It was nine o’clock. Me, Leo, Jessica, an OPP constable named Lachlan, and the manager of the casino, Mr. Torvill, were huddled around the screen as eager as if we were all about to tune in to the latest episode of 24. No, that’s not true. Leo and I were eager. Jessica looked apprehensive; Mr. Torvill looked anxious but I think that was habitual. I had chosen not to tell Leo about my love note. One thing at a time. I’d picked up Jessica and met him at the casino. Ben Snake wasn’t around but Mr. Torvill gave us his full attention. Jessica was quiet and looked as if she hadn’t slept well, which was I’m sure how I looked. We got everybody settled, told her what we wanted, and cued the tape to the place where Sigmund joined Deidre at the table. I switched on the tape recorder I had brought with me.
“He says, ‘Hello Dee. How’s it going? Sorry I’m late.’” Jessica began.
Already there was a discrepancy with what Sigmund had told us about just dropping in spontaneously to the casino to see her. You don’t apologize for being late unless you have a prior appointment.
“She says, ‘I didn’t think you’d show up.’ He says, ‘I thought I was a bit …’ Sorry, I didn’t get what he said. He ducks his chin; it’s hard to read.”
“Play it back,” said Leo.
The manager did a quick rewind and played the brief scene again. Jessica hesitated. “I’m not sure … something like, ‘ungenerous or ingenuous’ … It’s hard to say.”
“She says, ‘Yes, I was offering you something, not asking to get something.”
That fitted with what Sigmund had said about Deidre wanting to be reconnected.
Jessica leaned forward. “He says, ‘I know, I’m sorry.’ She asks him, ‘Have you changed your mind then?’ He says, ‘Well not exactly but I thought we could go on talking.’” This was the part on the tape where Deidre clearly got pissed off.
“Enough said. No more talk. You’re in or you’re out.”
Sigmund turned away again and Jessica couldn’t get the next sentence. “He turned back. ‘I told you it wasn’t an easy choice.’ She replies, ‘Yes, it is.’”
The beckoning gesture was next. “He says, ‘Would you like to come over to the bar and discuss it further?’”
It was obvious what Deidre’s response was.
Jessica gave a rather grim chuckle. “She says, ‘No. Go home to your mother.’”
That was it. Sigmund slunk off. The rest we had seen.
I switched off my tape recorder.
“Thank you, Jessica.”
“Who is he?” she asked.
Leo looked at her, intent on reading any signals. “Don’t you recognize him?”
“No. I’ve never seen him before.”
“His name is Sigmund. Did Deidre ever mention his name?”
Jessica hesitated. “It’s not her brother, is it? She did say once she had a half-brother and I remember he had a funny name. Is that him?”
“It is. And you’re positive Deidre never said she was meeting him or anything like that?”
“No, she didn’t. I always had the impression she didn’t like him, or they weren’t allowed to talk to each other or some such thing.” She had pulled out a tissue and she wiped at her eyes as if she could rub away the images. “It is painful to watch Deedee alive. She loved to play poker.”
It had been hard on Leo too. “Thank you. I’m glad to know she had such good friends.”
Jessica muttered something about using the washroom and virtually ran from the room. Mr. Torvill followed her, presumably to show her the way and make sure she didn’t discover some hidden weakness in their security system to be used against them later. Constable Lachlan withdrew to a position near the door.
Leo slumped in his chair. “What’s he covering up, Chris? I don’t understand. That wasn’t such a big deal conversation that he couldn’t have told us.”
I didn’t have any easy words for him. It was strange all right.
“We’ll have to re-interview him. I’ll get this to Ed and he can organize it… You said you wanted to see Joy, but are you sure you’re up to it?”
“Yes, we should get that over with as soon as possible.” He frowned. “I am a bit leery about using Jessica. It might be too much for her. Nora communicates well enough. Let’s ask her to do it.”
“Good idea. And what about you? You’re looking done in yourself. We could wait a bit longer.”
He looked as if he were aging before my eyes. “No. You know we can’t do that, Chris. The sooner we can fill in the pieces of puzzle the better it will be.” He gave me a wry smile. “To tell the truth, the thing I’m not looking forward to is seeing Loretta. I’m glad you’ll be there. She is what you might call a formidable woman. God knows why I got talked into marrying her. She scares me shitless.”
