Deception (29 page)

Twenty-Nine

At ten-thirty, true to his word, Wally called back. “I’m afraid I don’t have good news,” he said grimly when Jill answered the phone.

She motioned for Dan to pick up the extension. “You talked to my uncle?”

“For over an hour. He admits coming to the summer house that night, having an argument with your father and even hitting him.”

Jill pressed her hand to her mouth and sat down. Inside her chest, her heart was pounding erratically.

“What were they fighting about?” Dan asked.

“I don’t know. Cyrus refuses to say anything more. The only point he’s emphatic about is that he didn’t kill Simon.”

“You think he’s telling the truth?”

Wally heaved a deep sigh. “I want to believe him’ Dan, but the evidence is damning, even more so now.”

“Why?” Jill gripped the phone with both hands. “I just came back from your father’s house. Brad and I found traces of blood on one of the fireplace stones. They’re barely visible because of the reddish streaks throughout the stones, and I had to look damn close to see them, but they’re there. The problem is, we don’t have any of Simon’s blood to compare it to, so we can’t be sure it’s his. But considering what Joshua told us and Cyrus’s own admission, I’d bet my last dollar the blood is Simon’s.”

Dan hoped the criminal attorney Philip Van Horn had recommended was a good one. “What happens now?” he asked, more for Jill’s benefit than his.

“My office doesn’t have jurisdiction over a murder case, which means I’ll have to hand Cyrus over to the sheriff’s department in Monticello first thing tomorrow morning. There he’ll be arraigned and probably charged with second-degree murder-”

“Second-degree murder!” Jill cried. “Wally, that’s ridiculous. Can’t you do something?”

“I tried, Jill. But how can I help your uncle when he won’t do anything to help himself?”

“I want to see him. I’ll make him come to his senses.”

“I told him that, but he won’t see anybody, not even Stephanie, who’s been calling all evening. The only phone call he took was from your mother.”

Startled, Jill glanced at Dan. “My mother? Are you sure?”

“of course I’m sure. I’m the one who answered the phone.”

“What did she want?”

“I have no idea. I stepped out of the office while they talked. I suppose she wanted to give him support.”

His wife could have done that, Jill thought. Or his daughter.

Remembering the ordeal Joshua had gone through, Jill asked, “How’s Joshua?”

Upset, as you’d expect him to be. I stopped at the cabin earlier and tried to explain what was happening. I didn’t want him to hear the sordid details from anyone else. He’s pretty much of a loner but you never know. This is a small village. News travels fast and not always with the best accuracy.”

Jill smiled. Good old Wally, always thinking, always dependable. “Thanks, Wally. I’ll call you tomorrow. Maybe my uncle will be ready to see me by then. Meanwhile, if you need me for anything, I’ll be spending the night at my mother’s.”

“Good. And try to get some rest, will you? Dan, I’ll talk to you later.”

After hanging up, Jill dialed her mother’s house. When Amanda answered, Jill said simply, “I’m coming over, Mom. We need to talk.”

Henry had already gone to bed by the time Dan dropped Jill off at the town house. Amanda, however, was awake and pacing the floor, a bundle of raw nerves. She wore blue silk pajamas and a matching robe that rustled with every step

“Thank God you’re here.” She rushed to her daughter and embraced her.

Jill, already on edge, was instantly alarmed. “Why? Did something happen?”

“No, I’m just relieved you’re here, that’s all.”

“Did Aunt Stephanie call?” Jill asked innocently. “Or Uncle Cyrus?”

Amanda threw her a quizzical look. “Why would Cyrus call me? I’m told he won’t talk to anyone.”

Why was she lying? Jill wondered. What was she hiding now?

“I did hear from Stephanie, however,” Amanda continued. “She’s a total wreck. Thank God Olivia is with her. She’ll be able to calm her down.”

“I’m sure she will.” For all her faults, Olivia adored her mother and had a remarkable stabilizing influence on her.

“Your aunt Lilly called, as well,” Amanda stopped in front of the sofa to fluff up a small pink pillow. “She wanted to come by but I told her that wasn’t necessary since you were staying over.”

Looking concerned, she laid a hand on Jill’s cheek. “Are you all right, darling? There’s no aftereffect from that nasty fall you took, is there?”

“No, none.”

“And the boy?”

