The Fortieth Birthday Body Page 6

“Why do you have to do anything?” Kathleen repeated. “Let Jed tell the police about the affair—and I hope he did that already since you really shouldn’t try to hide it from them.”

  “I don’t know what Jed told the police.”

  “You didn’t ask him?”

  “No.”

  “Susan, why not?”

  “Because he doesn’t know that I know.”

  “He doesn’t know that you know about his affair?” Kathleen asked, not believing it possible.

  “Yes.”

  “You’d better start at the beginning—that is, if you want to talk about it,” Kathleen said, not anxious to intrude.

  “I guess I’d better. It’s just … it’s just that I thought it was all over. That I wouldn’t have to think about it anymore.”

  Again, Kathleen was forced to wait for the crying to cease.

  “Okay. I’m fine now.” Susan inhaled deeply. “Really. I’d tell you about it from the beginning but I’m not really sure what the beginning was.”

  “When did you find out they were having an affair?”

  “About four years ago.”

  “How did you find out? Susan, are you sure you want to tell me about this?” Kathleen asked, not comfortable asking so many questions.

  “I don’t want to even think about, but I’d better. It started four years ago. Actually, I don’t know when they started sleeping together. But that’s when I found out …”

  “How did you find out?”

  “I saw them going into a hotel room together.”

  “Here?”

  “In the city. I was involved in a lecture series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Chad was in first grade and I had time to myself and I signed up for everything that year—cooking classes, another wine-tasting class, and some art appreciation stuff. Anyway, on days when I was in the city, I hired a sitter to be with the kids when they came home from school and feed them dinner and I drove home with Jed. Sometimes I met him for lunch and sometimes not. It depended on lecture times and on his schedule. Anyway, this particular day I’d been planning to lunch with a friend from the lecture but she hadn’t shown up and, instead of eating in the cafeteria at the museum, I decided to go to Monique—you know, the restaurant at the Bentley House Hotel. Jed and I had eaten there once or twice and it was good and so, on a whim, I went. Do you know, that was the first time I’d ever eaten alone in a restaurant?”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. Fine time to pick, too. Well, they gave me a tiny table in the back of the room where I wasn’t too noticeable; a suburban woman alone isn’t exactly something a restaurant is proud to display. So Jed and Dawn didn’t see me.”

  “They were eating there too?”

  “They came in together about ten minutes after I sat down. They were so happy together, so obviously infatuated, that I knew right away not to leap up and greet them.”

  “So you … ?”

  “So I sat there and watched them flirt, and play with their food, and drink their wine. I just sat there,” she repeated.

  “But … maybe they didn’t go to bed together,” Kathleen offered, knowing that she was doubting her friend’s intelligence.

  “After they finished, they got up together. I collected my check immediately; the waiters had been trying to urge me out of the restaurant for some time and were thrilled to rush it through. I went out into the lobby and my husband and Dawn Elliot were getting a room. They were standing so close together that you could hardly tell where one person started and the other began—remember how we used to say that in college? Anyway, I stood there and watched them get into the elevator. I stood there in plain view, but they were too wrapped up in each other to bother to look up …”

  “And? They went up in the elevator. What did you do?”

  “I … I wanted to scream. I wanted to call the police. I wanted to start a fire or explode a bomb in the lobby. I wanted to rush up to their room and kill them both …”

  “And?” Kathleen repeated quietly.

  “I found the public phone near the ladies’ room, and I called Jed’s secretary and told her that I was sorry I had missed Jed, but that I wasn’t feeling well and I was going to take the train home. And I did. I went home and called off the sitter, and picked up the kids at school, and talked on the phone, and fixed them dinner, and helped Chrissy with her homework. And, when Jed came home, I fixed him dinner and told him I thought I was coming down with the flu and I went to bed.”

  “And you never told him what you saw?”

  “Never.”

  “So, four years later he still doesn’t know that you saw Dawn and him together that day?”

