A Lethal Legacy (21 page)

Kristina grimaced
when I told her who wanted to speak to her on the phone. I gave her a
comforting pat on the shoulder, and she looked at me gratefully. After a
moment's hesitation, she headed to the hallway extension. I never found out
exactly what Pam wanted, but from Kristina's unhappy face after her return, I
surmised that she didn't give her any comfort.

That night after all
of the guests left, Claire asked if Cassie and I could stay for a few minutes
more. After a quick call to Tessa’s babysitter, we sat in the living room, just
the four of us, alone for the first time during the visit. Aunt Susan,
exhausted by the day's events had gone to bed already.

"How are you,
Claire?" Cassie asked, always solicitous of Claire’s well being. The two
women had become close over the course of our marriage, and I knew Claire could
confide in Cassie the things she couldn't with me.

"I'm tired. And
I'm wondering what happens next," she said. She sounded like a lost and
confused child, not a condition I’d ever seen her in before.

"Do you want to
move from this house?" I asked.

"No, but I don't
know what else to do. I certainly can't handle all of the upkeep and worry that
comes with a home. Judy, from next door, told me today about some new
apartments a few miles from here. But an apartment? I just don't know."
She looked at me for help.

"What about
Susan? Have you discussed this with her?" Cassie asked.

"I think you
should just sell this thing," Kristina said, not giving Claire a chance to
respond to Cassie's question.

"It's not as
easy as all that," Claire said, as she patted Kristina’s hand.

"Sure, it is. I
bet you'd get a mint out of this house. Look at how this area has grown,"
Kristina said. "My mom thinks that you could get a good price on this
house and then invest the money. The rent on an apartment would be covered by
pension and social security."

"I'm sure your
mother is very concerned, but the money is the least of my concerns right
now," Claire said.

" I know, but
you should care about it. That money could be added to the portfolio."

"Kristina, I
don't think Claire cares about that right now," I said. " Claire, do
you have any ideas?"

" I did think of
one thing." She hesitated.

"And?" I asked.

"Have you and
Cassie ever thought about giving up the apartment and moving into a
house?" she asked.

Actually, this
subject was a sore spot for Cassie and me. We’d been fighting about it ever
since we found out about the new baby. She wanted to move into a bigger place,
preferably a house with a yard. I was dragging my feet out of a reluctance to
make any changes with our life. Although in the last few days, the idea had
begun to hold some appeal, especially when I wondered how we could add a
nursery to the already crowded apartment.

"Funny you
should mention it. We’ve been talking about it. But we haven't made any
decisions. Why?" I asked.

"You know this
house is big enough for all of us. There's three bedrooms, plus the study. I
could move out of the master bedroom, and we could easily take that porch
that's off the master bedroom and turn it into another room, maybe a nursery.
That would still leave a room for Tessa and a study for you, Ed." She
paused to take a breath and to look at us. She obviously had been thinking
about this since Philip's death.

"Claire, we
couldn't do that," Cassie said. "You wouldn't want a toddler and a
new baby cluttering up your space."

"That's right,
Grandma. That would be an even bigger burden than just worrying about this
house. I'm sure Ed and Cassie wouldn't even consider it," Kristina said.

" I would love
having Tessa and the new baby right here under my nose to spoil. It would give
me a reason to live. I discussed it with Susan, of course. She feels the same
way that I do."

"You know, it's
not such a bad idea," I finally said warming to the idea. I loved their
house with its open rooms and large sliders in each room leading to a porch
that extended for the length of the house. It could easily be expanded.
"Of course, we'd pay rent."

"With an option
to buy, at a very good price?" Claire asked.

"With an option
to buy, and we'd pay for the addition. You know we could even expand one of the
bedrooms so you'd have a little sitting room, Claire."

"Ed, are you
saying you like the idea?" Cassie asked.

"Yes, I think I
am. This could solve everyone's problems."

"Right, it'll be
just like
Little House on the Prairie
," Kristina said as she
skulked away into the kitchen.

I followed her and
watched as she pulled a beer out of the refrigerator.

"What's the
matter, Kristina?"

"Nothing, Eddie,
nothing at all. I just thought things would be different after the other
day." She looked at me sadly.

