The Valentine's Day Murder (27 page)

Her mouth shook. “My children,” she whispered.

“I’ll stay here and wait for them,” I said. “Let her get a toothbrush, Detective.”

“You bet.”

They went upstairs together, and I sat down to think about what I would be doing with the rest of my life.

Annie’s last words to me would sting in my memory. After coming down the stairs with a small duffel bag, she came over to me. “It wasn’t supposed to happen that way,” she said. “Val was supposed to go down with the first shot, and I was supposed to go home. Rich. Val doesn’t really exist, you know. He’s just a shadow.”

“OK, Mrs. Franklin,” Detective Murdock said. “This way.” He turned back to me. “I’ll have the social services people pick up the children. You know if she has any family around here?”

“Greenwich, Connecticut, I think. You’ll have to ask her. I don’t know her maiden name.”

I watched the car leave. Several neighbors, all women and children, stood on the quiet street, talking and watching. It was a moment they would never forget, as I would also remember it.

Then, down the street, I saw the first of Matty and Annie’s children skipping toward home.

Murdock called me at Carlotta’s as I was getting ready to leave for the airport. The social services people had arrived not long after the children had come home.

“The gun is registered to Winston Hargrave, Mrs. Franklin’s older brother.”

“Is it the murder weapon?”

“We won’t know for a while but it’s the right caliber. I’ll let you know.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, it’s you that deserves the thanks. Maybe we can have a nice long telephone conversation later this week, and you can tell me how you found my man.”

“I’ll be glad to, Detective. Call any time. I’m on my way home now.”

“Take a nice long rest. You deserve it.”

Carlotta drove me to the airport while Val went to visit Jake Halpern.

“You must have a lot of catching up to do,” I said as we headed towards Buffalo.

“I was wrong about some things, Chris. About whether Val would make that awful trek across the lake. You’re right that you never know another human being as well as you know yourself. But I was right about what’s important. I’ve never loved anyone in my life as much as I love Val. And he feels the same way about me. We’re as solid as the day he gave me the ring.” She moved her hand, and the red stone picked up the light and flashed.

“Have you talked about who he is, and what he remembers of his early childhood?”

“He’s the man I married. He’s the man who’s Jake Halpern’s partner. He’s the man I fell in love with that weekend I went skiing all those years ago. None of the rest matters. We’ll get a good lawyer and straighten out the details. But that’s all they are, details. I have my husband back, Chris. I’ve never been happier.”

I smiled. “Me, too.”

“And I hope you’ll let me know the minute the baby comes. I want him to know he has an aunt in Buffalo who’s there whenever he needs me.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

She looked at the ring again and smiled, a very private smile. She was a happy woman.

The addition seemed to grow by the day. It was only yesterday afternoon that I had seen it last, and now it was subtly different. I went upstairs and looked through the connecting opening. The subflooring was there, the insulation, the hole in the wall where the air conditioner I had allowed myself to be talked into would be installed. It was a beautiful room, and the adjoining bathroom, with its linen closet and handsome stall shower, was more luxury than I had ever imagined would be ours.

I called Melanie and told her I was home for good. We chatted happily, and then I sat down with yesterday’s newspaper. I didn’t read much. I had brought my last case to an end, a successful end, but an end nevertheless. Now I would drink my milk, tend my garden, do my exercise, perhaps do some work for Arnold Gold, whom I missed very much. In the fall I would teach. Then I would give birth, and I would see. But a most enjoyable part of my life had just come to a close.

Jack came home at his usual late hour, and I told him how it had ended.

“Did you tell Murdock about the possible homicide in Connecticut?”

“I didn’t. You and I will have to talk about it first. I don’t know if there’s enough solid information to build a
case. And maybe there isn’t any case. Maybe the little boy died, and the woman got scared and ran.”

“But you got Val and his wife back together again.”

“They’re back. They’re very nice people, Jack. I’m glad it’s worked out for them.”

“Oh, hey. I forgot to tell you. Remember your mother’s old friend Elsie Rivers?”

“Sure.”

“She called last night, and I didn’t have a piece of paper so I forgot to write it down. I hope you don’t mind. She was so sweet and asked so many questions, I let the cat out of the bag. I told her we’re expecting.”

“That’s OK, Jack. I bet she’s pleased.”

“Pleased is an understatement. She’s ecstatic. It’s like this is her own grandchild. She reminded me that her own kids are far away, that she and your mom were as close as two peas in a pod, that she can’t wait to hold this baby.”

“She’s very sweet.”

“It goes on. If you want to teach, you just drop the baby off and she’ll take care of it. If you want to take a vacation, she has a room the baby can stay in and a crib all set up. If you want to go into the city—What are you grinning at?”

“I never thought of Elsie,” I said. “You know what? Maybe the murder on the lake wasn’t my last case, after all.”