Cast into Doubt

TWENTY-SIX

Shelby stared back. ‘I didn’t know . . .’

‘You’re going through my papers?’ Talia exclaimed.

Shelby licked her lips. ‘I didn’t expect you home,’ she said.

Talia put her hands on her hips. ‘Obviously,’ she said. ‘I decided to come home for lunch and check on Mother.’

‘Look, Talia—’

‘Don’t “look Talia” me. That is my private business. I can’t believe my eyes. Why are you going through my papers?’

Shelby was embarrassed to be caught. But she reminded herself that she was looking for proof of a crime. She had hoped to arm herself with black and white proof. But, now, looking at Talia, she felt a reckless sense of entitlement. She could not imagine why, or how it could be possible. But if it were, no amount of snooping she could do would ever compare to that sort of treachery. If Talia had done this, arranged for the murder of Shelby’s child, there was nothing left to care about between them. ‘I’m looking through your receipts,’ Shelby said boldly.

‘Looking for what? You’ve got a lot of nerve.’

‘Faith’s parents went on a cruise. I need to know who paid for it.’

Talia looked completely baffled. ‘Faith? My graduate assistant?’

Shelby nodded. ‘Her father claims that he won the cruise in a contest, but he didn’t.’

‘So?’ said Talia.

‘He’s lying about it. Somebody paid for it.’

‘What’s that got to do with you snooping through my papers?’

Shelby hesitated. ‘I wondered if you paid for it,’ said Shelby flatly.

Talia shook her head. ‘Have you lost your mind? Why in the world would I send Faith’s parents on a cruise?’

‘It was the cruise that Chloe was on,’ said Shelby.

Talia looked at her blankly. ‘So?’

‘You tell me,’ said Shelby stubbornly.

‘I’ll tell you this. I haven’t got that kind of money, and if I did, I certainly wouldn’t spend it on people I don’t even know.’

‘You have plenty of money,’ said Shelby.

‘And how do you know that?’ Talia demanded. ‘Oh, that’s right. You’ve been going through my bank records.’

‘Did you do it?’ Shelby asked.

‘Do what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

There was the sound of a key in the front door lock, and then the door opened, and Nadia came in, carrying a shopping bag and her umbrella. Talia turned and looked at her aghast. ‘Where were you?’ she demanded. ‘Who is with mother?’

Nadia looked furtively at Shelby. ‘Your sister. She said she would stay with mother.’

‘I pay you to stay with her,’ Talia cried. ‘How dare you just go off shopping and leave my mother alone?’

‘Your sister said—’

‘You don’t do what my sister says,’ Talia cried. ‘You do as I tell you.’

‘I told her to leave,’ Shelby interrupted. ‘I said I would be here until she got back.’

Talia turned on Shelby with fury in her eyes. ‘And this is how you stay with her? You leave her all alone and come down here to snoop through my accounts?’

Nadia stood in the foyer, uncertain about what to do next. All of a sudden there was the sound of a loud thud from the second floor, and then a weak, plaintive moan.

‘Mother,’ Talia cried. She turned away from Shelby and left the room, running up the stairs. Nadia followed dutifully behind her. As Shelby watched them go, she had a sudden revelation, both disheartening and, at the same time, comforting. Talia was not worried about what Shelby might find in her accounts. She had rushed off to her mother’s side without a backward glance. She was not worried, Shelby realized, because there was nothing to find. Shelby heard Talia descending the staircase. She came back into the living room, glaring at Shelby.

‘How is she?’ Shelby asked. ‘Is she all right?’

‘How do you live with yourself?’ said Talia through gritted teeth. ‘You don’t give a damn what happens to her.’

‘This is more important,’ said Shelby.

‘She’s your mother.’

‘I know that,’ said Shelby. ‘I do my share.’

‘The occasional check,’ Talia said bitterly. ‘I suppose you think you shouldn’t have to help pay for her care. Your own mother.’

‘My mother used to chase me with a hammer, crawling under tables and chairs to try to whack me. She humiliated me for sport. She was cruel. I lived in terror of what she was going to say or do next.’

‘It wasn’t that bad,’ Talia scoffed. ‘You always exaggerate.’

‘Don’t tell me what I remember. Don’t tell me what I should feel about her,’ Shelby insisted.

Talia sighed. ‘You never cared about her feelings. You walked away and never gave us a thought. Mother always said that about you. Shelby does exactly as she pleases and the hell with everybody else. But I never thought you would stoop to this. Is that what you’re really doing here? Trying to figure out how your pitiful contribution to her care has been spent?’

Shelby stared at her sister’s face which was devoid of any recognizable emotion. ‘This has nothing to do with Mother,’ she said. ‘I’m here because somebody paid for Bud Ridley to go on that cruise. I think somebody sent him there to throw my daughter overboard,’ she blurted out.

Talia looked stunned, and for a moment she did not speak. And then she shook her head. ‘And you think I did it?’

‘I was just . . . I didn’t know,’ said Shelby, but even as she spoke, she was wishing she had never started this conversation. For a moment she felt frightened of her sister. Frightened to see that same fury blooming in her sister’s eyes that she had so often seen in her mother’s.

‘So, wait a minute. That’s why you’re looking through my papers. To see if I paid for someone to take that cruise and kill your daughter?’

Shelby nodded. ‘Yes.’ Even as she uttered the word, Shelby realized that it was the worst accusation she could ever make. To level it at her sister was tantamount to breaking every tie between them that ever existed. There was no taking it back, no matter what. The word hung in the air between them.

‘Oh, for heaven’s sakes,’ said Talia.

Shelby stared at her.

‘Why would I do that?’ Talia demanded.

‘To get back at me,’ said Shelby. ‘For leaving you with all the responsibility for Mother. For not helping you.’

Talia sighed, and her shoulders heaved. ‘Look, Shelby, if you feel guilty, that’s your problem. Personally, I will never have to ask myself if I did enough for Mother, if I made her happy. It’s you two who will have to suffer. You and Glen. Just don’t come crying to me someday, saying that you’re sorry. If you’re sorry then, it will be too late.’

Shelby stared at her sister. It was as if her heinous accusation had not even penetrated. Talia was not offended. She did not understand that Shelby had suffered the most grievous loss in the world. She did not even grasp that Chloe was the most important thing in Shelby’s life. Shelby thought about that impersonal sympathy card which Talia had sent Faith to buy for her. Chloe’s death had not really registered with Talia. To Talia, only one person mattered. She was devoting her life to the person she loved most, and, if she felt chagrin, it was because her brother and sister didn’t see it her way. They were missing their chance.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Shelby, suddenly ashamed of the enormity of her mistake. ‘I shouldn’t have said that.’

‘Said what?’ Talia asked.

‘Well, I shouldn’t have come here and rifled through your papers. I shouldn’t have implied that you might have made a deal with Faith’s father.’

‘I don’t know Faith’s father,’ Talia complained. ‘Why in the world would I make a deal with him?’

‘You’re right,’ said Shelby. ‘It makes no sense.’ Once again, she felt as if the answer to her questions had slipped from her hands and evaporated into the air.

‘So if you’re not going to help, why don’t you just go?’

‘I guess I will,’ said Shelby. ‘I need to get Jeremy.’

Talia looked puzzled, as if she didn’t know whom Shelby was talking about. And then her gaze cleared and she looked bored. ‘Well, go ahead then,’ she said. ‘You’re no help to me here. As usual.’