“Yeah. And, like, three times a week or so. You mean you didn’t know?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Sam said. “It was a long—”
“Shut up,” Linda snapped. She turned to Rebecca. “You’re wrong.”
“What, you’re surprised Daniel lied to you?” Rebecca was laughing. “He toldyou he had a retarded brother and he toldme he didn’t have a brother. Let’s ask the authority. Sam, was Daniel seeing Rachel that spring?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer…Yes, you do,” Rebecca announced.
“Oh, come on,” Sam said. “What difference does it make?”
“Let’s play who knows Daniel best. Did he say anything to you about it? He told everything to his Mouse.”
“We don’t need to—”
“Answer the question!”
“I don’t have any idea. Rebecca, come on. Let it go.”
“Did he?”
Yes, in fact, he had. But Sam said, “I don’t remember.”
“Bullshit.”
“Why would he lie to me?” Linda growled.
“Because you told him that Mommy and Daddy didn’t let you play at the cookout. That gave him something to work with. And he used it. And he didn’t just buy you one. He claimed hemade it! What a fucking saint!”
“You’re the one who’s lying.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel never made anything for you.”
“Oh, please. Are we back in high school?” Rebecca looked Linda over. “Oh, I get it. You were jealous ofme! That’s why you were so pissed off then. That’s why you’re pissed off now.”
This was true too, Sam reflected. After Rebecca joined the Family Daniel had spent far less time with the other women. Sam could handle it—anything as long as he was happy and didn’t want to kick her out of the Family. But Linda, in the role of mother, was stung that Rebecca seemed to supplant her.
Linda denied it now. “I was not. How could anybody afford to be jealous living in that situation? One man and three women living together?”
“How? Because we’re human, that’s how. Hell, you were jealous ofRachel. ”
“That was different. She was a slut. She wasn’t one of us, she wasn’t part of the Family.”
Sam said, “Look, we’re not here about us. We’re here to help the police.”
Rebecca scoffed. “How could wenot be here about us? The first time we’ve been together after eight years? What, you think we’d just show up, write a top-ten list—‘Things I remember about Daniel Pell’—and go home? Of course, this’s about us as much as him.”
Angry too, Linda gazed at Sam. “And you don’t have to defend me.” A contemptuous nod toward Rebecca. “She’snot worth it. She wasn’t there from the beginning like we were. She wasn’t a part of it, and she took over.”
Turning to Rebecca. “I was with him for more than a year. You? A few months.”
“Daniel asked me. I didn’t force my way in.”
“We were going along fine, and thenyou show up.”
“‘Going along fine’?” Rebecca set down her wineglass and sat forward. “Are you hearing what you’re saying?”
“Rebecca, please,” Sam said. Her heart was pounding. She thought she’d cry as she looked at the two red-faced women, facing each other across a coffee table of varnished yellowing logs. “Don’t.”
The lean woman ignored her. “Linda, I’ve been listening to you since I got here. Defending him, saying it wasn’t so bad, we didn’t steal all that much, maybe Daniel didn’t kill so-and-so…Well, that’s bullshit.
Get real. Yes, the Family was sick, totally sick.”
“Don’t say that! It’s not true.”
“Goddamn it, itis true. And Daniel Pell’s a monster. Think about it. Think about what he did to us….”
Rebecca’s eyes were glowing, jaw trembling. “He looked at you and saw somebody whose parents never gave her an inch of freedom. So what does he do? He tells you what a fine, independent person
you are, how you’re being stifled. And puts you in charge of the house. He makes you Mommy. He gives you power, which you never had before. And he hooks you in with that.”
Tears dotted Linda’s eyes. “It wasn’t like that.”
“You’re right. It wasworse. Becausethen look at what happened. The Family breaks up, we go to jail and where do you end up? Right back where you started. With a domineering male figure again—only this time, Daddy’s God. If you thought you couldn’t say no to your real father, think about yournew one.”
“Don’t say that,” Sam began. “She’s—”
Rebecca turned on her. “Andyou. Just like the old days. Linda and I go at it, and you play Little Miss United Nations, don’t want anybody upset, don’t want anybody making waves. Why? Is it because you care about us, dear? Or is it because you’re terrified we’ll self-destruct and you’ll be evenmore alone than you already are?”
“You don’t have to be like that,” Sam muttered.
“Oh, I think I do. Let’s take a look at your story, Mouse. Your parents didn’t know you existed. ‘Go do whatever you want, Sammy. Mommy and Daddy’re too busy with Greenpeace or the National Organization for Women or walking for the cure to tuck you in at night.’ And what does Daniel do for you? He’s suddenly the involved parent you never had. He looks out for you, tells you what to do, when to brush your teeth, when to repaint the kitchen, when to get on all fours in bed…and you think it means he loves you. So, guess what?You’re hooked too.
“And now? You’re back to square one, just like Linda. You didn’t exist to your parents, and now you don’t exist toanyone. Because you’re not Samantha McCoy. You became somebody else.”
“Stop it!” Sam was crying hard now. The harsh words, born from a harsh truth, stung deeply. There were things she could say too—Rebecca’s selfishness, her bluntness bordering on cruelty—but she held back. It was impossible for her to be harsh, even in self-defense.