Ten
Wes ate through the plate of biscuits—they were too fancy to be mere cookies—with Dot’s encouragement as they chatted about world politics and how Dot hated the baying dogs of the neighbor next door, who, Wes learned, was a manufacturing billionaire who drove around in an electric Hummer. She seemed in good spirits, occasionally adjusting the transparent oxygen tube under her nose as though it was second nature.
Dot was easy to talk to, and Wes wasn’t surprised she was well-versed in topics from the Romantic poets to the latest municipal controversy. He didn’t mind when she continued to call him handsome, especially when he saw how it exasperated Nadine. Dot didn’t make him feel dirty or used or like a toy. It was more like the teasing of a socially awkward but affectionate great-aunt.
Finally, Nadine gave him an impatient look that was easy to interpret as let’s get this show on the road . It was time to broach the subject they were there for with the predetermined question he and Nadine had agreed on. He’d won the digital coin toss to decide who would get to ask, although Nadine had insisted on taking it to best of three, then five when she kept losing.
“Ah,” Dot said as two more cats chased in. “You’re in luck. Erma doesn’t often like visitors. She’s the black cat. Sidonie-Gabrielle is the tuxedo. She rarely comes out as well.”
“Hello, Erma, Sidonie-Gabrielle,” said Nadine, bending down and putting out her hand, which the cats ignored.
Wes shuddered. Cats. His mother refused to have any pets in the house, and he was not an animal person.
“Dot,” he said, ignoring the rampaging cats and getting to business. “Thank you for allowing us into your home. We’re grateful for your time.”
“I want to apologize again for running your obituary,” added Nadine. “I take full responsibility, and I know how distressing it must have been.”
“A horrible experience for anyone,” said Wes. Seeing Nadine’s lips tighten, he added, “Truly and unimaginably awful.”
She glared at him before turning back to Dot. “As I said, I’m very sorry.”
Dot checked the diamond and platinum watch that dug tightly into her freckled wrist. “Time’s up,” she said. “See you next week.”
Wes, who was on the verge of transitioning the conversation to ask Dot about her past, paused. “What?”
“You had one hour.”
Nadine scowled at the pretty bouquet she’d arranged in the blue vase as though calculating each second she’d spent fluffing out petals.
“Yes, but we spent it talking about waterfront development projects,” he pointed out.
“Not my problem.” Dot clapped her hands, since her voice caught at the end with her breath.
“But—” said Wes.
“Maria!”
Wes had to admit they were beat, but his annoyance evaporated after another look at Dot. Her eyes were closing, making it obvious the meeting had been physically taxing. It was their own fault for not optimizing their time.
“Thank you for seeing us,” said Nadine politely. “We’ll be back next week.”
A woman materialized near the door, hair pulled back in a bun so slick it would make a synchronized swimmer proud. “I found the postage stamps in a kitchen drawer with the twine,” she said.
“Leave them,” said Dot. “I put them there so I’d remember where they were.”
The woman shook her head. “Like a squirrel, you are.”
“So don’t touch the nuts. Can you show our visitors out?”
Nadine smiled. “Hi, Maria.”
“How did you meet her?” muttered Wes. Who was she? This was unfair. He should have known Nadine would manage to gain an advantage in the four minutes they’d been apart.
Nadine gave him that Cheshire cat smile as Maria waved for them to follow her through the main hall. Wes tried to peek down the corridor that branched off to the right. All he could make out was what seemed like a row of cabinets lining the wall.
Then they were past Sir Latimer and the cheetah and back outside.
“So,” said Nadine when the door closed behind them. “That’s Dot Voline.”
“Not what you expected?” asked Wes, curious about her perspective.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “As she was talking, I could almost hear some of her characters?”
“Aunt Sara from The Day After the Day Before ?”
“That’s the one!” said Nadine, giving Wes a faint satisfaction they were on the same page.
“I said time was up!” Dot’s voice seemed to come from the heavens, causing them to jump.
“Does she have those intercoms everywhere?” Nadine squinted as she searched the ceiling.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that George III card table had a false top that hid the house’s mission control,” said Wes.
“How do you know all that design stuff?” Nadine pulled on her car door, which, unlike his, opened smoothly.
There it was, the not unexpected dig at his job. “The Spear has an award-winning arts and design section under Lifestyle,” he said. “I don’t spend all my days writing about picnics.”
“I never said you did.”
“Well, if you had spent less time checking over her vases like you were casing the joint, we might have been able to get somewhere.”
“If you had finished with the small talk while I was getting the vase, we could have started right away.”
Nadine slammed the door after what she obviously viewed as a killing blow. He watched her drive away, filled with retorts that he wanted to yell down the driveway. Then the door to Dot’s house opened to reveal Maria. Wes got the hint and dragged his car door open.
Let Nadine try next time if she thought she could do it better.
***
“We need to skip the tea,” said Nadine, kicking at the ground and swearing as pebbles lodged in her shoe. They were outside Dot’s gate after their second meeting, which hadn’t gone any better than the first. Dot Voline was a stubborn woman who wouldn’t talk until she wanted to. This was especially annoying, as she had been the one to summon them.
