Page 20 of A Map to Paradise

19

For one fleeting moment, Melanie imagined Elwood had been rushed to the hospital with some awful injury while she’d been gone. But that was not possible. Not possible. June wouldn’t be relaxing on the lawn at that moment if he’d fallen down the stairs or cut his hand in the kitchen or accidentally swallowed poison.

Had he finally decided it was time for inpatient care to help him deal with his debilitating problem? Or had June decided enough was enough and called for a psychiatric hospital to come get him? Impossible on both counts for the same reason. June would not be sitting on a blanket in the backyard if either were true.

Had he never been in the house at all? Had she been talking to a ghost all this time? June, too? Talking and living with a ghost? Unthinkable. Eva had been coming over to the house for more than a week. She’d made meals for Elwood, washed his laundry. Straightened his slippers. He was no ghost.

Melanie threw open the Blankenships’ patio door.

June was still sitting on the lawn, but Eva had joined Nicky to line up the chess pieces atop a brick planter filled with pink and white flowers. Both women turned to the sound of the patio door banging open.

“Where’s Elwood?” she said.

June struggled to rise to her feet. Eva left Nicky with the chess pieces and started to walk toward her. Neither woman answered the question.

“Where is he?” Melanie demanded.

June brought a shaking hand to her forehead and brushed a few stray hairs away. “Melanie! I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Tell me where he is, June.”

June looked to Nicky, and so did Eva. The boy had stopped playing and was staring at Melanie.

“You need to keep your voice down,” June said evenly.

Melanie swiveled to face Eva, who was now standing next to her. “Have you seen him? This whole time you’ve been coming over here, have you seen him? Even once?”

Eva shook her head slowly from side to side, eyes wide.

Though she’d answered Melanie, it was plain as day Eva knew something. Melanie wanted to scream at them both.

Instead, mindful of Nicky, she lowered her voice. “I want to know what the hell is going on or I’m…I’m going to call the police.”

June closed her eyes for just a moment, let out a breath, and then turned to Eva. “I think it would be best if you took Nicky back to Melanie’s.”

Eva did not move. Melanie saw fear in the maid’s eyes. Or maybe dread. June spoke to Eva again.

“Please,” June said. “Just take him so that Melanie and I can talk. He can’t be here.”

Eva looked from Melanie to June to Nicky, clearly not wanting to leave. She hesitated before walking across the grass, bending down, and saying something to the little boy. He smiled and nodded. She offered her hand, he took it, and they walked back to the patio.

“Nicky wants some ice cream. We are going to go back home so he can have some,” Eva said, falsely cheerful.

“You want ice cream, Auntie?” Nicky asked Melanie as he approached her with his hand in Eva’s.

“Later, honey. I need to talk to Miss June.”

Eva glanced up at Melanie and then immediately averted her gaze.

Eva knew. She knew Elwood wasn’t in the house!

She’d deal with that betrayal later.

As soon as Eva and Nicky were gone, Melanie rounded on June. “Tell me where he is.”

June exhaled deeply as she walked to the patio table mere feet from where Melanie stood and sat down at it. “It’s very sweet of you to care for Elwood as you do, Melanie. Honestly. I’ve not appreciated you the way I should have all these months. I should’ve insisted he visit with you more often. I think he liked talking with you. It might’ve changed everything if I had. Well, not everything.”

“Tell me where Elwood is. Right now. Or I’m calling the cops.”

June closed her eyes and then opened them. “Yes, you probably should call them. But I think it would be a disaster if you did.”

“Why? What has happened? Where did he go?” Melanie said in a rush.

“Sit down and I’ll tell you.”

“I don’t want to sit down! I want to know where he is.”

June shook her head as she said softly, “He’s gone, Melanie.”

Melanie knew in an instant. She could tell by the tone of June’s voice and that look of anguish what she’d meant. Elwood was dead. An ache began to throb in her chest. But still she asked.

“Gone where?”

Quick tears had sprung to June’s eyes. “He swallowed a bottleful of pills, far too many, and he died.”

June leaned forward, put her elbows on the table, and rested her forehead in the well of her palms.

Melanie reached for the back of an empty patio chair to steady herself as shock and sadness somersaulted inside. Elwood!

Dead.

Elwood was dead.

“When?” Melanie murmured. “When did this happen?”

June didn’t look up. “Almost two weeks ago.”

Melanie pulled out the patio chair and sat down. “Why have you been pretending he’s still here? Why would you do that?!”

June lifted her head and gaped at Melanie as though she didn’t know how to answer any of those questions. So she didn’t.

Which didn’t make any sense, either.

“June,” Melanie said, her voice thick with emotion in her throat. “Why have you been pretending he’s still here?”

