Sue Grafton - U Is For Undertow

“It’s ten A.M.”

He smiled. “How about a sticky bun?”

“Sure, why not? I skipped breakfast this morning along with my three-mile run.”

He pointed to three big cinnamon buns that the woman behind the cart picked up with a sheet of waxed paper and placed in a sack. He asked for two jumbo coffees to go, which she poured, and then set in a collapsible cardboard tray. He picked up a handful of half-and-half containers the size and shape of bonbons, and then he added a pile of sugar packets.

After he paid, I followed him out the lobby door and from there to the grassy park across the street. I got the impression this was his morning ritual. The bench he chose was in dappled shade. By the time he sat down, setting the cardboard tray between us, a Disney-like assortment of birds and squirrels had appeared in anticipation of the third pastry, apparently intended for them. Our conversation proceeded by fits and starts while we sipped coffee and munched on sticky buns, tossing nuggets to the little creatures gathered at his feet.

“You understand I could have my license yanked if this got back to her.”

“How would it get back to her? I won’t breathe a word of it. Scout’s honor.”

He sat and thought about it. “What the hell. I’m close to retirement. I’ll take you at your word.”

“Please.”

“You’re right about the job. Mrs. Kinsey hired me to do a background check on Virginia.”

“She wanted proof Aunt Gin was unfit to act as my guardian, right?”

“Basically. Your grandmother had enough money to pay for the best attorneys. Still does, for that matter. She also had enough to pay for my services, which didn’t come cheap… as you so kindly pointed out. She thought she could influence the social workers and the judge and she wasn’t too far wrong. Virginia Kinsey was an odd duck.”

“ ‘Eccentric’ is the word,” I said. “So what went on?”

He smiled, conceding the point. “Your parents left no instructions about guardianship if something happened to them. Your aunt had no experience with kids. You must have discovered that yourself if you had half a brain. She was one of a kind. She could knock back whiskey with the best of them and she cussed like a stevedore. I could have made a case for your grandmother being the better equipped to care for a five-year-old.”

“Is that what you did?”

“No.”

“What happened?”

“I’ll get to that in a bit. Two things I should tell you first. I didn’t like your grandmother then and I don’t like her now. Maybe she reminds me too much of my own granny, who was stingy and bad-tempered, as hateful as they come. Mrs. Kinsey’s the same, self-centered and autocratic, which won’t fly with me. I’ve worked for her a time or two after that job, but it’s been years now, which is why I asked if she was still alive.”

“Fair enough.”

“Here’s the other thing. That was the only job I ever did strictly for the money. I was just getting into the business. I’d borrowed from the bank to set up my office, but clients weren’t exactly breaking down my door. The loan officer… the cranky so-and-so… expected payment and I didn’t have a dime. I put him off as long as I could, but I was running out of excuses. I don’t know what the bank would’ve done if I’d defaulted. I figured the last thing they wanted was an empty office filled with my used furniture. I knew the location was good and I was convinced I’d have business enough to support myself-at least modestly-within a short period of time. I just didn’t have the cash in hand.

“Mrs. Kinsey came along and told me what she had in mind. Even as desperate as I was, I didn’t want to work for her so I named an exorbitant price. She agreed to pay it and I was stuck. I sat surveillance on Virginia off and on for weeks-first in 1955, then again in ’56 and early ’57. In truth, I never saw your aunt as a motherly type. She provided you with the basics, but I didn’t witness much in the way of affection.”

“I can testify to that.”

He smiled. “You were a tiny little thing and you clung to her like a monkey. So much so that I wondered about your emotional stability. You’d taken a hit. The loss of your parents was a blow I wasn’t sure you’d recover from. Virginia wasn’t nurturing, but she was solid and she was constant. She was also a firecracker when it came to protecting you. In my opinion, that was enough.”

“You decided all this sitting in a car parked down the street from us?”

“Not quite. I’d been out there less than a week when she spotted me. I thought I’d been discreet, but she was sharp. She must have known her mother was up to no good. One day she came out to the car, gestured I should roll the window down, and then invited me in. She said if I was going to spy on her I might as well do it up close and net myself a cup of coffee in the bargain. After that, she knew I was following her, but she made no concessions. She did exactly what she always did. What I thought of her and what I reported was of no concern.”

“I’m missing something here,” I said. “My grandmother was ancient even then. What made her think she had any chance of gaining custody?”

“It was the other way around. She thought she had the means to knock your Aunt Gin out of the running. If she managed to do that, who else was going to step in?”

“My mother was the oldest of five girls. Aunt Gin was next, and after her there was Sarah, Maura, and Susanna. I should think any one of them would have been preferable.”

“They were financially dependent on the senior Kinseys. All the girls made respectable marriages, but their husbands didn’t have the kind of money your grandparents did. As I heard the story, Sarah and Maura didn’t approve of your mother anyway and neither one of them was willing to defy Mrs. Kinsey once they knew she wanted you.”

“What kind of leverage did she have aside from that? I’m still not getting it.”

“I’ve probably said enough.”

“Come on.”

“Don’t you ever give up?”

“It doesn’t hurt to ask. I figure you’ll tell me as much or as little as you want.”

He took a bite of sticky bun and chewed for a while, then took a sip of coffee. “Your grandmother believed Virginia was a lesbian.”

I stared at him, astonished. “You’re not serious.”

“You asked about the leverage. That was it. In those days, the accusation was damaging, even if there wasn’t any proof. That’s why I wouldn’t give her written reports. I didn’t want Mrs. Kinsey to have anything to hold over Virginia ’s head.”

“Aunt Gin was gay?”

“That’s not what I said. I said I wouldn’t put anything in writing one way or the other.”

“How’d she come up with the notion in the first place?”

“I have no idea. When she came to my office, she told me what she wanted, which was to get ‘the goods’ on her daughter. That was the phrase she used. She said no judge would permit custody to go to someone of such a ‘bent.’ I told her I wouldn’t tailor my findings to suit her purposes. She said she’d be happy to hire someone else who’d give her what she was paying for. I told her I didn’t give a shit who she hired. If she didn’t care about the truth, she wouldn’t be doing business with me.”

“She let you talk to her that way?”

“She took offense, but I think she liked it. Hardly anyone stood up to her in those days.”

“They still don’t. Go on with your story.”

“She was irritated, but in the end she agreed. The thing about her, she was an egomaniac, but there was a line she was hesitant to cross. Virginia was still a Kinsey. If your grandmother was right, exposing Virginia would be an embarrassment to her as well as to the rest of the family.”