Part 7 (1/2)
My Walter? The phrase-and the way she'd said it-evoked an image that made my mind reel.
”He drank it,” Meghan said.
Jacob's brow wrinkled. ”What was it?”
”Lye,” was my short reply.
”He drank Drano? OhmyG.o.d.” Debby wrapped her pale arms around herself again and rocked back and forth. The sofa b.u.mped gently against the wall. ”I can't believe it. He'd say that, sometimes, but I never thought he'd do it.”
”Do it?” I looked at Jacob. His eyes were red and his hands trembled. ”Do what?”
He looked down at the woman. Took a wobbly breath. ”Kill himself. With Drano.”
”He told you he was planning to drink drain cleaner?” Meghan asked.
Jacob patted Debby's shoulder. ”Nah. Not like you mean. He used to joke about it. You know, like when someone says 'If suchand-such happens I'm just gonna shoot myself,' only he said he'd drink Drano. We never thought he was serious.”
”Especially now,” Debby said, almost too low for us to hear. She fumbled in her purse, extracted an orange prescription bottle. Suddenly Jacob changed his mind about the water. He hurried into the kitchen, came back with a gla.s.sful, and helped her to hold it steady as she gulped down the little white pill. Liquid sloshed down her chin, but she didn't seem to notice.
”Why especially now?” I asked.
Debby sniffed, a horrible gurgling sound, and stuck out her hand like a paw to be shaken. On her third finger, a sizeable diamond glittered amid a circle of smaller ones.
”We were gonna get married.”
TEN.
HOLY cow. As I tried to wrap my head around that one, Meghan walked over to admire the ring. Debby thanked her and snorted wetly.
”It must have been expensive,” Meghan said.
I joined them. Up close, I saw Debby was older than I had first thought, probably in her late fifties. Hard to tell with the mascara streaking down her face. She'd kept most of her figure, but her blue-black hair came from a bottle, and the years had engraved a healthy set of lines. The extreme pallor seemed to be her natural coloring, and I wondered for a moment whether her real hair color had been red or even a whiter blonde than my own.
”Yeah,” I said. ”That's a nice ring. Must have set Walter back a bit.”
Debby nodded. ”He said he wanted to get me a big diamond, and then he went and actually did it.” She said it like she wasn't used to people following through on what they said.
”Well, at least you got that, Debs. You got that t' remember him by.” Jacob's words had a bitter edge to them. His face held sorrow, but as he gazed at the woman beside him on the sofa there was something else as well. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. She pushed his hand away.
”We're so sorry,” Meghan said.
He nodded and fished a crumpled bandana out of his pocket, handed it to Debby. She honked into it.
”I don't know how to ask this,” I said, ”so I'll just come right out with it. Do you know anything about the investment Walter made that turned out so well?”
”Investment? Oh!” Jacob's smile looked tired. ”The money. He'd call it that sometimes, if he talked about it at all.”
Meghan and I waited.
”OF Walter won the lottery a few years back. So's I guess the investment he told you 'bout would be the ticket.”
”Well, it's nice he spent some of it on that beautiful ring,” I said, trying to bring Debby back into the conversation. All it earned me were fresh sobs, which Meghan's glare told me I deserved for trying to extract information from a grieving fiancee.
”He spent precious little, I dare say. Gave it all away to strangers, when he coulda done some good with it amongst people right here.” Jacob looked at Debby as he spoke.
She dug the heels of her hands into her eyes and hiccupped. ”He didn't like anyone to tell him what to do with his money.”
”How much did he win?” Meghan asked. Okay for her to do it, I guess.
”Don't know for sure. A whole s.h.i.+tload. And then he went and started giving it all away,” Jacob said.
”All of it? Wow,” Meghan said.
He looked away and shrugged, his eyes darting to the woman beside him again. ”Don't know if he was sc.r.a.pin' bottom yet, but he was workin' on it.”
”Any idea why?” I asked.
Debby turned her wet face to me. ”What do you care?”
”Just surprised, I guess. He still did work for us on a regular basis and for other people in the neighborhood. From what I can tell, he didn't really have to, or he wouldn't have had to if he'd kept his winnings.”
Neither of them spoke. The silence lengthened. Meghan broke it.
”There will be a memorial service at Crane's Funeral Home on Monday at two o'clock.”
A stubborn expression crossed Debby's face. ”Moved kinda fast, didn't you?”
Meghan sat down beside her on the sofa. Our eyes met and an unspoken understanding pa.s.sed between us. ”Not really. He died on Thursday. We didn't know you'd want to be involved, and his mother wanted to go ahead with the service.”
Debby snorted. ”His mother. Right. Didn't care much when he was alive, did she?”
”Will you come?”
”'Course we'll come,” Jacob responded for them both. ”Debby here's just a little overwhelmed by all this. We wouldn't miss Walter's send-off for nothin'.”
Meghan scanned the woman's pale face. ”Debby?”