by Brenna Lyons
He swung his head toward her slowly, trying to reconcile what he heard with the cascade of shattered thoughts assaulting him. The entire scene suddenly seemed surreal and dreamlike. “Here? With you?”
“No, but back to the city. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of her.”
We. Keith felt a surge of hope that was completely unwarranted. When Katie was in and out of town over a few days, it was easy for her to avoid him. Living in Pittsburgh with him living a few blocks from Carol, they were bound to run into each other. But what then? And what if— “Carol, is she—”
“Bringing anyone with her?” she asked with a hint of amusement that made him blush. Carol knew him better than he knew himself sometimes. “No. She hasn’t been dating anyone for some time.”
He nodded gratefully. “She’s staying with your mother, then?”
“You know her better than that. She’s looking for an apartment east of the city somewhere, but close enough to visit every day if she wanted to.”
Keith nodded and handed Kyle back to her. “Thanks, Carol. I’ll see you on Sunday.” He glanced at Peter’s family again. “Or maybe Saturday. Looks like you could use an ally.”
Carol nodded gratefully. “You’re a good man, Keith.” She cut off the thought painfully.
He nodded in understanding. If only Katie thought he was a good man, things might be very different. But, now Keith had a shot he hadn’t had in a long time. There wouldn’t be any jumping on a plane to jet home for her. If Katie walked away this time, she wasn’t walking far.
* * *
Saturday was even more tense. Peter’s family seemed discontented with every move Carol made. When Kyle insisted that Keith join him in the family pews, they were openly hostile from their side of the church. The entire church, he noticed, was split as if it were a wedding. Friends and family, including her adopted blue-shirt uncles, of Carol were on the right, while the enemy was staged on the left.
There were only two limos for the family, and Carol was forced to ride with Monica and Bill. Monica had a heated exchange with Carol when the younger woman announced that Kyle would be riding in her personal car with Dianna and, at Kyle’s insistence, Keith. Carol ended the debate smartly by insisting that her son was going in his car seat whether they liked it or not. Several older men that he assumed were blue-shirt uncles backed her silently. Monica eyed them warily and backed off, but from the look on Carol’s face as she exited the limo at the gravesite, Keith could tell the conversation hadn’t ended back at St. Stephen’s.
During the graveside service, Carol seemed stiff and distracted, and Monica seemed far too smug for Keith’s comfort. Kyle fidgeted nervously. He moved the large stuffed tiger he brought from the car hand to hand and eyed his mother and Monica often.
As if by former agreement, Carol placed her flowers on the casket alone. When Monica moved to pull Kyle forward, the child clutched at Keith’s leg. He ended the rather sour woman’s move to pry him off by lifting Kyle to his hip. His resolute look was met by a glare from Monica before she turned away. Carol accepted her son back from Keith with a grateful nod.
After the service, Carol caused a new stir by heading to her car with her family and Keith.
“Shouldn’t you ride back here with us?” Monica asked acidly.
Carol raised an eyebrow as she opened the rear door for Kyle to scramble up into his car seat. “I don’t think so. You’ve stated your case. Now, I’ll state mine. Don’t expect to see us again. I won’t have you telling my son your lies.”
“You can’t do that. Kyle is a Thompson.”
“Kyle is my son. Don’t forget that. You’ll be sorry if you do.”
Carol leaned in to fasten Kyle’s straps, and Monica made a move toward her, which Keith cut short by stepping silently between them.
Monica favored him with a cold look and turned away. “This isn’t over,” she muttered over her shoulder.
Settled back in the driver’s seat, Dianna seethed at her retreating form. “The nerve of that woman.”
Carol closed her door and sighed raggedly. “We’ll discuss this later, Mom.”
Keith turned in the front seat so he could watch all of them. While Dianna was furious, her daughter and grandson were jittery and pale.
Kyle spoke in a low, frightened voice. “Aunt Monica can’t really take me away, can she Mom?”
