Chapter 18
Wednesday morning Becky received another manila envelope in the mail. It was addressed as the others had been with no return name in evidence. It, too, had been mailed in Pender.
Once in the house with the envelope open she found more lewd photographs-again mostly of girls in various lesbian poses.
Since Monday she had regained some of her composure but this put her immediately on edge again. Was that hateful Irene still hanging around town? Becky had had no more phone calls from the redhead.
Tuesday morning Tina had invited her over for coffee but Becky hadn't gone. She had pleaded a headache. Gene had another party planned for Saturday night-and of course the Finches were expected to attend. Hal and Janet would be there....
Rudy had been wearing a bandage on his head, claiming he had injured his scalp in a bathroom accident! He was ashamed to reveal his bald spot. He had ordered a new hair piece from the dealer in San Francisco by long distance telephone, but the toupee hadn't arrived.
She had noted a few changes in his behavior patterns. He now came home right after work, giving up his cocktail hour drinks with the boys. The loss of his precious hair piece had brought him down, all right-but she was afraid he would slip right back into the old groove again when he had puffed up his ego with a new patch....
They had gone nowhere, not even to a movie. At times he even acted like his old self, more concerned about his job, drinking hardly any at all. She had stopped her sneaky habit of nipping vodka in the middle of the day.
However they had not been intimate. He slept on his side of the bed, she on hers. She hadn't worn any of her sheer nighties. For the time being they seemed to be living in a vacuum, going through the motions of living together in the same house.
Now ... another upsetting sheaf of suggestive photographs!
She glanced through them quickly, her cheeks turning warm. Someone was bombarding her with lesbian propaganda, and the more she considered the situation, the more she began to suspect a certain person. Surely no man would be sending her such filth!
But how can I give the pictures such bad names when I'm guilty myself?
She stuffed the photos back in the envelope, aware that the viewing of them had begun to arouse her-and that was wrong, too! She had buried her emotions ever since Saturday; she had been hoping that Rudy would show some kind of healthy interest in her, but he hadn't. She had kept herself well dressed and dainty; she had busied herself about the house, doing extra cleaning and floor-polishing.
She had even gone to the library and taken out some books-but so far she hadn't read them. Occasionally she let herself think about Rudy's handsome brother, Zane. He was probably back in Spokane now, busy with the management of his various motel enterprises. She was sure that he had kept his word about going by Pasco and talking to some of the Crest Stores people about Rudy....
He knew influential people. He moved in moneyed circles. She was sorry now that she had thought of him in a base, physical way when she had panted out her lonely climax ... and the wrongness of it had been underlined by the fact that Rudy had caught her in the act!
Still, life had to go on. Divorcing Rudy would be a cruel blow he probably couldn't survive in his career.
Returning to the house after dumping the new photos in the garbage can she heard the phone ringing. Probably Tina again, with another invitation to have coffee or a drink, Becky thought.
She's very clever about it and I'm afraid I'll give in if I go over there alone. I want to be normal. Maybe Rudy will get over this funk he's in ... and we can be close again!
"Yes?" she said, into the receiver.
"Mrs. Rudy Finch?" The cold remoteness of the voice set her nerves on edge.
"Yes...."
"This is the chief of police. I hate to tell you this, Mrs. Finch...." The man cleared his throat, and Becky's heart seemed to contract until it hurt. She had a moment of dizziness. " ... but your husband is dead. I'm at the Manor Motel, number eleven, and we're holding an Irene Manning for murder."
"Oh-my God!" she gasped. The room tilted. She felt herself going down. She grabbed at a chair, and staggered. A bomb seemed to explode in her head....
Becky sat on the beach, alone. Labor Day had come and gone, she had driven from Spokane to Lake Ponderosa to escape the heat of the city and the four close walls of her apartment living room.
She drew her beach robe more tightly about her figure and watched a few children at play along the rim of the beach. A killdeer, unafraid of the small fry, bobbed at the water's edge, making its lonely kildee sound.
Over two weeks now since the tragedy. The publicity, the headlines, had been awful. Store Manager Shot in Motel Love-Nest....
But it hadn't really been like that, she knew. Rudy had gone there to get some kind of revenge. The redhead had goaded him into violence-she had admitted that much. She had a gun. She had threatened him with it and in the melee that followed Rudy had been shot through the neck. He had died almost instantly.
