Page 21 of A Map to Paradise
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Eva had just started to rinse Nicky’s ice-cream bowl when she heard the Gilberts’ front door fly open, and then June’s voice.
“Melanie, please! Don’t do anything rash! Let’s talk about this.”
She turned from the sink as both Melanie and June rounded the corner and entered the kitchen. Melanie looked livid. Eva glanced quickly to Nicky, who, beyond the kitchen in the open living room, was building a tower with wooden blocks. He’d paused in his play, though, and was looking in the direction where the three women stood framed in the kitchen doorway.
Melanie grabbed Eva’s arm and pulled her attention back to her. “How could you do this to me?” she said through her teeth, fiercely angry but controlling her volume. “How could you keep working for me day in and day out all these months, knowing what I am up against? How could you do that? You’re a Russian!”
Melanie’s words were nothing near to what Eva had expected her to say. “What?” She looked to June.
“I’m sorry, Eva,” June said. “I just…it slipped out. She was going to call the police. I figured she’d tell them you had known for days that Elwood wasn’t in the house. I was afraid they might arrest you, too, and they’d look into how you came to the States and discover who you really are. So I told Melanie why calling the police could be bad for her. I just wanted her to stop and think. That’s all. I just wanted her to stop.”
“But what about Elwood?” Eva said, dazed.
“He’s dead!” Melanie yelled. “And this woman you’re protecting buried him in her backyard. The backyard!” Melanie had let go of Eva’s arm but her body was still heaving in fury. “And you ! You’ve been with me all this time when you knew the backlash I’d get if it came out you’re from the Soviet Union. How could you do that?”
But Eva had barely heard Melanie’s angry question. Her mind was spinning around the sudden image of Elwood’s body below the earth, resting among his roses. She’d known all along, hadn’t she? Starting with the day Melanie asked her to speak to June from across the fence—that morning June had been digging up rosebushes in the dark. That scene had called to her mind a memory she’d had to forcibly sweep away so that she could ask the question Melanie had told her to ask.
A memory of a body. The dead of night. A rose garden.
Eva shook it away again as she pictured June burying Elwood in his own rose garden, a man June loved but who had not loved her—a man who’d left June’s only home to the sons of the woman he had loved.
“June?” Eva said.
“I’m talking to you!” Melanie shouted.
But Eva sought June’s gaze. “June, what happened?”
June shook her head and winced as if it pained her to say again the words she’d surely just spoken to Melanie only moments before. “He killed himself, Eva.”
Melanie pivoted to June. “And how do we know that’s what happened? How do we know you didn’t do this to him?”
“Because she loved him,” Eva said quickly, not taking her eyes off June. “Right, June? You would not do this and lose the house and your work. You would not do it.”
“What are you talking about!” Melanie exclaimed.
June pulled out a kitchen chair and slumped into it. “No. I would not.”
“What do you mean by ‘lose the house’?” Melanie said.
“In his will Elwood left the house—everything—to the sons of that woman who was in the car with him the night of the accident,” Eva said. “And no one knows this, but June is the one who has been writing Elwood’s scripts. She has nothing if he’s dead, Melanie. No house. No work. And she loved him. She didn’t do this.”
“But you don’t bury a man in his backyard. For heaven’s sake, June! What were you thinking?” And then Melanie pivoted to face Eva. “And why didn’t you tell me you’re Russian? God in heaven, the two of you are going to ruin me!”
“I should have quit when I found out about that list. I should have. But you need to know I am not—”
“What? Not Russian?” Melanie cut in. “Of course you are! I don’t care if you think you’re German. You were born in Russia! You lived there. Your family was shipped off to a Siberian gulag! That’s what happened, isn’t it? That’s how you lost everybody you cared about. They were hauled off to Siberia. In Russia ! Tell me everything June just told me about you isn’t true.”
Eva swiveled to look at Nicky again. He was knocking over his tower with a spatula she’d loaned him from the kitchen, happily uninterested in what the adults were shouting about. She turned back to Melanie.
“What June probably told you is true, but I am German. All my family is German. Yes, I was born in Russia, but I am not Russian.”
“Then why did you lie to me about it? Why have you been lying to everyone? Why have you told everyone you are from Poland? Why do you pretend to be someone who you are not? Can’t you see how that looks? It looks like you have something to hide. It looks like you’re a communist trying to pretend that you’re not one!”
“I assure you I am not.”
“But it looks like you are! Don’t you see? That’s all that matters!”
Melanie pulled out a kitchen chair, too, and sank down into it, resting her head in her hands.
