Louise, the most practical and least romantic of the two Berkey sisters, was experiencing a change in perspective. Ivan’s allure was quickly capturing her. She confided in Jo that the idea of being with him was unbearably tempting and she wasn’t sure how long she could fight it. It had been so long! Carl was not the most romantic of husbands. Maybe she could find a way to take a brief trip. Carl never denied her anything, and if she said she had a desperate desire to take a break in midwinter and do a little shopping in Miami, he might just go along with it to keep the peace.
“Don’t lose your mind,” Jo said. “I know you’re having a struggle right now and it seems perfectly logical in your mind, but it wouldn’t be worth risking your marriage, your family.”
She was simply so turned on she wasn’t sure she could stop herself. Ivan had stolen a few nuzzles here and there, his lips briefly on her neck, a brief touch now and then. And what was the danger? Wasn’t he just the most wonderful gentleman? Look how he cared for Corky, who was a mess.
“I thought they were staying for a couple of weeks,” Jo said to Lou one day. “They’ve been here almost three weeks!”
“So? Are they in the way? Are they intruding? Not really. Besides, Ivan brings food and flowers and gifts constantly. We’ve never been so pampered.”
Jo watched her sister, so unsentimental, so immune to emotional displays, being stung and becoming a featherhead. She realized this was how she’d looked to Lou all these years that she couldn’t be sensible where Roy was concerned. She was constantly falling for his charm, believing his lies and, worst of all, lying to herself.
“The way Ivan and Corky drink, you want to get mixed up with that? After seeing what I’ve gone through with Roy’s out-of-control drinking?”
“Well, clearly Ivan can handle it even if Corky can’t,” Lou said. “It hasn’t stopped him getting rich, has it?”
“What if he’s not really rich?” Jo asked. “Maybe he’s just a braggart. Big talker like Roy!”
Lou leaned close and whispered, “I peeked at his checkbook. Tons of money. He said if I want to meet him somewhere, he’ll pay for everything.”
Jo wanted to ask if they’d had sex yet but she knew it was unlikely—they were almost never alone together. But it was coming, she knew. Desperate and fearing she might lose her sister, she watched vigilantly. For the first time she noticed the way Ivan and Corky looked at each other. Once in a while they exchanged very brief, meaningful glances or a few whispered words. He would tell Jo and Lou he was running to town to look around and then on his way to his car he’d whisper a few words to Corky. One early evening when the kids had dispersed, the little ones to the loft and the oldest to the beach parties with the lodge waiters and waitresses across the lake, Ivan said he was going off to take a shower before a nightcap by the outdoor fire. Lou decided it was a good time for her to dash into the shower in the master bedroom. That left Jo in the house and Corky in her lawn chair outdoors beside the ashtray.
Jo sat at the breakfast bar, paging through a magazine, watching. She was surprised she hadn’t noticed anything odd before. Corky waited just a couple of minutes and then crossed the yard to the boathouse. She’d followed Ivan to the boathouse before. She was something of a pest; she wasn’t enjoying the lake house as much as Ivan was and would rather have been at some resort.
Jo crept down to the boathouse and went underneath, where the boat and some supplies were kept. The finished room was on the second floor, up a flight of outdoor stairs. When you stayed up there you could hear the water lapping against the dock all through the night. And when you were hiding where the boat sat, you could hear the voices of anyone inside.
She didn’t hear voices. She heard a soft thumping. Squinting into the darkness, straining to hear, she thought there was heavy breathing. She frowned. Then came the moans. A couple of hard grunts. And the inevitable giggle. She heard Ivan’s voice: “Jesus, you’re crazy. We don’t want to throw this whole thing for a fuck.”
“You like me crazy,” Corky said. “Oh, baby, how long do we have to stay here?”
“A few more days, I think. I’ve almost got her. She’s ready to be plucked.”
“Do that to her and she’ll cash in her entire inheritance,” Corky said. “Oh, Ivan, I want you back.”
“A couple more days is good for a couple hundred thousand. Now get out of here before someone notices. Go get drunk and stay out of sight so I can work my magic.”
“Ohhh,” she groaned. “I just got here! You can make up something. Tell them what a complainer I am! Tell them you had to calm me down!”
