“See, that’s where you and I disagree,” Gregg said as he headed towards 272. “If Cindy was such a good mother she wouldn’t have lost custody of her daughter.”
“Will you just forget about the custody crap for a minute and listen!” Elizabeth exclaimed, a note of irritation creeping into her voice. She hated it when Gregg got on his holier-than-though kick. “I’ll be the first to admit she was a fuck-up. And I’ll be the first to admit that Ronnie did the right thing when he filed for full custody. I don’t think Cindy would have done anything to intentionally hurt Mary, but you saw the kind of people she was hanging out with.”
“All the more reason why I disagree with you,” Gregg said. “If she’d been so concerned with Mary she wouldn’t have been hanging out with drug dealers and Ronnie wouldn’t have seen the need to “
“Forget it!” Elizabeth crossed her arms in front of her chest, righteously pissed.
Gregg stopped talking; he appeared stunned. “What?”
“You don’t have to be so adversarial. We both agree Cindy shouldn’t have had joint custody of Mary. That doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t have had the chance to redeem herself.”
Gregg was silent as they pulled into the development where her parents lived. Normally the conversation would have left her even more furious, but she didn’t feel as angry as she should have. The funeral services had taken a lot out of her and there was still the wake to think about. She didn’t want to get into it with Gregg right now; it wasn’t the time or the place to be in a pissy mood.
“If you’ll be a good boy I’ll tell you one of my theories,” Elizabeth said in an attempt to lighten the mood.
“What?”
“I think Cindy went over there to protect Mary.”
They were cruising down her parent’s street and Gregg glanced at her, eyes wide with shock. He pulled up to the curb in front of the house and turned off the ignition. “Protect her from Diana?”
“Yeah.” They sat in the car for a moment. “Think about it. Let’s assume that Cindy was telling the truth to Mom about the threats and harassing phone calls Diana was making. According to Mom, it started in August and started getting uglier well into September. That’s when Diana allegedly threatened to have Mary beaten and tape the screams to sell to pedophiles.”
“That’s fucking sick,” Gregg said.
“I know.” Elizabeth sighed. The thought of something like that happening to Mary—to any child—was horrifying. “So let’s assume Cindy was telling the truth. After all, she did call the police to report the harassment.”
“She called the police a lot and they never did anything about it because they pulled the phone records,” Gregg said matter-of-factly. “They were able to prove Diana never made those calls.”
“Let’s not put that in the equation for now,” Elizabeth said. “Let’s assume the police never pulled the records. Let’s pretend they just ignored Cindy’s accusations.”
Gregg opened his mouth to say something—to protest perhaps—then closed it. He nodded. “Okay. I’m listening.”
“Assume Cindy not only got those calls from Diana, she called the police and they did nothing. Maybe they were tired of hauling her into jail for assault and drunken driving and being under the influence of drugs or disturbing the peace or whatever. Small town cops don’t have a lot of patience for people like Cindy. And when something legitimate does come up, you can call it the cry wolf syndrome.”
“Wouldn’t they be obligated to follow up anyway?”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Probably. But forget about that. Maybe they were going to follow up but they just never got around to it.”
“This sounds like one of your novels.”
Elizabeth slapped his arm lightly. “It sounds like the last film you were in.”
Gregg laughed.
“Wouldn’t you feel frustrated if the police didn’t take you seriously that somebody was threatening Eric?” Elizabeth asked.
“Not desperate enough to try to kill somebody.”
“That’s you, though. We’re talking about Cindy, and in order to understand her you have to think like her. Cindy tried to get help and get somebody to believe her and nobody did. Even my parents dismissed the allegations, and of course Ronnie backed Diana up. The phone calls and the harassment continued, as well as the escalation of threats against Mary. Cindy was scared Mom admitted that much when she told me about it two weeks ago. Cindy was upset that nobody was taking her seriously, and she was afraid for Mary’s safety. It made her more desperate. And because she was the type of woman who took things into her own hands, it was easy for her to decide to do the only thing she could think of to protect her daughter. Eliminate the threat.”
