Without his mother at the breakfast table to countermand him, Jeremy had asked Beatrice to tell her husband that he didn’t need to take Miss Morgan to school that morning because he and Christina had some errands to do in town, and they’d drop Miss Morgan off at Matthew Browning before they did them.
“That’s fine, Jeremy,” Beatrice had said. “I’ll tell him. The weather feels a bit raw today. Nice sunrise, you know, but it’s gone all damp and bitter. I’m sure Jim will be happy to hear it.” Beatrice lowered her voice and glanced at the ceiling, almost by reflex. “Did you ask your mother?”
“No, Beatrice. I haven’t seen her this morning. Have you?”
“I took some coffee up to her earlier. She said she didn’t want any breakfast.” Beatrice clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. “I hope she’s not coming down with something.”
Christina shot Jeremy a warning glance from across the table, and he bit down on the sarcastic retort about to spring forth. Christina was right-it wasn’t fair to involve Beatrice in his ongoing war with his mother, especially since she would still be there with Adeline in that house long after he and Christina had gone back to Toronto, or wherever they wound up going.
“I’m sure she’s fine, Beatrice,” Jeremy said sweetly. “I’ll mention it to her when I’m back later.”
Both Beatrice and Christina had smiled gratefully at that, and the tone at the breakfast table grew light and carefree. By unspoken agreement, none of the three were going to comment on how much they were enjoying Adeline’s absence, as much for Beatrice’s sake as anything else. Morgan chattered about school and about her friend Finnegan, who’d lost his dog. Christina seemed lost in her own thoughts, though they seemed to Jeremy to be happy enough thoughts.
As for Jeremy, while he listened to his niece with apparent interest, and contributed his own comments here and there as was appropriate, his mind was running on an entirely different, and entirely private, track.
It had been two days since his disastrous encounter with Elliot McKitrick at O’Toole’s. Jeremy had convinced himself over the years that he was no longer in love with his friend and he still believed it, even after the other night. But he was disturbed by Elliot’s coldness, even near dislike. Jeremy told himself that they needed to clear the air because they were living in the same town and things could get unpleasant very quickly if they didn’t.
But in his more honest moments, moments that had been increasingly consuming him in the last forty-eight hours, Jeremy realized that they needed to make up because Jeremy felt Elliot’s disdain like an acid burn on his heart.
If they weren’t to be friends ever again (something he’d never worried about when he was living in Toronto and visiting Parr’s Landing only in his dreams-or nightmares) he could live with that, but only with Elliot’s absolution of Jeremy for being the one who escaped, or whatever else had kept Elliot’s anger towards him simmering all these years. They needed to have it out, whatever that was going to take. And it had to happen today.
“All right, Morgan,” Jeremy said cheerfully. “Let’s get you off to Parr’s Landing’s illustrious institute of higher learning. We’re burning daylight.”
“It’s a stupid school,” Morgan said, just as cheerfully. “It’s like someone put me in a time machine and sent me back to the olden days. But it’s OK, I guess.” She took one more bite of her toast, and then pushed her chair back. “I’ll go get my books. I’ll be down in five minutes.”
When Morgan had left the room, Jeremy turned to Christina. “So, do you want to come for a drive? I need to do some things in town.”
“What things? Oh, never mind. I bet I know.” Christina sighed. She had always been able to read her brother- in-law like a book. “Just be careful, Jeremy,” she said. “I’m worried about you. I know you want to… I don’t know, make friends with him again or something. But you didn’t see his face when I told him you’d mentioned meeting him at O’Toole’s. It was like he didn’t know who you were. Something isn’t right there.”
Jeremy said stubbornly, “I know. But I still need to…”
“‘To make it right.’ Yeah? To talk? You’re just like a girl, Jeremy, I swear.”
“Thanks a lot,” he grumbled. “What a great vote of confidence, Chris.”
“Don’t pout.” Christina laughed gently. “You know what I mean. You know what I’m talking about. It’s part of what makes you… well, you. It’s why I love you. It’s why we all love you.”
Morgan appeared in the doorway of the dining room. “I’m ready to go,” she announced. She was wearing her dark green jacket and holding her books in her arms.
Jeremy turned his head so Morgan couldn’t see and mouthed
In the car, as Jeremy drove the Chevelle through the falling leaves on the winding roads into town, Morgan said, “Mom, could we stop by my friend Finn’s house on the way to school? I want to see if they found his dog yet or not. He was feeling really bad about it last night.”
Christina frowned into the rear-view mirror. “I think he’ll be at school, too, won’t he, honey?”
“Please, Mom,” Morgan pleaded. “Just for a minute? It’s on the way.”
“I don’t think we have time, Morgan,” Christina said firmly. “But I’ll tell you what. If you want, you can stop off and see him after school. If he’s not there, you can call him and I’ll drive you over tonight after dinner. What do you think?”
“You never let me do anything,” Morgan said sullenly, staring out the window. “I hate this town.”
Christina and Jeremy exchanged a knowing look. This time it was Christina who mouthed the word.
“That’s enough, Morgan,” she said automatically. Softening, she added, “I’m sure your friend’s dog is home by now. You can go see him after school. I’m glad you’re making new friends. He sounds like a very nice boy. Why don’t you invite him over?”
“Are you
“Tell you what,” Jeremy interjected. “I’ll talk to your grandmother about it. I’m sure we can make it OK somehow. Like your mom says, he sounds like a nice boy.”
“He is,” Morgan said sadly. “And I’m worried about his dog. He really loves her.”
Christina looked at her watch, but there really wasn’t any way to allow for a stop before school without making Morgan late. And her mother-in-law would hear about that, she had no doubt whatsoever.
“We’re almost there, sweetheart,” Christina said. “Do you want us to pick you up after school?”
“No, thanks, Mom. I’ll walk. And I think I will stop by Finn’s house on the way home, unless I see him at lunchtime. He usually meets me. I hope he has good news.”
“I hope so, too, sweetie.”
Just before they pulled up to the front of the school, Morgan asked Jeremy to stop and let her out so she could walk the rest of the way. “Just like all the other kids do,” she said, almost apologetically. “Is that OK?”
“Sure it is, honey,” Jeremy said. He stopped the car and Morgan stepped out. She gave them a little wave, then hurried up the street to Matthew Browning without turning back. When she was out of sight, Jeremy asked Christina where she wanted to go.
“Why don’t you drop me at the library? It’s decent enough, as I recall. You can go and see Super Cop and I’ll amuse myself in the stacks.”
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take, though. Will you be all right?”
“Oh, please,” Christina said. “I’ll read for a bit. If you’re back in an hour or so, we can go have lunch or something, or head back to the house. If you’re not, I’ll walk home. It’s a nice morning. I could use the exercise. Who knows, maybe by the time I get home, Adeline will have taken a fall off the roof of Parr House and she will have left us all her money, and we can get the hell out of here once and for all.”
“Dreamer,” Jeremy said. “But I admire the scope of your ambition. Tragic death and inheritance. We’ll make a real Parr out of you yet.”
After Jeremy had dropped Christina off in front of the Parr’s Landing library, he drove along Dagenais Street in search of a pay phone to call the police station.
Jeremy doubted Elliot would be amenable to anything as normalizing as a cup of coffee, much less lunch at the Pear Tree but-nothing ventured. Who knew? Besides, it wasn’t like Jeremy had anything else on the agenda.
The man who answered the phone at the police station identified himself as Sergeant Thomson.
“Good morning,” Jeremy said politely. “May I speak with Constable McKitrick?”
