You Don't Own Me Page 10

  “We’ll be speaking further to Caroline, I promise,” Laurie assured them. “But before we go, I’m afraid we also need to raise two subjects that might make you uncomfortable. I’d rather be direct with you.”

  “Fair enough,” Dr. Bell said, shifting in his seat. “What do you need to know?”

  Laurie sensed she was still walking on eggshells as far as the Bells were concerned, so she decided to start with what she thought would be the less explosive of her two questions. “Your son’s estate settled a few lawsuits that were pending against his medical practice. We were hoping to know the details.”

  “Absolutely not,” Robert said, not even considering the request. “We only settled to protect Martin’s good name. After he died, those money-grubbing lawyers had the nerve to up their financial demands, because he was no longer around to defend himself. It was sickening. We personally added money to the settlements offered by the insurance company to get the plaintiffs to sign nondisclosure agreements. We are bound by the contracts as well, so I’m afraid we can’t give you information about them, even if we wanted to. Trust me, though: there’s no reason to believe the lawsuits are at all relevant to our son’s death.”

  Laurie would feel much better if she were in a position to make that call herself, but she couldn’t see a basis for persuading them to violate a legal agreement. She’d have to find another way to get at the details of the lawsuits. She made a mental note to ask Alex about the nuances of nondisclosure agreements.

  “Very well then,” she said, conceding the point for now. “The other issue is one you alluded to earlier. Martin told you that Kendra had accused him of being unfaithful.”

  They both frowned at the memory. “It was absolutely untrue,” Cynthia snapped. “Frankly, Kendra was lucky that the Longfellows didn’t sue her for slander based on the allegation. He was right on the verge of being named to the vacant Senate seat.”

  “So you knew that Kendra was suspicious of your son’s relationship with Leigh Ann Longfellow?” Ryan asked.

  “Of course,” Cynthia said. “You have to understand: we’ve known Leigh Ann since she was a little girl. Her mother, Eleanor, and I are still dear friends, part of the same bridge group that gets together for cards when schedules permit.”

  Robert interrupted. “Her father, Charles, was one of the wizards of Wall Street before his passing a few years ago. An excellent family by any measure.”

  “In any event,” Cynthia continued, “when the friends would get together, the older kids would keep an eye out for the younger ones—that kind of thing. So to Martin, Leigh Ann was a kid-sister type. Then they were working together on the alumni board. They were several years apart, but both went to the same prep school,” she explained. “So Martin immediately told us when Kendra first leveled the ridiculous accusation. He was afraid that Kendra’s rantings would become public. He didn’t want Leigh Ann or her parents to hear about the whispers from someone else. He was deeply embarrassed. We handled it the only way we knew how.”

  “Which was?” Laurie asked.

  “I called Eleanor,” Cynthia said. “I told her that Kendra was going through a difficult time. That she was . . . ill. And that it was manifesting itself in the form of a bizarre obsession with Leigh Ann, and that we were doing everything we could to contain the problem. But no matter how much Martin tried to reassure Kendra, her paranoia only seemed to grow. She even called us at one point, begging us to make him stop the affair—which of course was a figment of her imagination.”

  “But how can you be absolutely certain of that?” Ryan asked. “My apologies for raising the possibility, but I know I haven’t told my mother and father everything I’ve done that I wasn’t proud of.”

  Laurie realized that Ryan was in a better position to press this particular point than she was.

  “We knew our son,” Cynthia said firmly. “He was not the type of man to cheat. And we know Leigh Ann, as well as her husband, the senator. It’s true love, and a true partnership. He’s an extremely talented politician, but Leigh Ann is the one with all the contacts. She was the one who pushed him to run for the state assembly and then managed his campaign behind the scenes. And she’s whip smart; if you ask me, she’s the brains behind the whole operation. They each think the sun rises and sets on the other. The whole notion of her and Martin as a couple is crazy.”

  “And you don’t even need to take our word for it,” Robert added. “We happen to know that the police looked into Kendra’s claims after Martin was killed, and we were assured there was nothing to it. There was no affair. Martin and Leigh Ann went to the same prep school and were organizing the auction dinner together; that’s all there was to it. And to the extent Kendra was trying to insinuate that Leigh Ann’s husband—now our senator, for God’s sake—was involved in the murder, it makes no sense. Both he and Leigh Ann were in Washington, D.C., the night Martin was killed.”

  “It’s still so embarrassing that they were dragged into this at all,” Cynthia said, shaking her head. “Please don’t let Kendra repeat this nonsense on air. We don’t want to see our son dragged through the mud.”

  Cynthia brushed away a tear, and Laurie reminded herself that the reason these people had been pulling every string they could was out of love for the son they had lost. They were now trusting her to handle his case responsibly. “Thank you, both of you, for letting us look into your son’s case. I promise I’ll do my very best.”

  27

  “Good job,” Ryan whispered as they walked onto the elevator. “I think they understand now that you can’t be pushed around.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “You were a huge help. I mean it. Hey, do you have a way to find out more about those lawsuits against Martin? I don’t want to check those off the list without doing some due diligence.”

