Charles coughed.
Dorothy smiled, thinly.
“I’m sorry,” Mr. Kelly said. “You do mind. I shouldn’t ask personal questions.”
“I never met my mother,” Dorothy said.
“Oh. Okay, I’m sorry. Never mind, shouldn’t have asked. Anyway, I’ll find my way out.”
“I’m going down,” Charles said. He held open the office door and followed the broad shoulders down the stairs, and he and Alice received one more tip of the hat as the front door closed.
“I couldn’t help but notice,” Dorothy said as Charles returned to his desk.
“Notice what?”
“You didn’t tell him what you found in the John Locke.”
“He didn’t ask.”
“Charles, that’s ridiculous. All right, what if he had asked?”
“I don’t answer rhetorical questions. And, I doubt the papers have anything to do with his burglaries.”
“They have to do with something. I think you’re making a mistake.”
“I’m trying not to make a mistake. And I couldn’t help but notice,” Charles said.
“Notice what?”
“How he noticed you.”
“Oh… well…” Dorothy’s cheeks blushed a delicate pink.
“Anyone would, of course. It’s quite understandable.”
“Don’t be silly, Charles.”
“When I am with you, it is everything else that seems silly. But I will try to attend to prosaic life.”
Dorothy already had. “And what will that be?”
“I think I know another doorknob to try my key in.” He found his telephone book.
“Who are you pestering now?”
“The wind is blowing toward Lucy Bastien.”
“You should not pester her, Charles.”
“I don’t believe I will be. Apparently, she could care less.”
“You know I have never liked that expression,” Dorothy said.
“You know that I haven’t either. Why is it supposed to mean the exact opposite of what it means?” He pushed buttons.
“It is a symptom of the hopeless state of our nation.”
“Exactly.” He waited as the telephone rang.
“Lucy,” a voice said.
“Charles,” he said.
“Charles?” The voice sounded puzzled, but amused. “What do you want?”
“To come see you.”
“You do? Why?”
“I thought it would be interesting.”
That was enough. “It sounds like it might be. Who are you, anyway?”
“Charles Beale. I knew Derek Bastien.”
“Then maybe I’m not interested. I’m not going to buy anything. What do you sell?”
“Books. Antique books.”
“Right. I hate antiques, and I don’t like books either.”
“I paid you twenty-seven thousand dollars for thirteen antique books last Monday. Isn’t that worth letting me in?”
“Maybe. Okay, come on, I don’t care.”
“Thank you. Would this morning be all right?”
“Anytime you want. If I’m here, I’ll answer the door.”
“Thank you. Very much.”
Charles looked at Dorothy.
“Just go,” she said. “I will not discuss it.”
“Yes, dear.”
“Except that I can’t believe you would say such things on the telephone to someone you’ve never met. Angelo isn’t the one who needs to learn manners.”
“Yes, dear.”
Charles stood for a moment at the weighty oak door. There would be no chess game this time.
He rang the bell. The door opened.
There was no granite foyer table. No oval mirror on the wall above it.
He smiled. “Hello. I’m Charles Beale.”
“Come in. I’m Lucy.”
The foyer walls weren’t gray-green. They were light yellowish tan.
“Thank you.”
The floor wasn’t white and black marble. It was bleached pine. It was the only wood in sight. There was no mahogany, no cherry, maple or even oak; there was no Chippendale, no Hitchcock or Windsor; there was no inlay or carving; no pediments, corbels, medallions, ball and claw, egg and dart, or any molding; the rococo trace work was gone; there was no dark blue or burgundy or umber or ebony; no silk, velvet, leather, tapestry; no statuary, nothing framed, no crystal-the list of what there was not was too long.
“Make yourself at home,” she said.
Rattan. Everything. Yellow and white. The House of Bastien had become a Florida beach rental.
A poster of a palm tree hung where the mirror had been.
“I will.”
He followed her into the front room and sat with a scrunch on the yellow cushion of a whitewashed wicker chair.
“Lemonade?”
“No, thank you.”
Lucy perched on her own chair. “It looks like you’ve been here before.”
“Yes.” He forced his eyes back toward her. “A few times. It’s quite different.”
“That’s what I wanted.” She was not tall or thin. She was wrapped in beige and her long, dark, rough, graying brown hair was tied with a yellow ribbon.
“It’s very light,” he said.
“Finally. I can finally breathe.” She took a deep breath to prove it. “You sold him books?”
“Antique books.”
“Everything was antique around here. Fourteen books for twenty-seven grand?”
“Thirteen.”
“I looked at the list. It said fourteen.”
“The list?”
“He kept a list of everything he owned. He kept lists on everything. It had fourteen old books on it.”
“I only bought thirteen. I’ll need to check my computer.”
“Whatever. Did you come here often?”
“Ten or twelve times over the years. I’m surprised I’ve never met you.”
“Nobody’s met me. I saw precious little of Derek, let alone his precious friends.”
“I’m sorry I never had the pleasure.”
“Blame Derek. That’s what I do.”
Charles took in his own breath, and nodded, and made a show of looking again around the bright room. “Well, then, thank you for letting me meet you now. I really didn’t have a specific reason to come, even. I think I just wanted to see what you were like.”
“Just like this. This is what Derek’s wife looks like in her natural state. Released from captivity and readjusting to the wild.”
“I’m sure it must be an adjustment.”
“I’ve done it before. It’s not hard.”
“Done it before?”
“Derek wasn’t the first husband I’ve buried. He was number two, not that he tried any harder.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”
“It doesn’t matter. I married for love the first time, and money the second. What’s left?”
“I’m still on love,” Charles said.
“Marrying for money gives you a lot more time to watch television. The shopping’s better, too.” There was a sigh in her cynicism that rang it hollow. “What’s it like to sell old books?”
“It’s wonderful.”
“Do you have a store, or do you just call on rich widows?”
“I have a shop. I’d be honored to show it to you sometime.”
“Not likely, Charles. I don’t ever want to see another antique as long as I live. So are you getting what you want out of meeting me?”
“Oh, yes. I couldn’t even imagine what Derek’s wife would be like.”
“I sure couldn’t,” Derek’s wife said. “Or him either.”
“Yes. Quite a failing on his part. Why was that, do you think?”
“Well, you know, I just don’t collect dust very well, and that was sort of a requirement of anything he had.”
“He had quite a few friends, and they weren’t the dust-collecting types either.”
“You’re about the first one I’ve met.”
“And the strange thing is,” Charles said, “you seem like just the interesting type of person he would have collected. Did you ever talk with him?”
“Not in years. I’d just see him around the house once in a while, and he’d say hello. Maybe I should have introduced myself.”
“I am just amazed,” Charles said. “It seems so unlike the Derek I knew.”
“Well, you’ll have to tell me about him sometime.”
“Really?”
“No. I don’t really care. And I’m just starting to get tired of talking now, if you get my drift.”
“Of course. I do appreciate your time. You’re a very interesting person, Mrs. Bastien.”