At least she was with Wes. Despite his many faults and how much she hated to say it, he was a dream interviewer. Nadine wasn’t too proud to admit that Dot responded better to Wes. She still called him handsome, but something had shifted when Wes had noticed a small miniature dagger tucked in a cabinet of curiosities beside a brain coral. After asking if it was a Yoshi Morimoto, they’d embarked on a discussion of this Morimoto guy’s philosophy of miniaturization, which Wes had skillfully related to some of the themes in Lamplight , her first short story collection. Dot had allowed Wes to pour her a second cup.
When Dot finished the tea and called it an hour, she’d been smiling and had told them to take off kindly instead of hollering it. Wes had been the one to make the connection that would hopefully get Dot talking, a fact he had pointed out to her before getting in his car and shutting the door in her face with what seemed liked extra smugness, if a door could be shut smugly. Nadine had refused to give him the satisfaction of addressing his comment when they’d met up outside the house to debrief a minute later. Dot didn’t like them lingering on her property, so they were standing on the edge of the street.
“The tea is necessary,” said Wes. It took Nadine a minute to remember why he was talking about tea, because although she’d mentally taken a journey to trust and relationships, she’d left Wes thinking about their approach. “She’s deflecting us.”
“I’d noticed,” said Nadine, miffed that he thought her so oblivious. “That has nothing to do with tea.”
Wes faced her, and she was surprised to see that in the sun, his eyes remained so dark they were almost black. It was strange how she’d been noticing more things about Wes lately. Knowing each other for years meant she had a mental template of Wes in her head she hadn’t bothered to update since J school. Perhaps it was time to do an edit.
“It’s comforting for her. Brent said there was a promise to keep.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out two of the strawberry candies Dot always had in a small crystal dish. She took the one he offered and unwrapped it.
“If she was eager to tell the story, she wouldn’t be doing this because of a promise,” she said slowly. “She’d tell us straight out or would have told it before. She’s worried.”
“I think so, yeah. We need to figure out why.”
Building up protective walls was familiar to Nadine. She bit into the candy as she thought and saw Wes make a face.
“What?” she asked.
“Those are hard candies. Not for chewing.”
“Are you gatekeeping candies?” she asked in astonishment.
“It’s not gatekeeping. It’s a matter of principle. Gummies are for chewing. Hard candies are not.”
She looked him straight in the face and crunched again.
“Fine,” he said. “But don’t come to me when you want more.”
“No worries.” She pulled one of the candies she’d snuck from the dish herself out of her pocket and popped it in her mouth. “To get back to our discussion, Dot could be delaying for two reasons. One is whatever that scandal is. She doesn’t want to drag it up because it’s difficult to talk about. That hints at something personal.”
“Or she feels vulnerable about the truth,” Wes said.
Nadine thought. “There’s more.”
They paused as a black car drove by them, slowing threateningly as it passed. “Private security?” asked Wes.
“Screw them. This is public space.”
Wes grinned. “Tell me your Dot Voline theory.”
“It’s a bit of a game for her.” The idea had come to Nadine gradually over this last visit, when she’d been examining the room as Dot sparred with Wes.
“What makes you think so?” For once, his tone was curious rather than combative, so Nadine answered in kind.
“You know that table shaped like a pineapple? Last week, it had a music box with a silver tree. This week, it was a copy of Thirty Pieces of Silver .”
“Your big revelation is that an author had one of her own books on display?”
Nadine kept her temper for the sake of making her point. “Have you seen any of her other books out?”
“Dot might have wanted to change up her decor.”
“No.” Nadine was confident. “Nothing else in the room had changed. Also, she said she regretted not writing a mystery.” This had come out after Nadine had seen a beautifully bound Agatha Christie.
She waited for Wes to debate her more, but he looked thoughtful. “You’re probably wrong, but let’s see if it happens again next week,” he said. “It could be we’re both right. She’s scared and she’s also having some fun.”
“The second seems like her,” Nadine said.
The black car with the shaded windows came by again, slowing down to almost a crawl as it passed. By common but unspoken agreement, both Nadine and Wes stared at it, briefly united against a common enemy. Would they have the nerve to try to tell them to leave? Nope, it looked like silent intimidation was their plan.
“We’re done talking, but I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of thinking they ran us off,” said Wes.
Nadine waved her phone. “I have something to read and nowhere to be for the next ten minutes.”
“That’s some petty stuff, Barbault.” Wes looked through the open window of his car, then leaned over to grab a book from the seat. She did her best to not check out his ass, but it was right there in front of her, looking surprisingly juicy for such a lean guy. Wes stood back up, and she made sure to be looking at something innocent. “Exactly what I expect of you.”
It didn’t sound like an insult, Nadine thought as she began scrolling. He sounded almost fond. She probably misread him.
“By the way,” he said, looking up from his book with an earnest expression. “Do you think a person’s inability to avoid chewing candies is related to increased levels of overall impulsivity and lack of patience? Asking for a friend, purely as a hypothetical.”
Yes. She had definitely misread him.