Eden in Winter (4 page)

*

‘So,’ Hanley interrogated Jack in an acidic tone, ‘your nephew, Teddy, also lied to you, concealing that he had confronted his father on the promontory.’

‘Teddy didn’t lie,’ Jack amended gently. ‘He simply kept his own encounter with Ben to himself …’

‘Even when the police identified the boot print he’d left in the mud that night.’

Jack gave a helpless shrug. ‘All of us had painful relationships with Benjamin Blaine – his wife, his sons, and his brother. Because of Ben’s affair with Carla Pacelli, the media descended – especially the tabloids – making the wounds in our family that much more raw. However wrongly, our instinct was for privacy, not truth.’

Tense, Adam could only hope that George Hanley never knew how true this statement was, and the role Adam’s own paternity played in the Blaines’ hidden tragedy. Or, for that matter, Sean Mallory, watching Jack with the bleak, pitiless look of a bitter saint.

Hanley crossed his arms, saying coldly, ‘Even though a man had died.’

‘Even so,’ Jack answered softly. ‘A death is not a murder. But once the police thought it might be, I had to tell the truth – that my nephew, Teddy, knew nothing about his father’s death.’

Hanley shook his head in wonder. ‘Yet there are all these lies – not only Teddy’s, but yours. And now you tell us that none of you knew that Benjamin Blaine had changed his will to favour Ms Pacelli. Or even that he was thinking about this change.’

‘
I
didn’t know.’ Jack’s tone was weary but firm. ‘I’m confident that none of us did. In any event, the business of the will is done with now.’

*

Staring at her son, Clarice had said, ‘This is just too much for me.’ Reading his expression, she added softly, ‘For all of us, I suppose.’

‘Then brace yourself, Mother. Because there’s more.’ He sat back, speaking in the same clipped tone. ‘The will contest has become more complex than you know. Thanks to me, you won’t get caught trying to pass off the post-nup Ben forced you to sign as misplaced self-actualization. On the other hand, I’m now aware of the truth – that you got plenty of “consideration” for signing it, from continuing to live here to concealing the messy facts surrounding my birth. And I suspect that Carla Pacelli knows that, too.’

Clarice looked stricken. ‘Ben told her?’

‘I’m pretty sure he did. So, if you contest his bequest to Carla, I can’t lie about that. Right now you’ve got a decent shot at overturning Ben’s will. But, between Carla and me, you could wind up with nothing. So here’s what you’re going do:

‘First, your lawyer will offer Carla a settlement of three million dollars, on which you’re also paying the estate taxes—’

‘No,’ Clarice protested. ‘I refuse to treat her as an equal.’

‘You’ve got no choice,’ Adam said coldly. ‘So feel grateful to get by with that. Carla’s got a real chance of walking off with everything. At a minimum, she’ll get almost two million for her son – who, by the way, is Teddy’s brother, Jack’s nephew and my cousin. All of us need to see to his well-being. This family has inflicted enough misery on its own.’

He paused a moment, allowing Clarice time to absorb this, then looked from his mother to Jack. ‘The two of you will have more than enough to live here. Though if I were you, I’d sell this place. The karma leaves a lot to be desired.’

Clarice seemed to blanch. ‘How do you know that Carla will agree?’

‘Because I’m developing a sense of her. In fact, despite my best efforts, I may have a better grasp of Carla Pacelli than I have of either one of you. That’ll give me food for thought on the flight back to Afghanistan.’ Briefly, he paused, watching the stunned look in his parents’ eyes. ‘If she consents to this, as I think she will, we’re settling Ben’s estate. Are all of us agreed?’

Clarice looked at Jack, who nodded. Facing Adam, his mother retrieved some of her composure, accenting the sadness in her eyes. ‘I still look at you, Adam, and see him. The same iron will, the same belief that you can bend the world to your ends.’

Despite himself, Adam discovered, comparisons to Benjamin Blaine still pierced him. ‘Better ends, I hope – especially yours and Jack’s. But I’d appreciate it if both of you disappeared for the next few hours. I really do need to be alone.’

*

At ten o’clock that morning, Adam had gone to see Carla Pacelli.

She was waiting for him on the deck, a light breeze rippling her hair. Pregnancy had done nothing to diminish her beauty – that of an Italian-American brunette with dark, intense eyes, tempered by hardship, giving her an aura of sadness and self-knowledge. Smiling a little, she said, ‘Thanks for calling. It gave me time to dress.’

