Chapter 55 Geraldine #2
“Where do you keep this train case after you settle yourself in for an extended stay?” Geraldine asked.
“I always tuck it out of sight in the back of the closet behind all of our suits and gowns for safekeeping.” A crinkle formed between Louise’s heavily plucked eyebrows.
“Why would you need to keep an empty suitcase safe?” Geraldine asked.
“That’s where Mother keeps the bulk of her money,” Glenn said.
“That’s right. I move only as much as I think I’ll need on a given day into my wallet and leave the rest in the closet. You obviously can’t be too careful.” Louise let out an exaggerated sigh.
“As soon as she noticed me, Cynthia slipped something into her pocket and slammed the lid of the case shut. When I tried to stop her, she grabbed one of the perfume bottles from the top of the dressing table and hit me across the face with it.”
“And she escaped with some of the cash, I suppose?” Geraldine said.
“I’m afraid that she did. I’m embarrassed to say that I was stunned long enough for her to run off before I could catch her,” he said.
“How much are you missing?” Geraldine asked, turning her gaze on Anselm’s niece.
Louise lifted an elegant hand and placed it at the base of her throat. “Three hundred dollars. I shall telephone the police as soon as I’ve finished with breakfast.”
“Have you ever invited Cynthia to my home before?” Geraldine asked.
“No, never,” Glenn said.
“Then it seems to me very strange that, according to your own words, in only a few minutes’ time she was able to happen upon the one place in the entire building where a quantity of cash had been hidden away.”
“What are you suggesting?” Louise asked.
“I’m suggesting that if your well-hidden money is missing, it seems far more likely that your son, who admits freely that he knew that you had it and where you kept it, is to blame for its absence than a stranger to the house, especially given how little time he reports Cynthia was on her own before he caught her.
If you want the police to investigate, I would advise that they begin by having your son turn out his pockets. ”
Geraldine noted a flush of color flooding Glenn’s cheeks.
“Preposterous. If she wasn’t doing anything wrong, why would the girl assault my son?” Louise said. “Glenn was seriously injured. Which is why I had to telephone Elizabeth and report her.”
“Glenn, are you sure that you wish to stick with the story about how you received your injury?” Geraldine said, turning towards him once more.
The blush on his cheeks spread all the way to his blackened eye. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” he said, darting a glance at his mother.
“I happen to know there is a completely different reason for your injuries, and they are no more than you deserve,” Geraldine said.
“What on earth are you talking about?” Louise asked. “I’ve been telling my husband how concerned I am about your faculties, but now I’m convinced.”
“Cynthia was here last night; of that, I am certain. But she wasn’t helping herself to your money. And as to hitting your son with something, it was in order to fend off his violent, unwanted advances.”
Louise let out another nervous laugh. “You must be joking. Is that what the girl has been telling you?”
“I haven’t spoken with Cynthia since last night, when I found her running down the road, dripping wet without any shoes on. I learned of the attack on her person but not the name of the boy who had done it. Imagine my shame in finding out it was a member of my husband’s own family.”
Louise shoved back her chair and shot to her feet. “Do you mean to say you would take some girl employed as a maid at her word before that of your own family? What proof do you have of any of this?” The color in her own cheeks had grown bright, and her voice had raised an octave.
“I’m not implying anything. I am flat-out stating that your son is a liar.
He not only held a party in my home without asking my permission, nor even under your supervision, but he also tried to force himself on a young woman he had lured here.
His character is blighted, and I cannot stand the sight of him. ”
“How dare you say something like that. I should have you evaluated for competency,” Louise said.
Geraldine pushed back her own chair and pulled herself up to her full height.
“I have put up with the lot of you sizing up my possessions and tallying their value in your greedy little minds, just waiting for me to shuffle off. I can tell you, I’ve had more than enough of it.
I have only tolerated your presence out of respect for my husband, but he would have no tolerance for this sort of behavior if he were alive to see it.
I want all of you out of here this instant, and I don’t expect you to return.
If you do not remove yourself immediately, I shall call the police myself. ”
“We haven’t had time to make any arrangements for departure,” Louise said.
“You have just about as much time to prepare to depart as I had to prepare for your arrival. I’ll telephone for a taxi and have it waiting to take you to the train station. I expect you to be out of here within fifteen minutes.”
She waited impatiently, glancing repeatedly at her Cartier wristwatch, until Louise and her odious family had removed themselves from her home. As they backed out of the driveway in a huff, she joined Calvin in the driveway.
“Let’s go get our girl,” she said.