He absorbs her words. “November thirtieth.”
“You remember the date.”
“I told you, I have a pretty good memory. For some things, anyway.” He stretches a hand across the table, reaching for hers.
She snatches it out of reach, nearly spilling her coffee. “What are you doing, Rick?”
“Sorry. I’m sorry.” His hand becomes a fist, pressed beneath his chin as he stares at her. “You’re upset. I was trying to . . . I mean . . . look, I don’t know what I was doing, but—-”
“I should go.”
“Wait—-who the hell sent that package?”
“You didn’t?”
“Why would you think that?”
“You know, the smoke alarm and the burned cookies that day . . . and you once told me you lost your childhood home to a fire, and you had smoke inhalation injuries, and I thought maybe . . .”
She’s babbling. He’s looking at her as though she’s lost her mind. Maybe she has.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It doesn’t. Forget it. But if it wasn’t you, and you never told anyone . . .”
“Then you must have told someone.”
She did.
She told one person, years ago, not long after it happened. She confessed her secret in a moment of weakness, needing to unburden her guilt, and she regretted it immediately afterward.
“Who did you tell, Rowan? Because obviously, whoever it was sent that package.”
She’s shaking her head before he finishes speaking.
“There’s no way. She wouldn’t do something like that. Not in a million years.”
“Who?”
“My sister.”
From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives
Obituaries
May 12, 1985
Katherine D. Carmichael
Katherine “Kate” (Devlin) Carmichael died at home yesterday following a brief illness.
She was born in Mundy’s Landing on April 17, 1941, to the late Seamus I. and Mary O’Hara Devlin. She graduated from Mundy’s Landing High School in 1958 and from the University of Buffalo in 1962 with a bachelor of science in education. She had been employed as a teacher at Saint Helena’s Parochial School since 1974. A devoted wife and mother and avid homemaker, she enjoyed sewing, knitting, cooking, and gardening. She was an active parishioner at Holy Angels Catholic Church, where she served as president of the Blessed Sacrament Society and sang in the choir.
She is survived by her devoted husband, Jonathan “Mickey” Carmichael, whom she married on July 14, 1962; their four children: Mitchell, Daniel, Noreen, and Rowan; three brothers, Seamus (Eileen) Devlin of Schenectady, Thomas (Joanne) Devlin of Mundy’s Landing, and Rev. Robert Devlin of Boston, Massachusetts; two sisters, Margaret (Anthony) Bartone of Punta Gorda, Florida, and Maureen Devlin of Saint Louis; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
A wake will be held at Dunnewyk Funeral Home at 225 Fulton Avenue in Mundy’s Landing tomorrow from 2:00 to 4:00 and 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. A Mass of Chris-tian Burial will be celebrated Tuesday morning at ten o’clock at Holy Angels Church, followed by interment at Holy Angels Cemetery.
Chapter 4
As Noreen Carmichael Chapman pulls her Mercedes SUV into the private subdivision after dropping two of her four kids at Saturday lessons, she notes that the Holdens have yet to put up their Christmas decorations. The other half--dozen brick mansions on the cul--de--sac off Cove Neck Road, including the Chapmans’, are tastefully decked in live wreaths and garlands. At dusk, the surrounding landscape will come alive with white twinkle lights and spotlights.