“You have the ‘I’ve just had sex’ look all over your face,” he said. “If things are quiet later, come back after everyone’s asleep. I feel like something real dirty.”
“I can do that,” she said with a laugh.
Ivan, Jo noticed, had no accent. The sick feelings that spiraled through her were manic. She crept out of the boathouse in time to see Corky disappearing into the house. Jo then walked up the boathouse stairs to the bedroom loft and opened the door.
Ivan turned while still fastening his belt, grinning at her. “Well, my little chicken, you could have caught me just stepping out of the shower.” He laughed lightly, unconcerned.
“Did Corky catch you just getting out of the shower?” she asked.
“No, thank goodness, but it was close. At least I had my pants on.”
“But they didn’t stay on for too long,” she said. “Wouldn’t want to blow the whole deal on a fuck.”
He frowned. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage...”
“Just tell me one thing,” she said. “Was Roy in on it?”
“Darling, what are you getting at here? What crazy talk is this?”
“Drop the accent and tell me the truth. Was Roy in on it? Setting up my sister and trying to con her out of investment money?”
He stood tall and unsmiling in front of her. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m sure you do,” Jo said. “He had to have known. The bastard, parking you here to take complete advantage of us. Of his family! I want you out of here. Tonight. Get your shit together and clear out!”
He stepped toward her. “I don’t know what has you all worked up but let’s calm down and just talk it through.”
“I want you out!”
“Why? Because of Corky?” Finally, the accent was gone. He took another step toward her and gone was the princely fellow. “Roy found Corky. I usually work alone but she’s a little addictive and Roy likes to share his good fortune. Roy said you’d probably be fine with this idea but I could tell in ten minutes that wouldn’t happen. You’re too wrapped up in old Roy and your sister has you jumping through hoops. Tell me something—did Roy ever suggest to you a little doubling up? Maybe adding another person to your entertainment? Because you and Corky...there’s a thought I could get into.”
In spite of everything that was happening—her husband setting up her sister, this bastard conning them, catching him just seconds before it all fell apart—she blushed at the thought of a three-way! Perceptive, that made him laugh. Charming Ivan’s warm and inviting eyes turned sinister. Suddenly she was frightened.
“Did Roy tell you that my father is a judge? I bet you have a record twenty miles long. When I tell the judge you were set up to rob us, he won’t sleep until he finds you and locks you up.”
“I don’t think so, sweetheart.” He reached for her, grabbed and pulled her hard against him. He laughed as she pushed against him, fought against him, cried out for him to let her go. Her mind raced, what could he do to her? Beat her? Rape her? Drown her and say she fell?
“Stop it! Let me go! Don’t you dare touch me! Stop! Help!” she shrieked.
He turned her around, a hand plastered over her mouth, and fell on top of her on the bed. His hand suffocating her and his long body pressing her down, she couldn’t get out a sound.
“Always a little awkward when you get found out,” he said, evil laughter in his voice. “Doesn’t happen often, but there’s always a risk. It’s the risk that makes it fun.” She bit his little finger and he howled in pain. “You bloody viper!” He drew back his hand and slapped her across the face so hard she wondered if he’d broken her jaw. He began choking her.
Then there was a loud thunk and he fell on her.
She pushed and struggled to get out from under his limp, heavy weight, her vision slightly blurred from the blow and her fight. She blinked several times to clear her vision. Louise was standing at the end of the bed holding an oar.
“Oh, God,” Jo said.
Lou’s face was angry and Jo realized she was angry with her.
“What did you do?” Louise spat out.
“What did I do? I found him out, that’s what I did! While you were in the shower I saw Corky follow him up here and I spied! He had no accent, Lou! It was all a con and Roy had to have been in on it. He was trying to con you out of money!”
“You don’t know what you heard,” Lou said.
“I know exactly what I heard, and I confronted him, told him to get out tonight! I told him the judge would track him down and lock him up and he attacked me! I wouldn’t lie to you!”
“You told me I was foolish!” Lou hurled.
“Turns out we both were! I foolishly believed Roy and we both fell for Ivan’s bullshit story.” She rolled him over. “Maybe we should tie him up...”