Eva took the chair beside her. “I’m so sorry, Melanie. I will leave at once. I didn’t—”
But Melanie didn’t let her finish. “Me firing you doesn’t solve anything. It solves nothing. You’ve already been here for five months. It’s too late for that. And you can’t leave me with this mess!” Melanie tossed a hand in June’s direction.
“I swear I didn’t know when I first started coming here what had happened to you,” Eva said. “When I found out about the blacklist, I did look for another job so that I could quit. I should have quit anyway. It was wrong of me to stay on. It’s wrong of me to stay now.”
Melanie sighed. Shook her head as she massaged her temple. “I told you. It’s too late. You’ve already been here all this time. And I don’t want you to quit. I…I need you right now. For this goddamn mess and for that little boy. I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“I don’t think that’s true.”
“Hush up and let me think.”
“You are wonderful with him and he is so fond of you. I can tell. He feels safe with you.”
“That’s nice of you to say, but that doesn’t solve anything, either.”
“What do you mean? What must we solve?”
Melanie pointed in the direction of the house next door. “Elwood is dead and everyone thinks he’s alive. Oh, and let’s not forget June buried him in the backyard and you and I both know it.”
June looked up. “Hey. I wasn’t thinking clearly when I did that.”
“No shit, June!” Melanie said hotly. “What exactly were you thinking?”
“I…I just panicked,” June said. “When I found him, I knew I was going to have to call somebody. And I knew when I made the call, they would come and take him away and he would be gone from me for good and I would have nothing. I just…I didn’t want to say goodbye to any of it. To him. To his house. To my life here. To any of it.”
“Okay, but why the rose garden?” Eva asked.
A long sigh escaped June. “I needed more time to finish that last script. I wasn’t thinking things through when I took him out to the rose garden. I was reeling, I felt so betrayed by him. The day before, he seemed like he was coming out of his bad spell. Honestly, he did. I had no idea he was going to put on a suit, write, ‘I’m sorry,’ on a piece of typing paper, and then swallow every sleeping pill he had. When I found him the next morning, he was already cold.”
“Oh, June.” Tears stung at Eva’s eyes. Nothing else on earth hurt like the death of someone you loved; she knew this all too well.
“All I was really thinking was how much he loved his roses and that I needed more time,” June went on. “I knew—deep down I knew, even when I was shoveling—there would be no digging him up again. I knew I would need to have an explanation for Elwood being missing, and a good one so that no one could ever suspect where he actually was.”
“Well, good luck with that,” Melanie said.
“I did come up with one, though. It’s a good plan and it still might work.”
“You can’t possibly be serious!” Melanie half laughed.
“I think we should hear her out,” Eva said. “Please, Melanie?”
“I can’t believe we’re actually discussing this.” Melanie spoke to the walls of the kitchen as if they were listening in.
“I decided that when the script was done, I would tell everyone he’d asked me to drive him out to his bungalow in Palm Springs. You know, to finish the trip he had started with Ruthie. Because he thought if he did, he would find peace. I was going to say I agreed to drive him, that he’d taken a sleeping pill from inside the car while it was still in the garage and slept the whole way; that’s how I’d say he got himself out of the house. And once we were there, I’d say he’d asked for some time to himself, that he wanted me to return to Malibu and come back for him in a week. But when I went back to Palm Springs, I would say I didn’t find him. What I would find instead was a note he’d written, and I’d show the note I already had. And then, after Max came by with his ultimatum, I figured he’d want to go out to the bungalow to talk to Elwood and so he’d be the one to find the note. I’m going to add just a little bit to it, which will be easy. I’ve already mastered Elwood’s script for signing his name for banking.”
“What are you going to add?” Eva asked.
“I’m going to say that Elwood has chosen to financially provide for Ruthie’s boys his way, by ending his life out in the desert, and he doesn’t want anyone to come looking for him. But of course the police will be called, and days will be spent in the wilderness searching for him. He won’t be found, though, and at some point he’ll be declared dead. But I will have already gotten the money for that last script, and I’ll convince Ruthie’s sons to sell me this house using that money as a down payment. The house will be mine, then. Truly mine. I can then watch over Elwood’s beautiful resting place the remainder of my days.”
Melanie exhaled heavily. “And I suppose this is the story Eva and I are supposed to corroborate for you if we’re questioned about it? That everything seemed just fine at your house before you and Elwood went to Palm Springs? You want us to lie for you?”
June didn’t hesitate. “I do. But Melanie, I’m not asking you to. I can’t keep you from calling the police if that’s what you’d rather do. Maybe I do belong in jail for this. But I don’t want anything bad to happen to Eva. Or to you. I don’t want Eva getting arrested or deported to the Soviet Union to face whatever kind of hell awaits her there. And I don’t want you to never be in another film. I know how hard you worked to make it in Hollywood. And I haven’t told you this before, but I drove into Santa Monica back in January when your movie came out. I saw it. You’re a wonderful actress. None of what has happened to you is your fault, either. I’ve made a mess of things, but I don’t want you or Eva to pay for it. You’ve already had to pay.”