"Nothing
changed, Kristina. I know how you feel, and you know how I feel, but I still
have a wife and family. Anything else is impossible."

"I know, Ed, but
a girl can hope, can't she?" Then she lifted the beer bottle to her lips
and guzzled the amber liquid until it was all gone.

After I went back to
the living room, we spent the rest of the evening making plans. We decided we
wouldn't move in until the addition of a nursery was complete, which would
hopefully occur before the birth of our second child.

The next day when I
drove her to the airport, Kristina made sure she let me know what she thought
of the idea.

"You're moving
in on my territory, aren't you, Eddie, boy," she said as we sped along
I-75. "Pam's been warning me for years, but I always defended you and said
that you wanted the best for me."

"What territory
am I moving in on?"

"Don't play so
innocent with me. You know that you'll be able to control Claire's finances
living so close to her. And I bet the first thing you do is cut my
allowance."

"I wouldn't
think of it. Claire is perfectly capable of handling her finances without my
help. Kristina, this is a good thing for Claire. I'm sure she'll put our rent
check back into the portfolio so you'll actually be coming out ahead."

"I'll be
watching you very carefully. It's almost like you had this planned." She
feigned sleep the rest of the way to the Orlando airport.

When we arrived, she
told me not to bother seeing her off, so I dropped her off at the terminal.
Before she got out of the car, she turned to me. "Claire will never leave
you anything. She would never go against Philip's wishes."

"Kristina,
please understand one thing. I don't want anything from Claire except for her
to live long enough for my children to have a memory of a grandmother figure in
their lives. I don't need the money, nor do I want it. It's yours when the time
comes, but not before."

"You know you
claim you're not greedy, and I guess you're not for money. But let's not forget
what you are greedy for, shall we." With that, Kristina leaned over and
grabbed me and gave me a long and lingering kiss, which left me stunned. I
grabbed the back of her head and kissed her back with all of the pent-up
passion I'd been feeling since the day at the motel.

"Don't forget
how I feel about you, but remember it won't matter if you start messing around
with what is rightfully mine," she said when we'd finally managed to pull
apart.

She gave me her
mother's sardonic grin and then left the car, slamming the door behind her. I
breathed a sigh of sadness and of relief as I watched her walk into the
terminal to the plane that would remove her from my life for now.

When I got back to
Ocala, I decided to stop by the house to check on Claire. She greeted me with
an angry look on her face.

"Claire, what's
wrong?" I asked as I came into the house.

"That woman just
called," she said.

"What
woman?"

"Pamela, Gary's
first wife. She wanted to tell me how sorry she was about Philip. I hate that
woman.”

I had never seen
Claire express hatred toward anyone. She could be sarcastic and cynical, but
she liked everyone and treated people with respect.

"I imagine you
blame her for causing this family lots of pain," I said.

" I didn't let
on my feelings while I was on the phone, but my stomach was in a knot. I kept
remembering how I took care of Kristina when Pam couldn't or wouldn't when Kris
was a baby. I remember the anguish I felt all those years that Kristina was
away. She caused damage to this family, especially to Kristina."

"What makes you
say that now after all these years?"

"Not often, but
occasionally Kris gets a tone in her voice, a look in her eye. Then I remember
the times you and Gary warned us about her not always being what she seemed. So
I know about her pain and scars, and I blame Pam for that."

"I'm glad you
can see that, as unpleasant as it is. I see it too sometimes. But Kristina does
realize that you've been the one constant in her life."

"I hope so. I
decided to be cordial to Pam on the phone to get the conversation over. I kept
thinking if I let her do this phony bit, then I won't have to talk to her
again. She even had the nerve to bring up selling the house. It was enough that
she put Kristina up to asking me about it, but she had to go ahead and mention
it to me.

"I know Gary
probably didn't treat her very well. I know that now, but I never liked the way
she was with Philip. I couldn't ever put my finger on it, but it wasn't quite
normal."

"It's over
now," I said. "Shall we call around to some contractors tomorrow? My
book seems to be dragging right now so a break might do it some good."

