him!’
‘We don’t know Johnna,’ Molly persisted. ‘She could have-’
‘She had her revenge, Molly. She reported me to Affirmative Action.’
‘How could Buddy kidnap her if he was out with Lucy?’
‘Roger Beery did it. Tell me you don’t think he’s capable of something like that.’
‘I thought you said it was Buddy. Now it’s Roger.
What’s Roger-?’
‘They’re in this together, Molly! I told you, it’s how they got away with killing Walt and Barbara!’
Molly looked at me as if stricken, and for the first time everything I had told her became possible. But then it faded and she shook her head. It didn’t make sense. Walt and Barbara… for the money… maybe, but what did Johnna have to do with that? I told her I didn’t know.
I called Gail that afternoon and arranged a meeting for seven-thirty Monday morning. Big problem, I said.
Sunday evening passed in funereal silence. Molly had exercised a mother’s prerogative. She had confiscated Lucy’s television set, her keys, and both phones.
Lucy thought she was being unfair. Molly told her she didn’t know what unfair was.
Having walked the streets of Chicago without a place to lay her head at the age of fifteen, pregnant and alone, Molly knew about unfair. It was house policy never to ask about those days. When she was younger Lucy had made inquiries, of course. How had her mother survived? Molly had answered glibly. She got lucky and picked up a job as a waitress. The people at the restaurant gave her a little apartment to live in until she got on her feet. Later she got into a trade school and trained to be a carpenter. I was fairly sure that Lucy understood there was a bit more to coming off the streets than her mother admitted, but she never asked once she was of an age to understand such things. Molly said Lucy didn’t know what unfair was, and Lucy retreated to silence. So did I, for that matter.
Around ten that evening, Molly came to me in my monk’s cell on the third floor. ‘You want to toss those books off the bed, Professor?’ she asked.
I was reading Marcus Aurelius and holding the lesser Stoics in reserve. ‘What did you have in mind?’ I answered stoically.
‘Clear your bed and I’ll show you.’
We made love with the reverence and uncertainty of first times. Curiously, the weeks of celibacy had blunted the sense of urgency in both of us. We did not move quickly or work ourselves into a frenzy. We took our time, savouring the touch of flesh. We made it last, and even as it concluded we were quiet. The intimacy was more important than the rest.
And it seemed to me as we lay together afterwards that Molly had come to me because we were about to lose each other, that this was not a reunion but her goodbye before I went to jail.
We dropped Lucy off at school shortly after seven-fifteen. She was humiliated by the door-to-door service, but Molly was adamant. Lucy had precious few rules to live by, but she had decided to break them.
That was fine, she could do whatever she wanted, but if she wanted to live at home, she had better learn to deal with the consequences.
Alone with Molly finally I tried to talk to her about Lucy. ‘Try to understand,’ I said, ‘what she’s going through!’ It was no use. Molly was doing what she thought was best. We got to Gail’s office at exactly seven-thirty. Gail looked tired at the start of our meeting. As I related Lucy’s confession her demeanour grew increasingly grim.
‘You had no idea she was seeing this guy?’ she asked Molly when I had finished the story.
Molly shook her head.
Gail broke her office’s non-smoking rule and lit a cigarette. ‘He asked her to marry him, and she turned him down?’
‘I think things were happening a little too fast for her,’ I answered.
Gail looked at Molly. ‘If you want me to go to the prosecutor, we can bring criminal charges against this bastard. You know that?’
Molly shook her head. Lucy was almost eighteen.
She knew what she was doing.
‘Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.’
‘I’m not going to put Lucy through something like that,’ Molly answered.
Gail looked at me. ‘I suppose you’re ready to kill him?’
‘Correct me if I’m wrong, but as an officer of the court aren’t you obliged to tell the police if you know a client is about to commit a crime?’
‘Tell me you’re joking.’
I smiled good-naturedly, telling her nothing.
‘What are the chances Johnna decided to disappear?’
Molly asked. ‘Lucy thinks, I mean Buddy told her he thinks Johnna did this to get at David.’
Gail considered the possibility for a moment, then shook her head. ‘Have you seen her parents on TV?
This thing is killing them. If Johnna Masterson disappeared to hurt David, I guarantee you one thing: she hates her parents a lot more than she hates him.’
‘But it’s possible?’
‘Johnna Masterson is the victim,’ I said.
‘And you’re the suspect,’ Gail answered, her voice sharp with authority. Gail was tired of my Buddy Elder theories. It was time I faced up to the situation.
‘No argument there. On the face of it, my story sounds incredible.’
‘Then change your story before it’s too late,’ Gail answered.
‘Even if it’s true?’
Gail looked away from us, swallowing whatever insult she intended. Finally, she said, ‘A woman called Denny’s. A woman, not a man. This was twelve, twelve-fifteen?’
‘Just after Lucy gets off the phone and before she goes down the hill and gets in the car with the son of a bitch.’
Gail smiled at me condescendingly. ‘The window of opportunity?’
‘What would you call it?‘
‘Unless Lucy made the call to Denny’s, you’ve still got a problem. You pick up the phone and it’s Buddy Elder. The only way he knows you’re at Denny’s is if Johnna told him, but he’s been on the phone with Lucy since ten- thirty.’
‘He has a partner who snatches her.’
‘While Buddy’s on the phone?’
‘The perfect alibi.’
Gail seemed dubious. ‘Who was the woman who called Denny’s, David? Another partner?’
‘Denise Conway. Why not?’
‘Why not? Well, for starters, Lucy comes out and gets in the car. Where’s Denise – in the backseat?’
When I didn’t answer her, Gail levelled her gaze at me as if she had caught me in a lie. ‘I didn’t like your story when it was possible. I’m sure as hell not buying it now.’
‘What if I’m not lying, Gail? Can you just consider that for a minute?’
‘It’s a waste of time.’
‘I know you don’t like it. I don’t like it, but I’m telling you what happened! What if she has a car parked out there, makes the call for Buddy, and then drives off before Lucy shows up?’
‘Why go to all that trouble?’
‘I don’t know, Gail! Maybe because I’ll look like a muddle-headed fool trying to explain how I got a phone call from Buddy Elder while he was seducing my stepdaughter!’
