— It's just groceries, we stopped and…
— Well you're not going to leave them in the middle of the living room floor are you?
— No, no I just put them down to…
— You look like hell, Oscar. Have you been drinking?
— Have I, now? but it's still…
— Where in God's name have you been.
— Well we, you know, we just took him to the airport and…
— That bitch! She just happened to notice those Turnbull and Asser shirts going through every drawer in the place, she can go out and buy some for Leo herself can't she? What in God's name I thought I was doing walking out and leaving them there I thought they were right behind me, would I mind if Masha stays there tonight she doesn't get to New York often and wants to get in some shopping, my God don't they have stores in Cleveland?
— It's awfully hot in here Christina, you don't mind if I turn down the…
— Thank God Lily here, put it down here will you? and as the cup came down trembling — you look pale, are you all right?
— I'm just, I'm okay.
— It tastes a little, did you put something in it?
— I put some whisky in it.
— I think it's just relief Christina, finally having him out of here it's been quite a, quite a relief not starting the day with a game show we've been…
— What in God's name are you talking about, is that the paper? today's paper?
— I just brought it in yes, it's…
— Well give it to me! and will you get those damn groceries out of here as I asked you? tearing through the pages — in the entertainment section where is it, that sweet tone of hers as though he'd just won a medal, have you seen this morning's paper? with that edge to it sounding like we both really knew I'd poisoned him for the insurance money and had him cremated to hide the, no. My, my God no! the paper gone down in a heap and the teacup smashed to the floor before they could reach her.
— Christina here, let me…
— I'm all right! she broke free straightening up, straightening the page — it's the, it's just the picture I've never seen it he looks, he almost looks like somebody I never, who I never… she cleared her throat sharply — well there, you see? It's Bachrach, it's back when he first made partner they send them to Bachrach for the, to impress their clients I'm sorry Lily, have you seen my bag? There are some tissues in it.
— No but listen Christina you don't have to read it now, you…
— Why can't I read it now! I mean I, those vultures have read it haven't they? everybody else has read it? A prominent member of the New York bar and a senior partner in the prestigious law firm Swyne and they got right in there didn't they, that's Bill Peyton getting the firm right in the first line, the cause of death was not disclosed though he had reportedly been in ill health recently where did they get that. Where in God's name did they get that.
— No listen Christina, try to…
— Did they call here? did they call me? I'm his wife aren't I? They got his age right at least, Mister Lutz was born in Chicago where his father, an early innovator in the textile industry cutthroat operator would be more like it, went on to make a fortune in the home furnishing business where he expected his son to follow and where did they dig this up, conduct resulting in his dismissal from a series of Ivy League colleges and a brush with divinity school combined with his consuming interest in poetry, which his father condemned as an unprofitable vocation for 'sissies,' led to an irreparable breach between them which never my God, I mean he never told me that's what they fought over you can leave that Lily, I'll clean it up later.
— Sit still. Just move your foot.
— his interest in the law inspired by a growing sense of injustice which he later ascribed to his reading of Dickens, whom he had taken up with a view to becoming a novelist if you can imagine that, Harry a novelist?
— There's nothing strange about that Christina, every young…
— Move your foot, Oscar.
— after working his way through law school and serving with a number of small public interest law firms became increasingly disillusioned with the law as an instrument of justice and this is more like him, yes, to regard it as a vehicle for imposing order on the unruly universe depicted by Dickens that's more like Harry isn't it, what he saw all around him, initiating his rapid climb in the complex field of corporate law where his talent for…
— No but wait Christina, all this part about working his way through law school and his father's…
— And while you're out there Lily would you mind bringing me another cup I'll try to be more careful, to his recent appointment as the youngest senior partner in the century old history of the blue ribbon firm Swyne and here comes Bill Peyton of course, a little commercial for the firm like that carnival barker breaking in with his cure for acid stomach, where managing partner William T B Peyton labeled his recent successful efforts in resolving the legal battles between the Pepsi-Cola interests and the Episcopal Church of America, which have run into the tens of millions of dollars over a decade, as the most brilliant bringing to bear of fundamental constitutional issues in the age old conflict between free enterprise America and the pills, the whisky, runins with the firm's psychiatrist and a car accident thrown in he doesn't mention all that does he? just what they got off his resume and a nice sales pitch for that blue ribbon conspiracy of thieves?
— No but they got everything else wrong didn't they, about that irreparable breach with his father and working his way through…
— Divinity school no, no he actually told me once he'd gone through a phase looking for easy answers survived by his wife, Christina; two vultures, Eleanor Lutz of New Rochelle and Marian…
— Christina listen, it's not…
— All right, sisters! Eleanor Lutz of New Rochelle and Marian Ragow of Cleveland, Ohio; and his father, Stanley Lutz of Lake Forest, Illinois asking me to see Harry's will as though he'd left them a dime with that simpering Norrie asking if I planned to keep the penthouse while Masha sniffs around hinting my taste for luxury drove him to…
— Christina listen! Survived by his father they've got it all wrong, his father's been dead for years he died when Harry was still in law school, he…
— That's ridiculous, what in God's name makes you think that.
— He told me, Harry told me the last time we talked, we were talking about fathers and sons disappointing each other and he told me about his father's debt and bankruptcies breaking his neck to put him through law school afraid of disappointing him if he failed and he didn't live to see him graduate, his father never saw him make partner and he still felt like he'd let him down, he…
— You must have misunderstood him Oscar, I mean my God they've been estranged for years, his father lives like a king out there he's never made less than a million a year and when we got married those two vultures moved right in like a, talk about Regan and Goneril poisoning the old man so they'd split the inheritance two ways instead of three sucking up to him with me as the snake in the garden I told you didn't I? that she's mean as a snake, Masha? talk about a forked tongue asking me if Harry and I were having problems and talking to Bill Peyton as though we were on our way to the divorce court I know she did, trying to turn this whole business of his cremation into a cheap murder mystery simply because she wasn't told? because I went ahead with it without consulting them I'm the next of kin aren't I? what, what God damn business was it of theirs!