  “No. It only lasted a few months. I’m pretty sure of that.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, Jed acted distracted for a while. And stayed late at work and had to vanish back into the city for afternoons on weekends. All the classic tacky things. And then, one day he was back with us just like he used to be—not just spending time with us but concerned about us. And I heard that Dawn had left town and was teaching a class out West somewhere.”

  “And you and Jed never, ever talked about it?” Kathleen knew she was repeating herself but she couldn’t believe the answer she was getting.

  “Never. Oh, there have been times since then when I thought it was going to come out. A friend would have an affair and we’d start talking about what would happen if one of us were involved with someone else. But the conversations have always stayed theoretical. I don’t know how to tell him that I know and he’s obviously decided not to tell me.”

  “But Susan …” Kathleen didn’t know what to say.

  “Well, what could I say, Kathleen? ‘Oh, Jed, by the way, I know that you had an affair with Dawn four years ago, but I forgot to mention it until now?’ ”

  “You trapped yourself into keeping the secret.”

  “Right. Not only did he deceive me, but I ended up deceiving him.”

  “It sounds horrible.”

  “It was.” Susan got up from the bench and started to pace near the stream. “I thought about it a lot at the time, of course. I used to wake up in the middle of the night with visions of the two of them in bed together. And I worried the next time Dawn came through town. But nothing happened. And, after a while I came to accept that it was over and …”

  “And?”

  “And that’s all. End of story.” She sat down again on the bench. “Until yesterday, that is.”

  “Not quite,” Kathleen corrected her. “You were pretty upset to hear that Dawn was back in town. I couldn’t have been the only one who noticed that.”

  “Yes. I guess I really hadn’t dealt with my feelings as well as I thought I had. I always worry that something will happen when she’s around again, but I’m pretty sure nothing has. When I heard she was back, a lot of the old hurt and anger returned. Oh, Kathleen, what am I going to do?”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Kathleen answered.

  “How am I going to tell Jed that I know after all this time? Because we have to talk about it now, don’t we?”

  “Too bad you didn’t decide to talk to him about it last night.”

  “I couldn’t even think straight last night. I thought I would come home and go to bed and, after Jed had fallen asleep, get up and decide what to do. But Jed didn’t fall asleep. At least he seemed to be awake whenever I was last night—you know how those kind of restless nights go. And this morning the kids were up early. And …” she broke off and kicked some pebbles in the water.

  “And?”

  “And I don’t know what to say, anyway.”

  “You’re worried about your marriage?”

  “Yes. What else?”

  “Susan, you better think about being a suspect in a murder case. You, or Jed, or both of you, I suppose.” Kathleen watched her friend carefully, wondering what the reaction to this would be.

  “I don’t think that’s the problem right know,” Susan said and began to cry
again. “Kathleen, I love Jed. I love him more now than I’ve ever loved him. How can I bring this up after all these years?” She stood up, suddenly angry. “And you know what I don’t understand? I don’t understand how he can go on deceiving me. He should have told me about it then and he should tell me about it now!”

  “Really? What good would telling you then have done? He made a mistake; he didn’t have to hurt you. But now is a different story. Now you two had better get together and have a talk.

  “Susan, you can’t have a good marriage if one of you is in prison. You’re not paying attention to me: A murdered woman, a woman that you and your husband may both have reason to hate, was found in your garage last night. Susan, unless someone confesses to this crime, you or Jed are going to be major suspects in a murder case.”

  “But unless Jed told the police about the affair, how would they know?”

  “Well, he better have told them,” Kathleen insisted. “Because they’re probably going to find out.”

  “How?”

  “Well, you knew about it, didn’t you? Someone else might have too and that someone else may have told the police.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that. I guess Jed and I had better have a talk.”

  “Yes. I’m getting cold. Let’s go back to the house.”

  They got up and turned together, but it was Susan who first saw the man coming around the corner of her house.