“Don’t be ridiculous, he can’t hurt both of us. Call the police or something.”
“Um...Lou?”
“What?”
“He couldn’t be... Come here. Help me find his pulse...”
The oar dropped and the two of them searched his neck, wrist, pressed ears against his chest, listening for a heartbeat.
“I can’t tell,” Jo said. “My own heart is beating so hard...”
“I think he’s dead. Can you feel his breath?”
Jo leaned her cheek up to his nose. “I can’t feel his breath but he smells like a distillery. Call the police. Or an ambulance. Or something...”
“What if they don’t believe us?” Lou said.
“He was attacking me. You saved my life. Look at my face—he hit me!”
Lou squinted at her. “You only have a little pink slap mark.”
“Oh, God. We’ll leave him. Put that oar back on the wall. Corky will find him. It can be her problem.”
“Was he really planning to rob me?”
Jo bit her lip and nodded. “He told Corky to go get drunk and stay out of sight so he could work his magic.”
“I can’t believe it,” Lou said. Then she let out a bitter laugh. “I guess it wasn’t possible someone actually wanted me.” And then there were tears running down her cheeks.
“Don’t be stupid—that’s not what this is about! The only reason it was you is because he knows I don’t have anything! Roy would’ve told him that. Damn Roy—he’d sell his mother.” She looked around. “Lou, we’re sitting here with a dead man.”
“I killed him,” Lou said. “I’m probably going to rot in jail. We spent three weeks with him—no one will believe he suddenly attacked you and I saved your life by hitting him from behind.”
“Maybe we can get rid of him. We can throw him in the lake and everyone will think he fell.”
“So our kids can swim around his dead body?”
“Oh, my God, what are we going to do?” Jo started to panic.
“Can we get him to his car?” Lou asked.
“Down the stairs? We’ll probably all be dead after that. Why?”
“Corky’s getting drunk and staying out of sight in her room. The girls are either across the lake or in the loft. If we can get him in his car maybe we can drive over to Winslett Lake and drive him right in—there’s that drop-off. And it’s five minutes away. There’s never anyone around there.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Jo said. “What if we get caught?”
“Is it worse than murder?”
“I don’t know. We have to decide right now. Before Corky comes looking for us or something. We either call the police and take our chances or bury him and tell Corky he left her here.”
“What about his stuff?”
Lou looked around. There was one small suitcase. Corky had bags but it seemed as though Ivan kept going to the trunk of that Lincoln when he wanted something. Anything. Food, gifts, treats, clothing. “He’s probably all packed so he can make a fast getaway.”
Jo shuddered. “He said it was awkward when he got found out.” She swallowed. “He didn’t know the half.”
“Go see if there’s anyone outside. Hurry up.”
“You sure about this?”
“I can’t change anything,” Lou said. “He was going to rob me and rape my sister but I don’t have any evidence of that.”
Jo took a breath. “I think we have to do this.”
“I think he moved!”
They both stood stone-still for a long moment, watching him.
“He didn’t move,” Jo said. She poked him. “I think he’s getting cold.”
“Okay. Okay.”
Jo scampered down the stairs and looked around. The light was on in the loft, where the younger girls were probably watching a movie. The older girls had gone across the lake in the boat to that cove where the secret teenage parties happened—and they knew they had to be home by eleven or else. The light shone from the room Corky was using—staying out of sight and getting drunk like a good girl.
Jo ran back into the boathouse loft. “No one around. Did he move?”
“Not at all. Oh, my God, what have I done?”
“Try not to think about it,” Jo said.
Lou reached into Ivan’s pants pocket and got his keys. She moved his car closer to the boathouse along the path used for the boat launch. They wrestled him down the stairs with great difficulty but then managed to get him into the front seat of the car.
Jo began to fasten the seat belt.
“Are you kidding me?” Lou asked.
“You don’t want him bobbing around, do you?”
“I guess not. Follow me. I might have to drive around or circle the lake or something if I see people.”
“Okay. And then when they catch us we can ask to share a cell.”
“Oh, God, let’s get this over with!” Lou said.
