He stayed near, patience and concern drawing his angular brows together. He turned the glass, warming the brandy between his hands, taking a swallow, waiting with unhurried ease. Nina tried to arrange her thoughts, struggled to find words, but gave up. The only way to tell it was to put the facts as she now knew them before Peter. Then he’d know as much as she did and realize the search for Danny was pointless.
“Danny left me. He planned it all along. He told a friend he wanted to get away from Marigold and her controlling ways, and he was using the wedding as a cover to do it.” She took another swallow of brandy to get her through the last part. “And he had other girls, lots of girls. The friend knew about them.” The admission cost her, pride and faith crumbling as she remembered Tinker’s guileless disclosure. “I wasn’t the one-and-only for him. Not the way he was for me.”
Peter put his glass on the table, then drew the larger chair closer to sit beside Nina and put his hand over hers. “All this came from a friend, someone who’s known all along and didn’t tell you? Why tell you now? Why not two years ago?”
“Tinker’s been away. He didn’t know Danny went through with the wedding.” Nina tucked her feet up under her and spread the skirt of her robe over them. “He was just a kid, a kid with a case of hero worship for Danny, and things were really hard for him.” She found it easy to tell Peter about the kid and his miserable home life, his determination to escape, and his sudden return, at least easier than talking about Danny and his deception. “So when he called tonight, I was excited to see him. Tinker was a great kid, and he did the best he could with a rotten situation. When he said Danny planned to run out, I had to believe him. He came in all innocence to see how I was doing, not realizing that Danny and I really had married.”
Peter nodded, but a skeptical gleam lingered in his eyes. “And then he told you that Danny had other girls, too?”
“After I went off to college, Tinker said. Then I came home and started teaching. Sometimes Danny went to car events when I couldn’t go because of school things. Girls hang around the drivers at those places, attracted to the guys and their cars, hoping for a ride. I can see how it would happen. Most of the time it would just be a one-night thing, but sometimes…sometimes not.”
“And you believe everything this boy, Tinker, said? Take it at face value?” Peter’s silence urged her to answer. Nina shut her eyes, tried not to believe, but the ugly facts wouldn’t go away.
“I think I have to,” she said at last. “I can’t see any other way. Too much of what Tinker said rings true. Danny did struggle against Marigold. He resented the strings she kept on him, though in fairness I have to say she’d come so close to losing him a couple of times that I couldn’t blame her. He was all she had, her only child, and Danny’s dad died while Danny was just a little boy. Marigold devoted herself to Danny, and keeping him well was the focus of her life. He lived with her restrictions because he had to, but he didn’t like doing so. No one would.”
Peter got up from his chair and began to pace the small living room. “Nina, I want to go on with the search for Danny Wilson. I think there’s more to this story than you’ve seen and more than one interpretation to Tinker’s hearsay. You said Tinker had a wretched life but Danny was his hero. He’d wanted to take off before, but Danny encouraged him to stick it out till the boy finished school. That’s an act of compassion and understanding. It’s a caring act, helping the boy to make the best of a bad deal. It doesn’t square with somebody who’d use a girl’s love as a distraction for his own vanishing act. Of course Danny would want his freedom, but at your expense?” He leaned over her chair with concern darkening his eyes. “Tinker says Danny had other girls. Did he know Danny had girls, or did he just hear somebody say it? Did stories get started because Danny bought a girl a soda or let her ride in the car? Nina, are you taking gossip for gospel? Did Danny engineer his own disappearance, or was it arranged for him? You still don’t know, sweetheart, and I think you’ll only be able to go on with your life when you’ve exhausted every means of finding answers to those questions.”
Trying to see things from an objective viewpoint, Nina weighed his words. “No, I think there were girls, Peter. I was away at school for long stretches when I could get home only for holidays, and Marigold was always hinting that Danny could do better than a country schoolteacher’s orphan daughter. She arranged for him to meet other girls, anyway. I know that he had to take some of her friends’ daughters out from time to time just to keep peace at home. Maybe those dates weren’t always at Marigold’s instigation.”
