Galen's Gemma - Dale Mayer Page 0,22

you,” Gemma added, “but sometimes we don’t get what we want.” Gemma remembered hearing Joe say that many a time. “And your daddy would have told you that over and over again, wouldn’t he? But he also always would have told you that we still have to keep trying to do what’s right.”

“I’ll be a doctor,” Becky said. “Then I can save people like my daddy.”

“And that would be lovely, if that’s what you end up doing,” she said, smiling down at her niece. “We need more doctors.”

She nodded, and the two of them headed across the field. Gemma was trying to figure out what questions had been asked of her niece and who had asked her. But it was a matter of making the questions about that appear subtle and innocent.

“What kind of questions couldn’t you answer when they asked you? When I was in class,” she said, “they used to ask me questions about history, and I never could answer those.”

“I don’t know much history,” she said. “They asked me about Mommy.”

“Oh, interesting. But then your mother is very beautiful, so, of course, they asked questions about her.”

“And about Daddy.”

“Like what?” she asked as she led Becky over to the hutch.

“They asked if Mommy and Daddy were really close and if they talked. And if Daddy might have shown her something.”

“Something like what?”

The little girl shrugged. “They talked about some ladder or something.” She frowned. “I don’t know. That isn’t quite the right word.”

“Ledger?”

Immediately Becky nodded. “That’s it. What is that?”

“It’s a book where people record stuff.”

“Yeah, they asked if there was a book.”

“That your Daddy might have had?”

She nodded.

“What did you tell him?”

“Well, Daddy had a book,” she said, “but I don’t know where it is now.”

“When did you last see it?”

“Mommy had it,” she said, delivering a bombshell that Gemma hadn’t even considered.

*

“What was that last line of Gemma’s? About ‘this might be a good time?’ What the hell does that mean?” Rebecca asked, as she walked over to a small table. “I prefer my cabin. It’s nicer.”

“That’s because it’s bigger, has a bedroom, and more furniture,” Zack said patiently.

“But then there’s more of us over there, so that makes sense to be there,” Rebecca said. She looked at the two men. “Why are you catering to Gemma? You know we don’t have to be here.”

“Don’t we?” Galen asked. “I have a bunch of questions to ask you.”

“I hate questions,” she said. “The police interviewed me for hours. It was terrible.”

“But they were only doing what they needed to do,” Galen said. “Finding out what happened to your husband. They have procedures to follow.”

“Sure,” she said, bored. “Ask away then.”

“What was your relationship like with Joe?”

She stopped, looked up at him, and frowned. “We were happy. Why? Has somebody said anything?”

“No,” he said, “we just need to know.”

“No,” she snapped, glaring at him. “You don’t need to know.”

Zack sighed and looked out the window.

Galen hid a smile. “Are you always this difficult?” She turned on him, and he could see her fury building. “I won’t be sidetracked, you know?” he said mildly. “We have other questions. Were you two talking about divorce at all?”

“No,” she snapped. “We were happy.”

“Was there life insurance on Joe?”

“Yes.”

“Have you received a payout?”

“Not yet.”

“How much?”

“Half a million,” she replied.

At that, Zack whistled. “That should set you up nicely.”

“I hope so,” she said, with a shrug of her shoulders, “but it won’t be quite enough, and you know it.”

“Quite enough for what?” Galen asked.

“To rebuild my life,” she said. “Joe was everything to me.”

“And yet you never talk about missing him. Even the money isn’t enough to rebuild your life, but you don’t talk about rebuilding that empty piece of your heart.”

“I loved him as much as I’ve loved anyone,” she said, boldly staring at him. “I know most people don’t think I have feelings. I’m not superficial as much as I just don’t know what deep feelings are. Maybe something is wrong with me, but I don’t care. It’s who I am, and people just need to accept it.”

“Did you have anything to do with Joe’s death?”

“Of course not,” she said. “That’s insulting.”

“That’s a lot of insurance money too,” he said mildly.

She just glared at him.

“Do you have any idea why Joe was killed?” he continued.

“Gemma thinks it has to do with his work.”

“I’m not asking what Gemma thinks,” he said, again seeing her tactics to evade the questions.

She glared at him. “No, I don’t know. It was a robbery gone