is coming to take over. She can feed them and put them to bed. No need for them to see their mother upset.” They both turned toward the end of the room, where Faith and Tom were still ensconced in the beanbag chair. They looked comfortable, but Charley and Pix couldn’t see Faith’s face. Pix put herself in her friend’s shoes for a moment and knew she would need a drink and a whole lot of people to talk to right away.
It turned out to be what Faith wanted, too, and they went straight to the Millers’. She was happy to let them take charge of her life for the moment, only specifying pot stickers instead of the pu pu platter they were ordering as an appetizer from the local Chinese restaurant.
While they waited for the food, the seats at the Millers’ long harvest table gradually became filled with people. Pix had been busy making calls. Millicent arrived with Brad, followed immediately by Gus, his wife, Lillian, and Lora. Sam phoned for more food and told his wife to stop alerting the populace. “We’ve got a quorum or whatever, and with Charley and John, there won’t be any more room.”
Faith was sitting at the head of the table. She was feeling slightly dissociated. All around her, people were chattering away, expressing shock and relief. An hour ago, she had been on her way into her own oven.
“You okay, honey? Want to go home?” Tom asked anxiously.
“Not yet. I have too many questions. And I’m hungry.”
By tacit consent, everyone was waiting for the food and the police. Pix had given them a rough idea of what had happened at Have Faith when she’d contacted them, but no one was approaching the subject directly now.
Lora Deane got up from the table. She had followed her grandparents in, subdued, and been sitting quietly ever since. Looking at the young woman, Faith realized most of the questions that remained unanswered had to do with Miss Lora—both Miss Loras.
Lora bent over Faith’s chair as she passed by. “I’m so glad you’re all right! And I think you’re incredible.
I would have died with fear on the spot or fainted or something.” She leaned close to Faith’s ear and added in an urgent whisper, “
Lora explained, “Bridey told me about the ‘student’ who’d been by and described her so well, I knew it was you. I’ll meet you wherever you say tomorrow and tell you everything.” Lora straightened up and went on her way, presumably in search of a bathroom.
Faith was happy to comply with her request since it meant Lora Deane would tell all. Opportunities such as this didn’t come along every day, and Faith could wait. She had a pretty good idea what the apartment was for, anyway.
The doorbell rang. It was the food. Opening the containers and serving the food caused some good-natured commotion. It wasn’t exactly
“Is this the no-MSG place? Changhai?” Brad asked.
“Of course.” Pix was indignant. The young man was lucky he had even been asked to dinner. There was no need to cast aspersions on her culinary judg-ment. She had picked up a thing or two from her employer. They had stopped using the place that drenched everything in red dye number two sweet sauce months ago.
Charley and John arrived, creating another round of confusion. Contrary to usual practice, Detective Dunne was ready for food. He and Charley had had to leave a perfectly good meat-loaf dinner, barely touched, on the table at the Cafe. He grabbed a container of rice, one of pork with black-bean sauce, and dug in, first carefully removing his Sulka tie.
“What have we missed?” Charley asked.
“Nothing,” Faith answered. “We’ve been waiting for you. Is Nelson conscious?”
“Yes, but he’s not making much sense. You hit him good and hard. He seems to think he’s getting married on Saturday—to you, Lora.” Charley was sitting across from the Deanes. He added, somberly, “Seems to believe it absolutely. Says he gave you a ring.” All three Deanes dropped their forks.
“You were getting married and you didn’t tell us!” Lillian wailed.
“He’s old enough to be your father!” Gus thundered.
“Stop shouting at me! I don’t even really know the man!” Lora protested. “Somebody tell me what’s going on?”
John had wedged a chair next to Faith’s. He was annoyed with her for setting the trap. They’d suspected Nelson Batcheldor for some time and were trying to collect evidence. It was true they hadn’t come up with much, but Dunne did not approve of ordinary citizens taking police matters into their own hands, especially at considerable risk. But then, Faith wasn’t an ordinary citizen. He reached for another container. He wasn’t picky when it came to Chinese food. This one had some kind of chicken with fruit. It tasted like oranges or tangerines.
He and Charley had agreed not to tell the Fairchilds Nelson’s other babblings, most of which concerned all the things he planned to do to Faith to get even.
John hitched his chair closer to Faith’s. With Dunne on one side and Tom just as close on the other, she was beginning to feel as if she’d acquired an extremely mismatched set of bookends.
“Between the two of us, we ought to be able to answer Lora’s question, don’t you think?” he said to Faith. She’d had a few pot stickers and that was all she felt like eating for now. Her appetite had deserted her when the police arrived and she’d realized they’d be going over the events of the evening.
“Shall I start?” she asked. He nodded. His mouth was full.
“Nelson Batcheldor was deeply unhappy in his marriage to Margaret. He was also an extremely disturbed person with a distorted view of reality. That meant he didn’t do any of the things another man in his position might have—seek counseling, get a divorce. Instead, he developed a rich fantasy life revolving around getting rid of Margaret and replacing her with his ideal mate. I’m afraid that turned out to be you, Lora,” Faith explained.
“Me! Why did he pick me! And how could he possibly have thought I’d be interested in him? He was old and not exactly what I’d call attractive.” Faith knew what Lora called attractive and she agreed silently. Nelson Batcheldor was not it. Now the old part, that was debatable, especially as the years were passing. The young woman’s reaction had chased away any lingering suspicions Faith had had about her involvement in Nelson’s schemes. He had sounded so definite about their plans, as if they had been spending every spare moment planning their future together.
“He wanted children,” Lillian Deane informed them. “And wasn’t he doing all that carpentry work at the school? He must have seen how gifted you are with them,” Lora’s grandmother said with pride. “The only reason I know how much he wanted to be a father was a remark he made many years ago. I was pushing you in your stroller, Lora.” She paused as the irony of the situation was duly registered by everyone present.
“He stopped me and told me what a beautiful baby you were, which was true. Such lovely soft curls and big blue eyes. ‘You’re a very lucky woman, Lillian,’ he said. ‘I’ll never be a father—or a grandfather. It’s the tragedy of my life.’ I tried to reassure him. Of course, he and Margaret were quite young then. He cut me right off, ‘It’s out of my hands.’ Those were his very words. He smoothed your hair and tucked the blanket around you and left. I remember thinking what a good father he would have made. It’s a shame. I always thought he meant they couldn’t have children.” No one had interrupted Mrs. Deane’s lengthy reminiscence. They weren’t used to hearing so much from her, especially when Gus was around. Faith resolved to get to know the woman better.
“Always thought it was some sort of plumbing problem,” Gus commented. “Didn’t like to pry.”
“Margaret didn’t want children. That was one of the things he held against her,” Faith explained. “But that wasn’t the only thing wrong—the only thing he held against her.”
Nevertheless, Pix, Lillian, and Lora exchanged meaningful glances. Not want children! Faith felt compelled to come to the defense of friends, relatives, strangers who’d decided otherwise.
“Children are not for everyone.”
“Amen,” said Charley. “Now let me get this straight, Lora. He didn’t give you a ring. Didn’t approach you in any way?”
“No, he was rather shy. I don’t think we ever had a conversation about anything except the size of the bookshelves and the weather. No, wait, he was there when my friend came and acted out some stories with the children. He was very impressed by her and came over to talk afterward.”
Faith told them about the Story Lady and her transformation of Lora into Lorelei.
