tried to keep the concern out of my voice. “That’s interesting, especially since the visiting vets were so close-mouthed about their findings. God knows I could never get a peep out of any of them, and I certainly tried. Did Grayson tell you how he was able to snag a copy of the report before it was released?”
She shook her head. “For some reason he was very secretive lately, which upset me, because normally he and I told each other everything.” This propelled her into another bout of weeping.
Secretive? Old anglerfish Grayson, a man so attached to his wife you couldn’t tell where he left off and she began?
“Before he was mur…ah, died, did he ever mention any other meetings he might have had with Barry Fields? Or with Dr. Kate?”
Kate Long was the zoo veterinarian. If the zoo didn’t look good on the report, her neck would be on the chopping block, and since she had an invalid husband and three young children, I doubted she would mount that chopping block without a fight.
Jeanette shook her head again. “He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Another thing. Were you the person who decided to put the staff in anteater costumes?”
“We planned everything so long ago that it’s hard to remember. I ordered the costumes, I remember that, because getting so many anteater costumes was a real bitch, but I think Barry was the person who made the original suggestion. Or maybe it was…let’s see. We had this big planning session and everyone was talking at once, suggesting this and that. The costume thing had pretty much run its course after the kangaroo debacle, but no one listened to me. What difference does it make?”
I shrugged. “An anteater costume with its long nose and thick hair would make a good disguise for anyone who might be up to something.”
She began crying again, more softly this time. I kept kneeling there on the floor, holding her hand. When her tears diminished, she took another swig of gin. “I don’t understand. Why would anyone want to hurt him?”
“Weren’t you two part of the group that wanted to break up the Gunn Trust?”
She blinked at this seeming change of subject but answered anyway. “Of course. It’s the only possible position. Unless the Trust is broken, Grayson and I will remain under my great-aunt’s thumb.” Will remain. She spoke as if her husband were still alive. “As Great-grandpa Edwin’s last living child, Aster Edwina holds the controlling interest. I’m only fourth generation, and with those niggardly dividend checks I’ve been receiving, Grayson and I can’t afford to strike out on our own. Not if we want to have a decent standard of living, we can’t.”
Her face changed. “Oh. That’s right. He’s dead.” Through renewed sobs, she wailed, “What am I going to do without him?”
Thirty years old, married for ten years, and she had only recently decided to cut the Gunn apron strings. I’d always viewed her relationship with her husband as neurotic, but today I felt nothing but pity. Love can put a woman through hell, can’t it?
“It’s never easy after a loss, but you’ll begin a new life. Like I did after Michael left me.”
Her mouth dropped. “Oh, Teddy! You call what you have a life ?”
***
When I arrived home at the Merilee , I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, poured myself a glass of Riesling and went out on the back deck to watch seagulls dive into sunset-colored water. Their cries accompanied the splashing of waves against the Merilee ’s hull, and from further along the dock, I could hear a woman’s gentle laughter, a man answering in a low tone. Further out in the harbor an otter broke the surface.
Smiling in anticipation, I made a quick trip to my small galley refrigerator and took out a dock-fresh herring I’d picked up earlier at Fred’s Fish Market. I returned to the back deck, took a sip of my Riesling, and settled myself into the deck chair I’d liberated from the Gunn Landing town dump. DJ Bonz
She shook her head. “For some reason he was very secretive lately, which upset me, because normally he and I told each other everything.” This propelled her into another bout of weeping.
Secretive? Old anglerfish Grayson, a man so attached to his wife you couldn’t tell where he left off and she began?
“Before he was mur…ah, died, did he ever mention any other meetings he might have had with Barry Fields? Or with Dr. Kate?”
Kate Long was the zoo veterinarian. If the zoo didn’t look good on the report, her neck would be on the chopping block, and since she had an invalid husband and three young children, I doubted she would mount that chopping block without a fight.
Jeanette shook her head again. “He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Another thing. Were you the person who decided to put the staff in anteater costumes?”
“We planned everything so long ago that it’s hard to remember. I ordered the costumes, I remember that, because getting so many anteater costumes was a real bitch, but I think Barry was the person who made the original suggestion. Or maybe it was…let’s see. We had this big planning session and everyone was talking at once, suggesting this and that. The costume thing had pretty much run its course after the kangaroo debacle, but no one listened to me. What difference does it make?”
I shrugged. “An anteater costume with its long nose and thick hair would make a good disguise for anyone who might be up to something.”
She began crying again, more softly this time. I kept kneeling there on the floor, holding her hand. When her tears diminished, she took another swig of gin. “I don’t understand. Why would anyone want to hurt him?”
“Weren’t you two part of the group that wanted to break up the Gunn Trust?”
She blinked at this seeming change of subject but answered anyway. “Of course. It’s the only possible position. Unless the Trust is broken, Grayson and I will remain under my great-aunt’s thumb.” Will remain. She spoke as if her husband were still alive. “As Great-grandpa Edwin’s last living child, Aster Edwina holds the controlling interest. I’m only fourth generation, and with those niggardly dividend checks I’ve been receiving, Grayson and I can’t afford to strike out on our own. Not if we want to have a decent standard of living, we can’t.”
Her face changed. “Oh. That’s right. He’s dead.” Through renewed sobs, she wailed, “What am I going to do without him?”
Thirty years old, married for ten years, and she had only recently decided to cut the Gunn apron strings. I’d always viewed her relationship with her husband as neurotic, but today I felt nothing but pity. Love can put a woman through hell, can’t it?
“It’s never easy after a loss, but you’ll begin a new life. Like I did after Michael left me.”
Her mouth dropped. “Oh, Teddy! You call what you have a life ?”
***
When I arrived home at the Merilee , I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, poured myself a glass of Riesling and went out on the back deck to watch seagulls dive into sunset-colored water. Their cries accompanied the splashing of waves against the Merilee ’s hull, and from further along the dock, I could hear a woman’s gentle laughter, a man answering in a low tone. Further out in the harbor an otter broke the surface.
Smiling in anticipation, I made a quick trip to my small galley refrigerator and took out a dock-fresh herring I’d picked up earlier at Fred’s Fish Market. I returned to the back deck, took a sip of my Riesling, and settled myself into the deck chair I’d liberated from the Gunn Landing town dump. DJ Bonz
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