Let Me Call You Sweetheart

“But you did become involved?”

Arnott shrugged. “Ms. McGrath, when Suza

“Did Skip come with her?”

“Seldom. He was bored, and frankly my guests did not find him simpatico. Now don’t misunderstand me. He was a well-ma

“Did she have her own car that evening?”

Arnott smiled. “Suza

“How would you judge the relationship between Suza

“Unraveling. I knew them for the last two years of their marriage. At first they seemed to be very fond of each other, but eventually it became clear that she was bored with him. Toward the end they did very little together.”

“Dr. Smith said that Skip was wildly jealous of Suza

“If he did, Suza

“How well did you know Dr. Smith?”

“As well as any of her friends did, I suppose. If I went into New York with Suza

“Did she show him she was a

“Just as she was quite public in displaying her indifference to Skip, she made no effort to hide her impatience with Dr. Smith.”

“You knew that she had been raised by her mother and a stepfather?”

“Yes. She told me her growing-up years were miserable. Her stepsisters were jealous of her looks. She once said, ‘Talk about Cinderella-in some ways I lived her life.’”

That answers my next question, Kerry thought. Obviously Suza

A sudden question occurred to her. “What did she call Dr.

Smith?”

Arnott paused. “Either Doctor or Charles,” he said after a moment.

“Not Dad.”

“Never. At least not that I recall.” Arnott looked pointedly at his watch.

“I know I promised not to take up too much of your time, but there’s one more thing I need to know. Was Suza

Arnott seemed to consider before answering. “I introduced her to Jimmy Weeks in this very room. It was the one and only time he was ever here. They were quite taken with each other. As you may know, there has always been a formidable feeling of power about Weeks, and that instantly attracted Suza

Kerry thought about the caddie’s statement as she asked, “Was she happy about that?”

“Oh, very. Although I don’t think she let Jimmy know it. She was aware that he had a number of girlfriends, and she enjoyed making him jealous. Do you remember one of the early scenes in Gone With the Wind, the one where Scarlett collects everyone else’s beaux?”

“Yes, I do.”

“That was our Suza

“And Dr. Smith’s reaction to her flirting?”

“Outraged, I would say. I think that if it had been possible, Smith would have built a guardrail around her to keep others away from her, pretty much the way museums put guardrails around their most precious objects.”

You don’t know how close you are to the mark, Kerry thought. She recalled what Deidre Reardon had said about Dr. Smith’s relationship to Suza

“Resent him? I think it went deeper than that. I think he hated him.”

“Mr. Arnott, did you have any reason to think that Suza

“If she was, I wasn’t privy to it. Suza

Or so he said, Kerry thought. She got up. “Mr. Arnott, do you think Skip Reardon killed Suza

He rose to his feet. “Ms. McGrath, I consider myself very knowledgeable about antique art and furnishings. I’m less good at judging people. But isn’t it true that love and money are the two greatest reasons to kill? I’m sorry to say that in this case both of these reasons seem to apply to Skip. Don’t you agree?”

From a window, Jason watched Kerry’s car disappear down the driveway. Thinking over their brief exchange, he felt he had been sufficiently detailed to seem helpful, sufficiently vague so that she, like both the prosecution and defense ten years ago, would decide there was no purpose in questioning him further.

Do I think Skip Reardon killed Suza

72

Skip Reardon had endured what was arguably one of the worst weeks of his life. Seeing the skepticism in Assistant Prosecutor Kerry McGrath’s eyes when she had come to visit him had completed the job that the news about possibly no more appeals had begun.

It was as though a Greek chorus were chanting the words endlessly inside his head: “Twenty more years before even the possibility of parole.” Over and over again. All week, instead of reading or watching television at night, Skip had stared at the framed pictures on the walls of his cell.

Beth and his mother were in most of them. Some of the pictures went back to seventeen years ago, when he was twenty-three years old and had just begun dating Beth. She had just started her first teaching job, and he had just launched Reardon Construction Company.

In these ten years he had been incarcerated, Skip had spent many hours looking at those pictures and wondering how everything had gone so wrong. If he hadn’t met Suza

He would have built Beth a home they would have pla

All these years in prison he had been sustained by the knowledge of his i

By prison rules, Skip was allowed two collect phone calls a day. Usually he called both his mother and Beth twice a week. At least one of them came down to see him on Saturday or Sunday.

This week Skip had not phoned either one of them. He had made up his mind. He would not let Beth visit him anymore. She had to get on with her life. She’d be forty her next birthday, he reasoned. She should meet someone else, get married, have kids. She loved children. That was why she had chosen teaching and then counseling as a career.