Night Moves

Chapter 20

Brett and Chelsea came down the stairs led by their mother.

She said, “Sit, guys,” in a voice working far too hard to be calm. Surprisingly, neither young Corvin seemed to be alarmed by that.

Chelsea plopped down and stared into space.

Brett scratched behind his ear and mumbled, “Whu?”

Felice said, “Tuck in your shirt in front, Bretty, it’s half in, half out.”

“Huh?”

“Your shirt, honey. Tuck it in.”

Baffled, the boy complied.

“Thank you, sweetie. Okay. Here we go.” Sick smile. “Okay... okay, there’s something you need to hear and Dr. Delaware, you remember Dr. Delaware, he’s going to tell it to you.”

Brett’s mouth gaped as he squinted at me. Chelsea didn’t react.

I edged my chair close enough to look at both of them simultaneously. Brett’s eyes bounced. Chelsea’s were still but unfocused. “I’m sorry to be giving you really bad news. Your father passed away last night.”

Brett’s lips stretched, taking an eerie emotional journey from grin to something toothily grotesque and feral.

“What?” he shouted.

I said, “I’m sorry, Brett. Your dad—”

He shoved his fist toward me. “Fuckin’ bullshit!”

“I wish it was, Brett.”

“Fuckin’ bullshit! Fuckin’ fuckin’ bullshit!”

Chelsea said, “It’s not.”

Everyone looked at her.

She looked at me. “You said it. So it’s true.”

Not a trace of emotion on her pale, soft face.

Her brother lunged at her. I got between them.

“You cunt fuckin’ bullshit!” The boy let out a wordless roar. His body vibrated. Tears shot from his eyes; projectile grief. Stumbling out of the living room, he vaulted up the stairs, punching the banister, swearing, screaming.

Felice said, “My poor baby,” and went after him.

Chelsea said, “Crybaby.”

A couple of minutes later, Felice returned alone, trembling. “He needs some private time.” To me: “That’s okay, right?”

I said, “Of course.”

During her mother’s absence, Chelsea hadn’t uttered a word, her only response a head shake when I asked her if she had any questions.

Felice said, “You okay, hon?”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s a terrible thing, Cheltz.”

The girl shrugged.

Din from above. Something colliding with plaster, over and over. The ceiling thrummed.

Felice said, “He’s throwing his basketball. Normally, I wouldn’t allow it.” Her mouth twisted.

Milo said, “This isn’t a normal situation.”

Felice turned to Chelsea. “Honey, if you have any questions for these gentlemen, now’s the time to ask.”

“Uh-uh.”

“You’re sure.”

“I have a question, Mom. For you.”

“Of course, darling. What?”

“Am I still going to school today?”

Felice’s head retracted. “No, Cheltz — why don’t you go upstairs, too. But please, do not go into Brett’s room, okay?”

“No way,” said the girl. “It smells.”

When she was gone, Felice said, “This is unreal.”

Milo said, “Is there anything you can tell us that might help us figure it out?”

“I wish there was, Lieutenant. At least one thing I don’t have to worry about is money. Chet had an excellent income, I’ll grant him that. But the truth is, I brought most of the funds into the marriage.”

She looked away. “My parents were professors but they invested extremely well and I’m an only child. So in case you feel like looking for life insurance policies, we don’t have any. At least I never took any out on Chet. What he chose to do, who knows? I’m sure you noticed he did his own thing. A lot of men would kill—” Sick smile. “What I’m getting at is I have nothing to hide, anything you want in terms of paperwork is yours.”

“Appreciate it, ma’am. We could use access to Chet’s phone accounts and his credit cards, right now.”

“Give me some time to get you the details — say by later today?”

“That would be great. Thanks for the cooperation.”

“Why wouldn’t I cooperate? I want you to find whoever did it. Chet and I had our differences but no one deserves...” She threw up her hands, letting one settle along the side of her face. “A motel. He’d hate ending up like that, with Chet it was five-star this, five-star that, getting upgraded to a suite. I grew up with a trust fund but couldn’t care less.”

She exhaled. “Who to call... Chet’s parents are gone but he does have a brother in New Jersey. Harrison. He’s an optometrist. They’re not close but Harrison needs to know... I’m sure I’ll think of other... issues.”

She walked us to the door. Milo stepped outside but I said, “A minute, Lieutenant?” and remained in the entry with Felice.

He looked at me, said, “Sure,” and kept going.

Felice Corvin said, “What is it, Doctor?”

“If at any point, you feel that I can help, please call.”

“If I feel that I will, thank you, that’s kind,” she said. “Right now, I don’t feel much of anything — kind of fuzzy in the head — like I’m in some sort of felt straitjacket — is that normal?”

“It is.”

I turned to leave. She clawed my sleeve. “Dr. Delaware, what if I don’t end up feeling anything? Does that make me horrible — or abnormal? Will it get in the way of helping my kids?”

I said, “No to all of that.”

She stared at me.

I said, “Really. Just take it at your own pace.”

“It’s nice of you to say that, but I wonder. Maybe I won’t feel. I sure don’t now. Maybe that does say something about me.”

“Felice, to feel loss there has to be something to miss.”

She flinched. “Ouch. It’s been that obvious, huh? Yes, of course it has, I haven’t exactly been subtle about our relationship. That’s the way I was brought up, say what’s on your mind. Some people find me abrasive. I sometimes try to soft-pedal but you are what you are. And with Chet, all these years...”

Her hand tightened on my arm. “The crazy thing is, Doctor, I really loved him. In the beginning. It wasn’t just some half-baked thing, there was passion. At that point in my life, I thought he was perfect. Exactly what I needed.”

“A take-charge guy.”

“Take-charge, self-confident, boisterous, sense of humor. All the things I wasn’t, back then. He could talk to anyone about anything at any time. I thought that was amazing. It let me relax and sit back if I didn’t feel like talking. I grew up listening to my parents and their professor friends, every topic picked over until the life had been squeezed out of it. Chet was different, he painted with a broad brush. He thought my parents and their friends were pretentious eggheads and told me so. At the beginning, I liked that. How he took charge of me in every way.”

Spots of color lit up her cheeks.

“What I didn’t realize was that he wouldn’t wear well. It didn’t take long.”

“But you stayed together.”

She smiled. “I could say it was for the sake of the kids. And that’s partly true. But mostly you get to a point and it’s inertia, why bother? I’m not a people person, Doctor. I find dealing with people exhausting, they weary me when they get too emotional. So after so many years together, I just didn’t see the point of upsetting the apple cart.”

She looked down, let go of my sleeve. “Oh, I’ve wrinkled your jacket, sorry.”

I smiled. “I’m sure it’ll recover.”

She smoothed down the fabric, anyway. “My little speech must’ve sounded pathetic.”

“No—”

“Whatever, Doctor. Thanks for your offer, hopefully I won’t need to take you up on it. And I do want Lieutenant Sturgis to catch whoever murdered my husband. I’m going to think of him that way. My husband. I’m going to think about him like he was in the beginning. Maybe I’ll feel.”