“We have a deal,” he said to Wallis, “but he wants thirty days from when he receives the bill to pay the funds.”
“That should be fine,” said Wallis. “We have a settlement,” she said to the bailiff. “I’ll present the parameters to the judge, draw up the agreement and send it over to your office.” She didn’t look for a nod. “You have the check?”
“He’s writing it now.” I’m going to tell her to go cash it now, thought Wallis.
“Wallis? Wallis?”
Wallis turned to see Lilly Billings coming down the hall, her orange hair visible like a moving dot in the crowd, clutching her purse tightly under her arm. She was wearing her usual odd version of a suit. A sensible dark wool skirt with a matching vest over a brightly colored silk blouse with billowy sleeves and sensible shoes. Ray Billings’ new widow in all her splendor.
“Lilly, what are you doing here?” said Wallis, taking a step away from the small crowd and dropping her voice. “Shouldn’t you be taking care of the arrangements?”
“Ray’s family is doing all of that. It’s their right now, anyway. Ray and I weren’t really speaking there in the end, and I think they hold me a little responsible.” She glanced down and blinked her eyes hard a few times.
“You’re not, you know,” whispered Wallis, her voice softening.
“I know, but it wasn’t suicide, Wallis. Ray and I may have been fighting but he wasn’t depressed over it, just a little mad I wasn’t more supportive.”
“Supportive?”
“He was up to something at work, you know, at the utility department. He said he was trying to do the right thing. All I know is he had a lot of late nights and strange meetings. I thought it might be women for awhile, that seemed like the saner reason, so I followed him. Did I ever tell you that? But he was meeting with his supervisor, Alice Watkins, in a diner, and there’s no way Ray was attracted to that old tired thing.”
“What were they doing?”
“Talking, and not casually. They were leaning over the table, practically in their coffee, arguing about something. Ray had a file he was trying to give her and something else that I couldn’t really make out, but she wouldn’t take it. He looked disappointed, hurt even, and got up to go. That’s when I left. When he got home I told him I saw him and he went through the roof,” she said, her arms flying up over her head. “Still wouldn’t tell me what was up, only that he was raised right and somebody had to do it.”
“Do what, Lilly? I don’t understand.”
“That’s the problem, neither do I. I only got a peek at that file. Saw it just for a moment before Ray caught me and took the file someplace.”
“What did you see?”
“Names, all men’s names, on a grid with different headings like where they went to school. And little rows of numbers. That’s all I saw. Ray works for the utilities department. Why would he need that? You think Ray was doing something bad? That wouldn’t be like Ray, I swear,” she whispered, tearing up. She blotted her eyes with a neatly folded tissue she had pulled out of a sleeve, careful not to smudge her elaborate eye makeup.
“Why didn’t you tell me all of this before?” said Wallis, trying to keep her breathing even. Lilly didn’t answer, still blotting at her face.
Wallis felt the same lurch in her stomach she’d felt earlier and wanted to find Norman immediately. Take off at a dead run, if necessary. I should have told him this morning, she thought. Not men’s names, boy’s. Boys I know. What have I done?
“I’ll tell you, Wallis,” she said, clutching at Wallis’ arm with a perfectly manicured hand, “he was scared, worse than I’ve ever seen. When I really figured out he didn’t trust me enough to tell me anything, I knew it was over. Thirty years and all gone.”
“If he was so upset and keeping secrets, how do you know it wasn’t suicide after all?” asked Wallis, hoping Lilly didn’t have a good answer.
“Because of something he said,” she said, lifting her chin like it was already obvious. “He said if something happened to him, I was to tell you. No matter what it looked like I was to tell you. That you’d know what to do. I thought he was just getting crazier and crazier when he said that, but now this. What’d he mean by that?”
“I have no idea,” said Wallis, the last of her calm of a few minutes ago finally seeping away.
“You know, Ray may not have liked you, but it was only out of respect for your nickname that his lawyer was always saying. Black Widow. He didn’t like knowing he was going to lose.”
“That was it? That’s all he said?”
“No, one other thing. But that sounds as crazy as the rest. He said this whole thing was bigger than he could even tell and if it wasn’t for the list, he wouldn’t have gone anywhere near it.” She shrugged, as if to say maybe it was all a little crazy after all.