The Accident

I thought, briefly, about Belinda Morton, and her strange question about whether there’d been an envelope in Sheila’s purse.

But mostly, I thought about Sheila.

“Why?” I said, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. “Why did you do it?”

Still so angry with her.

And needing her so desperately.

When Kelly came through the door just after six on Sunday, I was expecting her to be followed in by Marcus and Fiona. But it turned out to be just Marcus.

“Where’s your grandmother?” I asked Kelly.

“Marcus brought me by himself,” she said. Kelly never referred to Fiona’s second husband as “Grandpa” or “my grandfather.” Fiona wouldn’t allow it. “So we could have some ‘just us’ time.”

Marcus smiled sheepishly. “Whenever it’s the three of us, it’s all girl stuff. So I asked Fiona to let me bring her back on my own.”

“And she let you?” I asked.

He nodded, acknowledging that it was quite a triumph. “I think she was feeling a bit off, to tell you the truth.”

Kelly asked, “What smells?”

“That’s lasagna.”

“You bought some lasagna?”

“I made some lasagna.”

Kelly’s look bordered on outright fear. “We had chicken fingers on the way back.”

“It’s true,” Marcus said. “Glen, I wonder if you might have a moment…”

“Yeah, sure,” I said. “Kelly, honey, why don’t you head up to your room and unpack?”

“I didn’t pack anything when I left, remember?”

“Then just scoot.”

She gave me a hug and did, and Marcus came into the kitchen, pulled out a chair, and made himself comfortable at the table. Although, to be honest, he didn’t look all that comfortable.

“So how are you doing?” he asked. “I mean, really?”

I shrugged. “Like my dad used to say, you play the hand you’re dealt.”

“Know what my dad used to say?” Marcus countered.

“I give up.”

“ ‘That lady over there’s got a nice ass.’ ” He lightly slapped his palm on the table. “I thought that was funny.”

“Sorry, Marcus. I’m not much for laughs these days.”

“I know. Forgive me. You just made me think of my old man. He was a son of a bitch.” He smiled wistfully. “And yet, my mom, she always took him back. I guess because deep down, no matter what he did that might make you think otherwise, he loved us.” His smile seemed to wash away, and he looked a little lost.

When he didn’t speak for a moment, I said, “I’m guessing something’s on your mind.”

“Yeah, I guess there is.”

“Something you don’t want to talk about with Fiona here.” A nod. “Does that mean it’s about Fiona?”

“I’m worried about her,” he said. “She’s taking all of this very hard. Losing a daughter and all.”

“Luckily, she has me to blame. That must help.”

Marcus shook his head. “She’d never show it in front of you, but I think she blames herself as much as she does you. Maybe more.”

I got out the bottle of scotch and two tumblers. I poured us each two fingers and handed him his glass. He knocked it all back at once. I didn’t take all that much longer.

“Go on,” I told him.

“She goes into the bedroom and closes the door and I can hear her crying in there. One time I heard her saying, between sobs, that it was her fault. I asked her about it later and she denied even saying it. But I think she’s been asking herself what she’s been asking you-why didn’t she see the signs? Why didn’t she notice that there was something wrong with Sheila?”

“She’s never indicated to me she’d like to shoulder any of this guilt I’m carrying around.”

“Fiona can be a difficult woman,” Marcus said. “I know that, Glen. But beneath that tough exterior, there is a heart.”

“She probably ripped it out of someone else’s chest and put it there,” I said.

He grimaced. “Yeah, well.” He shook his head. “There’s something else.”

“About Fiona?”

“About Fiona.” He paused. “And Kelly.”

“What?”

“A couple of things, actually. First, this idea of Fiona’s to have Kelly come live with us and go to school in Darien, I’m okay with it but-”

“It’s not going to happen,” I said. “I don’t want her gone from me five days out of every seven. That’s just not on.”

“Well, I kind of agree with you, but for a different reason.”

“What reason?”

“Fiona’s got money problems.”

I poured myself another scotch. Marcus held out his tumbler and I obliged. “What’s going on, Marcus?”

“I guess you’ve heard about this Karnofsky guy.”

The Wall Street investment genius who turned out to be running a massive Ponzi scheme. Countless people had lost millions of dollars and were never going to get a cent of it back. “I watch the news,” I said.

“Fiona had a lot of her money invested with his company.”

“How much?”

“About eighty percent of it.”

I felt my eyebrows soar. “How much is gone?”

“She doesn’t share all her financial details with me, but from what I can tell, we’re talking about two million, give or take.”

“Holy shit,” I said.

“Yeah.”

“What’s she going to do?”

“Even if she loses the two mil, she won’t starve. But she’s going to have to cut back quite a bit. She’ll still have some of her nest egg, but she knows it still has to last a few years. And when she started talking about sending Kelly to school-Glen, you got any idea how much those schools cost?”