"Yes, let's do
that. This will be so much fun, Ed. I can't tell you what this means to me. Are
you sure that you and Cassie can put up with a mean old woman like me?"

"You bet, and
the meaner the better, I always say. Tessa is going to love it here with the
yard and two aunts to spoil her rotten."

We moved into the
house by the beginning of 1994. Claire had an expanded room off one of the
spare bedrooms, and we built another bedroom at the end of the house for Aunt
Susan so she could have a little more privacy. Claire's addition was not quite
completed when we moved, but since the baby was due any day, we decided to
settle in even with the dust.

Our son, Gared was
born in February. Claire and Cassie dreamed up the name as a combination of
Gary's and my names. At first, I thought it was rather silly, but it began to
grow on me as I looked down into the sleeping face of the new little Townsend.

I hoped for him a
happier life than that of his partial namesake, and I prayed he wouldn't fall
heir to my weaknesses and faults. Even though we hadn't heard much from
Kristina in the past few months, she constantly nagged at the back of my
consciousness as I fought to block visions of our encounters from my mind. I
replayed the scene over and over in my mind when I finally screamed I loved
her. She had reached down into the depths of me and pulled out my guts.

Gared helped ease
some of my pain and helped me concentrate on important things like keeping
Tessa from tossing him out of his crib while she adjusted to having a sibling.

He floated on top of
the water for a long moment while he watched her tread water next to him. She
began to sink under the surface, and he left his peaceful pose to swim
frantically to where he last saw her go under. She grabbed at him in panic,
nearly pulling them both underwater.

It didn't take Tessa
very long to realize that her brother would be here to stay. With Claire's help,
we gave her plenty of attention while still bonding with Gared. Soon Tessa
became just as protective as the rest of us of the new addition to the family.

At eighty-seven,
Claire thrived while her peers began to fail. First, my mother succumbed to a
decade of weariness brought on by her Alzheimer's. When she died, I could
finally cry for her death. I had been in mourning for years but never felt I
could really show my sadness. For me, Marjorie Townsend died five years before.

The relief I felt
when my mother finally died, was short-lived. One day we received a call from
the police. Aunt Susan had been found wandering around the streets of downtown
Ocala that afternoon. Luckily, her purse contained identification, and the
police officer called the house so I could come and pick her up. Her car was
found later abandoned on a side street. Aunt Susan had no idea how she’d gotten
there and still seemed disoriented when I arrived to take her home. I had to
convince her to get into the car. As I wearily drove back to our tree-lined
subdivision, I realized that Aunt Susan would now require more care.

After a visit to the
doctor later that same day, Claire, Cassie, and I sat and discussed the next
steps. The doctor suggested that maybe Susan was in the early stages of
Alzheimer's, but the only way to tell for sure would be through an autopsy,
after death. He was certain she hadn't had a stroke. We began remembering the
little things that Susan was forgetting lately and realized that the doctor
probably made an accurate diagnosis.

While Susan rested in
her bedroom, the three of us decided that we  had some time before making any
major changes. However, I cautioned both Cassie and Claire not to leave the
children alone with her anymore even for just very short moments. If the
disease progressed anything at all, as my mother's had, she could come and go
for years before losing all of her faculties completely.

According to Claire,
Kristina had managed to get a job as a hostess at a casino making a small wage
plus tips. I imagined the kind of place where Kristina worked, and I imagined
that with a skimpy hostess outfit she would probably manage a nice amount in
tips from generous gamblers. Even though the images of Kristina in Las Vegas
bothered me, I knew I could do nothing about it. Instead, I concentrated on the
other females in my life.

One afternoon in the
summer, while Cassie took Claire and Susan shopping and the children napped in
their rooms, I worked on my new book at the computer. The phone rang disturbing
my concentration.

"Ed! Long time,
huh?" came Kristina's distinctive deep throaty voice.

"Hi, Kristina.
What's up?"

"Try to sound a
little happy to hear from me at least. How's the family?"

"Everyone's
fine. I’m happy to hear from you. How are you?"

I was working on a
particularly difficult chapter of my book and resented her interruption. Her
voice startled me because the main character of the new novel took its life
form from the personality of Kristina. I had actually been visualizing her
provocative way of tossing her head back and looking at me through half-closed
lids when the phone rang. Her voice came over the phone lines as strongly
stimulating as an aphrodisiac to my waning libido. I fought to remain in
control.

