by SUE FINEMAN
Dave wanted to ask if Dad did more than dance with other women, but he couldn’t ask. Dad was a likeable guy, fun-loving and happy, unlike Dave’s uptight, formal mother. Mom usually got her way, so Dad looked for his fun elsewhere. She overlooked it and he didn’t flaunt it, but Dad’s affairs were like having a buffalo in the living room. It was ugly and it smelled bad, but everyone was too polite to mention it. In spite of Dad’s affairs, they still loved each other, and would stay together forever. But Dave didn’t want to live like that himself.
“Is Dad still running the business?”
“He hired a business manager, and he’s looking for a buyer. He wanted you to take over, but he said you didn’t want it.”
“It’s not for me. I told you that before, Mom. Sitting in an office all day is not for me. Maybe Victoria or Constance wants it.”
“Why on earth would either of them want to run a business?”
Dave watched his mother play with her pearls, a nervous habit he remembered from his childhood. “Women run businesses all over this country. They are every bit as capable as men.”
“I know, David, but why would they want to? They both have husbands who make good money, and they have enough to live well. Why else would they want to work?”
He spotted his father and Mia coming back to the table and breathed a sigh of relief. His mother didn’t understand the concept of working for the joy of accomplishing something. For her, it was all about money. Looking up into Mia’s smiling face, he knew money wouldn’t be important to her. If anything, a lavish lifestyle made her uncomfortable.
“What are you smiling about?” asked Mia.
“You.” He wanted to take her home and make love to her, but they still had work to do. They had a killer to catch.
Dave turned his attention to his father and got down to work. “Do you know a man named Charles Edwin Edwards?”
“Sure I do. Why?”
“I couldn’t remember where I’d seen him before.”
“Probably at May Brandon’s wedding. He was the groom.”
Momentarily stunned, Dave couldn’t believe he’d found the answers he’d been searching for this quickly, and from his own father. “Wasn’t that back in nineteen-ninety-something?”
“Ninety-five,” said his mother. “She left him when he got caught up in a scandal at the corporation.”
“What scandal?” asked Mia.
“Someone embezzled millions from the company,” his father explained. “The company collapsed, the president went home and shot himself, and the vice president disappeared. Several people blamed Charles, but they had no proof. He insisted he was innocent of any wrongdoing.”
“What happened to him?” asked Dave.
“Oh, it all blew over. He found another job and married again.”
“Charles’ second wife found him with another woman, cleaned him out, and left him,” said Mom. “That must have been three or four years ago. And then he vanished, left town without a forwarding address, or so I’ve heard.”
Dave shared a long look with Mia, who asked, “Was there money missing from the second company?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” said Dad. “I always thought he took the job to get him through until he could get to his retirement funds. I doubt it paid as much as the other job.”
Dave pulled out a picture of Dinah Edwards, formerly Dinah Lynderman, Nadine’s mother. He passed the picture to his father. “Do you know her?”
His mother leaned over, glanced at the picture, and blanched. She grabbed her purse and made a beeline for the ladies room.
“What’s wrong with Mom?” asked Dave.
“Dinah was... uh... well, you see...”
“You had an affair with her?”
Dad nodded, and Mia raced toward the restrooms.
“Aw, shit! Dinah’s daughter was murdered, Dad. That’s why I came here. I’m in charge of the murder investigation.” Now he’d have to turn the case over to someone else. He was too close to be objective.
From the look on his father’s face, this had come as a complete surprise. “Are you talking about the girl they found in the Columbia River near Portland, Oregon?”
“That’s the one. Charles Edwin Edwards was her stepfather. He calls himself Edwin Edwards now, and his wife never stops drinking. They seem glad to have Nadine gone, and I want to know why.”
Dad looked like someone had let all the air out of him. The smiling guy who’d danced with Mia suddenly seemed old and tired. “As soon as your mother gets back, we’d best go home and talk this out in private. I can’t believe a sweet little girl like Nadine ended up in the river. I knew Dinah neglected her, and I knew Dinah drank too much, but I never expected this to happen.”
