Дэвид Балдаччи - The Guilty

“But you did come forward?”

“Yes, I did. They were seeking the death penalty against Clancy. I didn’t care for the man, but I couldn’t let the state of Mississippi execute him for a crime I know he couldn’t have committed. I admit that I lied to the police when they initially questioned me about it. But later I knew I had to tell the truth. And the real killer was still out there. If they convicted Clancy, they’d never catch the person who really did it.”

Obviously agitated, she drank down her glass of sangria and poured another. “Maybe I should have just kept quiet,” she said. “Then Clancy would be in prison and my husband wouldn’t be.”

“How did my father take the news about you and Clancy?”

“Not well,” she said tersely. “He... sometimes he doesn’t know his own strength.”

“So he beat you?”

“I wasn’t talking about his physical strength, though he has plenty of that. No, I was talking up here.” She tapped her forehead. “He can be quite cruel with words.”

Don’t I know that , thought Robie. “Do you think he killed Clancy?”

Her look told him that she had expected this question. “I don’t want to believe it.”

“What does he say?”

“He doesn’t say. When I visit him he asks me how Ty is doing. He asks me how I feel. He wants to know what is going on at the Willows. He does not talk about the case against him.”

“I need to get in to see him.”

“He has to allow it, Will. Otherwise they won’t let you in.”

“Can you ask him? Tell him I want to see him?”

She hesitated. “Why? What good would it do?”

“I don’t know if it will do any good at all. But it’s something I have to do.”

“I don’t know anything about the falling-out you two had. Or why you went away. Dan never talked about it.”

“I wouldn’t expect that he would.”

“And your mother? He never talks about her, either.”

“She was as unlike my father as it was possible to be.”

“Well, they do say opposites attract.”

“But can opposites exist together for the long term?”

“Have you ever been married?”

“No.”

“Ever wanted to be?”

Robie didn’t answer right away. He was thinking back to a woman he thought he had loved. Right up until the moment he had put a bullet in her head.

“Maybe.”

“Well, I wanted to be married to your father from the very first moment I saw him.”

“You met at some sort of legal convention?”

She nodded. “I’m not a lawyer. Don’t have the mind for it. I was a pharmaceutical rep for years and a very successful one, if I do say so myself. Frankly, I’d flirt with the male doctors and they bought whatever I was selling. I attended some of our national conventions and learned how they were set up and run. Then I started doing event organizing, and my business really took off. Well, when your father walked into that room, my God, he was tall, robust, beautiful white hair, tanned skin. He just commanded the place. All the other judges flocked to Dan Robie. He just had that sort of presence about him.” She paused. “I’m sure they all hate me for what’s happened. My jealous husband kills my alleged lover.”

“Is that how you see it?”

“Doesn’t matter what I think. It’s what everyone else thinks. That’s reality.”

“Will you tell him I need to talk to him?”

She lifted her gaze to his. “If you really want me to, I will.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. He might refuse. And if he does agree to see you, it might be even worse.”

“How do you figure?”

“Because you’ll be stuck smack in the middle of this mess. Shall we go in to supper?”

The dinner was finely cooked and graciously served by both Priscilla and Victoria. Chicken-fried steak, green beans with salted pork, fat roasted tomatoes, seasoned squash, soft-as-butter bread, and banana pudding with a cinnamon crust for dessert.

Robie finally put his fork down and said, “One of the best meals I’ve ever had. Thank you.”

Victoria looked pleased by his compliment. “It was a joint effort between Priscilla and me. She does all the foundation work and I add a bit here and there as the finish. The woman can cook. All I have to do is try to keep the fat and sodium levels down. The state of Mississippi is not exactly known for healthy eating.”

“But you get to die happy then,” interjected Priscilla as she walked in and started clearing the table. “I put Ty in bed, Ms. Victoria, if you want to go up and say good night. Boy won’t go to sleep till you kiss ’im on the head.”

Robie followed her up the stairs. He expected that his father had fallen for Victoria quite as fast as she had for him. Robie’s mother had been petite and pretty, and in her son’s eyes, nothing less than perfect, right up until the moment she had abandoned him. But Victoria’s beauty was exceptional. He wondered, and not for the first time, whether she had allowed herself to be bedded by Sherman Clancy. And if so, why? Was all not right in her marriage?

Tyler was sitting up in bed waiting for his mother. When he saw Robie, his expression changed slightly. It was not a fearful one, just curious. While still staring at Robie he reached out his arms for his mother. She sat down on the bed and swallowed the little boy up in her arms.

She put Tyler on her lap and pointed at Robie. “Ty, this is Will. He’s family. Your brother. Your big brother.”

Robie could see the little boy mouth the word brother , but no sound came out. But then he touched his chest and pointed at Robie. Robie didn’t understand, and looked at Victoria.

“It’s his way of saying he loves you,” said Victoria. She placed her hand on her son’s chest. “He knows his heart is right there.”

Robie nodded and slowly put his hand on his chest and pointed at Tyler.

The boy immediately broke out into an enormous smile that managed to cut right through Robie’s normally hardened shell. Robie felt his mouth edge upward into a reciprocating grin.

He had never had a brother or any siblings at all. It had been just him for so long now. It was a bit overwhelming to realize that he had another “family” he never knew existed until he’d come back to Cantrell.

Victoria laid Tyler back in the bed and covered him with a sheet before kissing him on the forehead. “You have yourself a fine sleep, Ty Robie, okay?”

He nodded, ran his small fingers up and down her cheek, and then turned on his side and closed his eyes.

When Victoria rose from the bed Robie could see a tear sliding down her face. She brushed it away and said, “I’m going to have a glass of port to finish off the meal. Care to join me?”

She didn’t wait for an answer. Robie followed her downstairs, where she snatched two glasses and a bottle of tawny port off a sideboard before heading out to the back verandah.

They sat in hanging wicker chairs, drank their port, and looked out onto the rear grounds. The water from the pool shimmered under the moonlight. The briny smell of the Gulf, mixed with the chlorine from the pool, filled Robie’s nostrils. His eyes came to rest on the spot where he had last held Laura Barksdale.

He turned to Victoria. “Who did you buy the Willows from? Was it the Barksdales?”

“No, at least I don’t believe so. Dan handled all that. I remember he brought me here one day before our wedding and wanted to know if I cared to live here.” She smiled. “I mean, what woman wouldn’t? It’s beautiful. We put in the pool and spruced up the grounds and did some interior remodeling, especially with the kitchen, but the place had the most wonderful bones.”