The Arcanum of Beth

by Mary Jane Russell

  The color drained from Lou’s face. She stared at Janet.

  “Six months since Beth’s death, another October. Do you ever think about Beth? Which was your favorite fall beach trip, with Beth or Patti?” Janet was deliberately cruel.

  Lou started to answer and stopped herself.

  “I know you lied to me.” Janet waited. In her mind, it was that simple.

  Lou looked as though she wanted to bolt and run. Her entire body sagged against the hard bench as though she had been carrying a heavy load too long. “What gave it away?”

  Janet slowly shook her head. “That’s not what’s important.”

  “Okay. She wasn’t depressed. I made all of that up. That’s how Patti thought we could control her so we could be together and not have to go through a big property split. Patti and I never stopped seeing each other. Is that what you wanted to hear me say?”

  Janet maintained her silence.

  “Don’t you think I know that I ruined Beth’s life? I feel horrible about what happened. I should have just told her I wanted to be with Patti, but Patti wasn’t ready to free Will, so we had to try it another way.” Lou aged before Janet’s eyes.

  The cuteness that Lou cultivated as a means to flirt with everyone and be liked by all slid off of her like a gauze veil. “I thought she would stay with me as a roommate, dividing the house and sharing expenses and not make a big deal out of it so she wouldn’t lose Will.”

  Janet raised one eyebrow.

  Lou leaned across the table. “You want me to say it?” She took a deep breath. “We lied. We tried to manipulate her. Beth would have none of it. She could think circles around the rest of us. Okay? The one rule was to deny, deny, deny and twist everything back on Beth and blame it on the loss of her mother. Most of the time, it worked the first time she questioned something. Patti is brilliant, she can plan anything. We had Beth doubting everything she thought she saw until she went over and over it. It almost worked.” A slight smile passed across Lou’s face. “Will wouldn’t listen to any of it from her because he already knew and didn’t care. I know she didn’t talk to you about most of it.”

  “So you manipulated Beth because of how much she loved you and Will. You and Will were the family she thought she could count on, the family she had to be able to count on.”

  “That’s right.” Lou met her stare unflinchingly.

  “Did Patti plan the tractor accident for you or did you think of it yourself?”

  Lou jumped back as though slapped. “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  Lou shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her voice was suddenly without inflection.

  “Just how did you get her on the tractor and driving over such a big soft spot? Did you have to dig that trench out a little wider and looser? Did the spring rains have the ground wet enough, or did you have to hose the spot down?” Janet shook with rage she barely contained inside of herself while asking the questions.

  Lou shook her head again and started to slide out of the booth.

  Janet grabbed her arm just as Patti slid onto the bench beside Lou.

  “Have you ordered yet? I’m starved.” Patti glanced at both women as she reached for the envelope-size menu. “Can you say ‘carb haven’?” Patti frowned as she glanced first at the menu, then at Janet. “I take it you didn’t come here for the food.” She looked Janet up and down. “Maybe you did. How about letting go of her before everyone in here sees what a grip you have on her?”

  Janet released Lou’s arm and stared at Patti.

  “What have you two been talking about? Let me guess, how depressed Will is? We are all worried about his mental health what with the untimely death of his sister and losing his mother to such a degenerative illness that he’ll likely inherit. I’m so concerned about him I’m seriously considering sending him off for a little rehab time. He’s such a sloppy drunk. A little break would do him good. He can’t afford to lose any more clients. We’re almost on food stamps as it is if it weren’t for help from my parents. His heart is no longer in his work. This type of midlife crisis must run in his family.”

  Lou stared at the woman beside her.

  “I just don’t think permanently taking on Beth’s share of the expenses in the house would be the best for us. We’re stretching our finances awfully thin. You know how that is, don’t you, love?” She bumped shoulders with Lou.

  “We may just sell the house here and move in with my parents for a while to give Will time to get back to his usual workaholic self. Besides, they really shouldn’t be by themselves. They have a house much too big for just two people in their seventies. Will can make a boatload of money when he puts his mind to it, not like working for a private college with endowment issues.

  “No, this won’t do at all.” Patti smoothed the menu on the table. “I need to go where I can find food that I’m actually able to digest. Louise, I was looking for you to drop this off from Will.” She handed her an envelope. “Our share of the utilities for the past month in the country, we’ve been there so much, what with sorting out Beth’s things and going through the slow process of all the sales.” She dug at Janet. “Must run. You two enjoy your lunch. Think long and hard about being seen here too long. Wouldn’t want to fuel any gossip, would we?”

  Patti stood and moved closer to Janet’s bench and leaned down. “I’m hearing rumors of questions being asked that had best be put to rest. There are all types of lawsuits that may be filed and counter-filed. My attorney just loves messy litigations, and she’ll do anything I ask of her. Don’t push me. I won’t tolerate it.” She stood and straightened her suit jacket.

  “Louise, later. William and I will let you know how much longer we’ll be staying with you.” She strolled out of the bar, turning heads as usual.

  Janet stared across the table—she had just been threatened. Lou was clearly stunned—she’d been financially dumped.

