Part 29 (1/2)
”Mrs. Gray?” I said, dumbfounded.
Tootie started to look at the wall again, then turned back to me. ”You think just because someone is old and gray they're sweet and stupid.” ”
I do not. You, for example, are neither sweet nor stupid.”
We glared at each other for a while. Then she held out her hand. ”What do you want me to look at?”
”These,” I said and pulled out the photocopies Ambrose had given me.
She took the first one and held it at arm's length. ”Hand me those,” she said, pointing to her dresser. I saw a pair of blackrimmed reading gla.s.ses and retrieved them for her. She perched them on her nose and peered at the group of people on the page.
”This is my family, just before all the boys left home. And this is my husband-” she glanced at me over her gla.s.ses, ”-who had been spending more time than he should have with Miss Mavis Smart for almost two years by then. And the girl is that good-fornothing Cherry Dodds.”
”You're sure that's Cherry Dodds?”
”Of course I'm sure. I remember the day her sister took this picture. What can this have to do with Walter's death?”
My heart beat a little faster. ”And this woman? Do you recognize her?”
Tootie studied the photocopy of Grace Thorson's license. Her eyes narrowed and found mine. ”She's back?”
”Who?” I asked, just to make sure.
”Cherry.”
”Do you remember her real name?”
She pursed her lips. ”Grace. Grace Dodds.”
”Well,” I said, taking the page back from Tootie. ”I guess the answer is yes, then. She's back”
THIRTY-SIX.
THE SMELL OF PEANUT b.u.t.ter cookies. .h.i.t me like a sledgehammer when I opened the front door. Meghan was pulling a pan of them out of the oven, while Erin sat at the table and flattened another batch onto a cookie sheet with a fork dipped in sugar.
”What are you doing here?” I asked.
Meghan straightened. ”We decided Erin would be safer with us. And she promised to be very, very careful.” She gave her daughter a look, to which Erin responded with an earnest nod.
”Well, I'm glad,” I said.
”Why?” Erin asked.
”Because I like having you around.”
She grinned. ”You just want a cookie, huh?”
”You bet. Gimme.”
She grabbed one off the pile on the plate beside her and handed it to me. Fiifteen seconds later she had to give me another one.
”Don't spoil your dinner,” Meghan said, but her voice was mild. I looked at Erin, but she wasn't eating anything.
Oh.
”I won't,” I said around the second cookie. ”What're we having?”
”Pizza. It's on the way.”
”Thank G.o.d. I don't feel up to cooking tonight. I've just been over talking to Tootie.”
”What'd she have to say?”
Since Meghan didn't give me any sign that she didn't want Erin to hear, I told her how Tootie was doing, and about our conversation. When I'd left, Tootie had still been lying in bed, but at least she seemed to inhabit her own body again. She hadn't had any other pictures of Cherry, though. I'd also driven by Richard's apartment on my way home, but the windows were dark, and I didn't see his car or the white Camry he'd been driving with his mother the day of Walter's memorial service.
”She didn't want Walter's things?” Meghan asked.
”Only that one picture.”
She c.o.c.ked her head at her daughter. ”What's wrong, Bug?”
Erin looked thoughtful. ”Nothing's wrong. I was just thinking.. .since Grandma Grace was married to Walter, that makes Walter my grandpa, right?”
Meghan glanced at me and seemed to make a decision. ”Yes. And I bet he knew it, too, because he kind of acted like a grandpa, didn't he?”
I piped up. ”Do you want any of his stuff? The photos are kind of cool. And there are a couple books, and a funny bank shaped like a chicken.”
Erin made a face. ”Nah” Saw her mother's look. ”I mean, no thank you.”
Ah, unsentimental youth.
But she wasn't finished. ”So his mom would be my grandma, too?”
”Your great-grandma,” Meghan said. ”She was the lady with the white hair you met at the funeral. Do you like the idea of having a great-grandma?”
Erin considered. ”I only met her once. I'd want to know her better before I decide whether I like the idea or not.”
Meghan and I couldn't help smiling. ”That makes sense,” Meghan said. Given how Erin's last ”new grandma” encounter had turned out, I had to agree.