Carol’s eyes went wide in shock, and her face burned a fiery red. “Did she tell you that?” she demanded.
He shook his head. “No. Not exactly, but that’s what she wants.”
“Yes, it is, but she’s not going to get it. She can’t take you from me. She can’t even see you if you don’t want to see her.”
“I don’t want to. Not ever. Why does she want to take me away? She doesn’t even like me.”
Dianna snorted in an unladylike fashion. “To hurt your mother, no doubt.”
“Later, Mother,” Carol ordered. “Kyle, Monica is not a nice person. She knows it will hurt me, so she threatens to take you away, but she can’t really do it,” she soothed him.
Keith watched the exchange silently. Whatever Carol had to tell him about her relationship with Peter’s family was sure to be enlightening considering what he had already seen.
* * *
Mac looked around Bill Taylor’s house with a certain distaste. It was gaudy. Or should that be god-y? A devout Roman Catholic himself, Mac never understood people who had religious paraphernalia on every flat surface, vertical and horizontal alike. The Taylors were that type of family. He hadn’t been fond of Peter Thompson’s family when he met them at Carol’s wedding, and he liked them less as time went on, mainly based on Carol’s reactions to them.
When Bill Taylor cornered him after the graveside service and asked him to stop by on his way to Carol’s, Mac agreed out of curiosity. Whatever was going on between Carol and her in-laws could have some bearing on the case, and he would pass it on to the investigating officers if it was anything more than gossip, he promised himself. No matter what it was.
As he took in more of the house, Mac’s curiosity turned into something akin to unease. He should have sent Walters and Perry, he decided. By coming here, he was placing himself in the middle of an investigation he should have steered clear of. Of course, assigning officers to investigate anything concerning the O’Hanlons had been tricky. Few detectives were young enough to have no ties to the family, but they couldn’t risk the appearance of nepotism, and it would have been an inappropriate reason to ask for a personnel transfer. One way or the other, Mac would discuss whatever was said with Perry on Monday. It was the only way to keep the investigation clean.
Bill and Monica Taylor approached him, looking nervous and unsettled. “MacRey,” Bill greeted him with an outstretched hand that was cold and clammy.
“You wanted to talk to me?”
“Certainly. Let’s go into my office where it’s less crowded.” Mac nodded and followed him through the crowd of Peter’s relatives. Mac doubted there were many of Peter’s friends there. Peter didn’t have many friends.
Once the office door closed behind him, Mac faced them. “If we could get to the point,” he prodded them.
Monica smiled a sad smile that struck him as fake. “We’re concerned about Kyle.”
“How so?” Mac asked, masking the fact that he was concerned with the child’s emotional state and the fact that these people were obviously not helping the situation. Somehow, he was sure that wasn’t behind Monica’s statement.
Bill cleared his throat. “We’re concerned for Kyle’s safety.”
Mac raised an eyebrow at them in disbelief.
“Well, you see, Carol and her family are not balanced.”
Mac bit back a retort about Peter’s mental state. That would not be appropriate considering the circumstances. “The investigation team and the child psychologist disagree.”
Monica’s face darkened considerably. “Carol threatened me just today.”
Mac nodded. “One
of the officers nearby told me about it. According to what he heard, you caused her some distress by threatening to take Kyle from her. At her husband’s funeral, no less. You can file a report, but I’m sure the court would find her actions understandable given the circumstances.”
“Fine. What about that sister of hers?” she demanded.
“What about her?” Mac was sure he was about to hear all about her.
“Katie threatened Peter. I bet they didn’t tell you that, did they? She’s strange. I’m not convinced she didn’t have something to do with Peter’s death.”
“Mrs. Taylor, your brother’s injuries were self-inflicted,” he reminded her.
“If that’s the case, why hasn’t the investigation been closed?”
Mac sighed. “Call it morbid curiosity. There’s no question that Peter killed himself. We’re trying to find out why. We could stop if you’d like,” he offered.
“Why? His wife and her family are why. If he did kill himself, they drove him to it.”