Then I regret that
, Adam might have said in another life. But he felt way too tired, and even more confused. At length, he said, ‘I had to see you.’

It came out sounding wrong, not as he intended. Carla regarded him gravely. ‘You really do look awful.’

‘And feel worse,’ he admitted. ‘How long have you known that I wasn’t Ben’s son?’

Briefly she looked down, then met his eyes with new directness. ‘For months now.’

Adam shook his head in disbelief. ‘And yet you had the grace not to tell me. Even though Ben’s will had made us enemies.’

‘It wasn’t my place,’ she answered in a level tone. ‘And you were never quite my enemy. It was a little more complex between us, I thought.’

This was true, Adam realized. ‘Still, you could have warned me off anytime you wanted to. All you needed was to tell the truth.’

‘And tamper with your life?’ Carla asked with quiet compassion. ‘It was clear that you loved your family, despite all you’d gone through. I couldn’t know how revealing the truth might change that. Once I realized that you knew nothing, it seemed best to keep Ben’s secret. At least for as long as I could.

‘But there’s something else I can say now. Whatever her reasons, the affair between Clarice and his brother caused Ben terrible anguish. That’s why I never considered his marriage sacred ground.’ She paused again. ‘At least that’s my excuse.’

‘No help for it now,’ Adam said wearily. ‘I came here to resolve the future.’ He paused, searching for the proper words. ‘There needs to be an end to all this sadness. If I can guarantee you three million dollars, would you take it? That would spare you a will contest, and help both of you quite a lot.’

A moment’s surprise appeared in Carla’s eyes, and then she gazed down at the deck with veiled lids. ‘More than “a lot”,’ she finally answered. ‘My lawyer won’t like this, I’m sure. But if your mother can accept that, so will I. I don’t have the heart for any more of this.’ She gave him an ironic smile. ‘As if I’m being so beneficent. I grew up without a dime, made millions as an actress, and blew it all because of my own failings. Now I can give my son the security I lost. That’s what Clarice must have thought before you were born.’

The comparison – and Carla’s honesty – gave Adam pause. ‘Maybe so,’ he replied. ‘But she was also in love with someone else.’

‘Then accepting this money is easier for me, isn’t it?’ Carla looked into his eyes. ‘You persuaded her, I know. But why?’

Adam managed a shrug. ‘It’s simple, really. As I recalculate my genealogy, you’re carrying my cousin.’

For another moment, Carla gazed at him, then patted her stomach. ‘Actually, I thought I felt him move this morning. A mother’s imagination, probably. But at least I’m not sick anymore.’

Adam shoved his hands in his pockets, quiet for a time. ‘I’m not sure how to say this without sounding stupid. But you’re a far better person than I took you for.’

Another smile surfaced in her eyes. ‘I suppose I could return your backhanded compliment. But you’re exactly who I took you for, though you did your damnedest to conceal that.’ Carla paused, then said in a reticent tone, ‘You’re leaving soon, I know. But once you’re back, you can come to see us if you’d like.’

Adam searched her face, trying to read what he saw there. ‘Perhaps I will,’ he told her. ‘After all, every boy could use a man who cares for him. No matter who.’

‘Then we’ll look forward to it.’ She hesitated, then added, ‘Be safe, Adam. Despite everything, Ben worried for you. Now I do, too.’

Adam fell silent, unsure of what else he wished to say. Then he felt the weight of what he could never tell her: that his father had killed the father of her child. ‘I’ll be fine,’ he promised. ‘Take care, Carla.’

Turning from the doubt he saw in her eyes, he left without looking back, still followed by the shadow of Benjamin Blaine.

*

When Jack’s testimony was at last concluded, the four Blaines emerged from the courtroom with Avi Gold, each silent and preoccupied.

Though the inquest was over, nothing was decided; the death of Benjamin Blaine, and the doubts of the authorities, could yet ensnare one or more of them. To Adam’s eye, only Teddy showed a modicum of relief. The merciful result, he supposed, of knowing far less than anyone else – not how
Ben had died, or who had killed him, or that Adam was his half-brother, half-cousin. Or how many lies had been told today in this courtroom, all of Adam’s invention. Teddy had believed Jack, and Adam envied his innocence.

Shadowed by these thoughts, Adam saw her.

Carla Pacelli paused in the corridor, her level gaze taking in each member of Adam’s family – briefly lingering on Clarice, who turned away in scorn and anger. Then her eyes met Adam’s. Touching his mother’s elbow, he murmured, ‘Wait for me in the car,’ and walked over to Carla.