  “Absolutely. Even with a nondisclosure agreement about the settlements, I should still be able to get the original complaints. We’ll know the allegations, but won’t know whether or not they could have been proven in court.”

  “I’ll take anything you can get,” she said. “Thanks.”

  “Unfortunately, I don’t know how I can help you with the Longfellows. The Bells said that the police cleared them, but how are we going to nail that down? I can ask around my golf club. I’m sure we have mutual friends.”

  “Actually, I think I’ve got an in with the senator himself,” Laurie said, crossing her fingers that she was right.

  • • •

  When she got back to her office, she found Jerry lingering over Grace’s shoulder, looking at her computer screen. They both looked startled when they caught sight of her.

  “Will the two of you stop acting as if I’m the boss from hell like Brett Young? Why the guilty looks every time I turn a corner?” she asked.

  She noticed Grace clicking her mouse, closing windows on her screen.

  “What are you two up to?”

  “We’re not hiding anything,” Jerry said, his voice innocent. That only made her more suspicious.

  “Sure you’re not,” she said drily.

  As soon as she was at her desk, she called Alex.

  “Hey there,” he said. “I was just about to text you. Did you see Rhoda’s email? She wants us to look at a place on Eighty-eighth and Lex after work. Can you do six o’clock?”

  “Of course. At least she’s looking in the right neighborhood. In the meantime, I’ve got a huge favor to ask. Can you get me a meeting with Senator Longfellow? I need to talk to him and his wife about the Bell murder case.”

  Alex had worked closely with the offices of both senators from New York during his judicial confirmation process. With Timmy around during last night’s dinner, she hadn’t had a chance to tell Alex about Kendra’s suspicions regarding her husband and Senator Longfellow’s wife.

  “Oh boy.” She could picture Alex wincing on the other end of the line. “I can’t imagine that phone call will make him happy.”

  “I know. But the other option is to
have his and his wife’s name bandied about on TV. I assume he’ll want a chance to comment.”

  “I remember that move,” he said. When Alex was on the show, they often used it to get people to cooperate, by helping them to imagine the alternative that would occur in their absence. “Feels like old times.”

  “Except better. Hopefully you don’t know all my moves already.”

  “Don’t worry. You never cease to amaze me. Let me call Longfellow’s office and see what I can do.”

  Laurie’s next phone call was to Caroline Radcliffe. It wasn’t even lunchtime. Kendra would be at work, the kids would be at school, and Laurie was eager to speak to Caroline alone.

  Caroline picked up the phone after two rings. Laurie could hear the apprehension in her voice when Laurie explained that she wanted to speak to her about the night of Martin’s murder.

  “Everything I know was already printed in the papers,” she said.

  “I’m sure Kendra told you about the nature of our show. She agreed to participate. Although that doesn’t bind you, she’s aware that our expectation is that you’d also cooperate.”

  Laurie expected Caroline to say she wanted to speak to Kendra first, but instead she asked Laurie if she was willing to come to the house. “I still need to shop for groceries and need to pick up the kids at three.”

  “I can be there in half an hour,” Laurie said.

  28

  Caroline Radcliffe answered the carriage house door wearing dark jeans and a loose, flowing yellow blouse. She still wore her graying brown hair in tight, old-fashioned curls, but the overall effect was more modern than the housedress she’d been wearing during Laurie’s previous visit.

  “To be completely frank,” she said to Laurie once they were seated at the kitchen table with two iced teas, “Kendra already told me that you’d probably ask to speak with me. It’s important to me that you know she told me to be completely forthcoming with you. I feel like you and Martin’s parents pushed her to do this, but now that she has agreed, I think she hopes something good will finally come out of it. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose the father of your children that way and have no answers for them.”

  I can, Laurie thought.

  She listened carefully as Caroline narrated the events of the night Martin Bell was killed. The sound of the garage door opening, followed by three loud pops. Running outside to find Martin mortally wounded. Calling 911 and then struggling to rouse Kendra from what Caroline politely called a “nap.”

  “And where were the children during all of this?”

  “I told them the sounds were firecrackers and had them go up to their rooms. But as soon as Kendra was awake and finally able to process what was happening, I took them over to one of the neighbors’ apartments on the next block for an impromptu slumber party. They were thrilled at the surprise. I figured they deserved one more night of normalcy before their lives got turned upside down.”

  “You were the one to make that decision?” Laurie asked. “Not their mother?”

  Caroline’s mouth was set in a straight line, and her gaze shifted to the table. “As I mentioned to the police, she wasn’t completely focused at the time.”

  “Was she frequently in that state?”

  “She was going through a very hard time. I believe she told you that it was postpartum depression.”

  “I remember what Kendra told me. I’d like to know what you observed directly.”

  Caroline shrugged. “When Dr. Bell hired me, he told me that his wife ‘wasn’t well’ since the children were born, especially after Mindy. I assumed it was depression. I’ve seen it before in new mothers.”

  Laurie could tell that Caroline was about to say more but then stopped herself. “But Kendra’s case was different?” she prompted.

  Caroline nodded slowly. “She almost seemed . . . zombie-like. She was often in what appeared to be a dreamlike state. It’s possible it was simply a very severe case of postpartum, but . . .”

