'What is it you want me to tell you?' she asked.
'The truth.'
'About what, in particular? Her childhood? Her popularity? Her perfect skin and her perfect legs and all about how she was the absolutely perfect person?'
'Tell me about Kid Demeter,' Jack said. 'Tell me what you two fought about a few days before she died.'
Susanna Rae lit up a cigarette. 'I'm not gonna ask if it's all right for me to smoke,' she said. ''Cause I don't give a damn.'
Jack waited for her to inhale deeply. He watched her blow a perfect smoke ring into the air. Then she said, 'What we fought about is going to surprise you.' Her Southern drawl was becoming slightly thicker as the smoke relaxed her. 'We fought about you.'
She was right. He was surprised. 'What about me?'
'You know, it's not just one-sided, it's not just me who doesn't like the family. The family doesn't care for me too much, either. In our family, everybody has somebody. Or had. Caroline and Llewellyn, they were close as can be when they were little. Then Caroline had you. Llewellyn has her boring-as-shit husband and her even-more-boring- as-shit children. Even Momma and Daddy, they were just a little world unto themselves. Always were. But me, well, I had my own self and that was pretty much it. But that doesn't mean I ever liked it that way. I know what it's like to be alone. And I don't think anyone should throw her life away and risk being alone.'
'Is that what you thought Caroline was doing?'
'That's what I believe happens when you have an affair, yes.
'Was she having an affair with Kid?' he asked, closing his eyes.
'That is my belief, yes.'
'How do you know that?'
'I have lived here my entire life, Jack, and even though we are now a very sophisticated town, we are still a small town. And in a small town, people talk and gossip. I am one of those talkers and gossipers, so I hear more than my fair share.'
'So you came up here to tell her what?'
'To tell her that she was not going to hurt her beloved husband and ruin her own life and bring shame to this family. I may not be loved but I still know the meaning of a family name.'
'How did she take it?'
'As we say in our neck of the woods, we had a little quarrel.'
'Tell me.'
'Not much to tell. She said I didn't understand, that it wasn't what I thought, and that I should mind my own business. I said I agreed it was none of my business, but that I understood extremely well.'
'And then?'
'And then I left. I left her to do what she wanted to do with your friend and hers.'
They faced each other in silence, the pain etched in Jack's face, Susanna's unmoved and uninvolved. 'Yes,' she said, as if he'd asked her a question. 'I am indeed an unfeeling and sharp-tongued bitch. And I was not being so unselfish when I came to see her; I enjoyed the pain I was bringing. I was jealous of my little sister and I wished her nothing but ill will. But I didn't wish her what she got and I don't wish you what you have.' Her tone softened, just a tad, and for a moment Jack heard a trace of Caroline's voice – that slight drawl, the surprising hoarseness – as Susanna said, 'You haven't been down here since she was buried, have you?'
'No,' Jack said.
'Do you want to see her grave? If you do, I will show it to you and I will be quiet and say I'm sorry for you and mean it.'
– '-'-'IT WASN'T AS bad as he'd imagined.
Partly because it didn't seem real. This wasn't her. This was just a stone. It was not the woman he'd loved and been married to and spent his whole life with. It was a slab of stone and a small patch of earth.
It was a beautiful spot, where Caroline was buried. It was, he knew, her favorite spot on the property. Near the barn, under a magnificent magnolia tree that threw off hundreds and hundreds of large white blooms. He could picture her leading her horse out of the stable, gracefully swinging her leg over his back and gently touching him with her heels. He could see the horse take off like the wind and Caroline laughing, sitting in the saddle so easily, as if they were one creature. He could see her lounging under the tree, her back curled up against the trunk, her eyes closed, her lovely face tilted toward the sunlight.
'In some ways you're the lucky one,' he said to the stone in front of him. 'You don't have to feel anymore.'
– '-'-'THE RESTAURANT WAS as bad as he'd thought it would be.
It hadn't changed very much and he thought he'd prepared himself for it but as he walked in he was overwhelmed by the horrific images that would always stain its memory. Standing in the main room, he could hear the voices, the argument at the far table in the corner as if it were happening this very moment. He could see, looking back toward the bar, the masked figure forcing Caroline up the steps. He could remember his panic and his rush to rescue her.
Jack forced himself to go up to the office. He moved slowly as he ascended, not like that night when he'd bounded up, two and three stairs at a time. He could feel himself barging into the room, getting hit, going down. As he stepped back into the tiny room now, he could see and hear it as if it were happening right in front of him: the fear on Caroline's face, the unintelligible phrases, the jumble of words that cascaded through his fractured thoughts.
Tear down the wool.
What the hell had it meant?
Wooly here… the will is strong… wool candy broken…
It was one of the things that had torn at him all these months. It tore at him still. If he could only make sense of what he'd heard. He'd been right there! He had been so close! But he hadn't been able to fight through his pain, through the fog, through his terror, to understand what he was hearing.
He was right next to her and he couldn't save her.
He was right next to the killer and couldn't identify him.
Wooly… candy… forever…
Gibberish. Meaningless, insane gibberish.
What if…
Bella, the restaurant's manager, was asking him something.
'Do you want a drink, Jack? This has got to be hard for you.'
Jack shook his head. He realized he was back downstairs, sitting at the bar. He didn't even remember leaving the upstairs office. 'I just want to talk and get the hell out of here, if you want to know the truth.'
'I don't know what to tell you. I told everything to the police.'
'Just go over the invitations. For the two football players, Haywood and Neufield.'
'Caroline was in charge of the final invitations. A few of us had some input, she discussed it with me. We eliminated a few people, didn't have room for a couple of local business people – nothing strange or out of the ordinary. A day or two before we sent them out, I saw the final list and Caroline had written in 'Raymond Kutchler and friend.' They turned out to be the football players and it was a fake name but that was how they were listed. I asked her about it, who they were, and she said they were nobody, it was a favor for a friend. She also said she'd deliver them herself, no need to mail them.'
'Was it a favor for Kid Demeter?'
Bella looked uncomfortable. 'I don't know, Jack. She never told me that.'
'You were close to Caroline. I know that. She talked about you all the time, said you'd become good friends when she was down here.'
'We were. But she was still my boss. She was the soul of discretion, especially around employees. But here's everything I know about Kid and this is it, I swear. Caroline told me he was like a little puppy around her. He was just madly in love with her, had been since he was a boy, and you could see it, the way he looked at her.'
'Like she was perfect.'
'Like she was beyond perfect. I don't think she took it all that seriously but it kind of thrilled her, if that makes sense. I mean, here was this gorgeous young hunk who couldn't take his eyes off her.'
'Do-'
