Into the Frying Pan

by Sarah Osborne

  “Mason has to work late tonight. He said he’d pick you up around nine,” Danny said.

  The kids looked at me. “I have to go out tonight to talk with someone, so Lurleen is staying over.”

  Lucie whispered to me, “Is it about the case?”

  “Yes,” I whispered back.

  Jason heard us. “Mommy said no secrets at the table. Mommy Two, you shouldn’t have secrets either.”

  “No secrets, Jason. I’m visiting a friend.”

  We settled into a very fine dinner of chicken piccata, wild rice and broccoli au gratin.

  This night I had plenty of time to spend with the kids. I tucked Jason in bed and found a book I didn’t think he’d read before.

  I pointed to a page in the book. “Can you read me a little of this, Jason?” I asked.

  “You read it to me first.”

  “You try and then I will.”

  Jason looked at the page and then looked up at me. I thought he might cry.

  “It’s okay, Jason. In fact it’s pretty amazing. I think you hear the words of the story and then you remember them. Nothing’s wrong with that.”

  Jason didn’t seem convinced.

  “It takes a very, very smart boy to memorize a story.”

  “Memberize,” Jason said.

  “Memorize. That just means you remember what you hear and then you can repeat it.”

  “But I want to read! Like Lucie.”

  “You will, Jason. Look at this word. Can you tell me the letters?”

  Jason looked at the word. “T .E. H.”

  “T. H. E. The,” I said.

  I did a couple more words. Like a lot of kids his age he reversed the letters. It might mean nothing, or it might mean something. “That’s enough for one night. We’ll practice this whenever you want. You don’t have to read before you go to kindergarten.”

  “Lucie said I did,” Jason said.

  “You should know your colors and you do. You should know how to hold a pencil and you should know your numbers and how to listen. You know all those things, Jason. You’re ready for school. You remember how smart your pre-K teachers said you were.”

  Jason nodded and looked relieved. “They said I was very, very smart. But I can’t really read. I was just tending for Lucie.”

  It took me a moment to realize what Jason was saying. “Pretending,” I said. “You don’t have to pretend about that. When you’re ready to read, you will. And if you have trouble with that, we’ll help you. That’s what school is all about, to help you with your numbers and your letters. You’ll have a great time.”

  I kissed Jason good night. “Can I explain this to Lucie?”

  “Okay,” Jason said, “but don’t tell Lurleen.”

  “Why not?”

  “She’ll be mad at me.”

  “Lurleen won’t care. Why would you think she’d be mad at you?”

  “She says I’m a big boy to read so well. I don’t want her to think I’m not a big boy.”

  “Jason, we all have trouble doing things once in a while. Even Lurleen. Lurleen can’t cook, and I can’t sing on key. It doesn’t matter.”

  I’m not sure Jason believed me, but he did seem less upset.

  When I talked with Lucie, she wasn’t surprised.

  “When I ask him to spell a word, he gets the letters mixed up,” she said.

  “I know. Sometimes kids do that.”

  I didn’t add that it could be an early sign of dyslexia, and that Jason might have more trouble reading than other kids. We’d cross that bridge later if we needed to. I tucked Lucie in bed a little before nine and found Mason waiting for me in the living room.

  We left Danny and Lurleen watching a favorite old movie of theirs, Love Actually.

  “We’ll be back as soon as possible,” I said.

  “Take as long as you want,” Danny said. “Lurleen and I haven’t had much time together.”

  Mason and I reached the Whitley a little before ten.

  “Phil knows I’m coming?” Mason asked.

  “Yes, and you can imagine he wasn’t happy about it. He wasn’t happy about seeing me at all.”

  We waited until 10:10, and when Phil didn’t show in the lobby we called him.

  “I was just about to text you, Ditie. Now is not a good time.”

  “Phil, we drove an hour to get here. We are not leaving without talking to you.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll be down. Have a drink in the lounge. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

  I hung up and repeated the message to Mason. “He wants us to wait in the lounge and have a drink.”

  “Then I think we’ll stay right here in the lobby. See if we know anyone who’s leaving,” Mason said.

  “I’m with you. You think it will be Sally or Harper?” I asked.

  As it turned out, it was neither of them. Frank Peterson walked off an elevator and out the front doors. He never looked in our direction.

  Phil arrived five minutes later.

  The three of us took a seat in the lounge. At this time of night, we were virtually the only people in the heavily paneled room. Even the piano player had stopped for the evening.

  Phil ordered a martini. Mason and I ordered decaf coffee.

  “What was Frank doing here?” I asked.

  “What are you talking about? Frank wasn’t here, and if he was, what business is it of yours? Are you spying on me now?”

  “You asked for my help and I gave it. How did I suddenly become the enemy?”

  That seemed to bring him up short.

  He looked at me and shook his head. “I’m sorry. It’s been a hell of a couple of weeks,” he said. “I don’t know who I can trust. I started to think you and Mason were here to get me to confess to something I didn’t do. I didn’t kill Carl or Ryan.”

  “They haven’t arrested you,” I said.

