Brad Daggett killed both of the Seversons.”
“And he’s missing?”
“Yes.”
We were quiet a moment. I watched Lily touch the fingers of her left hand in succession against the armrest of the chair. It was the first outward sign of nervousness I’d seen from her. Finally, she said, “I screwed up. I should have told you everything the first time you came here. I should have told you that Ted thought his wife was having an affair with Brad. I’m sorry. Honestly, when you came, I assumed that Ted had been killed by a burglar. I was almost embarrassed that I went up to Maine to try and do my own investigation. It sounded stupid.”
“Like Nancy Drew,” I said.
“Um, are you calling my childhood hero stupid?”
“No, of course not. I loved Nancy Drew, too. Why do you think I became a detective?”
A ragged-looking cat came up onto the deck, mewling at Lily. “You have a cat,” I said.
“Not really,” she answered, standing up. “His name is Mog, but he mostly lives outside. He comes here when he’s hungry. I’m going to get him some food. Can I get you anything from inside?”
“No, thanks,” I said. While she was gone I clucked at Mog, but he stayed where he was. His eyes were different colors, or else one of his eyes was damaged somehow. Lily returned with cat food in a bowl, and set it down on the edge of the deck. Mog squatted and began to eat.
I wanted to stay, but I had nothing left to ask. I still didn’t believe that Lily was telling me the whole truth, but her answers were reasonable enough. “Your father,” I said. “How’s he doing?”
“Oh, he’s . . . he’s about the same. I think getting him out of England is the best thing for him. He took a beating from the press.”
“Is he still writing?”
“He told me he thinks he might have one more book in him, but I don’t know about that. We’ll see. Maybe he’ll get inspired now that he’s back living with my mother.”
“I thought your parents were divorced.”
“They are. Thank God. This is just an arrangement. Strange, I know. But my mother needs money, and my father is going to help out now that he’s staying in her house. Plus, my father can’t be alone. It’s a shot in the dark, but if it works, it will solve both their problems. If it doesn’t, my father could come here and live with me.”
I wanted to ask her more about her father, partly because I was interested in him, but mostly because I wanted to stay out here on Lily Kintner’s back deck. I wanted to keep looking at her. The sun was behind her, turning her hair into a fiery red. She had crossed her arms across her middle, tightening her sweater against her body, and I could see the high swell of her breasts, and the faint outline of a pink bra, beneath the thin white cashmere. I thought of ways to prolong my stay. I could ask more questions about her father, about her love of Nancy Drew, about her job at Winslow, but I knew that I shouldn’t. This hadn’t been a social call. I stood up, and Lily also stood. Mog finished eating and came and rubbed his side against Lily’s ankle, then bounded off the way he had come.
“Oh, one more thing,” I said, remembering a last question that I’d meant to ask. “You said the first time we met that Miranda and you knew each other in college.”
“Uh-huh. At Mather College in New Chester, Connecticut.”
“Miranda told me you stole her boyfriend.”
“She did, did she? Well, we dated the same guy. Miranda dated him first, then I did, then he went back to her. It was a mess at the time, but it was years ago.”
“So, when you met Ted and realized he was married to Miranda, and that he was unhappy, you didn’t think it was your opportunity for revenge?”
“Sure. It crossed my mind. I liked Ted, and I didn’t like Miranda, but no, that’s not what was between Ted and me. We weren’t romantic. I was just someone for him to talk to.”
Lily walked me back through her house and out to my car. She held out her hand and I shook it, her palm dry and warm. When we let go, Lily’s fingertips gently ran along my hand, and I wondered if it was intentional, or if I was imagining something between