S Is for Silence

her boobs and put his hand…” She managed to mumble that last.
    “Where?”
    “Down there.”
    Livia looked at her, aghast. “She told you that?”
    Kathy shrugged one shoulder.
    “Are you absolutely sure?”
    Kathy said nothing, but she moved her mouth in a way that suggested she was sure. After all, she’d read about it with her very own eyes.
    Her mother’s gaze was searching. “You wouldn’t lie about a thing like this to get back at her?”
    “No.”
    “How far have they gone?”
    “Not very. Just petting.”
    “Petting? Is that what you call ‘petting’—when he puts his hand on her privates? That’s disgusting. Outside of her clothing or inside?”
    She hadn’t expected her mother to probe for this kind of detail. The diary hadn’t been specific and Kathy didn’t like having to commit herself. Outside, inside. Pick one. “Out.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Because she would have told me if he put his hand inside.”
    “Well, thank heaven for small favors. You wait right here. I’m going to take care of this.”
    “What are you doing?” Kathy wailed. “You can’t tell anyone. You promised.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. Ty Eddings was sent here to shape up after the unfortunate situation he created in Bakersfield. If Dahlia York ever found out I knew about this and didn’t go straight to her, she’d never speak to me again, and rightly so. I’ve entertained her in my own home and I owe her that much.”
    “But what if Liza finds out?”
    “She’s not going to find out. Trust me. Your name won’t come into it.”
    Kathy listened with something close to horror as her mother went downstairs to the phone in the lower hall. Kathy hadn’t meant to tell on Liza, but her mother just seemed to jump to the right conclusion before Kathy even said a word. She heard Livia give the operator Dahlia York’s number and then there was a silence while she waited to be connected.
    Kathy’s stomach felt queasy, like she might have to go to the bathroom and do number two. The situation had gotten out of hand, but it wasn’t her fault. She couldn’t lie to her very own mother, could she? What kind of person would that make her? Besides which, if Liza’d been honest to begin with, she never would have breathed a word of it because that’s what best friends do. Petting was wrong. The pastor said it created temptation, that kids might lose their self-control and go all the way. So maybe it was just as well she’d spoken up when she did. She couldn’t stand by and let something that horrible happen to her friend. It was like her mother said to Dahlia, her voice drifting up the stairwell: “That boy is sure to take advantage if the situation isn’t nipped in the butt.” Her mother’s voice went on and on until Kathy tuned her out.
    Anyway, how would Liza ever know where Ty’s aunt got the information?

31
    My conversation with Ty Eddings was polite and to the point. I gave him a brief synopsis of the situation—the discovery of Violet’s body buried in the Bel Air, the speculation about the hole and how long it would have taken to dig. I also repeated what Liza’d told me about the man she and Ty had seen at the Tanner property on Friday night. “Do you remember anything about the make or model of the car? Liza thought it was dark-colored, but that’s the extent of it. She says she was so scared she didn’t really look.”
    “It wasn’t a car. It was a late-model black Chevrolet pickup truck.”
    “It was? I’m amazed. How do you remember things like that?”
    “Because my dad had one like it, only his was a ’48. This one was newer.”
    “What about the guy? What did he look like?”
    “I don’t remember him. Old.”
    “Like what? You were seventeen.”
    “Thirties, forties, something like that. In other words, he wasn’t a kid.”
    “No one you recognized?”
    “I’d been in town for all of three months. I didn’t know anyone to speak of except my high school classmates.”
    “Good point.” I asked a couple of other questions, but he wasn’t any help.
    I was moving into my wrap-up tone of voice, not wanting to waste his valuable lawyerly time, when he said, “How’s Liza doing?”
    “Great. I’m so glad you asked. She’s divorced. She bakes cakes for a living. She’s just become a grandmother for the first time, but you’d never guess by looking at her because she’s gorgeous. Too bad you didn’t keep in touch.”
    “Don’t blame me. That was her