Jessica came back into the room followed by Mr. Torvill.
“Do you want to continue?” the manager asked.
Leo shook his head. Deidre hadn’t spoken to anybody else until she’d left. Now we had to get back to Sigmund and see if we could winkle out some more of the truth. Leo wasn’t looking forward to seeing his ex. I wasn’t looking forward to questioning a deaf child about whether or not she could point the finger at her mother’s murderer.
Nora came to the door. She looked as if she hadn’t combed her hair in two days and had slept in her clothes. As soon as she saw who it was, she started ranting, not even stepping out of the doorway to let us in.
“I didn’t expect any of this. It isn’t my thing, den mother and all that. I’ve got a low tolerance for kids and I’ve never pretended otherwise.” Even three feet away, the beer fumes from her breath were a knockout. “And frankly I’ve got an even lower tolerance for control freaks. Dee wasn’t like that and we lived just fine, thank you. I’d appreciate it if you’d get her off my back.”
“By ‘her,’ do you mean Loretta?” Leo asked.
“That’s the one. She’s hardly seen the kid since she was born and she swoops in like a fucking Mary Poppins with fangs. She’s making things worse, if you ask me, but of course nobody is asking me. I’m just the dyke who got on the payroll because people felt sorry for her. The charity case who’s about to lose her job.”
“Nora, you’ve been drinking,” said Leo.
“Now that is very perceptive of you, Doctor Shrink. But you know what? Even a bit totted up, I’m better for that kid than her fucking so-called grandma. She can’t communicate with her for piss and she won’t let me do it…”
We hadn’t even advanced as far as the foyer and Nora would probably have continued her tirade but the door to the kitchen opened and a tall, grey-haired woman came out. Leo had described his ex as formidable and I understood why. She was big-boned, with a tanned complexion that accentuated her keen blue eyes. Her short straight hair and no-nonsense shirt and jeans were all declarations of her politics. Down with Western vanity, up with “tune in to the earth” philosophy, the kind of woman you could easily imagine leading a revolution. But I thought she had a nice face, open and intelligent. Nora stepped back without being asked and Loretta came over to us, taking Leo by the shoulders to give him a peck on the cheek. She was a good eight inches taller and he had to tilt his head so she could reach him. They were stiff and awkward with each other.
She let him go and thrust out her hand to me. “Hello, I’m Loretta Larsen, you are…?”
“Christine Morris. I’m a colleague of Leo’s.”
We shook hands, hers firm as to be expected.
“Come in. I’m in the kitchen with Joy.”
She didn’t look at Nora, didn’t acknowledge her existence, and the girl was left to trail after us.
Joy was at the kitchen table crayoning on a piece of paper. She had her back to us and didn’t move. Loretta went to the light switch and flicked it up and down. Joy turned around. She didn’t react for a moment, then she smiled, grunted, and made a sign, then held up her drawing.
“That’s lovely, dear,” said Loretta. Joy didn’t respond and Loretta turned her head so she was facing her. “Lovely,” she said slowly, making the word distinct. Nora snorted, went behind her, and made a sign to Joy, who smiled and responded. She made some signs and pointed in my direction.
“She wants you to sit beside her,” said Nora.
I did as commanded, aware that both Leo and Loretta weren’t happy about me being the chosen one.
“Nora, why don’t you make us all some coffee?” said Loretta.
If I could have drawn a balloon coming from Nora’s mouth, it would have said, “Eff off and make your own coffee,” but she clenched her teeth and stomped over to the sink, where she started to rinse out the coffee pot with much clink and clatter.
“How is she?” Leo asked, indicating his granddaughter.
“She is asking for her mother every five minutes. We have to tell her what’s happened. She won’t settle down until something definite is said.”
Oh God. Selfishly I didn’t want to be there when that happened. I couldn’t imagine how you can get across that kind of news to a child.
“I want to ask her some questions first,” said Leo.
Loretta folded her arms across her full, unfettered breasts. “What sort of questions?”
