Bride & Groom

taken that acepromazine. He might have injected it. He wouldn’t have swallowed it. Steve and I have been together for years. We were together before... before Anita. We’ve been together since then. Judith, veterinarians know everything about euthanasia. They know how to end life. Mac wouldn’t have had to bludgeon those women. He’d been all too close to all of them. He wouldn’t have bludgeoned them first.”
    I pressed my hand firmly on Judith’s. Her hand was so cold that it felt bloodless, but Uli’s warmth seemed to radiate around it and up into my fingers. Her eyes were locked on Uli’s; she didn’t raise them even briefly to meet mine.
    "Someone else gave Mac that ace this morning,” I continued. “Someone else rid the world of his women.”
    I waited, but Judith said nothing.
    “There are only three logical possibilities,” I said gently. “Two of them are Ian and Olivia. Judith, I can see how much your children love you. When Steve and I were here for dinner, I watched when Ian helped you with Uli. And I heard the tune he wrote for Uli. He wrote that for you, too. It was about the love you share with this wonderful dog. Ian is an unusual person. He’s almost miraculously gifted. And in other ways, he simply isn’t like everyone else. And I’ve seen your relationship with Olivia. She even married a man who looks like you! You and Olivia are more than mother and daughter. You are almost sisters, too. Dear friends. I have a relationship like that with my cousin Leah. Leah is as close as I have to a daughter. I’d do anything for Leah. She’d do anything for me. So I have to ask myself, if your children knew how Mac has betrayed you, just what would they do for you?”
    “Olivia adores her father,” Judith said. “You had the opportunity to hear Claire on the subject. Loudly and intrusively. As usual. The others at least knew what they were. But Claire was deluded. She threw herself at Bruce. She actually imagined that Bruce was going to leave me for her and become a doting second father to her son! She made a fool of herself. Bruce always understood the distinction between his wife and his whores. It was a distinction that was lost upon Daniels slut of a wife. Daniel is a sweet man. He deserved better. He put up with her endless jibes at him and her boundless narcissism. You know, Holly, she and her family were here many times. I cooked for them. I made them feel welcome. When I could have ridiculed her coarseness and her ignorance, I didn’t do it. And in return...!”
    “Someone exacted revenge.”
    Even now, Judith couldn’t let go of her rage. “The hypocrisy! She knocked herself out to put on a show of friendship. Not that she was alone in her hypocrisy. Just look through these folders. They’re a study in hypocrisy. Irony, if you will. Saint Bonny, who devoted her professional life to healing trauma and her personal life to causing it. Elspeth Jantzen, the red freak, with her stolen book about kindness to animals! And her personal devotion to cruelty. Every one of them!”
    “Someone got even. Did Olivia do that for you, Judith? Did Ian? I admire Ian. I like him. But he is very devoted to you, and he is not like other people.”
    Suddenly brushing off my hand, Judith finally looked directly at me. “In this sham of a marriage, I have managed to hold to a few truths—my children, my writing, and dogs. Dogs! I have only one, and for someone like you or me, that’s a dangerous state. And exactly what did Bruce do in response to the pitifully little that he knew was mine? My children were his children, too, so they were off limits. But just before your launch party, no time ago, it seems, he went after me yet again because my poor little books didn’t sell, because I wasn’t ambitious and didn’t promote my work, because I was still not earning my keep, because I was nothing but a parasite! And do you know exactly what he threatened?”
    “Uli,” I said. “From the moment I read that E-mail this morning, I knew that this had something to do with Uli.”
    “It had everything to do with Uli. Bruce said that unless I started earning money, Uli would be my last dog. He said that when Uli died, that would be it. No more dogs. Ever.” Judith’s composure deserted her. Her thin face was contorted with grief. Her tears fell on Uli. “Uli is old! I’m all that’s keeping him alive! How much longer can I keep him going? I cannot live without a dog! I cannot! Uli would love a