Page 88 of The Happy Month

“What about a woman named Shirley Kessler? Did you know her?”

“No.”

“You’re certain.”

“It was fifty years ago. I do not know. If I met her, I do not remember.”

“Is your husband available? I’d like to speak to him as well.”

“I am so sorry. Manny is not well. Because of the oxygen he does not talk well on the telephone.”

“Can I set up a time to come and see you?”

“I am sorry. We will be traveling to San Diego. Our daughter is having a very bad divorce. We must help.”

“Do you know when you’ll be back in Eagle Rock?”

“I’m sorry. I do not.”

“I could drive down to San Diego,” I said. I really didn’t want to do that, but I didn’t want to let this go.

“My husband needs me. I must hang up.”

And then she did.

I sat back on the sofa, finally relaxing a bit, and tried to absorb what I’d just heard. Clearly, Mrs. Marker didn’t want me talking to her husband. She barely wanted me talking to her. Did that mean something? I had the strong feeling she and her husband knew something about Vera’s death. But what? Did they know Gigi? Did she also know Shirley Kessler? Her answers weren’t satisfying.

John came back down, and said, “I’m going to make a hamburger. Do you want one?”

“Sure. Thanks.”

Ronnie was probably the best cook in the house, but he almost never had time. John could do basic things like spaghetti and hamburgers. I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say. I followed him into the kitchen.

Taking a seat at the breakfast bar, I asked, “What do you know about abusive husbands?”

“I’ve dated some jerks, but I don’t know that I’d call them abusive.”

“I meant in your capacity as a nurse. Vera Korenko knew a woman named Gigi. I’ve been told her husband was abusing her. It’s possible he killed Vera. He might also have killed another woman named Shirley Kessler. I guess my question is, why didn’t Gigi just leave her husband after the first murder? Why didn’t she turn him in?”

“Wow, um…” He chewed his lip as he thought. “You have to remember that none of this is happening now. How people thought about things in the forties was different. A lot of people at the time thought it was okay to hit your wife. And by people, I mean menandwomen. They wouldn’t have known what you meant by abusing.”

“Right. We’re talking about murder though.”

“True. But the murder might have actually made it harder for Gigi to leave. The thing about physical abuse is that it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Physical abusers are also emotionally abusive. They’re controlling. They isolate their victims from friends and family, they tear down their victim’s self-esteem. If you don’t believe you have value, if there’s no one to help you, if you think you deserve it, it’s very hard to escape.”

As he said that, he was making hamburger patties out of ground chuck. He dropped them into a frying pan.

“Do we have potato chips?” he asked.

“I’ll check,” I said, turning to the pantry behind me. I found a bag of corn chips and asked if they would work. He thought they might.

“If I want to figure out if a woman is being abused, what am I looking for?”

“When she—or for that matter he, it does happen to men. When someone comes into the ER with injuries that don’t match their story, you want to separate them from their spouse or partner.” He got out a couple of plates whilehe continued. “Let’s say Ronnie hurt himself and you’re in the ER, the doctor says he wants to talk with Ronnie alone. What do you say?”

“Actually, I think Ronnie would say I could stay before I said anything.”

“And if he didn’t.”