<>
Mia watched Dave’s mother crumble onto the bench at the makeup table. They were alone in the restroom, so Mia twisted the lock, giving them a few seconds of privacy. “Margaret, Dave is working on a murder investigation.”
She looked up. “The woman in the picture?”
“No, it was her daughter. The woman is married to Charles Edwin Edwards.”
“Dear God. How old was her daughter?”
“Nineteen.”
Someone knocked on the restroom door. Margaret called, “Just a minute,” and touched up her makeup. In seconds she had regained a calm demeanor.
“You are one helluva woman, Margaret Montgomery,” Mia said softly. “I’d be after blood.”
“Nonsense,” she said. “All women have to endure these things.”
“Not this woman,” said Mia. “Not this woman.”
She’d never understand how people who professed to love each other could hurt each other that way. Once she’d dated a married man, but when she learned he had a wife, she told him to get lost. He seemed like a great guy, but he’d lied to her about his marital status. A year or so later, he divorced his wife and asked Mia out again, but she turned him down. She didn’t want a man who lied and cheated. She didn’t need that kind of heartache.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The men sat in the front and the women in the back of Margaret’s Lincoln on the way home, and the silence grew so big Mia heard herself breathing. She didn’t envy Dave having to question his own parents.
Margaret glanced at Mia and forced a smile. Mia reached over and squeezed her hand. To break the silence, Mia chatted about the band and the songs they chose. “I liked the music they played. Dance music.”
“And you can understand the words, unlike the music our grandchildren listen to,” said Margaret.
Mia laughed a little. “That’s true.”
“Have you been dancing long?”
“Since I was three. In the past few years, I’ve been doing competitive ballroom dancing. I don’t plan to enter any more competitions, but I still love to dance.”
“So do I,” Stan said. “Mia, will you teach Margaret and me a few more of those fancy moves while you’re here?”
Margaret’s eyes misted and Mia knew she’d stayed with Stan because she loved him. She probably didn’t know how to show it, but Mia understood the underlying love that kept them together. Their lifestyle probably had something to do with it, too. In spite of her rigid demeanor, Mia liked Margaret. Mia didn’t consider herself an expert in psychology, but she suspected putting the house in order may have been symbolic of Margaret putting her life in order. It was the one thing she could control, but it had to be a sad way to live. In Mia’s family, people yelled and fought, but they always made up. The hurt feelings were brought out in the open, dealt with, and healed with love.
If Greg didn’t care about her, he wouldn’t interfere in her life. Bo would talk it out, but Greg handled things his own way, pushing his way in where he wasn’t wanted, imposing his will on others. Greg’s wife didn’t put up with it and neither did Mom.
Stan pushed a button on the visor and the gates swung open. He pulled around to the front of the house and Dave helped Mia and his mother out of the car.
Mia didn’t look forward to the discussion about Dinah Lynderman, but she knew Dave wouldn’t let family loyalties keep him from doing his job. He needed to find answers. Who killed Nadine Lynderman and why?
No matter how painful, Dave wanted his mother to participate in at least a portion of the discussion about Dinah Lynderman. She’d apparently known the woman or she wouldn’t have recognized her picture.
While Dad put the car in the garage, Dave helped his mother off with her coat and hung it in the coat closet off the entry hall. Mia unfastened her cape, a beautiful black velvet and satin creation he didn’t remember her packing.
“Margaret, Stan loaned me this cape for the evening,” said Mia. “Does it go in this closet?”
She waved her hand. “Keep it, Mia. I bought it for Victoria to wear to a party, and she hated it so much she wouldn’t even take it home. It looks better on you anyway.”
Dave draped the cape over his arm. “My sisters are spoiled rotten, unlike me.”
“You’re the most spoiled of all,” said his mother.
