Harry refuses to be put on hold a minute longer. He makes the call, and to his relief, it is Cassie who answers. To offer condolences seems untimely. Cassie sounds exhausted and, to his dismay, distanced.
“What is most unsettling is not having a body to confirm that she is gone. I know my mother had thoughts of leaving my father and moving to Canada. According to him, they quarreled about you. What’s going on, Harry?”
He can’t help himself: “My God! This is ridiculous. I hadn’t spoken with your mother in almost two months.”
Cassie unfazed, continues, “When I arrived here and telephoned you back in B.C., I did have the impression you were truly clueless about her whereabouts. But when you agreed to fly here to Guanagaspar, I just kept hoping; I was hoping you would know where she might be. It’s a nightmare, there being no body.”
He hears Cassie’s grief, and the accusation in her voice. He knows it is unwarranted, and yet he feels oddly guilty. After a silence in which it becomes clear that Cassie is crying, he is not surprised when she says in a breaking voice, “The funeral is tomorrow, Harry. I know you have traveled all this way, but it’s best if you don’t come.”