  “That’s only because they don’t have enough evidence to make the charges stick.”

  Mason spoke up. “Have you told them everything you know?”

  “My lawyers said I should keep my mouth shut.”

  “Can you talk to us?” I asked.

  “They said I was a fool if I talked to anyone.”

  “Phil, we’ve been through a lot. I’ve been angrier at you than any other person I know. But I’m over all of it. Mason is as honest as I am. Talk to us.”

  Phil sipped his martini and said nothing for thirty seconds. “You’ve never betrayed me, Ditie. I know you wouldn’t say the same thing about me, and I’m sorry about that.”

  Two apologies in one evening from Phil? I looked at Mason. He kept his face blank.

  “I accept your apology,” I said. “Now what do you know about this mess that you haven’t told the police.”

  “More than I’d like to know.

  “We’re listening,” I said.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Phil looked at me and then at Mason. “I wish your boyfriend wasn’t here.”

  “He’s here and he’s staying,” I said.

  Phil sighed. “I have to start at the beginning. I was so young in med school and so cocky.”

  “Like half the class,” I said. “The other half was just scared to death. That would be my half—afraid we would never know enough.”

  “You never seemed that way, Ditie. You always had such a cool head and you weren’t caught up in status. It was a relief to be with you.”

  I let that pass.

  “You know why I had the group of friends I had?”

  “No.”

  “I gathered them around me for one purpose. They each had some flaw that I could use to my advantage. They all wanted to get ahead, and I knew the ropes. I knew the right people. I had an in with administration. I had my dad who knew everyone in town. It w
as my fiefdom, Ditie.”

  I looked at Phil. “How could I have missed that?”

  “You didn’t really hang out with any of them. You didn’t join the study group I formed. You always said you needed to study alone.”

  That was true. I’d do my studying away from school, at the laundromat or a coffee shop. That was how I met Lurleen, and it was Lurleen who helped me keep some perspective in med school.

  “Why would you want a fiefdom?” I asked.

  “Ditie, you don’t seem to realize how intoxicating power can be. I learned that in boarding school. You fight your way to the top and then you reap the rewards.”

  I thought about my brother, sent off to boarding school as a young teenager. Is that what he’d learned there?

  “But you started at the top, Phil. You came from a long line of Southern docs. You were smart. What more did you need?”

  “Once you know you have power, you want to keep it, and you want more. I’m not proud of what I did, but I was twenty-three. I thought I had a right to take anything I wanted.”

  I sipped my coffee and tried hard not to react to what I was hearing.

  “I collected them bit by bit,” he said. “The ones who were smart but not very sophisticated—like Andy and Ryan. I gathered the most attractive women I could find.”

  “Harper and Sally,” I said.

  “Yes. I offered them a safe haven, like what you offered me, and then I figured out how they could be of service to me. I figured out what each of them was afraid of and I used that fear to my advantage.”

  I was starting to feel sick.

  “What was my flaw, Phil? How did you use me?”

  “Your flaw was that you were young and idealistic. You saw the best in me, and I needed that.”

  “And the others?”

  “Ryan was easy to rouse. If I needed someone to fight a battle for me, Ryan was my man. In return, I helped him deal with Harper. She was a handful, but Ryan could never see beyond her beauty. She cast a spell on him, I swear she did. Harper could be very convincing when she wanted to be. When I learned she could never have children, I convinced Ryan to wait his turn—be a loyal friend to her. Ryan wanted Harper more than he wanted kids, so he managed to bide his time. When Frank broke off his engagement to Harper, Ryan was there, ready to marry her on the rebound.”

  “Andy?” I asked. “What could you possibly offer him?”

  “Andy was Mister Affable. He liked me, and he was good for my image. When people started saying I was an asshole, Andy was my defender.”

  “Sally?”

  “Sally was a chameleon. Whatever you needed her to be, she’d be.”

  “What did she get out of it?”

  “A chance to belong to my group of course—to mix with the movers and shakers.”

  “And Carl?” I asked.

  “Carl wanted to belong to my group, and he had nothing to offer me. Nothing. I didn’t have time for him. That’s where all the bad mouthing of the South came from.”

  I looked over at Mason. He gave me a look of concern—wondering no doubt how I was handling this information. I did my best to keep from showing how shattered I felt.

  “Was Frank Peterson part of your fiefdom? He was a year ahead of us. What could you offer him?” I asked.

  “Frank and I were two of a kind. We both wanted power, money and prestige. It was a live and let live mutual respect.”

  “The cheating scandal?” I said.

  “I’m not admitting any part in it, but you can imagine how intriguing it would be to figure out how it might be done. Sally was all in. If it meant she could stay in school and not have to work hard, she was for it. The others went along. They saw it as a prank and a way to boost their GPA’s. It wasn’t going to continue long term.”

  “Andy didn’t go along with it,” I said.

  “No, he didn’t know anything about it. Ryan didn’t either.”

  “So, you’re saying—you, Frank, Harper, and Sally cooked up this scheme.” I couldn’t believe I was saying this.