“So she went to Diana’s to kill her because she thought Diana would eventually carry out her threat?”
“Sure. Put yourself in her shoes. If somebody was calling us, saying that they were going to abduct and rape our son, and the police refused to do anything and nobody would believe you, and you knew who was making those threats, what would you do?”
Gregg looked grim. “I guess when you put it that way...I’d do the same thing Cindy did.”
They sat in the SUV for a moment. A car passed by and pulled up to the curb in front of them. Elizabeth’s uncle Harold and Aunt Tina stepped out of the car. “We should probably make our appearance.”
“Yeah,” Gregg said. He opened the driver’s side door and stepped out.
Elizabeth got out and joined her husband. “We’ll continue this discussion at home,” she whispered.
Aunt Tina waved to them and Elizabeth and Gregg waved back. The two couples met at the driveway and headed into the house together.
ELEVEN
THE WAKE THAT afternoon was a blur.
Laura Baker and Andrea Shull had ordered a lunch spread from a local caterer, and the dining room table was laid out splendidly with different meats, bread, mustard and mayonnaise, lettuce and sliced tomatoes, cheeses, and two different salads. There were soft drinks and punch, coffee and tea, and plenty of beer in the bar downstairs.
People from both sides of the family extended their condolences to both Ronnie and Gary who, for the first time they’d known each other, were spending time together hanging out, talking, drinking beer. Elizabeth revised her opinion on Ronnie’s physical appearance from this morning. He didn’t just look like shit—he looked almost dead.
The more she looked at him, the more alarmed she was by his appearance. There was a period of five years following his marriage to Cindy when he had put on considerable weight. His lean, muscular frame had turned to flab and he’d gained sixty pounds, most of it in his belly, chest, and face. He’d become less active physically, and with the chores of raising a daughter and settling down he didn’t run around anymore, participate in the sports he’d once been involved in, and he’d kicked his cocaine habit. He was by no means obese or terribly overweight; he’d simply put on more pounds than he should have.
Now he looked almost cadaverous.
Elizabeth watched him from across the room as he talked with Gary. His once plump face was now thin, almost bony. The suit he’d worn at the funeral fitted him loosely, like it was two sizes too big. There were dark circles under his eyes and his skin looked dry, parched. It looked like Ronnie had lost eighty pounds in the last two months, which couldn’t be healthy. She looked over at her mother, who was bustling about making sure people had food and drinks. Mom had never said anything to her about Ronnie losing so much weight. Surely her mother would have been the first to voice concern that Ronnie had lost such an unhealthy amount of weight in so short of time.
By contrast, Diana looked ravishing.
Diana stayed by Ronnie’s side throughout the wake. Gone was the too thin frame, the bony cheeks of a skinny white trash girl who smoked too many cigarettes and drank too much Diet soda. Her once frizzy black hair with the multitude of split ends was now full of body and shine. It hung to her shoulders, shimmering in its cle
anliness. Her skin was smooth, unmarred by blemishes and acne. Her face had filled out, revealing attractive features. Her body had filled out as well, accenting a curvy figure. She looked like she had stepped out of a fashion magazine with her new body, her seamless outfit, her black shoes.
Elizabeth watched Diana as she appeared engaged in conversation with people with the same depth that Ronnie was. She held Ronnie’s hand, always the faithful companion. Mary spent most of her time with Elizabeth and Gregg, picking at her food.
Ronnie approached Mary a few times during the wake. “Hey honey, why don’t you come with Diana and me for a minute.” Mary went to Ronnie reluctantly but she always wound up back with Elizabeth and Gregg. Elizabeth paid close attention to Ronnie and Diana and the way they interacted with people. On the surface everything looked fine. But there was an undercurrent of dread, a soft whisper that suggested things weren’t so right.
It gave Elizabeth a bad feeling.
