Jason had talent. Raw, unformed, untrained, yet palpably there. He seemed able to make his subjects forget the camera, and thus he captured fleeting expressions, movements, body language that were more revealing than they might have liked. He caught the affection between Neva and Dub, and the housekeeper’s exasperation. And when he panned back to David, he caught submerged energy that hadn’t been evident in the first few seconds. David wasn’t at peace—he was merely playing at contentment. Kate felt a pang of guilt. Surely he deserved a little contentment. Didn’t everybody?
They had been watching for perhaps five minutes before the scene switched to a boat dock beside a lake. “That’s out at Long Lake,” David said. “It’s where we keep the ski boat docked. Jason and his gang spent most of the summer out there.”
Waneath walked down the dock toward them.
“Wow,” Arnold whispered.
Even if they had not seen the autopsy pictures, Kate would have recognized Waneath. Off a runway or a movie set, there would hardly be two women like her in any crowd, certainly not a crowd of recent high-school seniors in Athena. Mississippi.
Under a short, nearly transparent shirt, she wore a bikini that barely covered her nipples and pubic triangle. Her shoulder-length honey-blond hair was swept up on one side by some kind of comb, and fell across her other cheek like an old Veronica Lake still. Her eyes were the color of Swiss chocolate, very large, wide-spaced and slightly tilted at the tips. Her mouth was generous with rich full lips. She had a broad forehead, a perfectly oval face and high cheekbones. Although this was obviously an informal afternoon, she was perfectly made up.
She smiled and waved at the camera. The fingernails that tipped her slender fingers were very long, tapered to soft points and manicured in fire-engine red.
“My word,” Kate said. “She was breathtaking.” Beside her, David stirred. “I suppose she was. I’ve known her since she was three years old. I guess none of us around here saw her the way a stranger would. To me she was just Jason’s girlfriend.”
They watched in silence as other young people joined Waneath, the ski boat was taken out into the lake, and members of the party skied behind it with differing degrees of success.
Waneath spent the time sunning herself on the back of the boat and posing for Jason. His camera lingered on her lovingly. At least while the camera ran, she never ventured near the water. She did, however, get rid of the transparent shirt, revealing a body that Kate would cheerfully have killed for.
“Nobody’s stomach’s that flat,” she said.
“I figured Waneath was just some southern dumpling with grandiose ideas,” Arnold said. “She really might have made it in Hollywood.”
The more Kate watched, the more uncomfortable she became. Perhaps she’d been wrong to do this. Much easier to defend Jason if Waneath Talley were simply a body. She had learned much more than she wanted to know, and what she had learned turned every assumption she’d made upside down and backward.
As the tape finished, they sat silent. Then David switched on the lamp beside him.
Finally, Kate said, “Oh, dear.”
Arnold sighed. “What a waste.”
Kate walked over to the counter that divided the kitchen from the rest of the room. “Do you have any soft drinks?”
David went to the refrigerator.
“Diet, please, and the can is fine.”
As he handed it to her, he looked into her eyes. “What is it, Kate? What did you see that we missed?”
She ran the cold can across her forehead. “I had the impression from the people I’ve talked to that Waneath was simply a gold-digging tramp who manipulated everyone to her advantage and planned to acquire wealth and status no matter what she had to do or who she hurt.”
“That’s pretty harsh, and only partially accurate,” David said. “She was cursed with a stage momma who force-fed her the wrong priorities since birth. I think she felt obligated to fulfill her mother’s expectations. That meant marrying money and social position.”
“She must have been terrified when she found out she was pregnant,” Kate said thoughtfully. “It would mess up every plan she’d ever made. Her mother would have been appalled, and I’ll bet her father would have been furious. She was betraying everybody who’d invested in her.”
“She was certainly no saint,” David said. “She expected everybody to dance to her tune, especially Jason. She was the ringleader in every bit of devilment they got into even as children. He always took the blame. If anybody tried to discipline her, she’d cry very prettily. If that didn’t work, she’d pitch a temper tantrum.”
