The Baxter Trust

49

Sheila Benton looked at Steve Winslow through the wire screen in the visiting room at the lockup. “You’re mad at me, aren’t you?” she said.

Steve smiled ironically. “It would help if every now and then you would give me some little hint as to what was coming next. I might be able to plan a defense.”

“Why are you so upset? I’m the one who’s going to be convicted.”

“Oh, you’re finally starting to realize that?”

“Give me a break will you?”

“No, I won’t give you a break. This is serious. This is not fun-and-games time, like with you and Johnny baby.”

“Hey!”

“The big schmuck. Where the hell does he come off telling you not to tell me he knew Greely?”

“Lay off.”

“No, I won’t lay off. What an asshole. The guy’s supposed to love you. So what does he do? He tries to fuck up your defense in a murder trial. That’s really love.”

“Goddamn you-”

Steve threw up his hands. “Right, right. Mustn’t say anything bad about dear old Johnny. He may be a schmuck, he may be an asshole, he may be a murderer, but you still love him.”

“He’s not a murderer.”

Steve broke out laughing. “That’s funny, you know it? I call him a schmuck, an asshole, and a murderer, and you contradict one of the three. It’s an old vaudeville routine.”

“Oh you-”

“You love him, right? That’s what this is all about. You love him. No matter what. Is that true?”

“Yes… I love him.”

“Even if he killed Greely?”

“He didn’t.”

“Yeah, but what if he did? Would you love him then?”

“I am not answering hypothetical questions.”

“I don’t blame you. That’s a hard question. If he killed Greely and is letting you go to jail for it, it might make him a hard person to love.”

Steve leaned back in his chair, pursed his lips and looked around the room, thinking things over.

Sheila sat and glared at him.

“Well,” he said. “Any more little surprises?”

“No.”

“Anything else I should know?”

For a moment she just kept glaring at him. Then she sighed, and the resistance just seemed to drain out of her. He knew why. It was the relief of being able to talk about something other than John Dutton.

“Uncle Max was just here.”

“Oh?” Steve said. “What did he want? As if I didn’t know.”

“That’s right. He wanted me to fire you. He was vehement about it. He said after what happened in court today the situation was critical and I couldn’t take the risk. He wants Marston, Marston and Cramden, and he wants them now.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him to stick it.”

“How did he take it?”

“How do you think he took it? He started lecturing me on drugs, sex, my life-style, education, my choice of friends, you name it.”

“What did you do?”

“I stood it for as long as I could. He was rather amusing, really. Telling me if I’d just be serious, like Phillip. Finally it got boring so I shocked him and drove him away.”

“Shocked him? How?”

“Oh, I’ve always been able to shock him. He’s such a prude, you know. That’s how I deal with him. Flatter him, amuse him, kid him, shock him. Keep him off balance. It depends on whether I’m trying to get something out of him or he’s trying to get something out of me.”

“How did you shock him?”

“Oh. Well, you know, he always treats Phillip as if he can do no wrong. So I shook him up a little. Uncle Max had started off on a tangent about sex and promiscuity, and I broke in and said, ‘Speaking of sex, did I ever tell you about the first time I ever played “doctor”? You know, children’s sex games? It was with Phillip.’”

“What made you tell him that?”

“I don’t know. He’s just such a prude that I just love to shock him. I mean, you know, it was just a childish incident, no harm in it. I’d forgotten about it, then a couple of weeks ago I saw Phillip, and we got to talking and somehow or other it came up-I don’t know what reminded me of it-but I told Phillip and he was amused. But Uncle Max almost hit the ceiling.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Well, I didn’t go into clinical details, if that’s what you mean. I just told it was a happy reminiscence. I suppose it was my attitude that bothered him more than anything.”

She chuckled softly and leaned back in her chair. Her eyes took on a dreamy, faraway look. “I remember it was a warm summer day in Vermont. I was supposed to stay around the house, but I wandered off into the meadow by myself. And then for some reason, I don’t know why, I slipped through the woods to Uncle Teddy’s property, and there was cousin Phillip. And we were full of mischief and played our little game. And then I remembered I wasn’t supposed to leave our yard, and I wanted to get back before anybody noticed I was gone. It was funny, you know, because I wasn’t worried they’d be angry at me for playing doctor, just for leaving the yard. So I hurried back through the woods.

“I remember I got back to the big circle in front of the house and there was no one there. I’d made it. And just as I got there, my mother came out the front door and picked me up and kissed me. And I realized I’d gotten away with it, and I was happy. Very happy.”

Sheila broke off, and the thin smile faded. “Later that afternoon my mother was killed.”

It clicked. Steve’s head snapped up. “What?”

“That was the same day my mother was killed.”

Steve leaned forward excitedly. “You told all this to Uncle Max?”

“Yes. I really shocked him. He got up and ran out of here-”

Steve was already tearing out of the room.