At two-fifty p.M. Gregg suggested it was time to start heading home. Eric got off school at three-thirty. Elizabeth and Gregg began making the rounds, saying goodbye to everybody, and Mary hovered near them. When they got to Ronnie and Diana, Elizabeth gave her brother a hug. “We gotta go. If you need anything, give me a call. Please.” She looked into his eyes, hoping he could read the seriousness in his face. He looked empty, drained.
“Yeah, I’ll give you a call,” Ronnie said.
As an afterthought, she hugged her brother again. She felt his arms encircle her limply. She kissed his cheek, then leaned forward quickly and whispered in his ear: “If you’re afraid to give me a call, stop by the house on your way home from work. We’re here to support you.” She kissed him again and stepped back, giving him a weak smile. “Go home and get some sleep.”
Ronnie nodded. She couldn’t tell if what she’d said registered. “Yeah, I think I will.”
To Diana: “And when you get home, feed this boy,” Elizabeth said, trying to interject a joking tone. “He needs to put some meat on his bones.”
Diana chuckled, her arm encircling Ronnie’s waist. “He works so much he hardly ever eats at home anymore.”
“Seriously,” Elizabeth said, clutching Ronnie’s hand. “If you want to talk, call me anytime.”
“I will,” Ronnie said, almost dismissively.
“We’ll have to have you guys over at the house some time,” Diana said. “We can do dinner and the kids can play in the basement or something.”
“That would be fun,” Gregg said.
Mary was practically glued to Elizabeth’s leg. When she bent down to give her niece a hug, Mary held on to her tightly. “Please don’t go,” she whispered into Elizabeth’s ear.
A shiver of fear went down Elizabeth’s spine. Mary sounded petrified. “You’ll be fine,” she whispered back. “If you want, you can come spend the weekend with me and Uncle Gregg again, okay?”
“I want to go with you now!” Mary whispered, more urgently.
Elizabeth bit back her emotions. She’s just affected by everything that’s happened in the past week with her mother. She’ll be okay. Taking Mary by the arms, she looked into her eyes. “We’ll see you tomorrow. You can come to our house and have a slumber party with Eric. He’ll like that.” She looked up at Ronnie and Diana, who were within earshot and who had no doubt heard some of the exchange. “Would it be okay if Mary spent the weekend with us? She had a great time with Eric the last time she was over.”
“Maybe Lily can come, too,” Diana said.
“We’ll see,” Elizabeth said, standing up. She wasn’t going to go there; Diana could push her mother around, but she couldn’t pull that shit on her.
Mary looked like she was going to cry but she held it in. She wiped her eyes. “I’m going to miss you,” she said.
“She’s not going away forever,” Ronnie said, some of that old crankiness returning. “If you want to spend the weekend with your Aunt Elizabeth, stop crying.”
Mary nodded, holding back the tears. Elizabeth bent down and swept her niece up in a hug. She kissed her and whispered, “Everything will be okay, honey. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Mary nodded, her eyes closed.
Elizabeth took Gregg’s hand. “We’ll see you guys later,” Elizabeth said.
“Bye,” Diana said.
Laura looked up from the kitchen as Elizabeth and Gregg headed toward the front door. “You leaving, Elizabeth?”
“Yeah, we gotta pick up Eric.”
“You want to take some food home with you?” Laura headed toward them and gave Gregg a quick hug as they made their way to the front door together.
“We can pick it up later,” Elizabeth said, glancing at her watch. “We’ve really got to get moving.”
“Well thanks for coming,” Laura said, hugging her daughter. Elizabeth hugged her mother as Gregg opened the front door and stepped out. Elizabeth and Laura stepped outside and when Elizabeth was sure they were out of earshot, she pulled her mother aside.
“Mom, why didn’t you tell me that Ronnie had lost so much weight?”
“What?”
“Ronnie! He looks horrible! You didn’t tell me he’d lost so much weight.”
Laura frowned. “What on earth are you talking about?”
Surely she has to see it, Elizabeth thought. “He’s lost a ton of weight,” she said. “When Diana moved in and we had that cookout in the backyard that day he was at the weight he’d been maintaining the past five years and today he looks like he’s lost sixty pounds. He looks sick, mom. Did you not notice?”
