Part 28 (1/2)
”But you're going to live here, right?”
”You guessed it.”
”Wasn't such a stretch. How does Josh feel about that?”
”No argument out of him. Especially since Beth will be right across the lake with her grandmother.”
”You know. When did you find out?”
”That my sister-in-law was my mother-in-law?” Danny giggled, but it seemed forced, no humor in it.
”I was going to tell you,” Rae said.
”No need. Deidre told me soon after we met.”
So, Danny could keep a secret. And lie convincingly. As she strained to recall the early conversations on the subject, the words, Morgan is childless jumped out at her. ”Did Morgan know you knew the truth? Did anybody besides Deidre?”
”Not likely,” Danny said and then quickly changed the subject. ”Did you know Nate's moved out? They're getting a divorce. Sam is Beth's grandfather. That was news to me.”
”And you're all on speaking terms now?”
”We seem to be.”
So much for Sam's different version of the rift. Rae decided to file that under needlessly inflammatory for the present.
Danny switched on an elaborate coffee maker that ground its own beans. While the coffee brewed, he showed Rae through the house. The upstairs master bedroom suite had a balcony that looked out on the lake. The master bath had his and hers sinks, separate shower and sunken Jacuzzi tub. And there was one of those things with the French name she couldn't remember that sprayed you after you peed, as well as the standard toilet--Danny must be expecting female company. Everything was top-drawer, which meant top-dollar as well.
Where is the money coming from? ”Old man Bayfield must be churning around in his pine box,” Rae ventured with a smirk, ”to see such a spending spree.”
Danny giggled. ”I can picture it. Oh, we sold the triplex over on Independence. No sweat. Most of the loan is paid off.”
Rae nodded her approval as they wended their way back to the kitchen where Danny poured coffee into two stoneware mugs. As she took a seat on a bar stool adjacent to the island, she thought again of the scene Danny had described: Morgan throwing hot coffee at him. The scene Sam told her never happened.
”Danny, I don't understand how one minute Morgan hates your guts and the next, you're all one happy family. Could it be that you were so stressed that your mind embellished the rift?”
Danny looked at her quizzically. ”It can't be that hard to understand. Once she found out that I wasn't responsible for Dee's contact with JJ, things started normalizing. It must've been reading that police report that set her off. Rae, it was Morgan who called me the night Deidre died. The cops didn't have my number.”
”She called you in Pagosa Springs?” In another attempt at recall, Rae could have sworn that in Danny's earlier version, the police had informed him of Deidre's death.
”No. At the motel.”
”What motel? Where were you?”
”In town for the intervention. Morgan and I planned an intervention for Dee. It was scheduled for the next day. If only we hadn't waited so long.”
”Why didn't you tell me any of this?”
”You never asked. What difference does it make? We didn't do it in time. She died.” His tone was almost matter-of-fact.
”You're right,” Rae said, ”it's going forward that counts.” She took a sip of coffee. Too hot. She set the mug down.
”That's what I'm doing,” Danny said. ”Josh and Beth are amazing considering what c.r.a.ppy parents Dee and I were.”
”Don't beat yourself up.”
”I'm not. I've started fresh. Mister Clean in the flesh.”
Rae rolled her eyes. ”Come on now, let's not overdo it.”
”And how are your two wonderful kids?” Did she detect a note of sarcasm?
”They're telling me I have to move forward,” Rae said, trying the coffee again and finding it cooled to bearable. ”Put the past behind. So I understand something of what you're going through. Going forward is not easy if you've been stuck in a time warp for thirteen years.”
Danny nodded, looking at her intently. ”It's not good to be alone as much as you are. It'll mess with your mind.”
”Oh, so you've noticed.” She made a funny-crazy face. At least, she hoped it was funny. Danny didn't laugh.
”Seriously, living out there in the country, doesn't it ever get to you? I mean, it's so isolated.”
She'd thought of the isolation and its implications but never for very long. ”I've got Anthony's police pistol. He taught me how to use it. I keep it close by.”
”Uh-huh, when did you last fire it?”
The truth was--never, but she wouldn't admit it. The drift of the conversation was beginning to sc.r.a.pe on old wounds. ”Recently enough,” she lied. ”Don't worry about me, Danny. You've got enough on your plate.”
”Not too much to be there for you. Like you've been there for me,” Danny said.
Rae was touched. Not everybody could handle money responsibly. That didn't automatically make them a bad person, did it?
Her drive home was long and slow, the Wadsworth traffic tedious, giving Rae plenty of mulling time.
The feud between Danny and Morgan had evaporated like virga over Rabbit Mountain. Apparently there had been no animosity on the night Deidre died. Morgan could have just as easily given Danny's motel number to the police, but she chose to call him herself. Lakewood's police report on the welfare check would've been available to her by then. If she'd had it, she would have already known that Deidre had named Danny as the JJ connection. But what if Morgan hadn't picked up the report until after Deidre died?
Let it go, Rae.
But there was an odor from the carca.s.s of the dead case that she couldn't quite identify. Maybe she didn't want to name it. Something about the way Danny was spending money.
Like a drunken sailor.
Right on, Grandma.