“But you don’t know that,” he reminded her. “And even if all Tinker said is straight, you still can’t account for the fact that you and Danny did get married. No pretense, no sham, no lie in that, is there? Do you want to know the status of that marriage or not?” Peter stepped back, his arms folded across his chest, waiting.
Nina didn’t answer directly. “My parents had such an incredible marriage,” she told him. “Losing them both at the same time was awful, but in a way it was only right. I can’t imagine either of them going on without the other. That’s the kind of marriage I dreamed of, the kind I thought I’d have with Danny. Where the commitment was total, and each one was living half the life of the other. Dad never left the house without kissing Mom. Every day he’d tell her she was the reason the sun came up, that she was beautiful, and his day only started when he got home to her. I thought all marriages were like that and that mine would be, too.” She reached across the table to the corner shelf and took down a picture. Her parents looked back at her from the silver frame. “Dad never looked at another woman. They had arguments, of course, and Mom had a pretty short fuse, sometimes, but nobody ever doubted they were married for life.” She wiped back a lingering tear. “Somehow I don’t think Danny and I would have had the same kind of marriage they did.” The doubts she’d never acknowledged surfaced. “I think he did see other girls, and I don’t think marriage would have changed him.”
Peter crossed the room and sat on the arm of her chair. His warm hand engulfed hers. “If that’s the kind of man Danny was, a man who couldn’t keep his commitment to you, he would have broken your heart.”
“He’s done that,” she answered, limp from the warring conflict inside her.
“So do we go forward with the search, Nina? Do we try to find Danny Wilson and resolve the question? Do you want to know if he planned to abandon you? And if you find that Danny did leave you at the church on purpose two years ago, what do you want to do about it?”
“What I want to do depends on what actually happened two years ago.” Empty of emotion, too worn from the events of the day to go on, Nina put her glass and the picture of her parents down and breathed a weary sigh. “You’re right, I still don’t know the truth. I don’t know what to do. Even with what Tinker told me tonight, the situation isn’t any clearer. I guess I go on searching.”
Peter’s grip on her shoulder tightened. “I think that’s the thing to do, Nina. Find out what really did happen to Danny. And I have a place to start in two or three weeks.”
Nina could think of only one thing that would give Peter a place to start—the car. “Something about the T-Bird? You found something else?”
“About the car, yes, but I didn’t find anything else. Not like the knife or Danny’s license. I got in touch with the woman I bought the car from in Barlow. Betty Andrews is a very nice lady who’s busy with her daughter’s wedding plans. She remembers her husband buying the car because they had some strong words about the practical aspects of buying a car she couldn’t drive. She says she has his letters from when he was in Saudi, as well. As soon as the bride and groom are safely on their way, Mrs. Andrews will get those letters out and see if they have information we can use. She can’t do it before that. She says the house is in enough turmoil with the wedding. So I can see her in about three weeks. It’s not much, but it’s some kind of starting place, Nina.”
Three weeks! Nina groaned at the
idea of waiting another three weeks. “And there’s nothing we can do before that, is there?”
Peter’s half rueful smile showed a small dimple at the corner of his mouth. “It’s hard to deal with more waiting, isn’t it? At least something is happening. Do you want to go along when I talk to her?”
Nina thought a moment. Would her presence help or hurt the cause? She wasn’t sure. “Let’s decide that once you have a date to see her. If it will help, I want to be there, but I don’t want the woman to feel like I’m making trouble. She might not talk as freely if I’m around.”
“Then we’ll leave it for now.” He stood up, glanced at his watch, and frowned. “It’s really late, Nina. You’ve had a terrible shock and some hard things to deal with. You need to get to bed. Maybe things will look a little better tomorrow.”
“Not much better. I think I’d better go out tomorrow and warn Uncle Eldon before Tinker’s visit. What Tinker told me will be hard for my uncle to hear, but it would be worse to let him hear it from Tinker with no notion it’s coming.” She followed Peter to the door and turned on the porch light for him.
“It might be good to get your uncle’s viewpoint, as well. You said he and Danny were close.”
“Mentor and protégé, best buddies,” Nina told him. “Uncle Eldon looked on Danny almost as a son. He hoped Danny would take over the museum, in time.”
