Perfect Partners

that was a terrible thing for Copeland to do. It was so unfair. I can see that in his anger he might have fired you, but he had no right to let your father go.”
    Joel swore softly at her naïveté. “Fairness had nothing to do with it. Copeland was in one of his rages, and he was determined to punish all Blackstones, not just the one who had transgressed. My father had worked for Copeland Marine for over twenty years, but that didn’t matter a damn to Victor Copeland. Copeland killed him.”
    Letty searched his face intently. “I don’t understand. What do you mean he
killed
him?”
    “It’s real simple, Letty. Getting fired was more than Dad could handle. His job down at the yard was the only thing that kept him going after Mom died.”
    “He had you.”
    Joel leaned back against the stall door, remembering the emptiness in his father’s eyes. “I don’t think he cared too much one way or the other about me after he lost Mom. He just sort of sank into himself. We shared the same house but it was like having a roommate. Something went out of him after Mom was gone.”
    “It sounds as if he fell into a clinical depression and didn’t come out of it.”
    “Whatever. All I know is that losing his job was the last straw. He went out to the Anchor. Stan swore he drank himself stupid, but a couple of guys who were at the Anchor that night said he wasn’t that far gone when he left the place. They told me they would have driven him home if he’d been drunk. They were old friends of his, and I believe them.”
    “What happened?”
    “He drove off a cliff into the sea on the way home. A lot of people said if it wasn’t drunk driving it was probably suicide. Everyone knew he had never recovered from Mom’s death.”
    “My God,” Letty breathed.
    “But I’ve always had a few other ideas,” Joel said slowly. “He took my car that night because his pickup was out of gas. He was driving home alone in the rain. It was late at night. It would have been impossible for anyone to tell who was behind the wheel.”
    Letty’s eyes widened. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
    Joel clenched his teeth. “I think there’s a hell of a good chance that Victor Copeland saw my car on that narrow, winding road above the sea that night. I think it’s possible he decided to take advantage of a golden opportunity to get me out of his daughter’s life once and for all. I think he might have run Dad off the road with that big old Lincoln he used to drive.”
    Letty looked shaken. “That’s an incredible accusation.”
    “I know. Also one I can never prove. I went down to the yard after they found Dad. I told Copeland what I thought. He got livid and called a few of his men. They threw me out.”
    “Copeland told me you went to see him at the yard.”
    “For all the good it did. But even if that isn’t the way it happened, even if it was an accident or suicide, Copeland is guilty as far as I’m concerned. Guilty as hell.”
    “I understand how you must feel,” Letty said softly.
    Joel was quiet for a moment. “For some reason the worst part has been never knowing for certain just what did happen that night. I think that’s what twists me up and makes me dream about it sometimes. I think it’s the uncertainty. Not knowing if it was an accident or murder or suicide.”
    “There’s no sense of closure because you don’t know the answer. Too many loose ends and too many questions. You keep going back to it, trying to resolve it.”
    Joel gripped the side wall of the stall, bracing himself for what he was going to say next. “Do you know what Dad said to me that night before he went down to the Anchor?”
    “No.”
    “The last thing he said was that it was my fault.” Joel touched his stomach in fleeting memory. “He took a swing at me. Punched me once, right in the gut, and then he said, ‘This is all your fault, you goddamn stupid son of a bitch. All your fault. I’m glad your mother died before she found out what kind of a son she had.’”
    Letty stepped close and wrapped her arms around him. “Joel, I am so very sorry.” She said nothing more, just held him tightly and rested her head on his shoulder.
    Joel was unable to respond. He stood stiff and inflexible, like a man made out of stone. It was as if all the circuits that controlled his emotions had simply shorted out. He felt utterly blank. No one had offered him this kind of simple, undemanding comfort since his mother