All Night Long

links to the past that had been ripped from her.
    Every seat in the funeral home’s small chapel was filled that cold, rainy day. But
Irene was sure that the majority of those present had come to gawk and gossip, not
to mourn her parents.
    Betty Johnson had made certain to get a ringside seat at the service. Now she and
several other people hovered just beyond the front door, waiting to offer their
phony condolences and meaningless platitudes.
    The car that waited in the drive seemed as distant as the moon.
    “Come, Irene,” Helen said quietly. “We will get through this together.”
    Irene drew a deep breath and squeezed her aunt’s hand very tightly. Together they
went down
    the steps. The crowd parted before them.
    Helen acknowledged the expressions of sympathy with a regal nod. Irene stared
[_straight ahead _]
    at the car.
    They were only a few feet from the vehicle when she heard Betty Johnson’s voice
[_rising above _]
    the hushed murmurs of the crowd.
    “Poor little Irene. Bless her heart, she’ll never be normal, not after what
[_happened….” _]
    Irene picked up a head of romaine lettuce with exquisite care and turned slowly to face the big-haired, sharp-featured woman behind her.
    “Hello, Mrs. Johnson,” she said politely.
    Betty gave her a superficial smile. “I hardly recognized you. You look so
different
.”
    “So normal, do you mean?”
    Betty went blank. “What?”
    “Never mind.” Irene put the lettuce into the cart and gripped the handle. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a number of things to do.”
    Betty regrouped and tightened her grip on the shopping cart handle. “Must have been a dreadful shock, finding poor Pamela Webb the way you did.”
    With her peripheral vision, Irene watched two other shoppers halt their carts a short distance away. One woman was making a show of choosing carrots. The other picked through a pile of baking potatoes as though searching for one made of solid gold. Both had their heads cocked in a way that indicated they were listening intently.
    “Yes, it was a shock,” Irene said. She steered her cart around Betty Johnson.
    “I heard that nice Luke Danner was with you when you found the body,” Betty said, swinging her cart around in hot pursuit. “You’re staying out at the lodge, aren’t you?”
    “Yes, I am.” Irene wheeled the cart around the end of an aisle and plunged between rows of shelve illed with six-packs of beer and bottles of wine.
    She chose a modestly priced white wine and then hesitated. Luke looked like the type who preferred beer.

    “Someone noticed that you seemed a little upset this morning after you talked to Chief McPherson and Senator Webb,” Betty called out behind her.
    Irene grabbed a six-pack of beer and kept going. She could hear Betty’s cart picking up speed behind her.
    “Pamela Webb was a very troubled woman, you know,” Betty said. “Always was wild. Why, I remember the time your father found her using drugs along with some of the local kids in one of the boathouses at the old marina. Had to sweep the whole thing under the rug, of course, what with her being Ryland Webb’s daughter and all.
    But everyone in town knew what had happened.”
    That did it. Irene halted suddenly, let go of the cart handle and stepped quickly to the side.
    Betty Johnson was following so closely and at such speed that she was unable to stop in time. Her cart plowed into Irene’s with a shuddering clash of steel. Betty staggered under the impact.
    Irene smiled politely. “Your memory is a little faulty, Mrs. Johnson. My father didn’t do any favors for Ryland Webb.”
    Betty made a
tut-tut
sound. “Now, dear, everyone knew what Pamela was doing down there at the boathouse.”
    “The same way everyone knew that your husband was stinking drunk the night he drove his truck int he front window of Tarrant’s Hardware store.”
    Betty stared, stunned. Then her face suffused with outrage. “Ed wasn’t drunk. It was an accident.”
    “You could say that Dad swept that incident under the rug, too, because he didn’t arrest Ed, did he? He knew that your husband had just been laid off. He realized that an arrest for drunk driving would have made it very hard for him to find a new job.”
    “It was an accident, I tell you. Your father understood that.”
    “An accident.” Irene looked around and saw a vaguely familiar face at the end of the aisle. “Like th ime Jeff Wilkins and two of his buddies
accidentally
stole Harry