There would be a trial in November in District Court. Irene had been charged with second-degree murder. Her attorneys had delayed proceedings. Becky hated the thought of going back to Pender, but she knew she had to ... whenever her lawyer gave her a call. That would be nearly two months away, though. Maybe more....
The funeral in Spokane had been ghastly. Zane had been a pillar of strength, giving her the courage she needed to go through with it....
All over now ... she still felt empty and cold inside. She had had many long nights to remember all the things she had done in Pender; the disappointments, the frustrations.
She wondered again, as she had so many times, if she and Rudy could ever have regained their former trust and love for one another.
At least the calamity had done one thing-it had taken her away from the switchy debased crowd she and Rudy had fallen in with.
She had learned something else, too. A chance remark of Tina's over the phone had given the blonde away. She had sent those awful photos.
Her thoughts kept swinging away from the central ugliness-and she supposed that was a kind of natural defense the mind possessed so that people were able to bear up under extreme grief and tension.
Now she was sorry she had come over to Lake City and the expanse of water called Ponderosa-because she and Rudy in their early years had had fun here swimming and boating. They had been very much in love....
"A penny for your thoughts," a familiar voice said, and she jerked out of her well of remorse, a touch of gladness invading her loneliness....
"Zane!" she exclaimed.
He looked tall and lean and a bit tense and he hadn't come to swim. He wore slacks and an open-throated sport shirt.
"Mind if I sit down, Becky?"
"Of course not."
It was the first time she had seen him since the funeral. She noticed lines in his handsome face that hadn't been there before. Rudy's death had hit him hard. Despite Rudy's resentment of his brother Zane had cared a great deal. He had tried to help his younger brother and had received nothing but hatred in return.
Zane had called her apartment twice about business matters in connection with Rudy's insurance. Under the circumstances he had been quite friendly and sympathetic.
"You and Rudy used to come here together, didn't you?" he said, lighting a cigarette.
"Yes...."
"Don't hurt yourself any more, Becky."
She bit her lips. She traced her fingers through the warm sand. "We got along well at first, Zane. Things started going bad in Pender...."
I can talk about it to Zane, she thought, her spirits lifting.
"I knew something was wrong the day I talked to you," he said, quietly. "But I didn't think it would end the way it did."
She remembered, much too vividly, what had triggered Irene's fury. I wouldn't go to her motel! Then she snatched Rudy's wig, and he struck back....
Her throat tightened. She had to tell someone....
"I might have started it all," she began. And then she rushed on, explaining as much as she could, hating the part she had played.
A look of intense concern passed over his lean face. "Becky-you did a natural thing, refusing a bitch like that. How could you know she'd try to get even-at Rudy?"
His words were wonderful to hear. The lump in her throat melted.
"Zane, you're very generous-and understanding."
He smiled. "You know, I followed you here with the idea of cheering you up. It's over, Becky. You're a wonderful girl. Would you consider letting me take you out to dinner?"
"Why not?"
She found herself answering his smile and realized with a little lurch of her heart that this was the first time she had actually relaxed since that awful day of the phone call from the chief of police....
As she changed from her swim suit into her undies and frock, in the ladies' dressing room near the beach, knowing he was waiting for her outside, she let her thoughts move along bright new channels....
Surely he did care a little. He had come all the way here from Spokane. He had looked around for her and found her.
She had spent enough time dwelling on the past. The sun was shining and a very handsome man was going to be nice to her. A very special man....
When she left the dressing room, seeing him at the concrete rail that overlooked the beach, silhouetted against the far green forest across the lake, seeing the wind riffle his dark wavy hair, her heart thumped swiftly.
I lost Rudy here, really, she thought. The last time we came and he wore his hair piece, he seemed different, more impressed with his looks, a little remote, self-centered ... He wouldn't even go in the water for fear of spoiling his appearance.
Of course a wig hadn't made that much change in his basic personality-but it had led him into strange byways....
Zane's smile warmed her, all over!
"It's over, Becky," he had said. And he was right.
He was taking her at face value, though. He couldn't know what she had done in Pender, the wild parties, the stimulative displays, going to bed with other men, letting Tina fondle her....
Could she ever feel true, strong emotion for another man? Was she tainted?
She walked quickly toward Zane, noting the way his gray eyes surveyed her, warmly, admiringly. She did need somebody strong and comforting.
"You don't know how glad I am you found me, Zane." She smiled impulsively.
"Becky, I've been lonely for a long, long time."
His hand caught hers, and a sweet thrill shot up her arm, circling around her heart. Slowly they walked away from the beach, their hands clasped tightly....