Mac sighed again. That was probably the first thing she said that she believed was true. “How did they do that?” he asked, already sorry that he didn’t send Perry.
Bill placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder and answered that one himself. “Peter was distressed. He told us that Carol was having an affair.”
“He had proof of that?” Mac asked skeptically. It certainly didn’t sound like something he would expect of Carol.
“I wouldn’t know, but she certainly has been showering the young man who stood with her at the graveside quite a bit of attention lately.”
“Even if it’s true, there is nothing I can do about it.”
“There is if he caused Peter’s death,” Monica argued.
Mac nodded. “Look, I’ll pass this all on to the officer in charge of the investigation, but I’m not sure there is much we can use.”
Bill smiled grimly. “Just start looking. I’m sure you’ll find something. Peter wasn’t perfect, but there is something very wrong with that family. It was detrimental to Peter, and it’s obviously affecting Kyle.”
Mac nodded and made his way back to his car. The Taylors were definitely taking a shot in the dark on this one, but he did have to ask Carol a few questions. From his point of view, the only thing the Taylors got right was how strange a family they were dealing with.
He found her in her living room, looking for all the world like she wanted nothing more than to escape the crush of mourners. The people gathered in her home were no less somber than the ones at the Taylor’s house, though they were invariably there to offer support to Carol and not to mourn Peter. Carol seemed glad to accompany Mac to the back yard where the slope looked out over the thick trees and the plateau that jutted over them.
Mac shivered as he looked at it. It was a wonder that Katheryn ever came here with that reminder looming over her. Though, it wasn’t like she had any memories of what happened up there, so he supposed it wasn’t much more than a curiosity to her.
Carol sank to the grass and arranged her skirts around her legs primly. Carol was always the proper one and Katheryn the wild pixie. The sisters were as different as night and day in looks, personality, and manners. Carol always the bright ray of sunlight, and Katheryn always dark and mysterious—almost otherworldly.
“What do you need, Mac?” And, Carol was always direct where Katheryn was a master of evasion.
“I had a little talk with Monica and Bill Taylor.”
“Oh, them,” she answered dryly. “I’m sure it was very interesting. So, what am I accused of, now?”
“Oh, lots of things. Do you know you were having an affair?”
“That’s old news, Mac. I’m surprised your investigation hadn’t picked that one up the first day.”
“It’s not true, of course,” he surmised.
Carol looked at him in shock. “You know me better than that.”
“Yeah, I do. Who’s the young man who has Monica foaming at the mouth? He’s prime suspect in the Taylor’s book.”
Carol laughed heartily at that one. “Keith? You’ve got to be kidding. He’s just an old school friend.”
“College?”
“No, high school.”
“Your class?”
She hesitated, and her smile dimmed somewhat. “He was two years older.”
“Friend of Katheryn’s?”
She hesitated again, and Mac felt his curiosity peak.
“He was for a little while. Not anymore.”
“Any particular reason why?” he prodded.
Carol shrugged.
“What happened?” And, why am I always the last to know?
“I don’t know. They seemed serious. Then, Katie was ticked off at him. I never knew why. You know Katie.”
Mac nodded. He knew Katheryn all right. That little hothead never let go of a grudge. “Is it true that Katheryn threatened Peter?”
Carol turned a deep red, and her eyes widened.
“Jesus, Carol. What happened?”
“That was a long time ago, Mac.” She looked at him sheepishly. “I was pregnant with Kyle, and they were in the living room while I finished cooking dinner. I don’t know what he said to her, but he propositioned her or told her what he fantasized doing with her or something like that. Whatever he said, he pushed her way over the edge. When I came into the room to see what the problem was, she was telling him that if he ever got the balls to try it, she’d remove them for him.”
“You stayed with him?” he asked in disbelief.
She nodded. “At first—he denied it so vehemently, I thought she must have misunderstood something he said. But later—” she sighed. “I’m fairly sure he said exactly what she thought he did. He wasn’t who I thought he was.”