  “Who’s that?”

  “Looks like the police.”

  They exchanged anxious glances and walked toward him.

  II

  “As I said, I don’t know how long it’ll be before you get your car back, Mrs. Henshaw,” the police officer said, handing her a piece of paper. “Here’s the receipt for it.”

  Susan glanced down at the three-by-five sheet of tissue paper, a copy of the original document that he had filled out, the writing barely legible. “Thank you. Is that all you wanted?”

  “Yes.” He looked over at the shiny new car ignominiously being lifted by the dilapidated city tow truck and then back to her. “This would have been done last night, but the city tow trucks were all busy with a problem out on the highway. Why don’t you two ladies go inside and leave everything to us?”

  “I think you’re right,” Kathleen agreed, putting her arm around Susan’s shoulder. “Let’s go get some coffee. These men can take care of this themselves.”

  “Good idea. I really didn’t get much to eat last night. Maybe there’s something in the refrigerator.” Susan opened the door to the kitchen while talking. She paused on the threshold, “Well, those caterers really cleaned up this place. I’m surprised that the police were so willing to let them go ahead and do it.”

  “It’s not like Dawn Elliot was poisoned. I’ll heat some water for coffee. What’s in those large boxes over there?” Kathleen was glad to return to the normal things of life. Susan had to get herself together before talking to her husband.

  “Look at this.” Susan was peering into a bakery box. “There must be a thousand cookies in here. I wonder what’s in the rest.” She started going through the half-dozen similar boxes lined up on her counters. “My goodness. Cake and … is it baklava? Yes, it is! And tiny pastries and millefeuilles and chocolate truffles! Oh, Kathleen, it was going to be such a nice party!” she wailed.

  “It was a nice party and …”

  “I know, I know. I’m calming down. Let’s eat some of this stuff. I must have burned a million calories in the last twelve hours. I deserve this.”

  “Great. Have some coffee. Jed must have made it this morning and left it for you.” She looked carefully at her friend. “You’re not going to start crying again, are you?”

  “No. I have a problem with my marriage. We’ll solve it. You know,” she paused to pick out a tiny strawberry tart from one of the boxes. “I think a relationship has a life of its own.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Well …”

  The phone rang.

  “Let me get it,” Kathleen offered, thinking of reporters or more police questions.

  Susan, her mouth full of food, nodded.

  “Hello?”

  “Susan? Are you all right? You sound …”

  “It’s Kathleen, Jed. Susan’s eating.”

  “It’s Jed? Let me take it.” Susan reached for the receiver. “Hi … Yes, I’m fine. They just took away the Volvo. They need it for evidence when the case goes to court. Kathleen can explain … You’re kidding! But it was just fixed … No, no, don’t call a cab, I’ll come pick you up. Sure, the Datsun it still in the Hallards’ garage, isn’t it? Okay, in about fifteen minutes then.” She hung up.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Kathleen asked, swallowing a last sip of her coffee.

  “The Mercedes is broken. It just stopped in the middle of the road. Jed called Triple A and says a tow truck’s on the way. The dealer’s maintenance shop isn’t open on Saturday but it’s going to be towed there anyway. Damn! They just worked on it. I hate it when this type of thing happens.”

  “So you’re going to pick him up?”

  “Yes. I’d better call Martha and tell her that I need to get into her garage.”

  “I’ll go with you, if you’d like, but first I’m going to run to the bathroom.”

  “Fine.” Susan reached for the phone.

  When Kathleen returned, she was hanging up, staring out the window at the police car in her neighbor’s driveway.

  “They must be questioning the guests from the party all over again,” Kathleen said.

  “No, I just talked to Martha. The police are there because they were burgled last night. Martha’s jewelry was stolen during the party. Let’s get over there right away.”

  Kathleen, beginning to feel like she had fallen into her old life, followed quickly.