What is wrong with her? Jill wondered, watching her mother with a mixture of worry and curiosity. Usually so reserved, she had suddenly turned into a chatterbox. “Frankie’s fine, and so is Ashley. What about you, Mom? How are you holding up?”

Pressing her fingertips against her temples, Amanda shook her head. “I don’t know, Jill. I can’t believe what’s happening to this family. A month ago, everything was so perfect, so… normal, and now, look at us. Your father is dead, your uncle is in jail and there’s been two attempts on your life. What else can go wrong?”

“Maybe we can make everything right, Mom,” Jill said gently. “By telling the truth.”

Amanda lowered her hands. “What are you talking about? What truth?”

“Wally told me you called Uncle Cyrus tonight.”

Amanda’s back went rigid. “You talked to Wally?”

“I’d asked him to call me after he questioned Uncle Cyrus.

To Jill’s surprise, her mother, who rarely drank at this time of day, walked over to the well-stocked liquor cart against the wall, opened a bottle of cognac and splashed a little in a Waterford snifter.

“Mom?” Jill looked at her intently. “Why did you call him?” She wanted to add, “And why did you lie?,” but didn’t.

Amanda made a vague gesture. “I was concerned about him. I wanted to … see how he was doing.”

“He wouldn’t take a call from his own wife, or from me, but he talked to you? That’s odd, Mom.”

“Why are you doing this? What are you driving at?”

“Did you tell Aunt Stephanie that you talked to her husband?”

“I can’t remember.” She took a quick sip of her cognac, then another. “I may not have. I was upset.”

Jill shook her head. “I don’t think that’s the reason.”

Amanda didn’t reply.

“I think you know something,” Jill said, talking to her mother as if she were the child. “And that something is connected to Daddy’s death.”

Her hands wrapped around her glass, Amanda stared into her drink. Her face had gone pale but other than that, it gave away nothing. “That’s nonsense.”

“Is it? Look at you, Mom. You’re trembling. You’re drinking at eleven o’clock at night and you can’t even look at me.”

“Stop this. For God’s sake, stop it.”

“Not this time, Mom. Whatever is happening here,

it’s gone too far. There’s too much at stake. I want to know the truth. For starters, how did Uncle Cyrus know where to find Daddy that night?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Because you were the only person who could have told him.”

This time Amanda didn’t protest, didn’t make excuses, didn’t evade the question. With a sigh that was as dramatic as one her sister might have heaved, she lowered her head. “Oh, Jill, it’s all so terribly complicated.”

“Lies usually are.”

With a gentle but firm hand, Jill pried the glass from Amanda’s fingers and laid it back on the cart. “Sit down,” she said, pulling her onto the sofa.

This time Amanda didn’t protest.

Jill sat beside her. “Do you remember the time I decked Debbie Frisk in the school auditorium?”

Although startled by the sudden change of subject, Amanda smiled. “of course I remember. I had to come to the principal’s office and listen to a stern lecture from Mrs. Montague.”

“And later that night, you came to my room and wanted to know what Debbie and I had been fighting about.”

“She had caught you kissing her boyfriend.”

“Actually, he was the one doing the kissing, but that’s not important. What’s important is that I let him do it. I might even have encouraged him, a little. That’s the part I couldn’t bring myself. to tell you because I was so ashamed. But you sat with me, held my hand and told me that, no matter what I had done,

nothing between us would ever change. You would always love me.”

“I meant it with all my heart.”

“I know. And so do I, Mom.” Jill squeezed her mother’s hands. “Nothing you’ve done in the past, or might do in the future, will ever change the love I have for you.”

Jill paused, then asked the question that had to be asked. “Are you and Uncle Cyrus having an affair?”

The startled look in her mother’s eyes made Jill heave a sigh of relief. “No, Jill.” Amanda adamantly shook her head. “We’re not having an affair. You must believe that.”

“Then why were Daddy and Uncle Cy fighting? You might as well tell me. It’s all going to come out—eventually.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Her eyes downcast, Amanda kept playing with her wedding band, a twin circle of diamonds Jill’s father had given her for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

“You’re right,” Amanda said with a small catchy sigh. “I have been less than honest with you.”

Sensing that her mother needed to tell her story at her own pace, Jill waited.

Amanda looked up, her gaze brightly intense. “But before I do share this burden with you, you have to know that I loved your father with all my heart. When he died, I wanted to die with him.”

