Amagansett

Seventeen

Gayle Wallace had swum in the pool, taken a bath, washed and dried her hair, and all but finished her breakfast when Manfred stepped gingerly from the house on to the terrace.
‘Christ, it’s bright.’
‘You look dreadful,’ said Gayle.
‘Thanks.’
‘Worse than I’ve seen you in quite a while.’
Manfred picked up her discarded sunglasses and put them on. ‘Better?’ he asked.
‘Much.’
Manfred dropped into a chair and poured himself a cup of coffee from the jug.
‘It’s cold,’ said Gayle.
‘It’s coffee.’ He took a gulp, grimaced. ‘Justin stayed late.’
‘I know.’
‘We didn’t keep you awake, did we?’
‘I don’t mind. You play well when you’re drunk…even if it is Dinah Shore.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with “Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy”.’
‘Not if you have your head buried under a pillow.’
Rosa appeared with some fresh toast and hot coffee.
‘Thanks, Rosa,’ said Manfred, ‘you’re a life-saver.’
Rosa smiled, then left.
‘So what did you end up deciding?’ asked Gayle.
‘What do you think?’
‘It’s going ahead.’
‘Father grew pretty adamant after you went to bed.’
‘I’m not against it, Manfred. It’s just that it seems a little…’ She couldn’t find the right word.
‘I know.’
‘I understand how important it is to you. I do.’
‘It’s hardly going to be a riotous affair. It never was. Far from it.’
Over dinner the previous evening, the conversation had turned to a sensitive subject, one they’d all been dodging for the past couple of weeks: that of the house party arranged months before and set to take place the following weekend.
It had never been in question that Manfred would one day make a move into politics—that decision was taken on his behalf while he was still wet from the womb—but no one had anticipated the ease with which he would navigate the course charted for him from birth. At prep school he had excelled himself, surpassing even their father’s expectations. He was captain of the varsity soccer and baseball squads, secretary of the Student Council, chairman of the Student Deacons and editor of the school newspaper, the Phillipian. These accomplishments heaped up with little or no apparent effort on Manfred’s part, and their father used to say that in this lay Manfred’s greatest achievement. For people mistrusted overt ambition, it threatened them, obliged them to take a stand for or against you.
There was only one thing more important than winning, and that was appearing not to care about winning. It was a credo that had been instilled in them from an early age, an article of faith vigorously contested by Lillian, silently accepted by Gayle, but dutifully observed by Manfred. And it had served him well, both at Andover and Yale.
It wasn’t until he went to university that Gayle actually witnessed Manfred in action. She was present in the mahoganypaneled hall when he got to his feet as Captain of the Yale Debate Team to deliver his summation speech in defense of the resolution: An oppressive government is more desirable than no government.
He opened by stating that he was a little mystified by his rival speaker’s arguments in favor of no government, as he had it on good authority that the fellow was actively seeking a position in government on his graduation. Delivered with a sly smile, his tone devoid of any malice, this won him a large laugh and proved to be the final nail in the other man’s coffin. Manfred had already argued a difficult position with a compelling mix of conviction and crowd-pleasing humor.
When he finally stepped away from the lectern, it was Lillian, chauffeured in from Vassar for the night, who was first to her feet, applauding loudly. Shrugging off their mother’s efforts to silence her, she triggered a standing ovation. The motion was duly carried by a large majority.
In the heady aftermath of his victory, it became clear that Manfred had delivered no more or less than had been expected of him. Yes, his peers mobbed him and showered him with compliments, but only as team-mates might congratulate a star batter who can always be relied upon to pull a winning home run out of the bag. There was no mistaking the fact that he was already a figure of some considerable standing among his Conservative Party cronies, admired and respected by the sons of some of the country’s most influential men, a few of whom also happened to be present that evening.
Gayle could still recall her father’s largesse with the Champagne in the bar of the Taft Hotel afterwards, the expression on his face as he surveyed the proceedings. It was a look not so much of paternal pride as of deep satisfaction. He had invested everything in Manfred, and Manfred had more than repaid the confidence placed in him.