He hugged her and kissed her temple. “Because I’m the runt of the litter?” Victoria and Constance always called him the runt. Now he was at least six inches taller than either of his sisters.
Dad came in and they sat in the family room. Mom asked if anyone wanted a drink.
Mia kicked her shoes off and tucked her feet under her. “Not for me. I’ve had more than my share of alcohol tonight. I’m not much of a drinker.”
They’d been avoiding the subject, pushing it aside to dwell on the comfortable, social niceties, but Dave couldn’t put it off any longer. “Let’s talk about Dinah Lynderman Edwards.” He glanced at his mother’s blank face and then at his father, who wouldn’t look directly at him. “I know this isn’t a topic either one of you wants to discuss, but this is a murder investigation. Someone hit a nineteen-year-old girl in the head and threw her in the river to drown, and I want to know who did it and why. Her stepfather, Edwin Edwards, called her a slut and seems glad to have her gone, and all her mother does is drink. She’s wearing black, but that’s the only sign of grief. And those people have already wiped all traces of the girl out of their home. I want to know why, and to understand why, I need to know about Dinah’s past.”
Dad finally met Dave’s eyes. “What do you want to know?”
“When did you know her and what was the nature of the relationship?”
Mom stood to leave the room and Dave held up his hand. “I know this is painful, but let’s get it out in the open.”
Dad looked at Mom and talked about his relationship with Dinah. “Nadine was a little girl, maybe seven or eight. She was a cute little thing, but Dinah didn’t pay much attention to her. You kids were all gone and your sisters weren’t around much with their kids, so I spent a lot of time with the little girl.”
A look of pain crossed Mom’s face. Dave understood. Dad had never spent much time with his own kids, but he’d connected with little Nadine. Dave asked him dates, and Dad filled him in as best he could remember.
“She found herself another man and told me not to come around any more. She said she intended to marry him, so I stayed away. I never saw Dinah or Nadine again.”
“I did,” said Mom.
Every head in the room turned toward Dave’s mother. “She came here asking for money. She said the little girl was your daughter, Stan.”
“Not true. I didn’t meet Dinah until Nadine was in school.”
Mia asked, “Margaret, did you give her any money?”
She fiddled with her pearls. “No, but she followed me to the beauty shop and the dress shop. Once I turned a corner at the drug store and ran into her. She didn’t threaten in so many words, but I felt threatened.”
“Margaret, why didn’t you tell me?” said Dad. “I would have handled it.”
“How? By giving her money? By paying her off like you paid off that other—”
“That’s enough, Margaret.”
Dave rubbed his forehead. This kind of questioning was hard enough with strangers. With his own family, it was brutal. Mia moved closer and put her arm through his. Nothing like dragging all the dirty laundry out in front of the woman he loved.
“How long did this go on, Mom?”
“Oh, maybe two or three months. One time she brought the little girl to the house and left her standing on the front porch. I gave the child some milk and cookies and tried to find a resemblance to my own children, but I couldn’t see any. She was very well behaved, and an hour later her mother came back to get her. She didn’t say a word, just put the little girl in the car and drove away. I told your father I’d been bothered by persistent salesmen and he ordered the gates installed. I never saw the woman or the little girl again.”
Dad cleared his throat and asked again. “Why didn’t you say something?”
Mom didn’t answer.
Dave pinned his father in a stare. “Who was the other man? Did she marry him?”
“I heard she was seeing Mort Goldman. I don’t know if he was the man she intended to marry, but I knew Mort would never leave his wife.”
“Did Dinah work?” asked Mia.
“Not that I know of.”
“Then how did she live?”
“That’s obvious,” said Mom. “She used people, including her own child.”
As soon as Dave spoke with Mort Goldman, he’d turn the case over to someone else. This thing had conflict of interest written all over it, and if this ever got to court, the defense would tear the prosecution’s case to pieces on this point alone. As much as he hated to stop in the middle of an investigation, he didn’t have any choice.