Jill’s grip on her mother’s hands tightened. “Don’t you think I know that? I was there. I saw what you went through. And I felt so helpless.” Her voice broke. “For a while, I thought I was going to lose you, too.”

“Oh, baby.” Amanda’s smile was strained. “I was trying to pull myself together. For you.”

“I know.”

Squaring her shoulders as if preparing for a difficult task, Amanda drew a breath and slowly released it. “As you know, your father and I had brunch at the Plaza Hotel with the Ruinsons that Sunday. It’s no secret that I’ve never been fond of Edith. She flirts shamelessly with every man she sees and’ at times, her behavior is downright embarrassing. I don’t know how Carl tolerates it.”

Jill almost groaned. Her father and Edith Runsson? Please, God, she implored. Not that. “Why do you go out with them then?”

“Because Carl is a client and your father felt obligated to entertain him occasionally.”

She refocused her gaze on Jill. “That Sunday, after too many mimosas, Edith began flirting with your father, right under my nose, as if I didn’t even exist. Carl was amused but I wasn’t. I was upset, with her, and with your father, who seemed to be having a grand old time.”

“I’m sure it was harmless. She’s hardly his type.” And then again, maybe she was, Jill thought bitterly. After all she had learned about her father recently, nothing about him surprised her anymore.

“I know.” Amanda’s hands tightened into small fists. “But at the time, I wanted to strangle them both. Instead, I stormed out of the Plaza and took a cab home.”

“And Daddy?”

“He came home shortly after I did. He was as furious with me as I was with him. He accused me of making a scene and that made me even angrier. He was scolding me for his childish behavior.”

“I take it you two had a big fight.”

“We had a terrible fight, the worst in all our thirty-six years of marriage. He told me things I’m sure he didn’t mean and I…” She bit her bottom lip. “I fought back by saying something I should never have said. if I had kept my mouth shut that day, Simon would still be alive. I’m convinced of that.”

Jill felt her own eyes fill with tears. “You can’t blame yourself, Mom. Couples argue all the time””

“Not like that.”

“What did you say to him that was so horrible?”

Amanda looked up, and the anguish Jill saw in her eyes was so real, so raw that she almost stopped her right there. Whatever her secret was, however badly Jill wanted to hear it, it wasn’t worth seeing her mother like this.

“I told him you weren’t his daughter.”

The words drove right through Jill’s heart, numbing her. She took a moment to absorb them while at the same time fighting an absurd need to laugh. “What did you say?”

“I told him you weren’t his daughter,” Amanda repeated.

Jill’s eyes widened in horror. “How could you even say such a blatant lie?”

“It’s not a lie. It’s the truth. Simon was not your father.”

Jill sat in stony silence. She tried to say something but somehow her mouth was unable to articulate even the simplest words. Rising from the sofa, she backed away, shaking her head. “No… “I know how painful this must be, darling, and I’m so sorry. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you.”

Jill’s voice sounded as if it came through a thick fog. “If Simon was not my father.. then who is?”

Amanda took a moment to answer, then in a voice that was barely above a whisper, she said’ “Cyrus. Cyrus is your father.”

Thirty

For a moment, everything around her went blank and very still. It was as if the world had suddenly stopped turning and she didn’t know how to get it steady again.

“Jill?”

At the concerned sound of her mother’s voice, Jill’s eyes flickered briefly. Her mouth parted but no words came out.

“Jill, darling, please say something.”

When Jill was finally able to speak, her voice was hoarse, as unreal as the words she’d just heard. “I thought you said you and Uncle Cyrus weren’t involved?”

“We’re not. The affair happened a long time ago.” Amanda twisted and untwisted her hands. “Everything was so different then, you see. B&A was a young company, only a couple of years old and your father was totally absorbed by it.

“I know it’s no excuse,” she continued as Jill shot her a quick, reproachful glance. “He was working hard, trying to make a success of himself, and the company. I tried to understand that, but I was a young bride, full of hopes and dreams. I didn’t care about money and success and which architect would build the world’s tallest skyscraper. I wanted my husband, I wanted long walks in the park, intimate little dinners, togetherness. Instead, I was thrown into a world I. didn’t know, made to befriend women who were as superficial and brittle as old varnish. The days were endless and the evenings lonely. You, of all people, should understand that, Jill.”