Bathed in his reflected glory, Gayle and Lillian had found themselves surrounded by a pack of attentive young men, until ushered to the relative safety of a corner booth by Justin Penrose, Manfred’s closest friend. At midnight, when their parents finally prized them away from the rowdy gathering, Gayle was left in little doubt that Justin wished to see her again. And her father let it be known that he thoroughly approved.
America’s entry into the war two years later, though a little inconvenient, was barely a setback to their father’s plans. It also meant that Manfred could enter the political arena with the added kudos of a sound military record.
The scene was now set. Gayle wasn’t sure of the exact details, though she knew there was talk of skipping over the State Assembly and making a play straight for membership of the New York State Senate. With elections coming up, it was time for some serious decisions to be made. Hence the weekend house party—an opportunity for some of those backing Manfred’s political career to put their heads together and determine the exact course of his candidature.
In truth, Gayle had known for several days now that the gathering would go ahead regardless of Lillian’s death. It would have been postponed well before if it was ever going to be. No, the discussion over dinner the previous evening had been a mere formality, the decision a foregone conclusion.
The most gratifying aspect of the evening had been Justin’s attitude towards her. Had she imagined the flutter of his fingertips against her waist as he stooped to kiss her cheek on his arrival? Had the kiss itself been less perfunctory than usual? Possibly. In the privacy of her bedroom, she had dismissed any lingering doubts. She knew the signals; she had, after all, been on the receiving end of them before. This was the reason she had been unable to sleep, the events of the evening tugging at her thoughts, even before Manfred and Justin started banging out numbers on the piano.
‘Father thinks we should take Senator Dale fishing,’ said Manfred.
‘Fishing?’
‘Game fishing, for tuna. Next weekend. You know, charter a boat in Montauk, make a day of it.’
‘Business and pleasure,’ said Gayle indifferently.
‘You think it’s a bad idea?’
‘I really wouldn’t know.’
‘Anyway, Richard’s going to look into it.’ He heaped some strawberry jam on to a slice of toast. ‘Where’s Father?’
‘Playing golf.’
‘Who with?’
‘Don’t worry, I don’t think you’re missing out on anything.’ The words came out wrong, the tone more aggressive than she had intended, but Manfred didn’t appear to notice. ‘He said he’d meet you at the club for lunch,’ she added.
‘You’re not coming?’
‘I’m going to see the fishermen, the ones who found Lilly.’
‘That’s right, I’d forgotten. Do you want me to go with you?’
‘It’s okay.’ She paused. ‘I want to take them something, but I can’t think what.’
‘Champagne. Raid the cellar.’
‘Champagne seems a little…celebratory.’
‘We served it after the funeral.’
‘That’s true.’
They sat in silence for a moment, then Manfred reached out, took her hand and squeezed it.
‘Gayle, you haven’t really talked about what happened. About Lilly.’ Gayle didn’t reply. ‘Maybe it’s not my place to say, but you might feel better if you did.’
‘You’re right,’ she said, removing her hand from his. ‘It’s not your place to say.’
She spotted the turning on her third pass, just as she was about to give up and go home. A sandy track, barely wide enough for a vehicle, snaked off through the pines on the south side of Montauk Highway.
There was no sign on the verge, nothing to indicate that someone lived at the end of the narrow trail. She was beginning to doubt that they did when, after a hundred yards or so, the trees petered out, giving way to an expansive view, the top of a barn showing in the distance above the crests of the rolling dunes.
She teased the car forward, steering to avoid the ruts. This proved to be her undoing. The front wheels of the roadster sank into the soft sand beside the track, losing all purchase. The more she gunned the engine, the faster the wheels spun and the deeper the car settled.
‘Damn.’
She grabbed her handbag and the two bottles of Champagne, and set off on foot. Almost immediately she kicked off her shoes and tucked them under her arm.
She was sweating now, irritable, and it occurred to her that she must look like some slattern searching for a party.
The fisherman didn’t see or hear her approach. He was bent over the front of a battered truck, head in the engine, revving the motor loudly. He was wearing only a pair of tatty cotton trousers, and she could see the muscles in his shoulders bunching beneath the skin as he worked.
She didn’t call out; her shadow alerted him to her presence, startling him.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you. I’m looking for Conrad Labarde.’
He reached into the engine and killed the motor.
‘You just found him.’
‘I’m Lillian Wallace’s sister.’