  She didn’t need to complete the rest of the sentence. It was clear that Caroline had her doubts.

  “Martin’s parents think it’s possible you’ve been holding back information that might help them get custody of the children. They said you care very deeply for Bobby and Mindy—”

  “Of course I do. Almost as if they were my own.”

  Laurie saw the desperation in Caroline’s eyes and knew that the Bells’ suspicions were correct. Caroline was holding something back. “I’m asking you this in complete confidence, Caroline: If you had to guess, are you a hundred percent certain that Kendra is innocent?”

  The color drained from her face and she began to shake her head, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

  “You have doubts.” Laurie said aloud what she knew Caroline could not.

  The nanny hesitated then nodded her head in agreement, wiping away the tears with the sleeve of her blouse.

  Laurie placed a hand gently on Caroline’s free hand. “If you have doubts, eventually they will, too,” she said, holding Caroline’s gaze. “They’re little now, and you’re trying to protect the normalcy of their lives—just as you did on that horrible night. But when they get older, they’re going to ask the same questions the public has been wondering about for five years. They’ll look at their mother and wonder if the woman who raised them killed the father they barely remember. That’s no way to live, Caroline. Secrets have a way of spiraling over the course of years. It’s better for the truth to come out now.”

  Caroline sniffed and pulled her hand away from Laurie’s. “I saw the money,” she said, her voice now low. “The withdrawals the police were asking about. I used to find wads of money—fifties, hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars in total—stashed in her sock drawer and behind her shoes in the closet. And then one day, it would all be gone.”

  The information was noteworthy, but Kendra had already admitted that she used to go on excessive shopping sprees. “Maybe wasting all that money was my quiet way of getting back at Martin for his affair,” she had said.

  Caroline’s expression hardened. “Kendra has suffered enough,” she burst out. “She’s finally getting what amounts to a normal life. She has a job she likes. It’s pretty clear that the doctor she works for is crazy about her.”

  “But,” Laurie asked, her voice quiet, “Caroline, I know there is something you haven’t told me. And if it somehow comes out while we’re shooting, it will be a lot worse than if we know it now.”

  Caroline folded her arms, and her gaze drifted as if she were looking directly through Laurie into another dimension. “That night,” she said dreamily, “I was shaking Kendra so hard I was worried I might hurt her. I was yelling over and over again that Martin had been murdered. And then suddenly the words seemed to get through to her. She stood up and—I’ll never forget it—she said, ‘Am I finally free of him?’ She sounded at once both terrified and—dare I say it—happy. She was finally free.”

  It felt as if someone had lit a fire beneath Laurie’s chair. No matter how bad the marriage, she couldn’t imagine a woman being happy about the murder of her children’s father.

  Caroline was focused on Laurie again, trying to explain away the relevance of Kendra’s hazy utterance. “I don’t think she did it,” Caroline said. “I think it was just her initial reaction to the news. She was that miserable. It’s not like it was a confession or anything.”

  “Fair enough,” Laurie said. “It’s important for us to know that. Is there anything else?”

  She left the question in the air, sure that the nanny was still holding something back.

  Then Caroline added, “There’s one more thing. The money hoarding I mentioned? She still does it. And if anything, the dollar amounts have gone up.”

  29

  The maître d’ at Daniel led them to a quiet table in the back of the restaurant. Alex immediately ordered martinis for both of them.

  Laurie smiled. “If I had known that the reward for seeing yet another horrible apa
rtment was an impromptu dinner at Daniel with you, I would have asked Rhoda to stack our schedule with dumpy apartments weeks ago.”

  It was Friday evening, and Timmy was spending the night at a friend’s slumber party. The four-bedroom apartment Rhoda had just shown them had a lot of potential—the right square footage, layout, and neighborhood. It was a good thing they had looked at it after work, though, because they were halfway through the viewing when the couple upstairs came home. Through the air vents, Laurie, Alex, and Rhoda had heard Trina accusing Mark of lying, that he had not been at a conference in Denver, but in Atlantic City with his secretary. They were treated to Mark’s multiple protests to the contrary and Trina’s response: “It was my hard luck to have married you.”

  “With the way sound travels in this building, can you imagine the reaction we’d get if Timmy were to practice his trumpet?” Laurie had asked Rhoda.

  She flicked away a lock of hair that had fallen on Alex’s forehead. “Please tell me we’ll never be like Mark and Trina,” Laurie said.

  “Don’t worry. I can’t stand Atlantic City!” Alex said, laughing.

  Laurie pretended to ball up her napkin and throw it at him.

  The waiter arrived with martinis and menus. Once they were alone again, they clinked glasses. “To never being those people,” Laurie said firmly before taking a quick sip of her cocktail. “And now let’s forget them.”

  “Amen,” Alex agreed. “And of much greater importance, I heard back from Senator Longfellow’s assistant. After I made clear that the show would go on with or without him, he said you can have half an hour with him and Leigh Ann this Tuesday afternoon. He insisted that you interview them together, until I pointed out that any journalist would be skeptical of information given under those conditions. He hemmed and hawed but finally agreed that they will speak to you separately.”