Page 79 of The Gallagher Place
In truth, Marlowe didn’t have any evidence, but she had given the detectives enough for Ariel to spin convincing lies.
Marlowe reached for her zipper and undid her coat. She flipped her pockets inside out. Then she stood up and lifted her sweater to reveal her pale stomach. She tugged at the neck to show her bra with no wires attached.
“I didn’t think you would.” Nate kicked at the ground before sitting down beside her. It was a poor excuse. “Why did you look here?”
“Enzo,” Marlowe said. “He was babbling about a cairn, which I knew was a pile of stones used in burials.”
“Jesus.” Nate ran his hand through his hair, his touch melting the snowflakes.
“I don’t think he said it to the detectives.” Marlowe zipped her coat back up to her chin. “He had a good lawyer.”
Marlowe stared straight ahead. She needed to know. She would get the information first, then decide who to hate. And how to be angry.
“Tell me, please.”
“You remember how she was, how easy it was to love her. She was funny and brave andalive.” Nate spoke softly. “And Henry hadalways been smitten. Since the moment they met. For years, he followed her around like a lovesick puppy.”
Marlowe shook her head. It still didn’t fit. Yes, Henry had trailed after Nora, but that was his way. He was always trying to tag along.
“He followed you too,” Marlowe said.
“It was different.” Nate shook his head. “I guess they were only a year apart, but she always seemed much older than him. Or rather, I guess Henry seemed so young.”
Henry was almost fifteen when Nora died. How long had it been going on? Marlowe shivered. It was difficult to imagine Nora with Henry. Nora knew how young he was, how he was the baby of the group.
“I think when she set her sights on him, he didn’t stand a chance,” Nate continued with his weary tone. “She probably didn’t have to try very hard.”
“You make her sound like some seductress.”
“And when you thought it was me, weren’t you ready to paint me as the seducer? The older college guy. Are you telling me it wasn’t the same with her and Henry?”
“They were closer in age.”
“Never mind their ages—she did it for a reason. She wanted power. She wanted control. She had that with Henry.”
“How long?” Marlowe asked.
Nate stared down at her quizzically. “I always wondered if you knew or suspected. Or if you didn’t want to know.”
“I didn’t know,” Marlowe said. “And if I ever started to wonder, it was always you and her.”
Nate shook his head. “I never would have done that.”
Marlowe believed him. He would have seen it as a betrayal of his sister. Nate had a code, and he stuck to it.
“I think they started sleeping together the winter before she disappeared, during my freshman year of college.” Nate crossed his arms and turned back to the river. “Henry didn’t tell me until the beginning of May, and only because he was terrified. I was visiting a friend that week, and he called me during his school lunch from a pay phone in Manhattan because he was scared to call from the apartment. He was crying. I’ve never been more furious in my life. He was fourteen and she had just told him she was pregnant the weekend before. Can you imagine how overwhelmed he was?”
“Probably just as overwhelmed as Nora finding out she was pregnant.” Wrapped up in the thoughts that occupied her young mind, Marlowe had been blind to it all.
“I don’t know if she was.” Nate shrugged. “I’ve thought about it over and over, and part of me thinks she made it up. To get money or a promise from Henry. He thought he was going to have to marry her. He asked me if it was possible to do that at his age.” Nate broke off, as if remembering the absurd phone conversation and getting a renewed burst of frustration.
Marlowe opened her mouth to defend Nora, but no words came out.
“She just wanted to be a part of our family,” Marlowe said. “I always thought she was.”
“You were a good friend to her.” Nate’s voice twisted with fury. “Better than she deserved.”
Marlowe glanced down at the wall. “She’s dead, Nate.”