Eva reached across the table and squeezed June’s hand. There had been only a handful of women in her life who’d been this kind and good to her. Four, really. Her mother, Sascha’s mother for a time, Louise—dear Louise—and now June.
“Assuming I agree, what happens if the police or Max don’t believe you?” Melanie asked. “What if they don’t believe us when we’re asked to corroborate? What happens then?”
“What’s not to believe? I think it’s easier to buy the story I plan to tell than the real one. Who is going to believe I had the crazy idea to bury Elwood in his rose garden? And that you both found out about it and said nothing? You and Eva standing by me if you’re questioned means there will be no reason to doubt me. Max knew Elwood wasn’t doing well. He’ll tell anyone who asks that he’d told me we needed to get help for him, and I’ll act remorseful that I didn’t. Actually, I won’t have to act. I wish every minute of every day that I had called a doctor when I saw Elwood slipping this time.”
Melanie seemed to think on June’s plan for a moment before shaking her head in obvious rejection. “Why would I do this? This is insane! I am already in enough hot water. If it’s that easy to lie, then I’ll just lie when I call the police and I’ll leave out the fact Eva knew something bad had happened to Elwood. She’ll stay out of trouble, and so will I.”
“But, Melanie,” Eva said gently. “June will go to jail. She will lose the house. She loves this house. It’s her home. It’s all she has now.”
Melanie seemed to ponder this but only for a second.
“No,” she said, vehemently. “No, no, no. It’s too risky, and I can’t manage another catastrophe in my life. I just can’t. I won’t have a place to live nor money to live on if this goes south.”
June furrowed her brow. “Why won’t you have a place to live?”
But Eva knew what Melanie was referring to; she’d overheard her talking on the telephone with both Carson Edwards and her agent.
“Carson is already talking about pulling the plug on supporting me,” Melanie said. “All he really needs is just a little push and he’ll say he’s done. This house may not be mine but it’s all I have now.”
There was a second of silence before June spoke, and when she did, it was as if the words had suddenly just come to her. They spilled out in a rush. “You can come live with me. You and Nicky can both move in with me, and you can have the upstairs to yourselves. I’ll buy a new bed for that room. You won’t have to leave Malibu if Carson stops paying your rent. You can stay.”
“What?” Melanie said doubtfully.
“I won’t charge you room and board or anything,” June went on. “It won’t cost you anything to move in here. If Carson stops supporting you, you won’t have to leave Paradise Circle. You can stay right here as long as you need to. I’ll provide anything you need.”
“Why on earth would you do that?” Melanie’s voice was not much more than a cautious murmur.
“Because we need each other right now. Please, Melanie. I can’t go to jail. I need to finish this last script and get the money for it. It’s the only way I can keep my home.”
There was a long stretch of silence.
“I seriously can’t believe Elwood left those boys this house when it’s your home, too,” Melanie finally said with a huff. “Do they even need it? Aren’t they already living somewhere else?”
“I can’t imagine they will keep it,” June said. “They’ll probably be advised by their grandparents to sell it and split the profit so that they can each buy their own place someday. Two teenage boys have no use for a house in Malibu. I need to be the one to buy it from them.”
“So when will you do that? I mean, how long will it take for…” Eva’s voice trailed off.
“I have no idea how long before Elwood will be declared dead. And I can’t ask anyone.”
“But if those boys don’t want to sell it, where will you go?” Eva asked, knowing intimately what it is like to have a home one day and be without one the next.
“I can’t even begin to think about that. I guess I’ll have to go back to the city and get what I can afford.”
“And you’d just leave Elwood…here?” Melanie asked.
Eva saw June shudder. “What choice would I have?” she said.
“But…,” Eva began as a new thought sprang to mind, and then she closed her mouth. She was about to say: What if the boys keep the house and decide someday to take out the rose garden?
What if they should decide to dig?
The quiet resting place of a good but troubled man would become a crime scene. The police would come looking for June. She would likely be charged with murder despite her claim Elwood had overdosed on sleeping pills. June would spend the rest of her days in prison as a murderer who had killed no one.
Eva suddenly knew what would need to be done if June lost the house. Perhaps regardless of whether or not she got it.
It was the only thing that could be done, really, though it seemed impossible to carry out.
It would require a great deal of planning.
Still, she was the one who could do it if there was a way to make Elwood’s last resting place forever secure.
If there was a way, she could do it for June. For all of them, really.
After all. She had done it before.