died unexpectedly of a massive heart attack. That was two years ago. Ned liked Norma. He was an adult when his father started up with her and he had no problems with their relationship at all.
‘They made a great couple,’ he said. Karen’s father had been killed in a car accident more than a decade earlier and Arthur’s first wife, Ned’s mother, died when he was a teenager. After his father’s death, Ned continued to stay at Norma’s when he was in Auckland. He said he hoped Norma enjoyed his company. ‘She and Dad used to have a good time together. He was good company and she missed that when he was gone. I could make her laugh,’ he said, smiling appreciatively at the memory of her. ‘She liked a good laugh.’ Having spent a few easy hours with this man I could well imagine she did enjoy his company, particularly with her man-friend dead and her only child in prison.
‘What about Sunny?’ I asked. ‘Did Norma see much of her after Karen went to prison?’
He shuddered dramatically and polished off a forkful of eggs before answering. ‘It was a terrible, terrible thing Karen did. Norma never forgave her, you know. Well, who could? Even if you were her mother.’
‘But she did keep up the contact with Sunny?’
‘No. She decided it was best not to.’
I was shocked. ‘How could that be best? She was the child’s grandmother!’
‘Norma didn’t like to talk about it.’ I waited while he forked some eggs onto a piece of toast. ‘I do know that the day after—’ He paused, toast forgotten. The Ponsonby clock chimed four times before he carried on. ‘You know, I keep wanting to call it the accident but of course it was no accident.’ I nodded. I’d done that too. ‘Anyway, the day after the drowning, Dad and Norma went to the house to see Sunny. Karen was taken away that day, of course. The police came round and she just confessed. Anyway, Dad went off to the kitchen to talk to Justin, offer his condolences and all, and Norma went to find Sunny.’ The accent was back in full force. He turned the ice pack over. I caught a glimpse of red and purple before he pressed it back into the eye socket. ‘And the next minute Dad heard her screaming the house down.’
‘Who was screaming the house down?’
‘Sunny. She screamed and screamed. There was no stopping her. Justin told Norma she should go. Eventually, she turned around and left and Dad followed.’
‘Why?’ I was confused. ‘Why would Sunny do that?’
He went back to the scrambled eggs. ‘Dad thought maybe it was because Norma reminded the child of her mother.’ He nodded in the direction of a framed photo of Norma and Karen on the shelf behind me. ‘They do look alike, don’t you think? Did look alike, I mean.’
A chip of melting ice was dribbling down his neck. I resisted the urge to wipe it away. Despite the intimacy of our earlier contact, I reminded myself we weren’t that close. I craned to look at the photo. He was right. Mother and daughter did look very alike. Sunny continued the family resemblance. I wondered if she knew that.
‘Dad said Norma was devastated. Far as I know, she never went back, never saw Sunny again. Personally,’ he said, carelessly wiping that dribble from his neck with the back of his eating hand, ‘I thought she should have gone back to see the child. She should have gone to the funeral. When all was said and done, it was a bloody selfish decision Norma made.’
‘Selfishness seems to run in the family.’ I clamped my mouth shut. It wasn’t like me to make personal remarks about my clients, especially not to their family. I blamed the 4 a.m. supper and shared ice packs. Annoyed with myself, I carried the plate to the sink, sluiced it under the tap and stacked it on the bench. I leaned my head against the cold fridge door behind Ned. All this time he hadn’t spoken or moved.
‘It was selfish what Karen did, killing that little boy. And what she did to Sunny.’ He swivelled on his stool to face me. ‘But I blame Justin as much as I blame her. He was always so in control, you know?’
This was interesting but I kept my mouth shut. One indiscretion a night was enough, and if I included the freakin’ she-devil attack my indiscretion count was already on