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"But you remembered when Emily asked you about it?"
"Yes"
She had only to lie again, to say that Barrett had been scolding her for driving out in the hurricane
"Then what happened?"
"Then I had to do it again," she said wistfully
Except for Barrett, Emily had the only other key to his rooms Laura knehere it was kept and stole it and used it
Her experience with Maureen left her better prepared to deal with Barrett This ti her stake and hammer She cried while she cleaned up, because she did love hi and I wish it hadn&039;t happened so soon"
"You planned to kill him anyway?"
"I didn&039;t want to, but he would have spoiled it all"
"Spoiled what?"
"It&039;s Emily&039;s fault, not mine It&039;s her fault he&039;s dead and that I had to take care of her, too She&039;d have found out, so I had to take care of her, and it&039;s her fault, notto kill him before?"
"Because"
She was a co a child&039;s logic Grown up in sowithin her was stunted or had never been a part of her at all
"Laura, tellto kill him"
"Because"
"Why?"
"He was going to marry her"
That rockedLaura while I&039;d watched fro froht, Barrett had been a doomed oing to get what belonged to h and he&039;d get all of it when she died He&039;d take it all away because she&039;d give it to hiht; she&039;d made an investment for her future She loved Barrett,compared to Emily&039;s money
"He should have said no, like all the other times--
"You mean Emily proposed to him?"
"He should have said no, but this time he said yes and it&039;s her fault, not ht, hush"
She trailed off, her face red with anger, the anger she&039;d hidden from him so hen he&039;d told her the news
"Laura, how do you feel about murder?"
I had to repeat the question She shook her head
"Don&039;t you feel anything at all about killing those people?"
Puzzlement Another head shake
"How do you think they felt?"
Her face was blank
"Don&039;t you think they had a right to live?"
She shrugged It was like explaining light and color to the totally blind She would never, ever be able to see
"Are you thirsty, Laura?"
"A little"
"I&039;ll get you a glass of water Wait right here"
In her bathroom I lass withclean and took the glass in wrapped in a washcloth I told her it was cold water and that she was to drink it all
"Will you write so for me, Laura?"
"Yes"
"Good"
She put down the e-table er on The feords scribbled over the glass were for others to read and interpret For her, they were utterly less
"You&039;re tired, Laura It&039;s been a busy day Go to bed now"
She stretched but didn&039;t yawn, and immediately stripped off her clothes and tucked them neatly into the hamper She&039;d dressed for darkness on her way to dispose of Barrett&039;s body, but that task was forgotten as she got ready for a good night&039;s sleep
I looked under the bed and found the suitcase with his clothes He was meant to disappear like Maureen None of the Franchers would be sorry that the fortune hunter had left No doubt his clothes would have gone into the incinerator for Haskell to burn I put the case out in the hall and relocked the door
She brushed out her hair, taking her tirowing slower and own but each action had to be thought out, and in between, she&039;d pause and try to recall what the next was to be
She got into bed The lights were on I turned theain as I had for the door I left the bedside table lamp on
Her eyes canted to the radio and her hand twitched By now she&039;d lost muscle control I turned it on for her, it warmed up, and we listened to soft dancewas slow and shallow even as her pulse speeded up A thin sheen of sweat appeared on her serene face
Instead of the sleeping mannequin on the bed, I saw Emily Francher
I saw John Henry Banks
I saw a last ghostly ie of Maureen flash over my inner eye and spin away forever into
Nothing until the time finally came and the roo until I looked at the scrawl on the mirror and read the words I&039;d dictated: I&039;ive me
Then I bowed my head and tried not to weep
"How is he?" I asked
Escott came in and sat across from me I was in the red leather chair by the cold fireplace staring at the unswept ashes The candles next to Emily&039;s casket were out, but I&039;d put on a table lamp so she wouldn&039;t be left in the darkness
"He&039;s better"
"That&039;s good"
"He was cleaning up and getting dressed when I left him"
My voice sounded a little too normal "Does he know about Emily?"
"He asked I only told him she was dead He did not seem too surprised
I expect he&039;ll be up here before long"
"Did you talk about Laura?"
"Yes He knew it had been her today"
"I thought he would What&039;ll he do?"
"I don&039;t know"
We left it at that for a time and listened to the silence of thesince shut off Laura&039;s radio
I got to o find out"
His face was very sad but he said nothing, and I was grateful for that
I could have walked right through Barrett&039;s door, but knocked and waited instead After a longthe suitcase with his clothes by the bed
He was in his library seated on a long couch He&039;d pulled on some pants and slippers, but his shirt was buttoned only halfway, as though he&039;d forgotten to finish the job There was a neeariness in his expression, the kind that coed his chest, a gesture I could commiserate with; I&039;d felt the same when it had happened to me
I stood in the doorway, hands jammed in my pockets "Glad you&039;re better"
He nodded "Your friend didn&039;t seem to want to hear it, so I&039;ll say it to you: thank you for pullingto understand Escott&039;s attitude "He&039;s the one who gotHaskell helped a lot, too"
&039;Haskell? Did you influence hioing, though He knows about you" Well, well"
&039;Says he&039;d seen you with the horses" &039;And he acceptshim, too" aEYeah"
He mused for a while and looked up, afraid to hope "Is there any change in E did it take for Maureen?"
&039;Twas on the saht she died"
"Same for me For what it&039;s worth, I&039;m sorry all this happened"
He accepted, nuestured at a chair I declined and remained in the doorway
"I need to talk to you about Laura"
He shook his head "No, you don&039;t, Mr Fle Not one word I&039;ve been a fool&039;s fool over that girl and there&039;s no excuse for ht I wish to God I&039;d realized it earlier--"
"Sheshe pushed Emily"
He faltered
"She re her; that&039;s why she came here to kill you Then she had to kill Emily to cover up your death"
The pain rolled off him like a tidal wave and I stayed there and let it hitstupid like that because theapart in front of me, and I stared at the floor for the whole time and pretended not to see or hear hi to Laura
"No, Barrett, stay here"
"I have to--"
"She&039;s dead"
The man was in pieces already and it was my lot to smash them into smaller shards
"I found her She&039;d put so pills in a drink"
The truth, but not all of it He didn&039;t want to believe it and then he couldn&039;t help but believe it All he had to do was look up at my face and see it there I stared at the damned floor and memorized the carpet pattern
"I think maybe it was too much for her, and in the end she was sorry"
The one thing I could give him was the cold comfort of a lie He needed it badly
Then it ca out of hiet it all out He repeated what I&039;d learned fro about Violet and Maureen and Banks; the words tu swiftly until they ceased to be words and turned into an unintelligible drone
"I wish I could have helped her," he said at the end "You could have,"
I said, adding one ive substance to his illusion He accepted it
Escott was cooling his heels in the main hall outside the parlor when I cao home?" I asked
"What about Barrett?"
"We talked He&039;ll be all right"
"What will he do?"
"I don&039;t know, but he&039;ll be all right"
"Did you tell him about Laura?"
"He knows she&039;s dead" Barrett didn&039;t need or want the truth Maybe he&039;d figure it out someday, but he didn&039;t need it now
Barrett walked up His shoulders drooped, but he&039;d buttoned his shin and tucked it in It was a n
"I thought I&039;d ride with you as far as the gate," he said "The May fairs will be long asleep by now and I&039;d rather not disturb theot it--a small, soft sound distracted me Barrett heard it, too, and autoht direction From where I stood I could see the parlor and noticed a white rose lying on the floor next to the casket It was the rose Emily held to her breast Somehow it had fallen out
Barrett stared at us with sudden, agonized hope and dashed in to her
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