“I’ll bet Melba was thrilled with that,” Kate said dryly.
“Waneath was Jason’s best friend. Melba gave up trying to dislodge her in Jason’s affections about the second grade and prayed he’d get over it before she dragged him to the altar.”
Arnold leaned back on the sofa. “So, Jason goes off to California, and comes home for Thanksgiving a different person. He doesn’t want to get engaged, much less married. She’s pregnant and scared to death. He’s abandoning her. She tries to use sex to bring him back in line, but it doesn’t work any longer. So she throws a tantrum, gets out of his car and storms off into the night, expecting him to follow her.”
“So far I agree,” Kate said. “But it doesn’t get anywhere near deep enough to the root of the problem.”
“What’s that?” David said. “The real father?”
“Much more elemental.” Kate pointed toward the VCR.
“She was a truly beautiful woman. I don’t mean girl, either.”
“Yeah, your son was one lucky dude,” Arnold said to David.
“In more ways than one,” Kate continued. “Maybe I’m attuned better than the two of you, maybe it’s a female thing. I don’t know. But I do know what I’m seeing on that tape. I don’t know how good an actress she was, but unless the entertainment business has lost the next Meryl Streep, Jason was much more than a meal ticket to her.”
CHAPTER TEN
“T
HE POINT IS,” Arnold said, “was Jason in love with her?”
“No,” David said.
“You say that as though you’re sure.”
“He was fond of her, and probably loved her as a friend, but he never mooned around her like a boy in love. I don’t think he saw her as Mrs. Jason Canfield, whatever she thought.” He glanced at Kate. “I’m familiar with that poleaxed, kicked-by-a-mule feeling when you find the only woman you can ever love.”
Kate stood and walked to the window before she turned back. Her fists were balled in her pockets. “Waneath had always been there,” she said. “He took her for granted. She never made any real demands on him until the night she died.”
For a moment David’s eyes held hers. Then he shrugged and joined the conversation. “And he refused her,” David answered. “There should have been a better way to do it than simply to drive off and leave her stranded. I can’t believe he’d do that to her, no matter how bad an argument they had.”
“Yet he did. If we believe him, that is,” Arnold said.
“I can’t get into his head any longer,” David said. “But he’s never made any secret of wanting to leave Athena and never come back.”
“How does his grandfather feel about that?” Arnold asked.
David echoed the words Kate had heard Dub say at lunch, and in almost the same words.
“He thinks it’s a phase, that Jason must learn to run the farm. It’s his destiny.”
He continued, and this time Kate listened carefully. Dub had definitely not confided this little gem to her.
“Jason has a little money of his own in a trust fund his grandmother left, but it’s not enough to pay for a school like Pepperdine,” David said. “Dub always promised Jason he’d put him through college, even one of the Ivy League schools, but when Jason was accepted to Pepperdine, Dub hit the ceiling. We had one hell of a row about it.”
“So who won?”
“I backed Jason. I’m paying his tuition. The money I inherited from Melba will be Jason’s sooner or later anyway.”
“So that’s why you and Dub aren’t getting along?” Kate said.
“That, and my teaching at the college, and the way I want to run the farm, and this house, and a few other irons I’ve got in the fire. There was no way I could consider leaving Long Pond myself until Jason was safely settled in college.”
“And now?”
“All my plans are on hold until this thing with Jason is settled.”
“Then you’re going to leave?”
“It’s a possibility. I’ve always considered the Long Pond stock Melba left me to be in trust for Jason. It’s time I began to build something of my own. Time to find some happiness in what’s left of my life.”
“Long Pond is a corporation?” Arnold asked in surprise.
“Hey, this is big-time agribusiness. Long Pond is a closely held corporation with three stockholders—Dub owns forty-nine percent, I own forty-nine percent, which I inherited from Melba. Jason’s grandmother was given two percent as a wedding present. She left it to Jason. Which, of course, makes him the swing vote.”
“An awful lot of power for a boy,” Kate said.