  They could see Martha and her husband Dan sitting at the kitchen table through the bay window that was set into the back of the Hallards’ large Colonial home. A policeman was at the table with them and, sitting in the middle of it, surrounded by coffee mugs, sugar and cream, spoons and napkins, was a battered burgundy Italian leather jewelry box. It was empty. Susan and Kathleen entered without knocking.

  “I bought the jade bracelet for my wife in Hong Kong when I was there with an international convention of gynecologists. That was seven years ago and it cost three thousand dollars then. I can’t even imagine what it’s worth now.

  “Susan, Kathleen. Good morning. I …” Dan’s phone rang. “If that’s the Frankenthaller baby someone else in the office is just going to have to deliver it. Hello? Oh, yes. It’s for you, Officer.” He handed the phone across the table to the policeman. “Do you want some coffee?” he whispered to Kathleen and Susan.

  “No thanks. We need to get my car. But, Martha, did you lose all your jewelry?”

  “Everything,” was the reply. “Well,” she corrected herself, “not everything. I was wearing my engagement ring and my emerald ring and the emerald earrings that Dan brought me from his trip to Venezuela last year.”

  “And the pearls I bought you in San Francisco, too, remember,” her husband completed the list.

  “Oh yes, those too. I’m glad it was such a dressy party, Susan, or I wouldn’t have been wearing so much.”

  “Where did the thief find the jewels?” Kathleen asked, instantly professional.

  “In the wall safe in our bathroom. We had it installed behind the mirror over the sink. We never thought anyone would look there, but I guess we were wrong.” She sighed.

  “You don’t have another safe somewhere in the house?” Kathleen asked.

  “Not anymore. We used to have locked metal file cabinets built into the wall in the small room that Dan uses for his office next to our bedroom. Dan used to keep the medical files of his patients there. But they were broken into during a robbery a few years ago. The thief was probably looking for drugs. What he found was the jewelry I kept there, thinking it was a safe place.”


  “And it was after that that you had the safe built?” Kathleen asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Did it look like the burglar was looking for drugs this time?” the policeman asked, interrupting his phone conversation.

  “No,” Dan answered. “I don’t keep them around the house. Anyway, everything—including the files and medical histories of all my patients—is kept in my office at the hospital these days.”

  “If you’ll just hang this up for me, Dr. Hallard,” the policeman interjected. “I gotta finish here and get going. Turns out that your home wasn’t the only one broken into last night. I gotta check out …” He looked at the list he had made during his conversation. “One fourteen Innsbruck Drive, Seven Franklin Place and Ten ten Forsythe Lane. Seems all three of those homes had problems last night.”

  “I’ll just … I’ll just go get my car out of your garage, if you don’t mind, Dan,” Susan said quickly.

  “No problem. It’s open. Just help yourself,” came the reply. “Now let me look at this list one more time, Officer.”

  Susan didn’t say anything until she had backed out of the garage and was driving down the long driveway to the street. “That’s the Crabbes, the Logans, and the Bowers.”

  “The addresses the officer recited,” Kathleen stated, picking up on the conversation immediately.

  “Yes.” She steered the car around a corner and speeded up. “They were all at the party last night.”

  “The plot,” said Kathleen, “thickens.”

  “I’ll say. Do you think it had anything to do with the party or the murder?”

  “I have a hard time believing that it doesn’t have anything to do with the party. It sounds to me like a very organized group knew who was going to be out and when and swept through the deserted homes. Now whether that had to do with the murder is something else. I don’t see the connection. There may be one, though.”

  “How did they know they were going to be deserted?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, Dan and Martha’s kids are older and were bound to be out on a Friday night, except for Charlie and he was having a sleep over with Chad that night. In fact, he was asleep in Chad’s room throughout the whole party. Chad was very disappointed. And the Crabbes have twins at different universities in California. The Logans have one child, but he just went to boarding school in Massachusetts last fall and wouldn’t have been home.”