Rachel Alexander 04 - Lady Vanishes

should have studied music, not medicine,” Molly said. “But like most boys, he wanted his father’s approval. He wanted to be like him, anything to get closer, to feel accepted.“
    “And Nathan? What did he do to win his daddy’s heart?“
    “Nathan? Why, not a thing. It was always his. He was always the favorite. You know how that is.”
    I put down the photograph and picked up my tea, cold by now, and bitter too. Then I opened my hand and looked at Venus’s necklace, seeing something I hadn’t seen before. I got up and moved over to the lamp, holding my hand right in the light. Yes, there was a part of the chain that wasn’t shiny. It was dark.
    “Do you have a tissue, Molly?”
    “I do,” she said.
    She opened the top drawer of her nightstand and took one out. I took it, dipped it in the water glass, and pulled the damp tissue along the dark part of the chain, Molly and I both watching closely as the chain got shiny again and the tissue came away brownish red.
    “Molly,” I said, “how is it you recognized this necklace?“
    “It was her favorite, Rachel, Mrs. Dietrich’s. Leastways, she wore it all the time.”
    “But I thought she hardly ever came here.”
    “She didn’t. But she and Mr. Dietrich used to come to the house, in Brooklyn, back when I lived there and took care of the boys.”
    “You mean they socialized with Dr. Kagan?”
    “Not often. Just for the holidays, birthday parties, special occasions, like family. The boys called them Uncle Harry and Aunt Marilyn, just as if they were blood relations.”
    “And recently?”
    “Well, I wouldn’t know. I’ve been here since the boys grew up and moved out on their own.”
    “Where do they live, the boys?”
    “Oh, still in Brooklyn,” she said, sitting down on the bed. I sat next to her. “It’s too pricey around here. Did you see the signs on those new buildings going up? Everything’s a luxury building now, and I wonder where they find all those folk with so much money to spend on housing, half a million dollars and more, just for a place to live. Must be all those Wall Streeters, young people that make more money than they know what to do with. No, the boys still live in Brooklyn, just like their father. Why, it’s only three-quarters of an hour or so on the subway. Half a million dollars. My word.”
    “They’re sensible.”
    “Indeed they are.”
    I slipped the necklace back into my pocket and tossed the wet tissue into Molly’s wastebasket.
    “Molly, were you here the day Harry got hit by the bicycle?“
    „I’m always here, Rachel. Well, most always. But I didn’t see the accident, if that’s what you’re asking.”
    “I was wondering something else. I was wondering who else might have been around during the day, you know, before the accident.”
    “The boys were both in. In fact, the others were here, too, come to think of it.”
    “Which others?”
    “Marilyn’s sister, Mrs. Poole, and her son and daughter.They’d come to see Mr. Dietrich about something.”
    “Did you overhear any of what they were talking about?“
    “Oh, I don’t go around repeating—”
    “I wouldn’t tell a soul,” I whispered.
    “I mind my own business,” she said, drawing her robe tighter. “I wouldn’t know what they were yelling about.“
    “They were yelling?”
    Molly leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Both times it was coming from Mr. Dietrich’s office.”
    “Go on.”
    “Well, the first time was after lunch. Charlotte had brought her gloves and earmuffs down with her. She was just dying for a little walk. It cheers her so. So I’d gone to tell Venus that I was taking her out. She asked us to do that, to always let her know when we were leaving the building with one of the kids. But when I knocked, she wasn’t there. It was Mrs. Poole’s voice I heard that time, from all the way down the other end of the lobby.”
    “And what did she say?”
    “She didn’t say anything. She was shouting. All I heard was, ‘Well, she was my sister. I’m sure she meant—’ ” She stopped in midsentence.
    “That’s all?”
    “Mr. Dietrich interrupted her.”
    “How?”
    “By bellowing, ‘How would you know what she intended?’ „
    “And then?”
    “Well, that was all. You certainly don’t think I stayed around to hear more?”
    I shook my head.
    “Of course not. Anyways, nothing else was said for a while.”
    I looked at her.
    “I was merely making sure the child’s earmuffs were on properly. If