Peter stepped through the open doorway but turned back. “I’d like to meet your uncle, Nina. Would you mind if I went along?”
Nina felt a lessening of the darkness in her heart. “I’d love for you to go with me. Meet me here tomorrow afternoon after school. Or do you have a late class? I forget you don’t have the school hours I do.”
“One class in the morning, that’s it. I’ll be here by the time you are.” He gestured toward the aging Mercury in the drive. “Would it bother you if I drove the T-Bird over? Maybe you’d give me some driving pointers. Or maybe your uncle would?”
Nina drew a shaky breath. “If it bothers me, I guess I’d better get over it. Fear of running into a yellow T-Bird can’t be a shadow on my life forever. And I’d be happy to give you some driving tips.”
As Peter walked into the darkness, Nina closed the door and leaned against it. It had been a hellacious day, but at least it was over. She hoped she never had to face another like it. Peter’s timely arrival and common sense approach took much of the sting away. A wash of genuine gratitude swept over her. Thank goodness she’d found an ally like Peter Shayne.
Nina locked the door and turned off the lights, but as she started for her bedroom the phone rang. Its sharp bell pierced the night.
Uncle Eldon! Her immediate reaction was fear that something had happened to him. Wheelchair-bound in daytime, he was completely helpless at night. She grabbed the phone before it could ring a third time.
“Now, Nina honey, I know your mother died while you weren’t much more than a child, but still and all, you should realize the neighbors notice, and they talk, when a young woman livin’ alone starts entertaining some man at the house in the middle of the night. Really, Nina, you’ve gotta be more circumspect. What would the school board have to say if they heard about it, sugar? You’ve gotta watch your reputation ever’ minute, never look even the least bit flighty. Schoolteachers in a small town just can’t take chances on the way folks look at things.” The too-sweet voice, freighted with artificial concern, poured through the phone like honey on a warm biscuit. “I know you don’t have a bit of family except your uncle, and he wasn’t coming over this time of night. Who was that man who turned up so late and stayed so long, honey?”
“Marigold?” Nina bit back a sharp retort before it came out of her mouth. I forgot about her watchdog up the block. I’ll have to tell her about Danny, too. She was right all along about Danny leaving me. That should give her some satisfaction, even though Danny is still missing. “Marigold, I was going to call you tomorrow. My visitor brought some word of Danny. He has Danny’s car.”
“Danny’s car?” Disbelief dripped from Marigold’s response. “I simply do not accept that, Nina. He’s mistaken, or trying to put something over on you. Danny would never turn loose of that car. Not in a million years, honey, not for anything.”
“No, it’s Danny’s car. I’m certain it is.”
“Then, child, you’d better get right on over here. Honey, I suspect that man’s some kind of con man, just looking to get his hands on Danny’s money.” Marigold’s “humph” was a ladylike snort of incredulity. “This man came into possession of the Thunderbird? I just can’t believe it, and I know I won’t sleep a wink till you come over here and tell me what he said. I’ll bet he’s trying to lead you on, working up to asking for money, and he’ll take advantage of your inexperience. He’s just made up some kind of phony evidence to fool you, you poor girl. I know you’d give anything to think Danny didn’t take off and leave you, Nina, but you gotta face up to it sometime.” Marigold’s New Orleans drawl came thicker with every word. “Let him try talkin’ to me, sugar. He’ll find it’s harder to pull the wool over my eyes. I’m not as easily fooled as you. I’ll set Sheriff Hayes on him, and that will put a stop to such shenanigans. You just get yourself on over here, Nina honey, and bring whatever your new ‘friend’ used to convince you of this nonsense. I’m waiting up and I’ll unlock the gates. You can be here in twenty minutes. Don’t dawdle now, child.” The phone clicked in Nina’s ear telling her that Marigold Wilson hadn’t waited for a response.
