Lye in Wait Read Online Free PDF Page B

possessions as they get closer to doing it," she said.
    "He seemed happy enough"
    She shrugged. "I always got the impression Walter was a sad
man. He smiled and carried on conversations, but he always seemed
to bear an underlying, I don't know... sorrow, is the only word I can
think of."
    "Well, maybe you're more sensitive to that kind of thing than
I am. I think he went through funks like anyone else. That's not
enough to kill yourself over."
    She gave me a look. "Is this really about Walter?"
    "Of course it's about Walter."
    "You told me once you never knew why Bobby Lee killed himself, that you couldn't understand it. And that really bothered
you.
    I picked at the edge of a label. Pieces of the handmade paper
broke off, fluttered to the floor.
    "He had a reason, he had to. I was at school, so I wasn't around.
We talked on the phone some, but that's not the same thing. Mom
and Dad didn't want to talk about what happened, though they
seemed as bewildered as everyone else. But he was eighteen, and
he'd certainly stopped confiding in my parents by then."
    "Walter had a reason, too," Meghan said.
    "What if he didn't do it?"
    "What do you mean? Of course he did it. You saw him."
    "But what if he didn't... kill himself?"
     
    She stared at me. "You're kidding, right?"
    "That peppermint I smelled in his kitchen. I smelled it downstairs today, too. So did you"
    "So? Peppermint's in all sorts of things."
    "I've never heard of peppermint-scented lye."
    "Neither have I. But your workroom often smells like peppermint, and what you smelled at Walter's was probably tea or soap or
air freshener. It could have been anything."
"
    I don't think so. It was too strong."
    She shook her head, picked up a label and a bar of soap, then
threw both of them back in the basket and sat back on the couch
with her arms wrapped around herself as if she were cold. Neither
of us said anything for several minutes.
    Finally I spoke. "Even if he did kill himself, I'd like to know
why."
    "And you think finding out what made him do it will somehow change the fact that you don't know why your brother killed
himself?"
    "No-will you drop that? I told you, this has nothing to do
with Bobby Lee. But doesn't it bother you that someone swallowed
lye-lye, for God's sake-in our basement? Don't you see how
wrong that is? And now someone was in his house tonight. Do
you think that was a coincidence? Something was going on with
Walter, something pretty major. Something other than a bad case
of the blues."
    She turned to face me. "You were in his house tonight, too. And
for a perfectly innocent reason. Whoever else was there could have
just as valid an excuse. And even if they didn't, it's a bit of a leap to conclude it had something to do with his death. Don't make this
into something it's not."
     
    "I'm not making it into anything. It's already there. He died in
your house. Don't you want to know why?"
    She sighed. "Not the way you do."
    "He tried to stop it, at the end. After it was too late."
    "What?"
    "The front of his shirt was all wet, and his cuffs. He'd tried to
splash water in his mouth, drink it from his hands. That's why he
died right in front of the sink."
    She looked horrified. Swallowed audibly. "Maybe... maybe he
didn't know it would hurt so much."
    "I just..."
    "I know."
    "It's not about Bobby Lee."
    "Okay."
    We sat in silence, the scent of lavender doing nothing to smooth
my nerves, the crackle of the fire offsetting the faint sound of the
wind outside.
    Meghan gathered Brodie into her arms and rose. "I'm going on
up to bed."
    "His mother lives at Caladia Acres," I said. "I'm going to go see
her tomorrow morning about helping with the funeral. Want to
come?"
    "I can't. I'm booked solid all morning. But I guess I could try
to fit in a phone call to the funeral home."
    "Okay. Thanks."
    Her small smile accentuated the dark circles under her eyes.
"Sure." She turned toward the stair. "Goodnight, Sophie