Chapter 15

15

Audrey had driven away from the unpleasant scene at Dan’s house directly to the home of her closest friend, Ellen Cutter. They’ve known each other for decades, from back when they both worked for her brother at Merton Robotics in the early days of the company. Ellen knew Fred well, having been his personal assistant for many years, although it was a long time ago.

When Audrey arrived, Ellen was expecting her—she’d already heard about the murders on the radio. They processed the shocking news over coffee in Ellen’s sunny kitchen. They didn’t know how Fred and Sheila had been killed, as that information hadn’t yet been released. The family had told her they didn’t know yet. It felt bizarre to Audrey to be doing something she did so often—having coffee at Ellen’s—but discussing something so entirely out of the norm. Ellen was clearly shaken by the news of the murders. She already knew that Audrey was going to get half her brother’s estate someday, because Audrey had confided in her. Unlike Fred’s children, Ellen had been happy for her. But neither of them had expected it to happen quite so soon. Audrey might have said a bit too much about how this would change her life. But she couldn’t help it if, even in the midst of such a tragedy, it gave her pleasure to discuss it.

They talked about taking a trip together, a cruise maybe, around Italy. Audrey’s treat.

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•   •   •lisa stands at the front door watching as the others leave. She sees Irena stop at Catherine’s car, as Ted saunters to his own vehicle, farther away. He leans against it and lights up a cigarette. Jenna joins him and lights up, too, the only smokers in the family. Lisa turns her attention back to Catherine and Irena. They’re talking in low voices. What are they saying that they couldn’t say inside? She feels Dan behind her, can feel his warm breath on her neck.

Catherine glances back to the house, where Lisa and Dan are watching from the front door, and abruptly stops speaking to Irena and gets into her car. After that, they all drive off—Catherine first in her Volvo, Ted following in his sports car, Irena in her old Toyota. Jenna stays behind, at her own car now, to smoke another cigarette and scroll through her phone.

Lisa turns around suddenly and catches an odd expression on her husband’s face, before it quickly vanishes. What was it? But now he’s looking at her in his usual rueful way and she can’t be sure.

He turns away from her, running a hand through his hair.

She follows him into the kitchen, pours herself another cup of coffee from the carafe. She turns around, her back to the counter, watching him closely. “Are you all right?” she asks.

He sits down in one of the kitchen chairs, his elbows on the table, hands clasped tightly. “I’m not sure.”

She thinks about how to put it. “I know you had your issues with your father. But I also know how much you loved your mother. I can’t imagine how difficult this must be.”

Lisa hasn’t lost either of her parents yet, and when the time comes, she’s sure it will be difficult. She has a good relationship with both of them. Dan’s relationship with his parents was complicated. He’s told her some stories from his childhood, and she’s observed enough since she married him to feel no particular regret that Fred Merton is out of the picture. She’s sad about Sheila, though—she liked her mother-in-law well enough. But Dan could never rely on her. Her love was always conditional. Couldn’t she see how much that hurt her son?

Life has been so uncertain lately. But this changes things. And maybe Dan will finally be able to bury his parents and what they did to him.

She chews her bottom lip, still looking at him. She wonders if he will break down and cry; if he does, she will go to him, put her arms around him.

Instead, he stares into space. He looks . . . empty. She’s never seen him this way before; it makes her uneasy.

She comes over and sits down at the table next to him. “Dan,” she says, putting her hand on his arm, shaking it a little. He starts and focuses his eyes on hers.

“I keep seeing them,” he says. For a second his face twists.

“What do you mean?” She pulls back instinctively.

“I keep imagining them, Mom strangled, and Dad’s throat slit, him stabbed over and over, like Irena said.” His voice holds a tremor. He turns his glazed eyes to her. “Imagine how much that must hurt.”

She grasps his hand tightly on the table. She feels slightly sick. “Try not to think about it,” she urges. “You can’t think about that. It’s over. They’re not feeling any pain now. We have to look forward. Things will be better now, for us.” She doesn’t plan on saying it, it’s not really appropriate, but it just slips out. “Once you get your inheritance, we won’t have to worry about money anymore. Think how much better everything will be.” He nods silently. Encouraged, she leans forward a little and in a softer voice says, “Maybe we can travel, like we’ve always wanted to. I know we never really could before, when you were working for your dad—but this could be a new beginning for us.”

He puts his other hand on top of hers and says, “Yes, a new beginning.” He kisses her. It’s a sweet moment; but he breaks off the kiss, sits back in his chair, and says, “But—”

“But what?”

“What if Dad changed his will?” Dan says, looking worried now. “We always thought the three of us got all of it in equal shares. What if Audrey gets half, like she says? Or what if I get nothing at all? After everything I’ve done, after everything I’ve put up with all these years?”

“Fred wouldn’t do that,” she assures him. But it gives her a fright. Would he, though? She thinks back to that dreadful Easter dinner.

“And there will be an investigation,” Dan says. “The police will come here, asking questions, digging into our family. It’s going to be awful.”

He seems so agitated, Lisa thinks. “You just have to get through it, Dan. You’ll all get through it. And I’m here for you.”

But his face remains unsettled. “I’m going to call Walter,” Dan says. “I don’t care about the optics.” He stands up and leaves the room.

A thought scurries across her mind, like a rat scuttling in a corner out of sight. Something that hasn’t occurred to her until now. The night of the murders. He’d gone out again, afterward, for a drive. And he’d been gone a long time. She’d lain in bed, awake, waiting for him, but she eventually fell asleep. What if the police ask them about that?

The sound of the front door opening makes her jump. She exits the kitchen and sees Jenna in the hall. She hadn’t left with the others after all. “Dan’s calling Walter about the will,” she says. Then she turns and hastens up the stairs toward Dan’s office, Jenna quickly following.