Nina looked down at her quilted robe. Twenty minutes? The day had already been much too long. She longed for her own bed, the comfort of Sinbad curled against her knees, and the blessed oblivion of sleep. Not yet, no, the day wasn’t over. Nina resigned herself to the inevitable. She couldn’t let go of the day’s events just yet. Much as she dreaded the drive, deeply as she resented Marigold’s demands, Nina knew she owed Danny’s mother the courtesy of telling her what she’d learned from Tinker. Marigold would gloat over hearing she was right when she had insisted Danny disappeared by his own choice. Nina just wasn’t sure what she’d say about his reasons. How could she tell Marigold that Danny had planned to leave, not because he couldn’t face marriage but because his overbearing, suffocating mother had taken over his life for too long?
Still torn between telling the whole story as Tinker told it or letting Marigold revel in the way Danny abandoned his bride, Nina unbuttoned her robe and headed for her bedroom to change back into the toreador pants, this time adding a sweater against the cool night air. Her day had been long, filled with unsettling revelations, and it wasn’t done yet. She still had to deal with Marigold, never an easy prospect.
Chapter 6
“Now, Nina, just sit yourself down and draw a breath. I’ve made some of my good New Orleans coffee. It always helps me get a grip on myself when things get to be a little too much.” Marigold swirled about the room, her white satin hostess robe floating over rose silk lounge pajamas as she put an eggshell-thin coffee service before Nina.
Every platinum strand of hair in place, makeup flawless even at midnight, Marigold, though she had to be distracted with questions for Nina, managed to personify Southern hospitality as she poured the steaming combination of strong coffee and hot milk into a cup. The facade was perfect, but Nina saw a tremor as her mother-in-law put the cup into its fragile saucer. She wondered why people generally found the woman gracious and endearing. Maybe they never felt the little barbs behind Marigold’s honeyed words. “Now tell me, sugar, what’s this about? A late night visitor with news about Danny? It sounds a little too convenient to me.”
“It is Danny’s car, Marigold.” Nina took a token swallow of the chicory-flavored coffee and put the cup back on the table. “The man who has it isn’t a con man or a charlatan. He’s a professor at San Felipe. He didn’t buy the T-Bird from Danny, but it’s the same car.” With as little detail as possible, Nina explained how she’d seen the car and met Peter Shayne.
“It’s just a coincid
ence, Nina. Danny took his car when he left. He had to, if he was going away, now didn’t he?” She patted Nina’s arm, her fingers so thin, the nails so long, they might have been bird claws. “That car was popular, and I don’t suppose Danny bought the only yellow one in the country. Stands to reason another one would turn up from time to time.” Her blue eyes, bright as marbles, narrowed. “Danny will come back, sugar, but he’s not going to come back to you. You’ve just got to admit that, Nina.” She sighed, and though her tone was sincere, pale eyebrows arched and lips puckered to show her concern, Nina found it theatrical. “Isn’t it time you accept what really happened, sugar? My boy was as sweet as he could be, but he had a hard time facing up to unpleasant situations. He didn’t want to get married, just didn’t feel ready for the responsibility, but he didn’t want to tell you. Couldn’t bring himself to say the words that would break your heart.” Marigold’s hands, dry and cool as polished bone, held Nina’s with an unpleasant intensity. “I wasn’t proud of the way he went about it, child, but I know my boy and how he handled things. Danny left, and you’re deluding yourself over this car that could have come from anywhere.”
Nina pulled her hands free so she could reach for her purse. “I’m not deluding myself, Marigold. It really is Danny’s car. I have proof.” She took the license and the pocket knife from her bag and dropped them into Marigold’s palm. “These were hidden under the trunk liner in the T-Bird. You know Danny must have put them there. I don’t know why he did, but they do prove it’s Danny’s car.”
Marigold stared down at the objects. She turned the pocket knife over, held it up so the light caught the tiny engraving, then put it aside to examine the license. Her face went white to the lips, the artificial rose of her cheeks and mouth garish against her stark pallor. “I...don’t...understand.” She fingered the worn crease in the driver’s license. Her head dropped down, her face covered by bone-thin hands. “It’s all wrong. Leaving the car, his identification, that wasn’t part of the plan. No, not what Danny said, not at all.” Marigold seemed to have forgotten Nina’s presence. She continued murmuring to herself, confusion and bewilderment robbing her words of meaning. Nina, concerned that the older woman was lapsing into shock, touched her shoulder with a cautious hand.
Half Past Mourning Page 6