Mia took a deep breath and blew it out. “Excuse me for sounding stupid, but why on earth would a woman do that when she could find herself a job and keep her self-respect?” As soon as the words left her lips, she regretted them. Dave’s mother had kept her home and marriage together at the risk of her own self-respect. “What I meant was—”
“I know what you meant, Mia,” Margaret said softly. “Sometimes it’s the only thing to be done. I don’t blame Dinah for living the way she did. Maybe she didn’t know any other way to support herself and her child. Sometimes the thought of being alone for the rest of her life is too painful for a woman to consider.”
This time Mia knew Margaret wasn’t talking about Dinah. She was talking about herself. “I’m sorry, Margaret. I didn’t mean to—”
“Nonsense. It’s refreshing to meet a woman who isn’t afraid to speak her own mind. My friends tiptoe around the subject, even though every one of their husbands keeps a mistress.”
“That’s too bad,” Mia said gently.
Dave cleared his throat and changed the subject. “Enough about Dinah. How well do you know Edwards?”
“Not well at all,” said Margaret. “I met him at May’s wedding and spoke with him two or three times at social events in the months that followed, and that’s it.”
Dave turned to his father. “Dad?”
“I’ve already told you everything I know about him. You might try Mort Goldman. He knew them both. You met him tonight at the club. He owns a big investment firm here in the city. Offered to buy me out a few years back and I declined. Now I wish I’d taken him up on the offer.”
“Is that all the questions you have?” asked his mother.
“That’s all for now,” said Dave.
Mom stood and straightened her dress. “I hope you find the girl’s killer, David.”
“So do I,” said Dad. He took Mom’s arm and they walked upstairs together, leaving Dave alone with Mia.
Mia stood and Dave looked up at her. “I’ll thank you to keep your nose out of my parents’ private lives. I know this is not the way your family lives, but don’t encourage my mother to leave my father. This is the way she’s always lived, the way her mother lived, and she isn’t capable of living without him.”
She stared at Dave. At that moment she didn’t know him at all
. “I may have stepped out of line, but I didn’t—”
“The hell you didn’t. She’s happy with things as they are, so back off.”
“Happy?” Mia leaned down in Dave’s face. “Look again, hotshot.” She picked up her shoes and ran upstairs to the bedroom Margaret had assigned her. Nobody in this family was happy, including the jovial Stan Montgomery. If he was happy, why would he look for love with other women?
Mia washed her face and prepared for bed, wondering if Greg had seen this side of Dave’s family. Did Greg think Dave would turn out like his father, having one affair after another while his wife sat at home feeling sorry for herself? While she maintained appearances and looked the other way?
Maybe Greg was right after all. Maybe she didn’t belong with Dave Montgomery, because she sure as hell wouldn’t stay with a husband who cheated on her, no matter how much she loved him. Life was painful enough without putting up with that nonsense.
<>
Dave was well into his third drink when Dad came downstairs. “Better go easy on the brandy, David. That stuff will put you under the table.”
“Maybe that’s where I want to be. Under the table.”
“Are you in the doghouse, too? Your mother locked her bedroom door.”
“What the hell. Kick it in,” said Dave, and he knew he was more than a little drunk. He’d had several drinks at the club and more at home.
Dad poured himself a drink. “I hope we didn’t ruin things between you and Mia.”
Dave stared into his nearly empty glass. He hoped so, too, but he knew now that bringing her to this house had been a mistake. Drinking this much was a mistake, too. She wouldn’t let him near her tonight. “I guess we’re both sleeping alone tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m too damn drunk to kick anything in.”
<>
Mia woke with her stomach growling. She glanced at the clock. Only six-thirty, but she was so hungry, she walked downstairs to raid the kitchen, hoping Margaret wouldn’t mind too much. Stan sat at the breakfast table in his robe.