  “You didn’t realize their leaving would be part of ‘Will’s depression,’ did you?” Janet reached for the menu. “She’s right. The food selection is not that great unless you’re nineteen years old. Of course, at my age…” She signaled the waiter and imitated pulling a beer tap. “Sam, please. Two?” She looked at Lou.

  “I can’t drink during the day, no matter how much I want to,” Lou said.

  “Make that one.” Janet straightened the salt and pepper shakers and organized the artificial sweeteners.

  “She’s a piece of work, don’t you think?” Janet watched the full glass of beer make its way to her. “Thank you.” She smiled at the owner, who was also the only waiter during the afternoon. She raised the glass a few inches from the table. “To Beth.” Janet took a long swallow.

  Lou didn’t move.

  “First Beth was losing her mind, now Will. If Patti stays in whatever type of relationship you think you two have, how long before it’s you who is losing her grasp of reality so that the country place would be totally hers? Have you changed your deed or will? I wouldn’t advise it.” She held her free hand up. “Don’t answer. I really don’t want to know.”

  Janet appeared to ponder more than the beer dwindling from her glass. “Was that the plan? Eliminate Beth, then Will, so it would all come to you two without messy separations? It really hadn’t occurred to you that Patti would tire of you? You’ve been a break in a stale marriage. Beth was the means of that break. Now Will is a minor inconvenience. He’s not providing, and he’s not staying busy so you two can do whatever. How long before she wants her so-called respectability back? How long before she starts leaving you at home to do things on her own while scoping out the next target—her next male target? Ah, the thrill of the chase.” Janet drained the glass. “I wouldn’t want to be you for so many reasons…the things that must be going through your mind.”

  Lou stood and left the diner as though sleepwalking.

  “Hmm.” Janet shrugged and decided on the signature grilled cheese sandwich and another Sam Adams from
the keg. She was going home after this to show Ellen well-deserved appreciation for being a good woman and loyal partner.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  “Damn it,” Janet whispered the curse and slammed her fist against the countertop. Even subdued, her temper drew nervous glances from others standing at the row of oversized books. “Sorry.”

  Janet could not concentrate. Here she was in the clerk’s office at the courthouse, amid the deed and plat books that she loved to puzzle through, and she couldn’t concentrate. She was only trying to trace back the ownership of undeveloped land before her client closed on an offer to build a new subdivision.

  Of course, her mind was on Beth and the last time they’d crossed paths here amid the old records. Beth had been in a manic whirlwind of grieving for Keith and over-booking everything else to stay too busy to think about anything but the task at hand.

  “Why didn’t she tell me how bad it was and how much she knew?” Janet whispered the words to herself and again drew stares.

  “Sorry. Bad day.” Janet made herself focus on the grantor list and the search for the family name of the original owner of the land that had been given by the King of England to one of Virginia’s first families.

  She glanced at the briefcase beside her feet and forced herself not to reach for it until she found the conveyance record she was looking for. She jotted down the number of the deed book and page, then pulled the thickest file from her briefcase. She pushed the index book aside and began to leaf through the documents she knew by heart—the death certificate, the will, the handwritten codicil, the estate listings, the e-mails, the statements from Delores and Gloria, and the sheriff’s accident report. She flipped through the pages of photographs taken the day of the accident and wished the copier quality was better. What was she missing?

  “Damn it to hell.” Janet didn’t look up this time. She was old enough that her colleagues should be used to her eccentricities by now, or at least allow her a few. She had earned the right to talk to herself.

  “Mrs. Evans, don’t make me escort you out of here.” The deputy stood at her elbow and held his chuckle in for a full thirty seconds.

  Janet elbowed him in the rib cage. “Very funny, Bo.”

  “How’s Melody?” He had gone to high school with Janet’s daughter. Due to the imaginary districting line, Beth had attended the other high school in the county.

  “Melody is in Chicago and loving it, from what little I hear.” She turned and faced the young man. Clearly, he had barely known her daughter, but he meant well by asking after her.

  “How are you?” The man’s shirt was stretched tight over the muscles that he obviously worked out to maintain.

  Janet sighed. “Troubled.”

  Bo Watson looked past her shoulder and read the name on the document. “Beth Candler.” He shook his head and looked about the room. “Can I buy you a soda or cup of coffee out of the machine?” He inclined his head toward the employee lounge.

  “I don’t know, can you?” She smiled at him and waited.

  He grimaced. “You know I hate it when you do that. You’re worse than my former high school English teacher about correcting me. Okay. May I buy you a soda or cup of coffee?” He rolled his eyes.

  “You bet. You know it’s my duty to give you a hard time. Most of you uniformed boys are young enough to be my children.”

  “You would have had to become pregnant awfully early.” He picked up the briefcase for her as she gathered the file. “I ought to do this more often. I wouldn’t have to lift at night.”

  She punched him in the arm and watched him feign a grimace. “Looks can be deceiving. My upper body strength is good even if my knees are shot.”

  “Do you still play golf?”

  “Every chance I get. Not enough lately. I’m obsessed.”

  He closed the lounge door behind them. “Beth Candler.” He said the name again as he sorted through the change from his pocket.

