“I’m sorry, Art,” Helen said.
“That’s all right, darling,” he said. He was silent for several moments, thinking. Billy stood near the television set, wondering if it was okay for him to turn it on now. Helen sat on the bed with her legs crossed Indian fashion, watching Hurley, wondering if he was mad at her. He used to hit her a lot whenever he got angry. She knew he was a violent man. But he hadn’t once touched her since she got pregnant.
“So,” he said, “as I understand it, this lawyer knows you went to see your grandmother, and he knows you want money from her.”
“Yes,” Helen said.
“Does he know why you want this money?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Billy?”
“I don’t think anything was said about the why of it.”
“Or the amount?”
“No numbers were mentioned.”
“Then he doesn’t know we’re looking for a million dollars, is that right?”
“Nothing would have given him that impression,” Helen said.
“So… all he really knows is you went to see her about money,” Hurley said. “And you’re expecting a check.”
“He also knows we’re expecting negotiation,” Billy said.
“How the fuck does he know that?” Hurley said.
“Because Helen…”
“Because I… I thought she sent him to negotiate with you. And I… I must’ve said something about it.”
“He also knows their names,” Billy said. “Which you gave him, hubby darling. Helen had nothing to do with that.”
“Who said Helen had anything to do with it?”
“Case you were thinking of blaming her,” Billy said. “You’re the one told him everything. Gave him the old lady’s name…”
“I thought he was her lawyer,” Hurley said. “Helen said he…”
“Gave him the name on a silver platter, Sophie Brechtmann. Gave him the daughter’s name, too.”
“No,” Hurley said, “I don’t recall telling him…”
“Elise, you said.”
“That’s true. Art,” Helen said. “You did tell him my mother’s name.”
“Practically drew a map for him,” Billy said sourly.
“Well, we all make mistakes,” Hurley said, and went to Helen and kissed the top of her head. “Who among us can cast the first stone?”
“Me,” Billy said. “I didn’t tell him a fucking thing.”
“Who was it mentioned watching the house?” Hurley said. “Who was it mentioned the pictures?”
“Well, yeah, maybe I…”
“So, okay, we’re all to blame. But what’s done is done. The important thing now is to dope out our next move.”
“Our next move is to get the hell out of here,” Billy said.
“No, our next move is to find those pictures,” Hurley said.
“He’s right,” Helen said. “Nothing’s going to convince her till she sees those pictures of me and my mother.”
“We’re not even sure those pictures exist,” Billy said.
“They exist, all right,” Hurley said.
“Only because a nigger up north thinks she remembers…”
“She does remember.”
“She’d remember the birth of Christ if you talked to her long enough.”
“She was there when the pictures were taken,” Helen said.
“We have to find those pictures,” Hurley said.
“Go back to the Parrish house,” Helen said.
“No way,” Billy said.
“Get in that house and find those pictures,” Hurley said.
“A murder was committed in that house!” Billy said. “Didn’t you hear him?”
“The pictures are in that house,” Helen said.
“Somewhere in that house,” Hurley said.
“We show her those pictures, she’ll see the beads,” Helen said.
The rain had stopped.
A rainbow arced over Calusa Bay.
“Make a wish,” Leona said.
They sat at a table for two near the plate-glass windows overlooking the marina dock and the bay. Sailboats alongside the dock clanged with the sound of the wind rushing through their shrouds. The sky was still gray, the clouds tearing off in long tattered sheets. Far beyond the rainbow, there was the faintest patch of blue in the western sky.
“Do people wish on rainbows?” Matthew said.
“I always do. Tell me what you’d like most in the world.”
“If I tell you, then it won’t come true,” he said.
“Who’s making the rules?” Leona asked.
“That’s a time-honored rule. If you tell your wish…”
“Time-honored rules are made to be broken,” Leona said. “Here’s my wish. Are you ready?”
“You’re tempting the fates.”
“Fuck the fates,” she said.
Matthew figured she’d already had too much to drink. Six o’clock and on her second martini. Here for the past hour and still not a word about why she’d wanted to see him.
“I wish… I wish I could be happy, ” she said, and nodded curtly, and looked down into her glass.
“I thought you were,” Matthew said.
“Happy? Did you?”
She looked up at him. She raised her glass, lifted it to the rainbow in a silent toast. And drank.
“Now you,” she said.
“The rainbow’s almost gone, ” he said.
“Before it goes.”
“I might as well wish for the moon. If I say it out loud…”
“Hurry, it’s going fast.”
“I wish you could be happy, too,” Matthew said, and drank quickly.
Leona looked at him in surprise.
He nodded.
She kept looking at him.
“Why?” she said.
“Because I don’t want you to be unhappy, ” he said, and shrugged.
“But I am.”
“Apparently.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to tell me why?”
She shook her head.
“Why are we here, Leona?”
She lifted her glass, drained it, and said, “Do you think we can get another one of these?”
“Let’s talk first,” he said.
Leona sighed.
Here it comes, he thought. Matthew, I want to divorce Frank.
“Matthew,” she said, “I’m being followed.”
The first thing he felt was relief.
And then he realized that Warren had blown the surveillance.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said.
“No, I’m sure about it,” Leona said.
“Well… what do you mean? Have you seen someone?”
“I have.”
“What does he look like?”
“He looks like a tall black man driving an old gray Ford.”
Shit, Matthew thought.
“Why would anyone be following you?” he said.
Leona smiled.
“Maybe Frank thinks I’m having an affair,” she said.
Now it comes, he thought. He’s right, Matthew. I am having an affair.
He waited.
“Maybe Frank’s put a private detective on me,” she said.
Matthew said nothing.
“Catch me in flagrante delicto,” she said.
He still said nothing.
“In the very act,” she said. “Red-handed. From the Latin, ‘while the crime is blazing.’ Did you ever study Latin?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Take pictures of me in some cheap motel,” she said. “While the crime is blazing. Now may I have another one of these?” Without waiting for his reply, she signaled with her empty glass to the waiter. The waiter nodded and hurried to the bar. She turned back to Matthew and smiled again. “Has Frank said anything to you?” she asked. “About, you know, putting a detective on me?”