The Question of the Unfamiliar Husband (29 page)

Thirty-three

“The woman had three
names.” Mother sat in her traditional easy chair at the Questions Answered office and shook her head, still disbelieving what had been proven. “Why would she do that?”

I looked up from my work on the question at hand, which dealt with the probability that global warming would create a new west coast of North America somewhere in Utah within seventy-five years.

“Ms. McInerney found it best to have a few identities behind which she could hide,” I said. “It was convenient to have separate credit card accounts, for example, when she overspent her limit and could not make payments. Once she decided—and it was she who decided—that Oliver Lewis should die, being able to not be Sheila McInerney was quite helpful, I'm sure. She could even send Cynthia Maholm here under that name and create what I believe is called a ‘smokescreen' for herself.”

“It still doesn't make sense that Cindy would come to us at all,” Ms. Washburn said. She was doing her best to organize the files of questions I had answered in her absence. I'm afraid my filing system, particularly with hard copies, was not efficient. Ms. Washburn said she was also in the early stages of creating an advertising campaign for Questions Answered that she hoped would generate enough business to pay her salary, as she put it.

“It does from the perspective of a woman who thought she was going to scare her husband,” I said. “And from Hazel Montrose's viewpoint, it was a very efficient way to enforce unity among the other WOOL members. The deeper they got into the plot, the harder it would be to break ranks.”

Mother clucked her tongue a bit and shook her head again, I think to herself, without thinking. “That was a strange group of wives. But who am I to judge?” My father left us when I was four years old and had not contacted Mother or me since. Mother doesn't say so, but I think the difficulty of raising a child who wasn't like other children was a factor in his decision to abandon his wife and son.

“You're not judging, Vivian,” Ms. Washburn said. “You just never know what's going on in someone else's marriage.” Her voice got fainter and she was not looking at either of us when she added, “You're lucky if you know what's going on in your own.”

Mother appeared to find some significance in that remark, as she stood and walked to the vending machine and stood admiring the selections. I knew she was not going to buy a diet soda or a mineral water—she never has—and she had no money with her; her purse was back at the chair.

She was giving Ms. Washburn and me a chance to talk privately. The difficulty was in determining exactly what the issue might be.

Ms. Washburn looked at Mother a moment and clearly understood what her gesture had meant. She turned to me and said, “I don't want to talk about it.”

Since I was not sure what the implied topic might be, I nodded. “All right.”

“I mean, you knew there was trouble in my marriage.” Apparently, despite her protestations, Ms. Washburn
did
want to talk about it, and the subject was her marriage.

I thought. “I knew what you told me,” I said. That seemed safe.

“Well, I didn't tell you everything, and I'm not going to now, either.” I'll admit to some relief at that declaration. “But it's very possible that I'll be getting a divorce.”

Mother's shoulders rose and fell quickly.

I was trained in social skills from the time of my “diagnosis” at sixteen, so I had a response ready. “I'm very sorry to hear that.” I was not terribly sorry, as I had never met Simon Taylor and only spoke with him on two unpleasant occasions, but that is what one is supposed to say. “But you will be staying on at Questions Answered?” I did not especially care if the timing was appropriate; I needed to have the information.

Ms. Washburn smiled. “Yes, Samuel. I'll probably be needing the job more than ever. Don't worry.”

She seemed about to reach out to me, perhaps to embrace, but she stopped herself. It was possible she thought the gesture would make me uncomfortable. I'm not sure whether it would have or not.

“Then everything is all right,” I said.

Ms. Washburn shook her head slightly and smiled with an odd expression. “Yes, Samuel,” she said. “Everything is all right.” She paused. “So. What's next on our agenda?”

“I believe I would like to purchase a cellular telephone,” I said.

the end

about the author

E.J. Copperman is the author of the Haunted Guesthouse series (Berkley Prime Crime), with more than 100,000 copies sold. Jeff Cohen is the author of the Aaron Tucker and Comedy Tonight mystery series. He also wrote two nonfiction books on Asperger's Syndrome, including
The Asperger Parent.