“Imagining I’d help him blackmail my uncle because Unko murdered my parents would be a better theory,” Casey said. “Andy could never have blackmailed me with information that I don’t care to keep secret.”
“Your grandmother had already told you about Sibby. But your uncle figured that out too late.”
“If Andy killed his mother, it was probably because she caught him trying to get his hot little hands on her precious tell-all notebook. He wanted a lot of money-he always believed it could make his insignificant life worth living.”
“We both know that isn’t true,” Alexa said, laughing. “You’ve always had more than enough for a hundred Andy Fugates.”
“Money is a tool. Money is power.”
“Power is a tricky thing, Casey. You have so much of it, and yet you want more. Too much is never enough for you.”
“It’s human nature to want more of a very good thing,” Casey said. “Can we cut to this story’s ending?”
“Your grandmother figured out that Dr. LePointe sicced Sibby on his older brother so he could have control when she died. You simply wanted to pay him back. It’s understandable. And to take away his power-the LePointe billions.”
Laughing melodiously, Casey said, “Can you imagine him being disgraced professionally, with no fat grants to dangle over his contemporaries and with a mere two million or so a year to live on? He won’t go hungry, but he’ll die knowing that his little pecker brought him low. It’s so trailer park. Gary would love it.”
“You shot Andy because you were planning to kill him anyway, and it was a convenient setup for you. But he didn’t die immediately. The briefcase slowed the bullets.”
“A. 357 would have been more appropriate than a. 380. But there’s the size and weight, and my jacket pocket was small.”
“You didn’t even shoot at Leland. I guess you figured Leland was too crazy to be believed even if he knew you were involved.”
“Leland strikes me as being the way people were ten thousand years ago. So, did Andy write out a confession before he died, and do you have it put away someplace?”
Alexa smiled as if to confirm Casey’s question. It was plausible enough. She wished she’d thought to fake one.
“It doesn’t matter. Andy surely must have hated me enough for shooting him to make up something like that. Shooting him in order to save your life, I might add. He probably would have killed you.”
“I know that, Casey.” And I appreciate that saving me was convenient.
“Can’t you forgive me the rest?”
“There’s Grace.”
“I hate to speak ill of a suicide. Grace had a thing for me. She was in love with me. I told her I didn’t love her, and she couldn’t take it. The fifty thousand was a year’s severance. If she killed herself because I rejected her or because of her unfortunate involvement in this scheme, it isn’t my fault.”
Alexa said nothing.
“You were sexually abused in one or more of those Mississippi foster homes, weren’t you, Alexa? I’m not an expert on such things, but I imagine an abused young girl could see a penis as a weapon of control and for inflicting pain and degradation. Do you sleep with men?”
“I mostly sleep alone.”
“Right,” Casey said, picking up the empty martini glass and gazing at it before setting it back down. “Then you must be really frustrated.”
“I don’t feel frustrated.”
“I’ve seen the way you look at me.” She put her hand on Alexa’s shoulder, rested it on a bruise. Alexa winced. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t hurt you for anything…on purpose.”
Casey held the fingers motionless for a few seconds, then traced her finger in the perspiration on Alexa’s shoulder, down her arm, to her elbow, where there was another bruise. “A mistreated child could have easily grown up to hate men, or at least to distrust them. Such a child might prefer a woman’s touch to a man’s. It’s just-”
“Basic psychology. Touch for touch’s sake isn’t something I seek out. Andy didn’t kill Sibby. Is that so she’d take the blame for Dorothy? Or because you couldn’t bear to kill your own mother?”
“Mother? That sad creature was an incubator at best, a vessel to hold William’s sperm. I feel pity for her-how she was manipulated. I’ve never laid eyes on her, nor do I intend to. But my theory is that she was Andy’s genetic proof to back up the notebook, and he put her away in case it was necessary.” Casey said, “I want us to be able to be open with each other. I want this suspicion behind us.”
“Why did you have them kidnap Gary, knowing they were going to kill him?”
Casey shrugged. “I’m no longer enjoying our talk. Can we change the subject?”
“I kept Gary from dying. That must have disappointed you.”
“Gary would have given the money to some Indian tribe or charity, just to watch Unko’s facial expression. That’s Deana’s future.”
“I understand. You wanted to punish your uncle too. That’s why you sent out photocopies of the diary.”
Casey nodded warily. “My timing didn’t take the hurricane into consideration, or the splash would have been far greater.”
Casey put her hand on Alexa’s chin and moved forward to kiss her. Alexa stopped her by turning her head, and standing.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said.
“You don’t think I’m attractive? I think you’re very attractive, Alexa. Aren’t you starved for attention from someone who adores you and accepts you as you are?”
“You’re an extremely attractive woman, Casey. I mean that sincerely. But, despite your take on me, I’m not into women that way, and I don’t think you are either.”
“You sure about that?”
“I think you use sex as a tool. And even if I were open to a dalliance, your lovers don’t exactly fare too well.”
“Okay, on your terms.” Casey sighed. “When can you start work? A month to tie up your affairs and submit your walking papers should be adequate. That work for you?”
“I’m not sure I could work for you,” Alexa said.
“But you aren’t refusing me? Will you at least consider my offer seriously?”
“That, I will do.”
101
The two women showered side by side, under separate showerheads, without talking. When their eyes met, Alexa didn’t avert her gaze and neither did Casey. Alexa knew Casey’s mind was working as fast as her own, and wondered what she was thinking. Casey had been overconfident, since she had spent years planning this maneuver, which had been almost perfect-or as perfect as perfect gets, what with the nature of variables always being in flux and the complexities of the number of people involved. Casey was the most cunning and brilliant individual Alexa had ever met, and probably the most totally sociopathic, after Alexa’s own sister, Antonia.
“Casey, I want to be totally honest with you. You did some terrible things, and I understand why you did what you did. But I believe in doing the right thing. You are a victim here and you were wronged terribly. You may not face judgment in a court of law, but punishing you that way wouldn’t make things right. And you did just punish the guilty, for the most part.”
“Those who sought to harm, who did harm, were themselves harmed.”
“That’s right. Let’s say, for the moment, that what you have done is done, and it is forever in the past. Frankly, I’m amazed at how accurately you read and manipulated so many individuals. Your insight into people is astounding. You could have become a psychiatrist. With your intelligence and your instincts, you could have cured untold numbers of very ill people.”
“Like my mother?”
“Yes. Maybe. Here’s my thinking: You have a vast fortune in your hands, and a potential for decades of doing good and easing suffering.”
“The trusts can work miracles if I apply the resources to that end,” Casey agreed, smiling. “I’ve thought about that a lot.”