Page 61 of The Happy Month

“Some did, I suppose.”

“Do you remember anyone in particular?”

“Oh, no… I’m sorry, I don’t. I was already married to Harp. I didn’t pay any attention to other boys.”

“Do you remember the last time you saw Vera?”

“I do. I mean, I wouldn’t normally, not after all these years… but the police came to the bank and interviewed all of us. It was very exciting. The last day Vera worked was September 30th. I remember it was hot that day. We didn’t have air conditioning in those days. All the windows would have been open and the fans blowing. All of us, we couldn’t wait to leave.”

“What was it you and Vera did at Security First National?”

“We did mortgage settlements. They were complicated and they had to be right. The tiniest typo and you’ve screwed up someone’s life for twenty years.”

“Was there anything unusual about her last day?”

“The police asked me that when they came to the bank. They came about a week later. It had cooled down by then. I remember I was wearing a cute little sweater set.”

That wasn’t an answer. “What did you tell them?”

“No. I told them no. There wasn’t anything strange about her last day. She was her normal self. Happy. Busy. She was so good at her job. I was sure she’d be promoted, but then?—”

“What about that last week, did you notice anything?”

“No. She seemed happy. Maybe even happier. I don’t remember why though.”

“Did she talk to you about her engagement?”

“She did. But I don’t think it was real. She didn’t have a ring. I mean, it would only come up if one of the managers started to mash on her. I think she got tired of being asked out all the time, so she made up a fiancé. And it wasn’t in the book, so I don’t think…”

“You don’t know the name Patrick Gill?”

“No. Who was that? Is that the person who killed her?”

“You don’t remember the name of Vera’s fiancé?”

“Well, she didn’t use his name much. She’d say ‘my fiancé’ this or ‘my fiancé’ that.’ But she wouldn’t say a name. She might have said he was in the Marines. It wasn’t that long after the war and all of us girls were just crazy about servicemen. I mean, I was married; I wasn’t crazy about anyone.”

“Well thank you. You’ve been very helpful. If I have more questions, do you mind if I call you back?”

“Oh no, you can call me. I don’t mind.”

Then I gave her my number in case she remembered anything she thought might help. After I hung up, I sat back and thought over what she’d said. It did sound like her husband was right. Philburn had exaggerated their friendship for his book. But why would he do that?

The bell rang at the front, and someone walked into the office. I walked out that way and found Karensettling in at her desk. I decided to take the opportunity to say, “Listen, I’m sorry about yesterday. I know you don’t work for me.”

“It’s fine. I’ll let you know when you have to apologize to me. All right?”

“Okay.”

Then she actually smiled at me. A rare event. Particularly in the past few months.

“You’re in a good mood.”

“Of course, I’m in a good mood. Carl Lewis won a gold medal last night. That makes me happy.”

I’d noticed this before. Karen was always happy when Black people did well. For a moment, I wondered if that was weird. But then I thought, I’m actually pretty happy when gay people did well. Though there weren’t a ton who were honest about who they were. Other than Elton John you didn’t hear much about gay men unless they died of AIDS. So, yeah, more power to her.

Of course, there was a long discussion of whether or not Lewis was gay at our dinner table. But I decided not to mention that to Karen. It didn’t seem like a good idea.