ever figure out who did it?”
Again came a haughty stare, and her nose cranked up another inch higher.
Doreen recognized the signs. She’d seen them in many of her associates in her previous life.
“No,” Aretha said. “There were a lot of theories, and my parents certainly had a lot of their own at the time, but they were just trying to cause trouble.”
“Did they blame your husband?”
Stunned, a surprised expression covered Aretha’s face. Like a deer frozen in the headlights, she whispered, “How did you know?”
“Because he is the logical choice,” Doreen said.
Aretha shook her head. “How is that logical?” she asked. “My parents helped him into the business. They showed him everything. It was just me in the family, so my husband knew we would inherit everything.”
“But maybe he didn’t want to wait until you inherited?” Doreen said. “Did you want more than he could afford? Was he feeling pressure to give you more?”
Aretha shook her head, bewilderment in her gaze. “No,” she said. “We were fine.”
“Did he want things? Did he want a fancy sports car or a bigger house? Could he have felt like the standard of living wasn’t meeting his expectations?”
“He was a bit of a gambler,” Aretha said, “and he always thought big. He wanted to have a cabin on the lake and a bigger house in town.” She shrugged. “I just ignored him, figuring he was a bit of a dreamer.”
“And what would it take for a dreamer to cross the line to theft,” Doreen wondered.
“We were having some marital problems. But divorce was still a stigma I didn’t want back then.”
“Your parents would have been okay with it though, right?”
This time Aretha’s gaze was haunted, but she nodded. “It’s only as you look back over the years that you realize the mistakes you made,” she whispered. “My parents, they didn’t like him. They opened their arms to embrace him because they figured, if they didn’t, they would lose me. And, after everything they did for my husband, it still seemed like it wasn’t enough.”
“And then you mentioned divorce, correct?”
“We had a big fight. I wanted to move out, to go back home to my parents. I told him I wanted a divorce.”
“And the break-in? Was it that night or another night?”
“That night,” she said. “I did go back to my parents’ house. I left at ten o’clock, although I told the police I was home. I provided an alibi for my husband, but I really don’t know if he was home or not.”
Bingo.
“It’s too bad you did that,” Doreen said, “because some of this could have been resolved so much earlier.”
“I don’t know about that,” she said, “but I felt I owed my husband that much.”
“And yet didn’t you wonder if he may have had something to do with it?”
The older woman hesitated.
Doreen nodded, encouraging her. “Of course you wondered. But, once the insurance didn’t pay out, you guys were in financial trouble, weren’t you?”
Aretha nodded. “My parents were devastated. Everything they’d worked so hard for, and now they wouldn’t even have enough money for their own retirement.”
“And then the fire?”
“Why are you dredging up all this?” Aretha said, visibly shaken. “Don’t you see it’s painful?”
“I’m trying to get it all straightened out,” Doreen said. “It is important. Please trust me that far.”
Aretha shrugged. “Maybe,” she said. “The fire was the end of it. The insurance company wouldn’t pay and were already calling us insurance frauds. It was a mess. They’d canceled the insurance on the business, but my parents didn’t tell me.”
Aretha sagged against the waist-high railing on the front porch. “That was too much for my parents.”
“And they died soon after?”
“Yes, I believe so.” The older woman reached up and pressed her fingers to her temples, as if the memories were painful.
“I’m so sorry for having to do this,” Doreen said, “but did you ever wonder who set the business on fire?”
Aretha slowly raised her gaze and nodded. “I didn’t have to wonder. I’ve always been sure it was my husband. He said something at the time I didn’t understand. About not knowing it wasn’t insured. But he never would tell me what he’d done. So I had no proof. Just that uneasiness …”
“Did you tell the police?”
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”
“Maybe you should have,” Doreen said.
“We’re going back to that decision I made such a long time ago,” Aretha said, as she sagged even lower on the railing and stared out at the gardens. “Back then, I thought I