“That’s why you were discussing leaving him?”
“He flipped. He accused me of having affairs. He even had Bill and Neal following me. He said he wanted DNA tests done on Kyle—” She looked ill at the admissions.
“He thought Kyle wasn’t his?”
“He said that. I honestly don’t know what he thought. He was drinking heavily. He wouldn’t listen to reason.”
Mac cursed under his breath. Why hadn’t Carol come to him? She picked up too many bad habits from her sister. “I understand. Listen, you relax. I think you need a few minutes.”
Carol nodded. “Thanks, Mac. I’ll be inside in a few.”
Mac went directly to the bookcase in the living room and pulled the Boyle yearbooks for 1986 and 1987. Earlier than that, Carol wasn’t a student and later than that, Katheryn wasn’t. If he didn’t find what he was looking for in those two years, he wouldn’t find it that way. He took the books to Kyle’s room and started leafing through them. In 1986, he could pick out Keith Randall in several group shots with Katheryn—clubs they were in together, though the two were simply two faces in the crowd.
Senior year told a different story. In the pictures from the winter play, Keith had a smiling Katheryn wrapped in his arms, her back to his chest and both of them facing the camera. Early practice shots from the spring musical showed Katheryn sitting on his lap. His hand lay on her hip and her head in the hollow of his shoulder while they shared a script.
By the time group shots were taken for Stations, they were on opposite sides of the group and stony-faced. Several other pictures showed an intense Katheryn with an equally intense Keith watching her from close by. It seemed he was always in the background of pictures that featured her, always watching her.
If Mac was reading between the lines accurately, Keith had a serious romantic interest in an O’Hanlon girl, but it wasn’t Carol. He had to wonder if Mr. Randall still had an interest. He also considered what the man’s reaction might be if someone told him that not only was Peter Thompson making his friend Carol miserable, but he made a very unwanted pass at a woman he once—or still?—had feelings for.
* * *
Keith waited patiently on the bench at the corner of the playground for Carol to ar
rive with Kyle. The playground at the corner of Eleanor and Sierra was a small one and not the safest in the city because of the asphalt under the play equipment, but it had one thing in its favor. It was a block from Keith’s house and two blocks from Carol’s. She was fifteen minutes late, and she apologized profusely when she arrived.
Keith smiled as Kyle charged to the other side of the playground and pushed the merry-go-round with one leg while he knelt on it with the other and gripped the bars with the Siberian tiger crushed to his chest. “How’s he doing?” he asked quietly.
“Better than I am.”
“If I’ve got even half the picture I think I do, that is probably true. Start at the beginning.”
“You can probably guess that Peter wasn’t stable.” She smiled crookedly.
“Got that part. Seems like it’s a family trait for them.”
“He seemed fairly normal until I got pregnant with Kyle. That’s when he started acting strange.”
“For instance?” Keith prodded.
Carol blushed deeply. “He made a really obnoxious pass of some sort at Katie. At first, I thought she was mistaken, but now I’m fairly sure she was right. He started avoiding Katie, and he’d give me dirty looks when I mentioned her. Finally, he started acting that way about all my friends and family.”
“He was isolating you?”
“That’s what Katie called it. It worked for a while—until Kyle was a little less than three, I suppose.”
“What happened to change things?”
“Peter never really got close to Kyle. It got worse over time. He started drinking more, arguing more, and staying home less. Less of the money came home and more went to the bars.” She sighed. “So, I went back to work to make ends meet.”
“Peter didn’t like that,” Keith guessed. “You weren’t isolated. You weren’t dependent on him. He wasn’t doing his job as a provider.”
“He didn’t like it in the least. I tried to explain, but you can guess how well that went.” She smiled weakly. “Once I was out of the house more, he went over the edge. He started accusing me of having affairs. He even had Neal and Bill following me when they had free time. When I confronted Peter about it—Oh, what a mistake that was. He accused me of avoiding my lover because I knew he was watching.”