“Because he is.” June’s voice was somewhat childlike, and Melanie felt a chill zip through her. The woman had to be off her rocker. Completely. Because the only other explanation for her comment was…

“What do you mean he’s still here?” Melanie said again, her throat now thick with unease.

June shrugged and looked away, off toward Elwood’s roses. “I didn’t think he would ever do something like that. If I had known I would have called for a doctor. I didn’t know. So I wasn’t ready. I don’t even think he was ready. But then he just…did it. He took all those pills.”

“June, what do you mean he’s still here ?”

“I loved Elwood,” June said, her head cocked to one side, two tears tracking down her cheeks. “You need to know that, Melanie. I loved my husband very much. But I loved Elwood, too. He was my best friend after Frank died, my only true companion. And he gave me a home, something I’d never really had before. He gave me work to do, work I loved. And he let me care for him, almost like a wife cares for a sick husband. He gave me everything. Everything.”

Melanie’s heart was pulsing madly in her chest as her brain embraced the notion that something was terribly off.

“June,” she said. “Where is Elwood? Where did you take him?”

“I needed more time,” June said vacantly, still staring at the garden. “That’s why I did what I did. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“What? What did you do?”

“He left everything to Ruthie’s boys, Melanie. Everything. All his money, all his investments, his royalties. And this house. This house where I had lived with the two people I loved most in the world. It is more than just a place to live. It’s my home. I couldn’t lose it. I needed more time to finish the script I was writing for him. I needed the money it will bring in. I’m going to beg those boys to sell me the house and I need that money for the down payment. So I needed more time. I needed Elwood to be alive and finishing the screenplay. I can’t lose this house.”

“So you…didn’t tell anyone he’d died because you are writing his screenplay?” Melanie said, aghast.

“They aren’t really his scripts anymore,” June said. “I’ve been writing them for a long while. A very long while.”

Melanie leaned forward across the table. “June. You need to tell me where Elwood is. Where did you take him?”

June sighed heavily. “I told you. I didn’t take him anywhere. He’s right here.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

June pointed to the rose garden. “Right here .”

The blood in Melanie’s veins seemed to whoosh to a chilly stop, followed by an odd calmness. “Are you telling me that you buried Elwood in the backyard?”

June was staring at the rosebushes, several of them blooming in the summer-like temperatures of a typical Southern California December. “Yes.”

“And Eva. Eva knows this, too?”

“She doesn’t. At least, I don’t think she does. I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean you’re not sure?” Melanie echoed hotly.

“I think maybe she has suspected it for a few days. Maybe a week.”

Anger began to flare. “And she did nothing ?”

“I think it’s because she understands. She lost her home, too. She lost her family. She knows what it’s like to lose everything. I think maybe she wanted to help me.”

“Help you?” Melanie said furiously. “Help you commit a crime?”

“I didn’t kill him! He was dead on his bed when I found him. It’s not like I committed much of a crime.”

Melanie shot to her feet. “The hell it’s not.” She turned for the house and stormed through the kitchen, June trailing behind her.

“Where are you going?” June asked.

“Where do you think?” Melanie called over her shoulder as she made a beeline for the front door. “I can’t be a part of this. You know I can’t. I’m sorry for your loss, June, I am. But this is crazy. I’m going to call the police.”

“Wait!” June called after her. “Melanie! You don’t understand. I have a plan!”

“A plan? A plan ? I can’t believe you let Eva be involved in this. Honestly, I can’t. And by God you’re not going to involve me.” Melanie was in the entry, her hand reaching for the doorknob.

She’d started to open it and June was suddenly there with the palm of one hand slamming it shut.

Melanie swung around to face her.

“Wait! If you call the police…you’ll wish you hadn’t,” June said, as if improvising. Pulling words out of the troubled air.

Melanie stared at her, incredulous. “Are you threatening me?”

“No.” June shook her head, her tone and countenance earnest. “No, I swear to you I’m not. I’m just…just telling you what’s true.”

Despite the gratitude for June she’d felt just a few short hours ago, this was nuts. June had buried a dead man in her backyard! Melanie had to get out of that house, out of this mess. Nothing good could come from becoming an accessory to June’s actions. There were laws regarding what a person could do and not do with someone’s remains. She spoke gently but authoritatively. “You will let me leave, June. What you have done has nothing to do with me.”

“I know it doesn’t,” June said. “But you’re already on the blacklist for reasons that have nothing to do with you. If you call the police and you tell them Eva has known for a week, we’ll both be in trouble. They will look into her. And if they do that, they will find out about her past.”

“So what if they do!”

“Listen to me. If they discover who Eva really is, everything will fall apart! I already know I’ll go to jail. But Eva will probably get deported. And if that happens, I guarantee you, you won’t ever get off that list.”