"What's wrong,
Eddie? You used to love hearing my voice," she said.

"I still love
hearing your voice, Kristina. Is that what you want to hear? I'm just trying to
be a little wiser in my old age."

"Bet I could
still get you excited if I half tried," she said in her most seductive
voice.

"Did you want to
talk to Claire?" I needed to get her off the phone as soon as possible. I
had been attempting for the past year to keep all my passions and desires under
wraps. Right now, they were dangerously close to unraveling.

"Sure, let me
talk to Claire. She at least will be happy to hear from me."

"She's out shopping
with Cassie and Susan. I'll have her call you." I abruptly hung up the
phone in order not to hear the voice that haunted my worst nightmares.

Claire told me later
in the day that when she called Kristina back, Kristina was upset with me.

"What did you
two talk about, Ed?" she asked when she came back from her room after the
telephone conversation.

"Nothing much.
She wanted to talk to you."

"She said you
were rude to her. That doesn't sound like you."

"I guess I was
just caught up in my work. I usually let the answering machine pick up, but
today I automatically reached for the phone when it rang. Tell her I'm sorry,
the next time you speak to her."

"She lost her
job," Claire said.

"Again?"

"Yes, again.
That kid sure has a run of bad luck, doesn't she?" Claire said.

"I guess you
could call it that, Claire. What happened this time?"

"She said that
the owner had a niece who needed a job after a divorce. I guess Kris had the
least seniority. Anyway, I wanted you to know that I told her I would send her
an extra month's allowance to help cover expenses until she can find something
else."

"Claire, you
don't have to explain to me, you know," I said, but Claire put up her
hand.

"I know how you
feel about her, Ed, don't try and hide it. I also know that you are looking out
for me, and for that, I will always be eternally grateful. However, Kristina is
my only living blood relative, and I need to help her when I can. I just want
you to know when I do help her."

"Claire, be
careful. You know that she's not all that she seems," I said before she
went back to her room probably to write out the check and compose a short note
to her granddaughter.

When Kris didn't call
to thank Claire, her feelings must have been hurt because Kris' name didn't
come up for several months in my presence. Claire confided in Cassie that she
thought the least Kris could have done was to call to say thanks.

By the beginning of
1995, Aunt Susan's Alzheimer's reached the stage where she had to be cared for
around the clock, and once again, I made arrangements for one of my relatives
to go into a nursing home. It didn't get any easier the second time around.
Susan could no longer take care of her own financial affairs either. When I
visited my lawyer, I found out that I should have done something much earlier
about Susan's situation.

She had named Philip
as her power of attorney and health care surrogate. Since Philip was deceased
and Susan could no longer make competent decisions regarding her affairs, a
state-appointed guardian needed to be assigned. I got the job without applying.

Meanwhile Kristina
called to tell Claire that she had been given a great opportunity with a man
who had homes in both Las Vegas and San Diego. She and a friend would be
traveling to California with him monthly to serve his guests at house parties
there.

"All she has to
do is look pretty and serve drinks. Evidently he's going to pay her quite
well," Claire said one night as she told Cassie and me about Kristina's
new job.

"How well does
she know this man?" Cassie asked.

I decided to keep my
mouth shut. At least Kristina wasn't asking for money this time, but I knew
that this deal probably entailed more than the simple serving of drinks, and I
didn't feel in a position to pass judgments. However, the thought of Kristina
servicing these businessmen for money left me sickened.

"He owns one of
the casinos. I think Pam might have introduced them," Claire said.

"I hope she's
careful," was all Cassie offered.

"Maybe you could
find out something more, Ed?" Claire asked.

"About
what?"

"About the
situation. It may not be all that wonderful, now that I think of it. Could you
call Kristina and ask her some questions? She'll expect it from you."

"I'm sure
Kristina will be fine, Claire. She's almost thirty now and can make her own decisions.
You don't honestly believe that a call from me would make any difference, do
you? If anything, it might make her do something rash." The last thing I
wanted to do was call Kristina.

