Chapter 29

29

Jenna is pleased to see that for once in her life, Catherine’s trademark composure is nowhere in sight. Catherine had called her cell and asked her to come over, even though it’s a little late. Her superior older sister is going to pieces in front of her, and Jenna tells herself that she wouldn’t be human if she didn’t enjoy it, just a little.

Still, what she’s hearing is startling. Catherine and Ted have lied to the police. That’s not particularly surprising—Jenna has lied to them herself. What’s shocking is that Catherine found the bodies that night and didn’t tell a soul. Not even her husband. She waited two days and let Irena find them. Catherine says she kept it to herself to protect Dan.

Jenna glances at Ted, who looks grave and preoccupied, and wonders what he thinks of Catherine now. Is she still the woman he thought he married? How cold-blooded do you have to be to see your parents’ murdered corpses and go home and act like everything’s fine?

It tells her something about Catherine—she’s a great actor. At least up to a point. It looks now like the stress is getting the better of her. “Do you really think Dan did it?” Jenna asks now.

“That’s what I thought at the time,” Catherine says uneasily. “It’s why I didn’t say anything that night. But he says he was home with Lisa.”

“Maybe he was,” Jenna says doubtfully.

“Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” Catherine says, “because the detectives are looking for witnesses.”

Jenna says, her voice grim, “Maybe we should ask Dan point-blank if he did it. Then we’ll know what we’re dealing with. Maybe we can help him.”

“He’s already denied it!” Catherine says. “And why would he admit it to us? He would never trust us that much.”

“We never did trust each other much,” Jenna says.

“Well, we’re adults now,” Catherine says, as if that makes a difference.

But really, Jenna thinks, the stakes are just higher now.

“I’m trusting you,” Catherine says, “with the truth.”

“So,” Jenna asks, “if the police find out you went out that night, what are you going to tell them?”

Catherine glances quickly at Ted, then back at her. She swallows. “Maybe I should tell them the truth. That I went there, they were already dead, I came home and said nothing.”

“They’ll want to know why,” Jenna presses.

“I’ll tell them I was in shock,” Catherine says.

“For fuck’s sake, Catherine, you’re a fucking doctor. You need to come up with something better than that.” Catherine is silent. Ted is standing off to the side, anxiously biting his lip. There’s a long pause as they consider the options. “If you don’t want them to think you immediately suspected Dan,” Jenna suggests, “you could tell them that Dad told us that night that he was going to sell the house. You could say you were afraid they would think you did it.”

Catherine looks back at her rather coldly.

“I’ll back you up about the house,” Jenna says, “and I’m sure Dan will too. If you didn’t do it, you have nothing to be afraid of.”

It seems as if all the air has been sucked out of the room.

Finally, Catherine counters, “Or I could tell them they were fine, I spoke to Mom and came home.”

Jenna watches Ted. He’s clearly uncomfortable with the lie.

“Maybe you should just tell them the truth,” Ted says.

“How’s it going to look if I tell them the truth?” Catherine protests. “They’re going to think it was either me or Dan. Even if he was home all night and Lisa vouches for him, they may not believe it.”

Jenna shrugs and says, “They’re going to think it’s one of us no matter what.”

“I suppose you have an alibi?” Catherine says.

“Yes. Jake was with me at my place all night.”

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•   •   •much later that night, Ted lies in bed, awake. Catherine hasn’t decided what to tell the police, but had agreed when Ted insisted she take a lawyer with her the next time the detectives ask her in for questioning.

They’d watched the eleven o’clock local news before bed. The police haven’t released any more information to the public about the investigation. They’re still looking for the pickup truck seen near the house the night of the murders. Ted still hopes, but with little conviction, that the truck holds the key—that the driver of that truck is the killer, and only needs to be found.

He doesn’t like what his wife has done to protect her younger brother, who, Ted has to admit, is possibly a killer.

“Irena obviously thinks Dan did it,” Catherine said to him, clearly troubled, as she turned out the light. “Why else would she clean the knife?”

Now Ted stares at the ceiling in the dark. He can’t close his eyes, because when he does, he imagines Catherine finding her mother dead. Her family is clearly a lot more fucked up than he ever knew. He imagines her finally gathering the courage to go into the kitchen and finding her father’s mutilated body, the realization dawning that it was probably her younger brother who’d killed them. Even though Ted doesn’t agree with it, he can understand her desire to protect Dan. She presumably understands why he might have done it—clearly she thinks he must have his reasons. But whatever they may be, Ted thinks, that’s no excuse for murder.

But what he can’t understand is how she was able to come home that night and climb into bed beside him and whisper, “Everything’s fine,” before kissing him on the cheek and going to sleep.