  “Diet Coke, please. Can’t help it if it is mid-November, damn hot flashes. And, yes, Beth.”

  He fed the machine enough coins for two drinks before joining her at the round table in the corner. “I worked on that accident report you have a copy of with several of the other guys. I was first on the scene the day it happened.” He drank half the contents of the can in one swallow and excused himself for a muffled burp.

  “You have grown up.”

  “Try telling that to my wife.” He grinned. “Beer burps are still the best.”

  She shook her head. “Beth?”

  He frowned. “We classified it as an accidental death due to operator error.”

  “I know.”

  “But it doesn’t make any sense.” He stared at her.

  “What do you mean, Bo?”

  The young man looked about the room already knowing they were alone.

  “The guys I work with are townies and don’t understand. Mrs. E., you know me. I lived and worked on a farm all during my school years. I still go out on weekends and help my dad. I tried to buy some of the Candler land, but it went for too much and was in tracts too large for me to afford what with house payments and a baby.”

  Janet nodded her understanding.

  He stared at his hands, rough from years of manual labor. “There was nothing wrong with the tractor, no broken axle, no burst tire, no sheared lynchpins. The only damage I saw came from the roll down the hillside.”

  “That’s not conclusive.”

  “No, ma’am, but I also knew Beth. I used to watch her work about the farm. I had a huge crush on her when I was a kid. I thought it was so cool that she was president of her chapter of the Future Farmers of America when I was a freshman and she was a senior. I tried to talk my dad into letting me switch high schools because of her.” He grinned at the memory of seventeen-year-old Beth. “That girl knew her way around a tractor.”

  “I know.”

  He shook his head. “With all due respect, no, you don’t know what I’m saying. She knew to back up and drive down a steep slope. She knew not to follow a contour around a hillside and put herself at better than a forty-five-degree angle sideways. She knew not to let two tires rest on a soft spot at the same time. Even if the soft spot was covered with grass clippings, that was exactly the type of conditions we were all taught to watch out for. Edges of holes have a way of breaking. The ditch was not compacted, the dirt was not packed tight in the trench.”

  “What…what exactly are you saying?” Janet gripped the can until the sides compressed.

  “She knew better. Something had to distract her or someone had to cover something up. My mind is not comfortable with what happened to her being an accident, even though I was overruled and it went on record that way. There was no hard evidence to prove it wasn’t an accident but also none to prove it was. Understand? It’s nothing I could explain so anyone else would go along with me. Half the force has never sat on anything but a riding lawnmower and consider that a tractor. Hell, if your feet can drag the ground while riding it, it’s not a tractor.”

  Janet studied the young man. He knew the same as she did, even if neither of them could quite piece it together. “Would you testify and repeat that before a judge?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Even if it costs me this fancy shirt and badge that lets me just stand around and watch people most of the time. Yes, ma’am. I owe her that.”

  Janet nodded and reached across the table to squeeze his hand—one more person willing to express reasonable doubt.

  Bo’s expression was puzzled. “I can’t help noticing when I make my rounds that the tractor hasn’t moved since the accident. I was the one steering when the wrecker towed it. Lou must not have time, or she’s waiting until all the holidays are over, to deal with the insurance company. Until the last several weeks, that big Cadillac SUV was always in the driveway.”

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  “Hey, Cupcake, call me back soon, please. I need to see you and that handsome husband of yours.” Janet snapped
her cell phone shut and concentrated on driving. She normally would not use the phone while operating the car, but she was unable to slow her mind down long enough to pull over. She could not continue to stew about all that was churning through her head. She knew she was very close to something that had been staring her in the face all along.

  Her phone vibrated and startled her. “Shit.”

  “Most people say ‘hello,’ Auntie.” Greg’s tone was teasing.

  “Sorry, Cupcake, the phone scared me. Jittery nerves from too many Cokes this afternoon.”

  “Well, didn’t you want me to call you right back?”

  “Yes, I did. Thank you for listening to me for a change.”

  “Don’t make me hang up on you, Auntie.” He chuckled.

  “Don’t you dare. Hey.”

  “Hey, yourself. Why is it that you call me cupcake, anyway?”

  “Because I had to bake so many of the damn things when you were in school because you wanted all the cute boys to like you.”

  Greg burst out laughing.

  “That’s okay, I have another eardrum.”

  “Bitch, bitch, bitch. You called me first, remember?”

  “Of course I do. Are you and Andy at home for a while? Hold on a minute.” She pinched the cell phone between her ear and shoulder and put both hands on the wheel to negotiate the sharp turn onto the subdivision street. “I’m back.”

  “Yes, we’re in for our usual exciting Friday night of DVD critiquing.”

  “Good, I’m pulling into your neighborhood. I need to talk to both of you.”

  “Front door’s open. Come on in. I’ll have my honey mix up some drinks.”

  “Thank you, sweetie. You may be sorry. You know what I need to talk about.”

  “I know. I loved her, too. Come on in.”

  Janet hit the speed dial number saved on two.

  “Hey, cutie.” Ellen actually answered her BlackBerry. She had promised to do better.

  “Hey, yourself. Can you meet me at the boys and bring your laptop?”