“I’m his trustee, so until he turns twenty-one that two percent is mine to vote. Dub knows I wouldn’t sell to anyone, and I’ve never used that stock to go against his wishes. It’s his family’s farm, after all. Jason can’t consider selling his share until he’s twenty-one, and then by the terms of the corporation he has to offer that stock to me and to Dub first. In the meantime, Dub and I scrape along and try to accommodate each other.”
“Does Dub resent your ownership?”
“He resents the fact that he needs me. He’s still a vigorous man, but I’ve been de facto manager of Long Pond for ten years now. He’s lost touch with the day-to-day operations. The men look to me for decisions. I think that rankles.”
“But you
could
walk away?”
“Theoretically.” He looked at Kate hard and said softly,
“With the right incentive, I’d move to the far side of the moon to dig ditches.”
She ignored him. “And when Dub dies? His shares go to Jason?”
“I’m sure they do, although we’ve never discussed it.”
“So it’s terribly important to him that Jason return to farm the land.”
“What does that have to do with Waneath’s death?”
“Nothing, so far as I can tell. But it helps to get the complete picture. No wonder Dub was furious when you let Jason go off to Pepperdine.”
“Jason deserves his chance to fulfill his dreams. If at some future point he decides to come back and run Long Pond, fine, but he’s not going to be forced into it by Dub or anyone else.”
“And you? Do you intend to become your son’s farm manager after Dub dies? Or are you planning to buy your own land?” Arnold asked.
“Listen, Arnold. Even at conservative figures, the smallest amount of acreage on which I could make a decent living would cost about three million bucks. There’s no way I could support an operation with the capital investment in equipment and buildings and manpower, and still manage to pay off a mortgage that size. I’d be lucky to pay off my crop loans at the end of the growing season.”
“So you’re stuck?”
“There are alternatives.”
“China?” Kate asked.
“Who said anything about China?” David said.
“Dub mentioned it at lunch. Was he right?”
David walked over and removed the videotape from the VCR before he spoke. Then he said without turning to look at them, “I’ve had a few preliminary talks with some people, that’s all.”
“What about Long Pond?”
“Jason would have to hire someone else to run it for him.”
“Could he?”
“Of course.” He dropped the tape on top of the television set, turned and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “This is all moot anyway. By the time Dub retires or dies, Jason will either be winning at the Cannes Film Festival, making low-budget porn flicks or doing something else with his life. He might even decide he loves farming. I did.”
“In the meantime,” Arnold said, “you’re all three stuck together in some kind of devil’s bargain.”
“I enjoy what I do. Everybody makes trade-offs.”
Arnold pulled himself to his feet. “We’ve seen what we came for, Kate. I’m worn-out. You ready to go?”
“Stay,” David said and turned to her. “If you don’t mind riding in the truck, I’d like to drive you back to the motel.”
“Definitely not a good idea,” Kate answered. “I should stick with Arnold.”
Arnold looked from one to the other. “Stay. I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast, okay? And I’ll listen for your door tonight.”
“Mother hen,” David said.
Arnold grinned at him. “I’m already making concessions. Don’t push it.”
Kate stepped in quickly. “Listen, David, I’ll make you a bargain. Do you know where they found Waneath’s body?”
“Yeah, down on the levee.”
“I’ve been wanting to see the spot, and it might not be a bad idea to see it at night. Drive me down there, then drive me back to the motel. Period.”
“You won’t be able to see much.”
“There’s still a moon. Not quite full, but full enough. And the night is clear. I’ll see pretty much what Waneath’s killer saw, won’t I?”
“Right. If that’s what you want.”
“Arnold,” Kate said, “bang on my door for breakfast when you wake up.”
“You’ll be up before I am. You always are,” he said. Fifteen minutes later Kate sat on the bench seat of David’s old truck. She had to admit that for all its decrepitude, it ran as quietly as a limousine. Jimmy Viccolla must be as good as David said he was.
“I met Jimmy Viccolla’s fiancée today,” Kate said.