Once again, months
passed before Claire heard anything from her. One afternoon, when I came out of
the study, I found Cassie and Claire sitting at the kitchen table. Claire held
her head with both hands. Cassie looked up in relief when I entered.

"What's going
on?"

"Claire just got
a call from Kris," Cassie said.

"What about?"

"You tell him,
please, Cassie. I can't," Claire said.

"Evidently Kris
told Claire that she had lost the San Diego job and was greatly depressed. Pam
and Oscar won't help her out and refuse to let her stay with them. Then she
asked Claire to send her $20,000 immediately so she could get her life back in
order. She promised not to call again, if Claire would just send the
money."

"What did you
tell her, Claire?" I asked.

"I tried
explaining that taking that much money from the principle would be a great
drain on the portfolio, and I didn't think I could do that."

"Good, good.
What did Kristina say then?"

Cassie looked at
Claire who nodded. "Kris told her that she had a gun sitting right next to
her, and if Claire didn't send the money, she would kill herself."

"It's a trick,
Claire. What did you say to her?"

"I told her I
was sorry. I also told her that she was a grown woman now, and she needed to
stand on her own two feet. And then I told her that the money wouldn't make her
life better. I begged her to get help and have the bills sent to me. But I
refused to send her any money." Claire took a deep gulp of air, but she
did not lose her composure.

"What happened
then?"

"She hung up the
phone. I've been trying to call her back for the last hour, but the line is
busy. I hope I did the right thing."

"You did,
Claire. Don't doubt that. She just pulled emotional blackmail on you, and you
refused to let her. I'm proud of you. I doubt she pulled that trigger. She
probably didn't even have a gun. Besides Kristina isn't the type to kill
herself."

I slept little that
night because of my anger. I never thought for a moment that Kristina had
killed herself after hanging up on Claire. However, I felt like killing her
myself for doing what she had done to her grandmother. Claire seemed to age
before my eyes as we sat at that kitchen table talking. Finally, around three
in the morning I got up and went to the kitchen phone and placed a call to Las
Vegas. I knew the phone would be back on the hook by this time, and it was.

"Kris, Ed here.
Claire tells me you're having some problems."

"Yeah, well,
it's been tough, Ed. I owe a bunch of money. No one really cares about me.
Oscar got real mean when I asked him for help. I didn't know where else to turn
today."

 "I want you to look
in the yellow pages for a crisis center in Las Vegas. They don't charge
anything. Call them the next time you feel like committing suicide, OK?" I
paused.

"Yeah, sure
thing, Eddie, boy," came the expected and sarcastic reply. "Can't I
just call you? Or don't you care about me anymore?"

"Kris, we've
already discussed this. Listen to me very carefully now. I want you to call a
crisis center when you have your next bout of trouble, but under no
circumstances are you to call Claire ever again and use emotional blackmail to
get money out of her. If you ever pull a stunt like this again, I will see to
it that you will never be able to reach her again, and believe me, I can do
that. Do I make myself clear?"

"Is that
all?"

"That's about
it," I said.

"Good-bye,
asshole," I heard before the phone banged in my ear.

I didn't have much
time in the next few months to think about Kris or her problems because Aunt
Susan took a sudden turn for the worse in her fight with Alzheimer's. She
became increasingly disoriented and violent, causing many problems at the
nursing home.

I spent many long
hours in meetings with the director and social worker and nurses while we
attempted to solve the problem of Aunt Susan. If she wasn't trying to get into
bed with the male patients, she was walking naked through the lobby of the home
causing the families of other patients' extreme embarrassment. She constantly
walked, even during the night hours when her body would be nearly dropping with
exhaustion.

She began to take on
the look of a concentration camp victim while still moving constantly even in
her weakened state. Claire, who had been a regular visitor at first, soon
decided to stop her visits because she was startled whenever Susan asked about
Philip. She also seemed embarrassed by Susan's behavior. I finally suggested
that it would be all right with me if she stopped visiting her sister-in-law. I
assured her that I would handle everything. Even though she hesitated, I could
tell she was relieved that she would no longer have to sit in the visitor's
lounge with Susan as she undressed herself.