Echoes in the Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page B

was in bed, Sharon Lee was in the kitchen getting an ashtray. When she returned a bit too quietly she found Bill Bradfield leaning over the chair of Susan Reinert and whispering softly in what she would later describe as "an intimate position."
    Sharon Lee coughed discreetly and Bill Bradfield jumped up and returned to his chair.
    An already shaky marriage was reeling. These two teachers had forgotten American literature and The Great Gatsby. This looked more like a Main Line replay of plodding Charles against worldly Rodolphe, with Susan Reinert, of course, Madame Bovary.
    Susan soon began seeing a psychologist named Roslyn Weinberger, who provided emotional support. But the marriage was finished. Susan herself described that frantic school year in a diary entry:
    Sunday, November 17th. What a year this has been. First Kens accusations of unfaithfulness, requests for divorce, bad scenes in bed, stormy silences (plus my contribution to problem by fear of revealing true feelings), then Mothers serious illness. Finally growing attraction to Bill and accepting Sharon's suggestion to see Ros as could no longer cope. A year of crisis.
    Finally told Ken that children and I would leave. He then decided he would go but fought it all the way. He calls in a.m., p.m., and tells me he can't cope.
    Have gotten sterner about his not calling or coming over but hardly a day goes by without my hearing from him at least once. Yesterday he asked same question: Was he competing with Bill? Did I love Bill? What was extent of contact with Bill?
    Susan Reinert confessed to one intimate friend that she was now the secret lover of Bill Bradfield, and that within five years, after he was emotionally and financially secure, they would be man and wife. He had a secret "five-year plan" for both of them, she said.
    But the children were suffering from the family rupture, and their mother was only too aware of their pain:
    One good thing, Karen and Michael have been to Ros and will go again. Although Karens temper tantrums and refusals to go to dance class and Michaels crying have increased, they seem to be handling situation. Teachers say everything O.K. with them at school. Other crisis: Ken discovered note to Bill. Still don't know what he thinks he knows. Told him what Ros advises regarding nature of relationship and need to grow. It's taking its toll on me.
    As the school year neared an end, Susan Reinert wrote Bill Bradfield of her feelings:
    May 2d. It's been one year since I left Ken, taking Karen and Michael with me. Some things are better. The divorce is over. K & M are more relaxed. Some of my anxiety is gone, but I'm not happy. I don't have what I want nor does it seem likely I will get it. I feel very isolated. Missing you and resenting restriction caused by Sue Myers. And by you.
    The apartment that Sue Myers shared with Bill Bradfield suited him very well. It was in a colonial-mansion-cumapartment-house, a fine old building with columns in front and dark shutters.
    He still maintained a cordial relationship with his "commonlaw" wife Muriel and his youngest son who lived on his property in Chester County. Sue Myers estimated that he saw them once every three or four months.
    Sue Myers knew by now that the "purging" he said he'd received from their Ezra Pound pilgrimage had not changed him. There were still the odd-hour phone calls and hangups, still the notes and other evidence she'd pick from his pockets when he was asleep.
    The romantic affair that wounded Sue the most involved a former teacher who said she was leaving the school district to pursue advanced degrees. During one of Sue's night-prowling raids she found a letter from die woman that had been addressed to herself at his secret post office box. It was a Bill Bradfield ruse Sue would come to learn only too well.
    Reading it, Sue was devastated to discover that the woman had gone off to give birth to his baby. Sue confronted him, in tears. He confessed, and begged forgiveness once