For a moment they faced each other, quiet. ‘Sorry for this,’ she said. ‘I came to see the district attorney, not your family. I thought the hearing would be over.’

Adam grasped her dilemma. At the end of his life, she was the one who had cared for a dying man – knowing nothing about the change in his will to favour her – and, by her lights, had found the good in him. But she was not family; only Benjamin Blaine’s family, who despised him, was allowed inside the courtroom. And so Carla, who suspected that one of the Blaines had killed him, was forced to glean from George Hanley whatever he chose to tell her. Not much, Adam guessed, leaving doubt to gnaw at Carla’s mind and heart.

Looking around them, he saw no one; the Sheriff’s deputies had kept the media outside. ‘The hearing ran late,’ he said with an ease he did not feel. ‘Jack was on the stand for a good while.’

‘I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what he said.’

‘What you’ve already heard, once he went to the police: that Ben’s death was an accident.’

Her deep brown eyes were flecked with doubt. Burdened with his own deceit, Adam wondered why, of all the
deceptions he had crafted, it pained him most to deceive Carla Pacelli. Perhaps because, as he had belatedly discovered, she was the only person involved with Benjamin Blaine who – unlike Adam’s mother, uncle and brother – had always told him the truth.

‘Do you believe that?’ she asked.

‘Consider the circumstances, Carla. There’s no evidence that Jack killed him – or, as I understand it, to even place him at the scene. He risked putting his head in the noose in order to save Teddy.’

‘Which means he’s innocent?’ For an instant she eyed him closely, the intensity of her gaze fading to a fleeting half smile of scepticism. ‘I suppose I’ll have to wait for the judge’s report. For now, you’re the person I most want to believe.’

Adam had trained his face to show nothing; only another professional, he supposed, might take its studied blankness for what it was.

‘Whatever the case,’ she added, ‘I appreciate all you’ve done.’

He shrugged this away. ‘How’s the baby?’

Carla touched her stomach. ‘Fine, as far as I know. I have another check-up in two weeks. Ask me then.’

‘By then I may be back in Afghanistan.’ Adam hesitated, then heard himself ask, ‘Can I see you tonight?’

Briefly, she looked surprised, then smiled a little. ‘Of course.’ Lightly, she added, ‘How will you explain this to your mother? Or to anyone, for that matter?’

‘I won’t. It’s like Ben told me, back when I thought he was my father, “Never complain, never explain”. Truly, words to live by.’

‘Only sometimes,’ Carla responded. ‘My life left me with
a great deal to explain, if only to the people I choose to care about. But in that spirit, I’ll cook dinner for us. I’d rather not have the two of us sitting in a public restaurant, drawing gasps and incredulous stares. There’s been too much unwholesome interest in my life, and in my involvement with Ben. I don’t want it to bleed into your life any more than it already has.’

Adam simply nodded, a tacit acknowledgment of how difficult their relationship was. Whatever it was.

‘Seven o’clock, then?’ she asked.

‘I’ll look forward to it,’ he answered, and went to face whatever waited outside, feeling the conflict within him, guilt at war with kinship.

Outside, the rain had stopped. For a moment, Adam stood blinking in the light of a changeable August day, feeling like a badger peering from a hole. In this moment of hesitation, he saw the media scrum pursuing his family toward the sidewalk, a swarming organism filled with boom mikes, cameras, notepads. Then a thin, tight voice said, ‘Hello again, Adam Blaine.’

He knew this voice before he saw her darting at him from the side – Amanda Ferris of the
National Enquirer
 – her sharp, birdlike gaze filled with venom, her black hair cut short. ‘Still working?’ he enquired pleasantly. ‘I was worried you’d been fired.’

Her mouth twitched in an angry, reflexive smile. Two months before, unknown to the authorities, Adam had deployed her and the tabloid’s money to ferret out the evidence against Teddy, then used the information to protect his brother – leaving Ferris without a story, and threatening her with a lawsuit if she printed her suspicions. But now she was
back, perhaps on probation, fuelled by the desire for retribution to expose Adam before she lost her job.

‘I wasn’t fired,’ she shot back. ‘However hard you tried.’

‘How nice for you,’ Adam said, and began walking. ‘But I wasn’t really trying. If I had, you wouldn’t be here.’

‘But I am. And I think you’re still busy covering up a crime. Actually, several crimes. Do you remember the break-in last June, at this same courthouse?’