“Myrlene? Nice girl.”
“Did you know all of Jason’s friends?”
“Athena is a small place. One primary school, one middle school, one high school. I not only know Jason’s friends, but most of their parents as well.”
“Were he and Waneath always together?”
David laughed. “Are you kidding? They broke up on an average of once a month from the ninth grade on.”
“So she wasn’t Jason’s only girlfriend?”
“The only serious girl. The others came and went, but he and Waneath always got back together.”
“And Waneath?”
“She dated all the top people at one point or another. Quarterback of the team, president of the class—she was selective.”
“Round heeled?”
“I have no idea, but I would have said no. That’s why this pregnancy thing has us all thrown for a loop. Waneath always impressed me as being focused. And careful. What the seminar people call goal-oriented.”
“Could she have been raped?”
He swiveled in his seat to stare at her. “And not reported it?”
“If she got into a situation she couldn’t control, date rape, maybe, would she report it, or even tell her parents?”
“No. No, I don’t think she would tell anyone. She’d keep very quiet and hope there were no consequences.”
“And when there were? When she discovered she was going to have a baby?”
“She’d do just what she did. Try to get Jason to marry her. She’d be frantic.”
“Was Melba frantic when she found out she was pregnant by you?”
David winced at the sudden change of subject. Kate could see his hands tighten on the steering column of the truck. After a moment he replied, “Determined.” His voice was tight. He obviously did not want Kate to pursue this.
But if they were going to get along, it was time to let go of all the secrets. “And if you’d refused to marry her?” she continued doggedly.
David took a deep breath. For a moment Kate thought he’d refuse to answer, then he said, “All right, Counselor. She made it clear that she’d go off somewhere, have the baby and put it up for adoption. Maybe today I would have some rights, but back then, it was her choice. I would have had no say in the matter.”
Kate caught her breath, then whispered, “So you either married her or lost your child forever?”
“Basically.”
“Peachy basis for a marriage—start off with a spot of blackmail.”
“She didn’t see it that way.”
“Did you?”
He hesitated before he answered. His knuckles were white. “Yes. Blackmail. But also my penance. It would have been damn easy to hate her, and maybe if I’d known that she’d come to New York to try to break us up—maybe I would have. But I didn’t find out until much later, when I couldn’t bear the thought of giving up my son. Hell, Kate, Melba and I were lovers for two years before I met you. I thought we were still friends, that she understood that I loved you.”
“No woman understands a man’s love for another woman. We resent it. I did.”
He glanced at her. His eyes were fathomless blue in the light reflected from the dashboard. “I only thought I loved her.”
All this talk of love, and yet he’d never been able to say the words, not in all their time together. “And after you married her?”
“We both really tried to make the marriage work for Jason’s sake. For our own sakes. We expected to spend a lifetime together. We had to figure out a way to spend it as contentedly as possible. We couldn’t live together or be decent parents if we hated each other.”
“Did you manage?”
“Not really. Toward the end, when she knew she would probably die before long, she said she was certain that if she just got me back, that she could erase you from my mind and my heart. I never spoke your name, never mentioned our time together, but she knew the way I felt about you. I wound up hurting her as I hurt you. I always seem to hurt the people I care about.”
“A week ago I wouldn’t have said this, but both Melba and I share some responsibility for our own pain.”
“Do you truly feel that?”
“I keep coming back to how young we were, and how insecure. You and I both seemed so strong, didn’t we? And yet I was worried to death that you didn’t give a damn about me, and you were worried to death that if I knew how miserable you were I’d leave you. We didn’t have a marriage—we had a charade with great sex.”
“We had a heck of a lot more than great sex.” He grinned and reached for her hand. “Not that great sex is a bad thing.”
For several minutes they had driven along a die-straight two-lane road between more endless fields washed with moonlight. They reached a curve and Kate saw the glint of water in the distance. “Long Lake,” David said. “The levee starts up ahead.”
“Can you find the exact spot?”
“I doubt it, not unless the police tape is still up.”