Someone to watch over me

mother,“ Henry said. “I knew the signs. I knew the stories women made up to hide the fact. One night when I heard that Elizabeth had gone to spend a couple of days with a school friend in Cold Spring, I decided todrop in on the VanZillens. I hadn’t even reached the door before I could hear sobbing. I rushed into the house. Found them in this very room.“ He pointed at the middle of the floor. “He had her down there, hitting her on the head and shouting obscenities.”
    Edith looked surprised at this. Lily wondered why.
    “I tried to pull him off her, but he was completely out of his mind with fury. He would have killed her in another moment. I picked up that lamp“—he pointed at a heavy bronze statue with a lampshade on the top of its head—“and I bopped him with it.“
    “Henry, you didn’t!“ Edith cried.
    “I did. You were unconscious by this time, your face bloody. I scooped you up and drove you to a private sanatorium where I knew the chief of staff well. For a pretty penny, I demanded the best treatment and secret medical files. I will be happy to sign an order releasing them to you, Chief Walker. You’ll see how badly injured she was.“
    “I’d appreciate it if you would do that,“ Walker said. “Go on.“
    “I sat with Edith until they assured me she wasn’t going to die of her injuries. Then I went back to their house to tell Henry I was reporting him to the police and intended to see that he went to jail. But he was dead. I thought with his rock-hard head I’d just rendered him unconscious, but after sitting down in this chair for a while, I decided hiding the body was the only way to save Edith’s good reputation. Wives were blamed when their husbands beat them, and they still are.“
    “Usually,“ Howard said quietly.
    “But I had to get rid of the body. I’d visited old Horatio one day shortly before and had to go out in the woods where he had some men clearing out the icehouse and closing it up. The old boy said he might find some other need for it someday, maybe tool storage, because there was another ice shed attached to the mansion. Fortunately for me, he didn’t get around to it before he died. So before it got light, I hauled Bernard’s body out to the garage, pulled my car up, and drove without lights as close as I could get to the old icehouse. The key was still in the lock. I threw it away later.”
    His tone was impersonal, almost as if he were telling them a story he’d read in a magazine.
    Edith was openly crying now, and Lily was sniffling. Robert was frozen into place.
    In a very calm voice, now that the worst of the story was over, Henry went on. “But there had to be some way of explaining what had become of him, and it was up to me to find it. I made up a story and claimed I’d read it in a Chicago paper, knowing I was the only one in town who received that particular newspaper. I invented a ferry accident on the Mississippi River. I knew they happened frequently, as I’d seen such articles in the past. And most of the bodies got caught in the current and never were recovered.“
    “And you made up the flood as well,“ Walker said.
    “Oh, the flood. I’d forgotten that part. Yes. I imagine you found the memorial service article. It was an unnecessary detail. I should have left it out.“
    “Someone else pointed it out to me,“ Walker said. “And my informant also went through the New York newspapers and found no mention of a flood or a ferry accident.”
    Robert looked at Lily. Without turning to him, she nodded slightly.
    Henry leaned down and kissed Edith on the cheek. “I’m glad I saved your life, dear. I’m glad you never knew it. And I’d do it all over again if I had to, for the years of joy you’ve given me.”
    She stood and embraced him.
    But he kissed her again and held her out at arm’s length, saying, “Chief Walker probably has to put handcuffs on me now, darling.”

Chapter 27

    Howard was invited to dinner at Grace and Favor that evening. Eugene had been returned home promptly, and Roxanne had come by already to explain to Mr. Prinney about Eugene. Edith White had already tearfully telephoned him as well.
    It was understood by all of them, except for Mimi, who’d gone to visit her dreadful aunts that evening, that what was said at the table was confidential. Phoebe Twinkle was the only one present who’d had no idea what had gone on that day and was agog.
    “What about Jack Summer?“ Lily asked. “We can’t tell