Beautiful Lie the Dead. Barbara Fradkin
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1950s, the homes were being snapped up by young couples eager to avoid cookie-cutter plastic houses and hour-long commutes from suburbia. Sue wouldn’t be caught dead living here. She wanted acres of land somewhere in the rugged Canadian shield west of the city. Hardwood forests, granite bluffs, a meadow for a horse, and lots of trails for the dogs to roam off-leash. She grinned at the image of shy, self-conscious Gibbsie and her lying in the meadow with the sun beating down on their naked bodies and not a prying eye for miles.
Would she ever be whole enough?
The Kennedy house came upon them unexpectedly, breaking into her daydreams. It was a red and white dollhouse sitting on a corner lot, surrounded by a trim cedar hedge. Cars crammed the single driveway and crowded the street against the snowbanks, making it difficult for Bob to squeeze by. Only once he’d parked up the block and had one foot out the door did she stop him.
“Bob, I can observe much better if I’m in there with you.”
“Impossible.” He didn’t look at her. “The inspector would have my head.”
“Only if you tell him.”
“Or the family does.”
“Why should they? They won’t think anything of it. Two detectives look better than one anyway. One to interview and one to take notes. Looks like we’re taking it seriously.”
“Sue, you know—”
“I’ll be as quiet as a mouse. You know how hard it is to deal with upset families, plan questions and take notes.”
She’d thought that would be incentive enough, but still he shook his head. She changed tactics. “Darling, I need to do this.
I need to feel normal again, start thinking like a police officer again. How am I ever going to recover…?” She grabbed his chin and turned his face to hers. “How am I ever going to be a hundred percent?”
That simple phrase proved the key. She suppressed a small smile of triumph as she followed him up the icy street, trying to disguise the slight drag of her left foot. The family would not want a cripple assigned to their daughter’s search.
The snow on the front walk had been trampled by dozens of boots and as soon as Bob rang the doorbell, the door was flung open. A look of expectation followed by surprise raced across the face of the man who opened it. The loud buzz of voices could be heard inside.
“Mr. Kennedy? I’m Detective Gibbs of the Ottawa Police.”
The man didn’t answer. His jaw dropped and he stepped back to yell into the house. “Reg, it’s the cops!”
A roly-poly sparkplug of a man rushed up. He had a crooked nose, curly silver hair and that Irish leprechaun face Sue had seen in dozens of small Ottawa Valley towns. Minus the jaunty grin and the twinkle in the eye. This man’s eyes were bloodshot, and his skin was bruised grey with fatigue and fear. Behind him came a dumpling of a woman with mousey hair all askew and the same hollow panic in her eyes. Others anxiously crowded into the tiny hall.
“There’s nothing new,” Bob said quickly, and their faces sagged. He lowered his voice. “Just a few questions. Is there somewhere we can speak privately?”
The Kennedys led them through the crowd to the tiny kitchen in the back, which was probably outfitted before Sue was born. Only the massive gas stove looked modern. Sue remembered from the file that Norah Kennedy was a housewife and Reginald was a chef by trade, although he was now a bartender at a pub on Merivale Road. It obviously didn’t pay well enough for them to replace the painted white cabinets and arborite counter.
Two women were hunched over the small counter, making sandwiches. Reg Kennedy asked the women to leave then invited the officers to sit in the homemade bench built under the window overlooking the backyard. The father squeezed in opposite them, but the wife seemed too jumpy. She fussed around, wiping sandwich crumbs from the counter. Reg tilted his head towards the crowd in the living room.
“We got a search on, everyone wants to help. We’ve lived here almost thirty years, and they all watched Meredith grow up. We’ve checked all her friends and the places she usually goes. Right now we’re checking along the route she would have walked from the bus to home. She could have slipped on the ice, and with the snow the last couple of days...” He broke off as if he couldn’t say it aloud.
Taking out her notebook, Sue waited dutifully while Bob took up the interview. He looked efficient and in control. No hint of the stutter that sandbagged him when he was nervous. “Any leads from her friends on the places she went? We need to track her latest movements. We know she called her friend Monday evening. Anyone see her yesterday?”
The father shook his head. “She didn’t go to work, didn’t call in sick. She never answered the emails and texts people sent her asking where she was. Jessica, her maid of honour, left her three messages on her cell and two texts saying ‘call me.’ No answer.” “Was the maid of honour concerned about something?”
“Not at first. Meredith had called her, upset, and they were supposed to meet. It wasn’t like Meredith not to show up.”
“Why was she upset? Did Jessica know?”
“It was probably about the bridesmaid who quit.”
“What happened?”
Reg grimaced. “My nephew’s wife. She’s always taking offence, and I think Meredith said something to upset her.”
“They don’t get along?”
“Caryn doesn’t really get along with anyone—”
Mrs. Kennedy looked up from her cleaning irritably. “Well, she’s going through a hard time, losing the baby, Reggie.”
Sue eyed the exchange, noting the spark in the wife’s eye and the guilt in Reg’s. Crises always brought out the cracks in even the best marriage. Bob ploughed ahead. “So Meredith was c-concerned this might interfere with the wedding?”
Reg glanced at his wife. “She did seem annoyed—”
Norah sighed. “She was fine. Caryn would have come around.
She just needed a few days to calm down.”
“Did she have any disagreements with anyone else?”
Both parents shook their heads simultaneously.
“Any former boyfriends who might cause trouble?”
At this, Reg and Norah exchanged uncertain glances before Norah answered. “She was engaged a few years ago, but they never saw eye to eye on things. Fought all the time. Meredith does have a temper. I think they were both glad to be out of it.”
Bob paused like he was looking for another thread to pick up.
“Any trouble with the current fiancé?” Sue blurted out impatiently. Beside her, Bob tensed, but he was too smart to say anything. “Were they fighting too?”
“Nothing the two of them couldn’t handle,” Reg said. “They really adored each other. You could see it in their eyes whenever they were together.” A look almost like longing crossed his face.
“Like they were made for each other. If ever two souls fit together perfectly...”
Norah grunted. “Perfect, right. Except for that holy terror of a mother.”
Sue raised an eyebrow. “Trouble with the in-laws?”
Reg flinched but said nothing. Doesn’t want to put his foot wrong again, Sue thought. Norah replied for him. “Mother-in-law. Meredith’s got her work cut out for her there, but if anyone’s a match for that woman, it’s Merry.”
Bob finally found his tongue. “The mother-in-law doesn’t approve?”
“Of Meredith?” Norah flushed. “That woman wouldn’t approve of anyone, but certainly not us.”
Nose up her ass? Sue