“We think that Dee had a male visitor sometime in the past two months who may or may not be implicated in her killing. I’d like to ask Joy if she met anybody and what he looked like.”
“I suppose Nora will have to be the one to do that.”
“I suppose I will have to, seeing both of you can communicate dick all in sign language,” said Nora.
I felt a light tap on my forearm. Joy was trying to get my attention. She made a sign at me, her fingers outstretched, her eyebrows raised.
“She wants to know where her mommy is,” said Nora.
“How do I say ‘I don’t know’?”
“The way you’d say it to a hearing person.”
I grimaced at the child and shook my head, making my expression as friendly as possible. She turned to Nora and made the same sign, “Where’s my mommy?” Nora signed back at her, saying at the same time, “Your mommy’s late. She’ll be here soon.”
“Don’t tell her that,” Loretta burst out. “She’ll be waiting for her. She has to be told the truth.”
Nora’s face turned red with anger. “The truth? You want her to know the truth? That her mother was found in the lake with her scarf wrapped around her neck. The truth that she was murdered in cold blood. Is that what you want me to communicate to her?”
Loretta was prevented from answering by a wail from Joy, who was waving her hands frantically at us. Nora went over to her and scooped her up in her arms. She could protest all she wanted that she wasn’t the maternal type but nothing could disguise the love she felt for the little girl.
She rocked her back and forth while Joy continued to wail. Leo got out of his chair and went over to them. He began to stroke the child’s hair. “Hush, dear, hush.” Loretta remained at the table, her hands clenched in front of her. She looked so unhappy, I wanted to comfort her as well. Finally, Joy stopped crying, lifted her head, and shoved Leo’s hand away angrily. She stuck her thumb in her mouth. Her eyelids drooped as if she was on the verge of sleep.
Nora glared at us. “She might not be able to hear but she’s sensitive to atmosphere. It scares her when people are angry.”
“I might point out, it was not I who was shouting,” said Loretta quietly.
I decided to divert any further arguments and went over to the coffee machine. “Nora, why don’t you and Joy sit down and I’ll finish making the coffee? Shall I get her anything? Milk? Juice?”
“She’d probably like some apple juice. There’s some in the fridge.”
“I’ll get it,” said Leo.
He took out a Barney mug and brought it over to Joy. She took it sulkily. She wasn’t ready to accept him yet. I put mugs on the table and returned to the counter to watch the coffee drip into the carafe.
“Have you made any progress with the case?” Loretta asked. Her voice was neutral, emotions under control, but she hit some tripwire invisible to me and Leo snapped back at her.
“No! We’re just at the beginning.”
I didn’t blame him for not telling her about Sigmund. What was he going to say? Well, Loretta, my son has suddenly become a prime suspect. He and his ex had long ago stopped expecting sympathy from each other. I was torn between pity at their state and a desire to bang their heads together.
I brought over the coffee pot and filled their mugs. Joy seemed to be actually nodding off in Nora’s arms.
“I’d rather not upset her with any questions,” she said to Leo. Her voice was softer. “And as for telling her about Deedee, I’d like to bide my time. Find the right moment and all that. If I’m going to be the one to do it, you’ve got to trust me to do it properly.”
She didn’t say that with any belligerence, just sadness, and I’m glad to say both Leo and Loretta responded in kind.
“Thank you,” he said.
“Her gerbil died a few months ago,” continued Nora. “Old age probably but she’d liked to play with it. The three of us had a special ceremony and we buried it in the backyard. Dee was so good. She explained that there was a place called heaven where Digger had gone to where he could run all day long in the sunshine and where he was very happy. She said, all creatures great and small eventually go to heaven and we on earth are very sad for a while because we miss them but they still watch over us and we can send drawings as long as we like and they will know what is going on even if we don’t see them.” She had to stop. Loretta took out a handkerchief and handed it to her. Nora sniffed hard. “I thought I’d say something like that. You know, Mommy has gone to heaven like Digger did. We can’t see her but she is with us in her spirit and we can still send her drawings and tell her what is happening. Do you think that would be all right?”
Leo nodded. “I believe that would be just fine.”
Joy snuffled and her hand reached up and touched Nora’s chin. She pressed her fingers against it, making a sign.