Stitch in Snow

'They are pretty widely read.'

'And librarians would know your name?'

'I believe so.'

'Mrs. Harrison knows her name,' Pierrot said, stoutly my champion. She was the clinging type and I'd had to disengage myself from her clasp to eat. 'Our school library has every single one of the "Timmy" books and two of some.'

I began to see the method behind his question.

'Thank God you're not a Jacqueline Susanne,' he said, rolling his eyes expressively.

'I wish I could laugh all the way to the bank the way she does… did.'

'Not in this case.'

I saw Petra gesture minutely with one hand, noticed Peter catch her eye and nod.

'And what happened in school today, Pierrot?' Petra asked her daughter, firmly establishing that business was not to be discussed at dinner.

I didn't mean to dominate the dinner conversation but Pierrot and Zandra vied with each other in asking 'Timmy' questions; some of them so outrageous that even Dan laughed. I was conscious of his gaze and DJ's rapt expression. The boy early admitted, somewhat gruffly, that he had never read any of my books but would Pierrot lend him one for after his homework? He was relieved to learn that Timmy was grown-up, and quite respectful when I told them that Tim was studying to be an engineer at Lehigh,

Peter Taggert was passive to the conversation's flow, even after I'd finally got the children off the subject of Tim and onto winter sports. The lawyer was deep in some private reflections, though he joined in laughter and seemed to follow what was being said. Petra kept glancing at me, too, but that was more to see if the children were bothering me with their questions. Dan slouched in his chair, his shoulders sagging. He kept playing with the silverware at his place, starting suddenly and pulling himself erect in a conscious effort to appear part of the group. Son kept one eye on father all through dinner. DJ III adored DJ II.

After dinner the children were firmly sent to their rooms to do their homework, with Petra physically shooing them to the steps of the bedroom level.

'Now then,' she said with an exaggerated sigh of relief, 'we can have coffee in peace. And I need a brandy.'

'Let me,' Dan said, striding to the bar cabinet.

'I'll bring in the coffee,' said Peter and his wife winked at me as she settled, with another sigh, into a chair by the fire, curling her legs under her. She looked tinier than ever in the large chair.

'Has this mess interrupted your lecture tour?' Dan asked, passing around the brandy snifters.

'No, I finished in Tulsa. Or maybe Tulsa finished me. And I do want to explain why I didn't answer Peter's message sooner. I was getting so I didn't know where I was, what city, what college, what time…'

Dan pressed my hand, all too briefly, and smiled reassuringly.

'I told Peter that's probably what was happening…'

'I'm so glad to see you…'

'You mean, outside the pokey?'

'I didn't know. I've never been…'

'I wouldn't have dragged you into this if I could have….'

'I don't bloody mind, Dan!' I was furious with him for being so goddamn anxious.

'He wouldn't cooperate at first,' said Peter grimly, returning with the coffee tray, 'just in case you think the age of chivalry is dead. Jenny.'

'There wasn't any need at first to involve Jenny…'

'Until a neighbour remembered seeing a man in a ski mask around the house…' Peter growled in his throat. 'And Fred… do you know Jenny calls him Hearty-har-har, Petra?'

'Oh, heavens, but that's perfect…'murmured Petra as her husband continued.

'… Fred remembered the ski mask in Jerry's pocket.'

'Do I refer to you as Jerry? Or Dan?' I asked.

'I can't change Pete at this late date but I'd prefer you to call me Dan…'A darkness closed briefly over his face and I'd the notion that his ex-wife had called him 'Jerry' in such a way as to make him wish for the change.

'I'll try, man, I'll try,' Peter said in a gravelly voice.

'So what are my chances, Pete, now that we've involved Jenny in the case?'

Peter took a long drag on his cigar (at least he wasn't inhaling) and saw my inadvertent reaction. 'Does smoking bother you?'

'Only because of what I've seen it do, and know it can do. I apologise if my thoughts were that transparent.'

'Peter tried to give it up,' Petra said, 'but he's under such strain…'

'You're not inhaling…' I tried to mitigate my unspoken anxiety.

'What are Dan's chances now?'

'As I told you in the office, Jenny, and as Dan knows, it depends on how much weight the D.A. will give your statement. There' s a good hunk of circumstantial evidence against Jer… Dan. Opportunity, unfortunately, is there and Mathews has it that the custody bit provides a motive. Noreen Sue certainly did blab it about that she was terrified of what Daniel J might do. Jerry has admitted, and it's a matter of record, that he telephoned her several times: that his primary reason in stopping off in Denver was to see DJ and find out exactly what truth there was behind the boy's letters that Noreen Sue was having wild parties in the house which kept him up all night, that she left him alone for days when she was partying elsewhere.'

'I travel so much that I thought, when the marriage broke up, it would be better for DJ to stay in his own home, near his friends, in the same school,' Dan said to me. 'He didn't object to staying with his mother…'

'The D.A. is making a big thing about the fact that Jerry didn't attempt to get in to Denver proper from the airport…'

'Christ, Pete, there wasn't a taxi at the airport that'd take a chance on the roads… and I didn't know then that DJ was at the McPhersons'. Noreen Sue wouldn't let me speak to him but she didn't say it was because he wasn't even in the house.'

'And then,' Peter gave his friend a disgusted look, 'he phoned around, asking friends and enemies about Noreen Sue's activities and DJ's state of mind. All this leads the D.A. to a motive.'

'The boutique salesgirl remembers selling him the ski jacket and the mask.'

'Two masks,' I said, 'he bought me one because we went out for an invigorating hike Thursday afternoon. I'd bought a ski jacket before Dan did, only I didn't think of needing a mask.'

Peter looked questioningly at Dan. 'The girl didn't mention selling anything to Jenny.'

'Well, she will when she sees me. We talked about the weather and Ireland. But she wouldn't have seen Dan and me together. I had bought the jacket while I was waiting for Dan to join me for lunch. He came in while she was wrapping up my things… I got some sweaters and junk, too… but he'd forgotten his wallet and gone back to his room for it. She wouldn't have seen us together.'

Peter nodded during this explanation.

'I'd forgotten that,' Dan said, wearily.

'But definitely and decidedly, Dan was with me from the moment he left Hearty-har-har until the next morning.'

'Let's hope the D.A. buys it.'

'He'll have to. It's the truth!'

'He'll try to find holes in your statement…'

'There aren't any…'

Peter gave me a hard, angry look. 'He'll try, Jenny. Or he'll try to cast doubt on your personal integrity and morality.'

'You mean, if I'd perjure myself because I'm so hard up…'

'Shut up, Jenny!' said Dan in a hard voice and he grabbed my hand in a hurtful grasp.

Peter had bounced out of his chair, his face the mask of the worldly attorney.

'I'd better take Jenny back to her hotel.'

I got to my feet too, swallowing hard against his decision, scrubbing at my face, and the skin on my head that seemed to be contracting around my brain.

We were all on our feet, tense and upset.

'I'm awfully, awfully tired. 'I said. 'I'd better go while I can still manoeuvre.'

Dan made a move as if to comfort me. That would have been disastrous. I stepped back, saw the uncertainty and shock in Dan's face and forced myself to keep my hands at my sides.