‘Yes…’
He must have spotted the resemblance. There was oil on his hands, and what she first took to be oil smeared around his right eye and along the side of his chest. She quickly realized that what she was staring at was bruising.
‘Some gear fell on me,’ he said, reading her look.
‘These are for you, you and your friend, by way of thank you.’
He took the bottles of Champagne from her.
‘You look hot,’ he said. ‘Are you thirsty?’
‘A little.’
‘Come with me.’ He wandered off, leaving her little choice but to follow.
The house wasn’t at all what she’d been expecting. What had she been expecting? There were pictures and books and fine old pieces of furniture, albeit of a rustic nature. He obviously felt no inclination to make idle chat, and she browsed around while he washed his hands at the sink.
‘Here,’ he said, handing her a glass of water.
She had every intention of leaving as soon as she’d quenched her thirst, but when he indicated a chair at the end of the table she found herself sitting. He took a seat near her.
‘I’m sorry about your sister.’
‘It could have been worse.’
‘Worse than death?’
‘If you hadn’t caught her in your net she might never have been found.’ She paused. ‘Does that sound silly?’
‘No. We all look for small consolations at times like this.’
We. He was sending her a message that he too knew about loss, that he knew what she was going through. But he didn’t. Even if he thought he did, he didn’t. And she resented the complicity he was forcing upon her.
As if sensing this, he changed the subject. He asked about Lillian, remarking that since she had been buried in East Hampton she must have loved the place. Gayle found herself warming to the conversation, eager to talk. There was nothing pushy about his questions; he drew responses from her effortlessly. At a certain moment it occurred to her that she was satisfying a need in him, that his desire to understand the person he had only ever known as a corpse was a necessary part of putting the experience behind him. Against his wishes he had been written into the last chapter of Lillian’s life, and he had a desire to know the details of the story preceding his involvement.
There was something calming about his presence. He was considered in his comments, articulate when he made them, and his attentive gray eyes never left hers, not even for a moment.
She felt a momentary twinge of disappointment when he suggested that she must have things to do. He got to his feet.
‘I’ll get a tow rope,’ he said.
‘How did you know?’
He smiled. ‘Happens all the time.’
As she followed him from the house he turned to her. ‘I want to show you something first.’
He struck out across the dunes towards the ocean. She followed, intrigued, the hot sand scorching the soles of her feet, obliging her to tread lightly and quickly behind him.
Along the beach a scattering of people were huddled beneath their sun shades, sheltered from the midday sun. A dog scampered to and fro at the water’s edge, barking at the gulls.
Gayle hurried to the wash and cooled her feet in the spent waves.
‘That’s where we found her,’ he said, pointing down the beach. ‘About a hundred yards along.’
Gayle stared at the spot, aware that he was watching her intently.
‘I’m not sure I wanted to know that,’ she said.
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Did you see her?’ he asked. ‘At the morgue?’
His tone had changed. In fact, his whole appearance had changed. He suddenly seemed very big. And very threatening.
‘I wanted to, but when it came to it, I couldn’t.’
He glanced back down the beach. ‘Maybe with time you’ll be glad you knew,’ he said, more gently.
She doubted it, but said nothing.
The rope was in the barn, coiled and hanging from a wooden peg.
‘You use all this…stuff?’ she asked, awed by the amount of equipment on display.
‘Pretty much.’
‘What’s this for?’
‘It’s a scallop dredge.’
‘And that?’
‘Eel trap.’
As he led her to the truck, he asked, ‘You eat fish?’
‘Yes.’
‘If you want, I’ll drop some by. Maybe a bluefish or two.’
‘That’s very kind, but you really don’t have to.’
‘I’d like to.’
He hauled open the passenger door, removed a sleeping cat from the seat and helped her climb up.
He only untied the tow rope once he’d seen her safely back to Montauk Highway.
‘Thanks for the Champagne,’ he said, then added with a smile, ‘I’ll try to remember Rollo gets his bottle.’
She found herself not wanting to leave, and watched as he swung the truck round on the highway, negotiating his way past her and back down the track.
A thought suddenly occurred to her and she punched the horn several times. He pulled to a halt, leaning out of the window.
‘How much do you know about game fishing?’ she called.
‘Game fishing?’
‘For tuna.’