  “All hypothetical, Ditie. It was amusing to realize how easily it might be accomplished. Theoretically.”

  “You expect me to believe that?” I asked.

  “You and I both know I didn’t need to cheat. Hypothetically, I may have told Sally who she could talk to, that kind of thing, but I kept my hands clean.”

  “Somehow Carl got wind of it and when he accused you he was only half wrong.”

  Phil paused. “I was furious of course. I didn’t need that bulldog on me, and I was pretty sure Sally had confided in him. She never knew when to keep her mouth shut.”

  “So you threw her under the bus,” I said.

  “She was cheating, Ditie. I didn’t make that up.”

  “How did it all end?” Mason asked.

  Phil looked at Mason as if he’d forgotten he was there.

  “Sally left school. A techie got fired. My father read me the riot act and said if I didn’t get myself under control he’d disown me.”

  “That’s when you started dating me seriously,” I said.

  “Yes. But I wasn’t just using you, Ditie. You were good for me. You believed in me. The rest of them turned against me. Then, when they saw me with you, they thought I really had reformed.”

  I excused myself, went to the bathroom, and threw cold water on my face. Phil hadn’t just used me at the end of our relationship. He’d used me all the way through. I didn’t have doubts any longer about whether or not Phil was capable of murder. What I didn’t know for sure was whether or not he’d actually committed the crimes.

  I dried my face and walked back to the table. Mason and Phil were sitting in silence.

  I couldn’t bear to sit down again at the same table with Phil.

  “One last question,” I said. “If you didn’t commit the murders, do you know who did?”

  Phil’s face went white. “You can’t believe I would ever do something like that.”

  “Harper seems to think it’s possible. She claims you wanted to marry her and Ryan would never give her a divorce.”

  “Harper is full of stories. You should know that.”

  “You didn’t lead her on,” I asked, “the way you did me?”

  “I might have told her how much I enjoyed her company, nothing more than that.”

  “And you know nothing about an accounting book that Carl had?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  For once, Phil seemed genuinely surprised.

  “Never mind. What’s the end of the story?” I asked. “Why did you bother to tell us all this?”

  “Because you have to see there are a lot of people who would want to frame me for these murders. I always knew I couldn’t trust the bunch of them, but until now, I thought I was still in charge. Someone’s out to destroy me. You have to realize that.”

  Mason stood up. “Let’s go,” he said. “It’s clear this conversation’s finished.”

  Phil nursed his drink as we walked away.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  I turned back when I remembered one last question. “You never told us what Frank was doing here,” I said.

  “He wasn’t here to see me. I have no idea why he was in the building. You sure you saw him?”

  “Yes. Is anyone else staying in the hotel?” I asked. “Anyone we know?”

  “Sally Cutter,” Phil said.

  “How did we miss that?” I asked, looking at Mason.

  “I’m sure the police didn’t miss it,” Mason said. “Makes it a cozy gathering, doesn’t it?”

  “I don’t know what the hell you may be driving at,” Phil said, “and I don’t want to know.”

  Mason and I walked to the lobby.

  “Shall we see if Sally is in?” I asked.

  “Might
as well. We’re here.”

  I called up to Sally’s room. She picked up.

  “It’s you, Ditie? Why are you calling me so late?”

  “Mason and I happened to be at the Whitley, talking to Phil. He told us you were here. Do you have a few minutes? Can we come up?”

  “Phil never knows when to keep his mouth shut,” she said, “not that it’s a secret I’m staying here. You can come up.”

  Sally and Phil were accusing each other of saying too much. Maybe they both had something to hide.

  Sally greeted us in a pair of Escada hand-bleached jeans and a Dolci and Gabbana silk top. I only knew because Lurleen liked to keep me up on the latest fashion trends.

  “Were you entertaining?” I asked.

  “Why would you say that?” she asked.

  “It’s a gorgeous outfit, and we saw Frank Peterson leave.”

  “Leave my room?” Sally said. “You’re spying on me?”

  Funny that Phil had asked exactly the same question. I didn’t correct her about where we’d seen Frank.

  “All right, Frank was here. It’s no big deal. We’re all upset about what happened.”

  Mason and I sat down on the edge of the bed.

  “Make yourself comfortable,” Sally said sarcastically, “but if this is some kind of interrogation, I’m calling my lawyer.”

  “Everyone seems to have a lawyer,” Mason said. “I wonder why?”

  “I’m really trying to get some old history straight,” I said. “You told me Harper was the woman involved with Phil and Carl. I’ve heard from more than one source, it was you, not Harper, who was the woman in question.”

  “Seriously, Ditie, the woman in question? You make it sound so sinister. Yes, I was involved with Phil and Carl. That’s all ancient history.”

  She stood up, walked to the mini fridge and pulled out a beer.

  “You like my clothes,” she said with a smile. “I can afford these clothes because I had the good sense to leave school and go into finance. So, you see Phil did me a favor when he let the authorities know I was cheating. And Carl was trying to defend my honor when he worked so hard to get Phil kicked out as the ringleader.”

  “You stayed close to Carl?” I asked.

  “Close enough,” she said.