Jo snatched the keys. “I’ll do it.” She pushed Lou out of the way and got in the driver’s seat. She pulled out of the property and onto the road slowly, casting furtive glances over at Ivan. To a passerby he might look like a passenger, maybe a sleeping passenger. If a police officer pulled her over, she would say he was drunk. He certainly smelled it. But in all their years at Lake Waseka when had they ever been pulled over or even seen a car pulled over by police?
Jo drove so slowly she was crawling. Lou was close behind her and Jo tried to pick up speed, but it was so hard. Her hands were shaking. When she got to Winslett Lake she drove along the dirt road that circled the lake. There was not so much as a light anywhere—no fires, nothing in the few cabin windows, no headlights. She stopped the car, cut her lights and just stared at the lake. There were No Swimming signs. It was very deep about six feet from shore. She knew she was going to have to go in with the car but she dare not leave any sign that she’d been there. She couldn’t afford to lose a shoe; she didn’t have a purse.
She was frozen. Lou, sitting in her car on the road, killed her lights. Just to be sure, she poked the body one more time. Nothing.
She put all the windows down, opened her door and held it open with one foot. Then she gunned the engine, popped the car into gear and shot into the lake. There was hardly a splash as the big Lincoln floated right in. As an afterthought, she unclasped Ivan’s seat belt—if they did find him, he couldn’t be strapped in to the passenger side of the car. She rolled out of the car and made her way slowly toward shore while the Lincoln floated on top of the water.
She stared at it for only a few seconds, then she got in Lou’s car.
“It’s not sinking,” Lou said.
“That’s all right. If someone sees it they’ll think he had an accident. If they find him they’ll think he drowned in whiskey. Let’s just leave, please.”
“But what if it doesn’t sink?” Lou asked.
“There’s nothing we can do! Want me to swim out there and jump on it?”
Lou didn’t answer. She sat there, staring.
“Lou, I swear he was smiling,” Jo said.
Lou gasped. “Look! What’s that? Is that his body?”
“Is there a current?” Jo asked. “There’s no current to pull him away!”
“I bet he was smiling, the bastard.”
“Just hurry and go!” Jo said. “I’d rather not know!”
Lou drove slowly down the road away from Winslett Lake.
Jo showered and they both got into the big bed they shared when their husbands weren’t around. They barely talked, though neither of them slept. They were terrified and shocked by what had happened and there were just little whispers between them. We’re going to hell. No, we’re going to jail on our way to hell. There’s no coming back from this. He was a bad person. But should he have died? I didn’t mean to kill him, just stop him! We meant to sink him, though. It was self-defense. We’re going to hell. I’m so afraid.
They were awake at dawn because they’d never been to sleep. Corky, as usual, was very slow to rise. Of course she had a miserable headache. She didn’t say anything to the women and finally Jo urged the children to the lake so Lou could handle Corky.
“Where’s Ivan?” she finally asked.
“Guess,” Lou said. “We found you out. Did Roy tell you our father is a superior court judge? He has tons of influence and resources. I bet there is no investment property, is there? No company, either? I told Ivan he could have a head start—I’m going to call my father.”
“He wouldn’t leave me!”
“Wouldn’t he?” Louise asked. “It must be difficult to seduce rich women with your girlfriend tagging along. He said to put you on a bus—you’d know where to find him.” Corky looked panicked. “Oh, dear, you’re not sure where he is, are you? Maybe you should call that mobile phone...”
Without another word, the young woman turned and left the kitchen. She was back in less than five minutes with two suitcases. They were mighty big suitcases for such a little girl but Lou didn’t offer to help.
The drive to the bus station was silent and far too long. When Lou got back to the lake house after the best piece of acting she’d ever done, Jo was waiting for her. “What did she say?”
“Not a word. Not even thanks for the ride.”
“God, what if she talks to someone?”
Lou shook her head. “You think she’s going to report him missing?”
“What about Roy?” Jo asked.
Lou’s lips twisted. “I knew he took advantage of us. I knew he tried to lie his way out of messes. But throwing me to that wolf? His own brother’s wife? His own wife’s sister? How low can a man go? The real question is—did you know?”
“You can’t be serious!”
