They all agreed that Grace should never hear the truth-that they’d paid for no good reason, after all. Grace was looking forward to the wedding. And Keiko had offered herself up to all the rituals she must follow, from the borrowed veil to the hen night to the first waltz, which Mr. McKendrick had taught them. But she would be glad when it was over.
There had been such a regular drumbeat of occasions, all different enough to other people, she assumed, but all so much the same to her, with their flowers and toasts, hats and handbags. The opening of the memorial gardens, James and Grace’s wedding, even Mrs. McMaster’s adoption of Fancy in the registrar’s office, where Viola pirouetted with excitement. All the gatherings took Keiko back to Murray’s funeral-the empty coffin lowered into the grave beside his father’s, and Mrs. Poole, after the guests had left, sliding down the wall to the floor, rucking her skirt up to her waist, spewing out the ugliest, most wretched noises Keiko had ever heard, draining the blood from Mr. McKendrick’s face and drying Malcolm’s tears.
The printer came to rest with its fan purring. She took out the last warm bundle and lifted the rest of the pages onto the top of it, making the finished pile as tidy as she could get it, knowing it would never be the same smooth sculpted block of cool blank paper as when she’d begun.
facts and fiction
The Psychology Department at the University of Edinburgh is no longer in the venerable old building in George Square where Keiko found it, but has moved to splendid new quarters in the Dugald Stewart Building. This intentional mistake might make it even clearer that Keiko’s experience is entirely fictional. The unhelpful secretary, the charmless roommates, and, of course, Dr. Bryant are not based on any real people at my beloved alma mater.
Painchton is imagined to be in East Lothian, but it and its inhabitants were born in my head. Scotland’s real Food Town is Castle Douglas. The incomparable Grierson Brothers Family Butchers as well as Henderson Butchers and Ballards Butchers are to be found there. The Pooles are not based on any of them.
about the author
Catriona McPherson was born in Scotland, where she lived until moving to California in 2010. She is the author of the award-winning Dandy Gilver historical mystery series. Catriona is a member of Mystery Writers of America and the 2014-2015 president of Sisters in Crime. As She Left It was her first modern standalone, earning her an Anthony Award for best paperback original. Her second standalone, The Day She Died, was released in 2014. You can visit Catriona online at www.catrionamcpherson.com.
Author Photo © Neil McRoberts.
