Afraid, he tried to pull away. “Mom, let go of me.”

Edna held eye contact with her son. “Wally, you must never talk about Molly or that night. Not ever again, do you understand that?”

“I won’t.”

“Wally, I’m not going to work for Molly anymore. In fact, you and I are going on a trip. We’ll drive far away somewhere, maybe to the mountains, or maybe even to California. Would you like that?”

He looked doubtful. “I think so.”

“Then swear you’ll never talk about Molly again.”

There was a long pause before he said quietly, “I swear, Mom.”

66

Even though Molly tried, Dr. Daniels would not let her put him off a second day. He told her he was coming over at six o’clock, and promptly at six he rang the bell.

“You have such courage to be alone with me,” she murmured as she closed the door. “But if I were you, I’d be careful. Don’t turn your back on me. I might be dangerous.”

The doctor was taking off his coat as she said this. He paused, one arm still in the sleeve, and he studied her carefully. “What’s that supposed to mean, Molly?”

“Come inside. I’ll tell you about it.” She brought him into the study. “Show and tell,” she said, indicating the stacks of files and magazines on the floor, the pictures and albums on the sofa. “You can see I wasn’t just sitting here brooding.”

“I’d say you were housecleaning,” Dr. Daniels observed.

“Housecleaning in a way, yes, but it’s actually a little more than that, Doctor. It’s called ‘a fresh start,’ or maybe ‘a new chapter,’ or ‘bury the past.’ Take your pick.”

Daniels crossed to the sofa. “May I?” he asked, indicating the photographs.

“Look at any of the photos, Doctor. The ones on the left, I’ll send to Gary ’s mother. The ones on the right go into the circular file.”

“You’re throwing them out?”

“I think that’s healthy, Doctor, don’t you?”

He was flipping through them. “There seem to be quite a few with the Whitehalls.”

“Jenna’s my best friend. As you know, Cal and Gary and Peter Black ran Remington together. There are a fair number of photos of Peter and his two ex-wives in there somewhere.”

“I know you’re very fond of Jenna, Molly. What about Cal? Are you fond of him too?”

He looked up and saw the hint of a smile on her lips.

“Doctor, Cal isn’t likable,” she replied. “I doubt if anybody really likes him, including his schoolmate-chauffeur-general factotum, Lou Knox. People don’t like Cal so much as they are fascinated by him. He can be marvelously amusing. And he’s very smart. I remember we once were at a dinner in his honor attended by some six hundred impressively important people. You know what Jenna whispered to me? ‘Ninety-nine percent of them are here out of fear.’ ”

“Do you think that bothered Jenna?”

“Heavens no. Jenna loves Cal ’s power. Although, of course, she’s strong herself. Nothing stands in her way. That’s why she’s already a partner in a prestigious law firm. She did that on her own.” Molly paused. “I, on the other hand, am a cream puff. I always have been. Jenna has been great. Cal, on the other hand, would love to see me disappear off the face of the earth.”

I agree with that, John Daniels thought. “Is Jenna coming by tonight?” he asked.

“No. She had a dinner to attend in New York, but she called this afternoon. I was glad she did. After Mrs. Barry left I really needed a lift.”

Daniels waited. As he watched, Molly’s expression changed. A look of sorrow mixed with disbelief came over her face. Her voice was even, her tone almost a monotone, as she told him about Edna Barry and her parting words.

“I called my mother this afternoon,” Molly said. “I asked her if she and my father were afraid to be with me too; I asked if that was why they were staying away when I needed them. You see, I didn’t want anyone around last week. When I got home, I felt the way I guess a burn victim must feel: ‘Don’t touch me! Leave me alone!’ But after Annamarie’s body was found, I wanted them. I needed them.”

“What did they say?”

“That they can’t come. Dad will be all right, but he had a ministroke. That’s why they’re not here. They called Jenna and told her about it, and they asked her to be with me. And of course she has been. You saw that.”

Molly looked past Dr. Daniels. “It was important that I talk to them. I needed to know they were there for me. They’ve suffered so much over all this. After Mrs. Barry left today, if I thought they had abandoned me too, I would have…” Her voice trailed off.

“Would have what, Molly?”

“I don’t know.”

Yes, you do, Daniels thought. Rejection by your parents would have pushed you over the edge.

“Molly, how do you feel now?” he asked gently.

“Embattled, Doctor. If my parole is revoked, and they send me back to prison, I don’t think I can handle it. I need more time, because I swear to you: I am going to remember exactly what happened after I came back to the house from the Cape that night.”

“Molly, we could try hypnosis. It didn’t work before, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work now. It may be that the memory block is like an iceberg and is breaking up. I could help you.”

She shook her head. “No, I have to do it myself. There’s-” Molly stopped. It was too soon to tell Dr. Daniels that all afternoon, one name kept coming up over and over in her head: Wally.

But why?

67

Barbara Colbert opened her eyes. Where am I? she wondered blearily. What happened? Tasha. Tasha! She remembered that Tasha had spoken to her before she died.

“Mom.” Walter and Rob, her sons, were standing over her, sympathetic, strong.

“What happened?” she whispered.

“Mom, you know that Tasha is gone?”

“Yes.”

“You passed out. Shock. Exhaustion. Dr. Black gave you a sedative. You’re in the hospital. He wants you to stay here for a day or two. For observation. Your pulse wasn’t that great.”

“Walter, Tasha came out of the coma. She talked to me. Dr. Black must have heard her. The nurse too; ask her.”

“Mom, you’d sent the nurse into the other room. You talked to Tasha, Mom. She didn’t talk to you.”

Barbara fought against sleepiness. “I may be old, but I am not a fool,” she said. “My daughter came out of her coma. I know she did. She spoke to me. I remember clearly what she said. Walter, listen to me. Tasha said, ‘Dr. Lasch, it was so stupid, I tripped on my shoelace and went flying.’ Then she recognized me, and she said, ‘Hi, Mom.’ And then she begged me to help her. Dr. Black heard her asking for help. I know he did. Why didn’t he do something? He just stood there.”

“Mom, Mom, he did everything he could for Tasha. It’s better this way, really.”

Barbara tried to struggle to a sitting position. “I repeat-I am not a fool. I did not imagine that Tasha came out of the coma,” she said, her anger giving her voice its customary tone of authority. “For some terrible reason Peter Black is lying to us.”

Walter and Rob Colbert grasped their mother’s hands as Dr. Black, who had been standing out of the range of her view, stepped forward and pricked her arm with a needle.

Barbara Colbert felt herself sinking into warm, enveloping darkness. She fought against it momentarily, then succumbed.

“The most important thing is that she rest,” Dr. Black assured her sons. “No matter how prepared we think we are to lose a loved one, when the moment of saying good-bye comes, the shock can be overwhelming. I’ll look in on her later.”

When Black got to his office after making rounds, there was a message waiting from Cal Whitehall. He was to call him immediately.