“But I am! Did you know Roy was sending a con man in to strip me of whatever I had? No matter how much Roy does, no matter how bad he is, you not only forgive him, you defend him.”
“Lou, I wouldn’t hurt you.”
“Well, you certainly could,” Lou said. “You’ve got something on me now, something big. You could get back all that stuff from our inheritance you signed away. While I rot in jail.”
Jo looked at her sister with horrible disappointment and anger. “I’d rather starve,” Jo finally said.
Six days later Bunny drowned. Lou was so cold, so angry. She believed she was being punished. “We’ll leave and never come back,” she pronounced.
* * *
The sisters talked till four in the morning, sitting in Lou’s big king-size bed not even acknowledging that this was how they’d been that night. It was that night that everything changed. At some point they both dozed off, then woke before eight because it was in both their natures.
“I hope you got what you wanted,” Louise said. “I have a miserable headache and that summer is all in my head again like it was yesterday.”
“Well, I never got over it, did you?”
“No, of course not. But I managed to not think about it most of the time. After the first couple of years.”
“I want you to know I’m going to talk to Krista about it.”
“Oh, damn, I knew it—you have to make a confession!”
“Sort of. Krista went to prison for killing a man. She had to do it. He was coming at her. But they didn’t really believe her. She paid the debt for herself and for everyone else. I will ask myself until I die if we just lost our minds that night.”
“Do whatever you want, Josephine,” Louise said. “I’m too tired to argue.”
“Krista will keep it in confidence,” Jo said. She started making up the bed out of habit. “God knows I can’t tell Hope. And Beverly just doesn’t deserve that burden—she’s been so happy the last dozen years or so. You should consider telling Charley—see if you can have a conversation with her about why things were the way they were at the time she needed you. Really, think about it. I just wanted you to know what I’m going to do. I don’t want you to be confused—it’s not to punish you. I think you did what you had to do. I think your decision in the one second you had to think about it was the right one. I know you did it to protect me, and believe me, I was in danger.”
“There’s something you never made clear,” Lou said. “Roy. You wouldn’t divorce him. You said he ran off. Did you never hear from him again?”
“Oh, I heard from him. Not very long after. I imagine Corky found him. I was so furious I could barely speak and it’s a wonder he understood my blabbering. I raged at him for putting Ivan on us, to use me and con you. And in our family home. I told him I would never forgive him. He said he was sorry. And asked me to tell the girls he said goodbye.”
“Why in God’s name didn’t you divorce him?”
“I did,” she said, straightening up. “I wasn’t going to let Daddy hunt him down and find out what kind of business he was caught up in. Besides, I wanted to do it myself. It took a while, but I finally pulled the money together.”
“Do you know where he is?”
She shook her head. “I had to place ads to try to locate him before my divorce could be made final but there was never a response. He would be sixty-seven now if he’s alive. With his high-risk behavior, what are the odds?” Jo looked around, plucking the nightgown that she’d borrowed. “Thanks for the loan of a gown. Louise...look at all this stuff. Have you turned into some kind of hoarder?”
“You think I enjoy this? I’ve been saving it.”
“What the hell for?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “For us. For our retirement. For something urgent or otherwise unaffordable.”
“Us?” Jo asked. “What us? We’ve been in a feud for almost thirty years!”
“Yes,” Louise said. “But if something happened to you, who was going to take care of you? One kid chose herself a new family. One moved to Philly to be a princess who never even called home. One was in prison. There was only me.”
Jo put a hand on her hip. “Louise, if you were planning to take care of me in my declining years, why the fuck wouldn’t you talk to me at church?”
“I find that language very offensive,” Lou said. “And I don’t know why. I did my best. Everyone seemed mad at me when I had done my best.”
Jo looked at her and just shook her head wearily. “You giant pain in the ass.”
* * *
Four days after the sinking of the Lincoln, Lou spotted a small piece in the weekly Winslett News. A man had been found wandering the back roads of Winslett disoriented, injured and soaking wet, though he was a few miles from the lake. He was admitted to the hospital with a head injury and amnesia. He couldn’t tell anyone his name. Then he wandered away from the hospital without being released. Anyone knowing the identity of the man was asked to call the local police. They printed a picture.
It was Ivan.