“What?”
Ivy’s hand sought the top of Yuri Malakov’s knee and rested there lightly. As she answered the question, though, her eyes were defiant and focused full on Joanna’s face.
“Yuri and I spent the night on an air mattress in the back of the Scout. It wasn’t very romantic, but it was okay.”
“You did what?” Burton exploded.
Ivy looked at him. “You heard me.”
“But why on earth would you pull a crazy stunt like that?”
“To prove I could,” she said defiantly. “Because I wanted to. And why not? Dad turned against me, and don’t try to tell me he didn’t. In my book, turnabout is fair play. I did it to get even. I did it to prove a point. I did it because it was the closest I could come to dancing on my father’s grave. Mother’s grave is next to his down at Evergreen Cemetery. I couldn’t do it there.”
Burton Kimball was clearly thunderstruck.
“You mean to tell me, you and this… this… jerk,” he finally spit out the word with a heartfelt glare in Yuri’s direction “spent the night together next to a glory hole with your father’s body in it, and you didn’t even bother to report it until this morning? What kind of craziness is that, Ivy? What in the world’s gotten into you?”
“You think it’s crazy, do you? Well, maybe it is. Maybe craziness runs in our family. I think I finally just got sick and tired of being the good girl, of doing my duty and getting shit on for it, of having other people tell me what to do.”
Burton Kimball held up both his hands as though trying to see through the blaze of Ivy’s anger to some kind of reasonableness. “Wait a minute here,” he said. “Let’s try to think straight for a change. This is a tough time for all of us, Ivy. I only came by because I heard from Marliss Shackleford up at the Bisbee that something was up. I came to see if there was anything at all Linda and I could do to help. “Do you want me to call Norm Higgins for you? I could start working on funeral arrangements, calling relatives, that sort of thing. What exactly do you need? I guess the first thing is to find out when the body will be released and go from there.” He looked at Joanna. “Any idea, Sheriff Brady?”
“That’s entirely up to Ernie Carpenter,” Joanna answered. “He’s the one handling the investigation. He’ll be the one making that call.”
“How soon can I check with him?”
“Maybe later this afternoon.”
Burton turned back to Ivy. “Would you like me to call Norm then and see if he can come out here for a consultation? Maybe later on this evening say, around eight o’clock.”
“No,” Ivy Patterson said decisively, answering her cousin but with her eyes focused on Marianne Macula’s face. “Not tonight. I’m busy tonight. Yuri and I are getting married. At seven o’clock.”
Kimball’s jaw dropped. “You’re doing what?”
“Getting married. In the Canyon Methodist parsonage, at seven o’clock.”
Burton looked at Marianne Macula. “Surely, this is some kind of joke,” he asked helplessly.
Marianne shook her head. “It’s no joke. I spent all morning trying to talk her out of it, but she changed her mind back to going ahead with it just a few minutes ago.”
“But with your father not even…”
“Don’t tell me one more word about my father,” Ivy Patterson warned. “I don’t want to hear any more. You already told me enough, the other day.”
“Ivy, I’ve already told you how sorry I am about that. I was drunk and way out of line. Shooting off my mouth like that was a terrible breach of ethics. I never should have mentioned a word about it.”
“But the point is, you did. I figured if Dad was going to give away half of what I’d worked for, then I wasn’t going to wait around any longer. Yuri and I started making plans right then. That very day. On such short notice, we haven’t found anyone to come look after the stock, so we’re going to spend the night in Tombstone. The motel will probably have a banner over the door-Welcome Old Maids of America. Besides, you don’t need me to talk to Norm Higgins. You can do it yourself, or Holly can.”
“But, Ivy,” Burton argued. “Getting married like this isn’t right. It’s not… seemly. Think what people will say.”
“I don’t give a damn what they say. They can say whatever they like.”
“But your father just died. People around here, especially those who knew Uncle Harold, aren’t going to like it. It shows a terrible lack of respect, of propriety.”
“You expect me to respect the man?” Ivy raged. “After everything he did? Forget it. I did respect him for forty years, and you can see how far that got me. When he decided to throw me to the wolves in favor of dividing this place up between Holly and me, he didn’t hesitate, not for a minute. Maybe he didn’t change his will, but only because he ran out of time. He didn’t give a damn about all the years I worked here. I poured my whole life into this place. If Holly’s portion and mine are exactly the same, then what I did for him and with him all those years didn’t mean a thing.”
“Ivy, you’re being too hard on the man.”
“Hard? No I’m not. Not only did he turn on me, he destroyed Mother, Burton. Maybe you don’t see it the same way I do. I was here every day taking care of her. He even made me help him do it to her, damnit. That’s something I’ll never forgive. Never.”
She paused long enough to take a ragged breath, and then a strange look passed over Ivy’s face, look of terrible comprehension. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
“What now?” Burton asked wearily, as though he were too exasperated to care anymore.