“Don’t be silly, Elizabeth. So he’s lost a little weight. Big deal.”
Elizabeth couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her mother looked serious—she knew when mother was joking about things, and this wasn’t one of them. Mom honestly didn’t see anything wrong with Ronnie. “So you honestly don’t think Ronnie looks sick?”
“Well of course not! He looks fine.”
Elizabeth was about to protest the matter, to keep the argument going to make her mother realize that Ronnie was obviously not all right, but then dropped it as a thought came to her. “Well, maybe I just haven’t seen him in a while,” she said, changing the subject to take advantage of her thought. “But you and Diana did a really good job with the catering. The food was great.”
“Thank you, honey,” her mother said, putting her arm around her. “Diana really did a good job. She’s been a real help to me this week in getting Cindy’s wake arranged. I don’t know what I could have done without her.”
Elizabeth tried not to let her shock show. She’d intentionally mentioned Diana instead of Andrea to see if her mother would notice; Andrea had worked closely with mom with the preparations, yet Diana had not been at the house all week. She quickly hugged her mother. “We gotta go. I’ll call you later.”
“All right, honey.”
Standing in the doorway behind the storm door, watching them, was Diana.
Elizabeth turned and began walking to the car. She heard her mother go back into the house, but she could still sense that Diana was standing at the front door watching her leave.
She didn’t want to turn and look back.
Gregg was waiting for her at the car. Elizabeth slid into the front passenger seat as Gregg started the car. “Let’s get out of here,” Elizabeth said, looking straight ahead.
Gregg looked at her and frowned. “You okay? What happened?”
Elizabeth shook her head, her face stony. Gregg made a U-turn and piloted the car down the street and out of the cul-de-sac.
“Something happened,” Gregg said as they headed south on 272 towards Lititz.
“Did you get a look at Ronnie?”
Gregg snorted. “Yeah, he looked like shit.”
“Thank God you said that.” Elizabeth felt like she was going to faint. I’m not going crazy; it’s not just me. “I asked Mom why she hadn’t told me that Ronnie had lost so much weight and she had no idea what I was talking about.”
&nb
sp; “What?”
“You heard me. She doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with him! She thinks he looks fine!”
Gregg glanced at her quickly. “You can’t be serious. I mean, given the fact that she sees him a lot more than we do, I can understand a slight weight loss wouldn’t faze her but...he looks like he’s dropped sixty or seventy pounds in the past three months.”
“I know,” Elizabeth said. “And dad acted as if there was nothing out of the ordinary. He would have said something before today if Ronnie had dropped so much weight. Did you notice Diana?”
“Yeah.”
“What did you think?”
“She looked nice. In fact, she looked pretty damn good.”
“Total opposite of what she looked like when she first moved in, isn’t she?”
“You got that right,” Gregg said, looking concerned. “I don’t understand how they can’t see that.”
“Neither can I. And there’s another thing that’s really got me weirded out.” She told Gregg about the exchange she had with her mother outside and how her mom had praised Diana to no end for all the help she claimed she’d done. “It’s almost like Mom’s done this complete reversal in her stance on Diana. You know Diana hasn’t done shit to help my folks, especially this past week.”
“I know. We’ve been over there every night this week. You’ve been helping your mom in arranging the service and the wake for Cindy the whole time. I don’t think I’ve seen Diana do much of anything.”
“So why is she behaving as if Diana walks on water now?”
Gregg shook his head, his features set and serious. “I don’t know. But it doesn’t sound right. The past month your mom has been growing disenchanted with Diana and has been more vocal about it. Why suddenly change her tune now?”
“She wouldn’t do it to be politically correct in a time like this,” Elizabeth said. “Especially when we were out of earshot like that. We’ve talked about Diana and Ronnie enough when they weren’t around, even when they were upstairs or something and we were whispering about them to each other. A wake surely wouldn’t stop her.”
The Beloved Page 16