Shallow Graves

house of my father on Falmouth Street . Cousin Ooch, he protect you there.’ “
    “Tina agreed to that?“
    “Yes. She even say that is better. Vincent apartment is not so large, and in Falmouth Street she can live for no money.“
    George Yulin had said Mau Tim had lived for a while with Oscar Puriefoy, too, but after Claudette Danucci’s experience with black soldiers, I wasn’t about to bring it up. “When did your daughter change her name?“
    The good eye wandered, the glass one staying fixed on my left shoulder. “She all the time ask me about Vietnam . About what we do there, names we have for things. She asked me Vietnam word for ‘violet,’ for her eyes. I tell her ‘mau tim.’ “
    Everyone else so far had pronounced it “mahow tim.“ Da-nucci said it more like “maw teem.“
    “When my daughter was little girl, I would call her mau tim when only she and me there because my husband want her to be all-America. Then she ask me last year, Vietnam word for model, but she already know it is ‘mau’ because she say, she look it up in dictionary. It is same word, but say different.“
    Claudette Danucci looked up at me. “She decide to use that name, not Amatina or Tina. My husband not like this, too.“
    “Why did she change her last name to Dani?“
    The good eye closed, the glass one’s lid again only halfway down. “I think she want to... break away. In Vietnam , when girl decide to leave village to go to city, her mother say, ‘That is my Saigon daughter.’ My daughter want to break away from family, live alone in city.“
    “The way her uncle did?“
    Both eyes opened. “The brother of my husband is a lawyer. He decide his name to be different for business.“
    “Mrs. Danucci, I’m sorry to have to ask you these—“
    “Ask.“
    “Did your daughter ever mention someone named Shawn to you?“
    “Shawn?“
    “Yes. Maybe a boyfriend from school?“
    “No. My husband very strict with our daughter when she live here.“
    “How about after that?“
    “After?“
    “Did you speak with your daughter much after she moved to Boston ?“
    “Yes. I talk with her on telephone all the time. I see her sometime for lunch when I drive to Boston .“
    “Did she mention any boyfriends then?“
    The head lifted. “No.“
    “Did she seem happy to you?“
    Reluctantly, I thought, Claudette Danucci said, “Yes. Pretty happy.“
    “She enjoyed modeling?“
    “She say, ‘It is boring. You must hold things and stand stupid.’ But yes, she most of time like the things she do, the people she know, her friends.“
    “Did she seem happy at the agency?“
    Claudette Danucci cocked her head.
    “I mean, was she satisfied with Lindqvist and Yulin representing her?“
    “Oh.“ Danucci seemed to think about it. “She say, people tell her she must go to New York for modeling.“
    “Visit there, or live there?“
    It was obviously a question Danucci had already thought about. “Live, I think.“
    “Did your daughter talk with you about that?“
    “No. But I think...“
    “Yes?“
    “I think maybe she decide to go there.“
    “To New York ?“
    “Yes.“
    “Why?“
    “Because on phone...“ For the first time, the good eye completely filled, and she reached into the cuff of her dress for a hankie. She sobbed very quietly into the cloth for a moment, then wiped that eye. The glass one stayed at half-mast, the more hardened mourner at a funeral.
    “I am sorry, Mr. Cuddy.“
    “I understand.“
    “The day... the day she die, we talk on phone. She seem excited.“
    “What did you talk about?“
    “The trip of her father to Philadelphia , the dinner my husband and I take her to the next night in Boston . She was very busy on a... shoot somewhere that week, so I must catch her up on all family things. She tell me she have something exciting to say at dinner. Something she decide to do.“
    “Move to New York ?“
    The hand fluttered. “I am afraid yes.“
    “Afraid?“
    “The dinner is suppose to be happy time. A birthday for our daughter and her father and me. I do not want her to... destroy the happy time with her... news.“
    Suddenly fierce, Claudette Danucci passed the hankerchief across her face. “Mr. Cuddy, in Vietnam , I am call ’ Viet Kieu’ because I am Vietnam woman who come here to America . In Vietnam , the children eat sand to fill their belly with something. In Vietnam I cannot hope to work in a house one-half beautiful like the one I live in here with my husband.