"I understand," I said.
"You couldn't."
She was right. I stayed silent.
"I'm here because the other part of me knows that Billy isn't fully to blame for what he did-even though he did it to my daughter. My husband is also guilty. And I am, too, for not having done something about Win's violence." She took a few moments to steady herself. "My husband and Billy have been locked in a terrible struggle," she said. "It's nothing a boy should have had to deal with. Certainly not a boy with Billy's history. And I think it's the reason he struck out at Brooke. I think he really wanted to hurt Win."
That fit eerily with the theory I had shared with Billy during my hospital visit. It also answered a question for me; Julia Bishop obviously didn't think her husband was responsible for her baby's death. I wasn't at all sure she would consider moving Tess off the estate. I decided to slowly test the waters. "I happened to see the New York magazine article that ran after your wedding," I said. "The two of you were driving down Fifth Avenue in a Ferrari. You seemed very much in love."
"I thought I was," Julia said.
"Did you know a great deal about him before you married him?"
"I've learned a lot more. Why do you ask?"
"Had he shared his criminal record with you?" I asked.
"Yes," she said. "But I didn't make much of it. I knew about his drinking."
Not making much of marrying a man who had beaten his first wife-drunk or sober-seemed peculiar. "What exactly did he tell you?" I asked.
"He told me about a barroom brawl that led to an assault charge," she said. "It was around 1980, I think. There was mention of it in the paper when Win was arrested for drunk driving."
I shook my head. "That isn't what the newspaper was referring to," I said. "I pulled Darwin 's record. Your husband pled guilty to assault and battery of his former wife, Lauren, along with violating a restraining order she had taken out. He got the year right, but that's about it."
She looked at me as if I must be joking. Then, seeing that I wasn't, she leaned toward me, incredulous. "I had no idea," she said. She let her head drop into her hands. "I've been so stupid."
It felt like the right moment to introduce the idea of Tess Bishop staying with grandparents. "The question I would ask yourself, Julia, is whether it's completely clear to you that Billy is the one who took Brooke's life."
She looked up. "What do you mean?"
"Billy denies hurting his sister."
"Of course 'he does," she said. "He never admits any of the destructive things he does."
"So you're convinced he's responsible?"
"Well, yes."
I took the leap. "It isn't possible your husband is involved?"
She squinted at me. "You're saying you think Win might have done this?"
"I'm saying the facts of the case aren't clear to me yet. Darwin does have an extensive history of being abusive-toward you, Billy, and Garret. And the pattern goes back even further, to his first marriage."
Julia seemed lost in thought.
"He's the only one in the house who has a known history of violence toward family members," I pressed.
"He never wanted the twins," she said blankly.
I relaxed a bit, thinking she might cooperate with the idea of getting Tess to a safer place. "Tell me more about that," I said.
"He never wanted children of our own. I mean, biological children. He made it very difficult for me when I was pregnant. I nearly went through with an abortion." She squinted down at the table, remembering. "I've wondered whether God is punishing me for that."
"You showed a lot of strength going through with the pregnancy," I said. "I don't know why you'd be punished."
"I wanted children so much," she said. She caught her lip between her teeth.
I waited a few moments. "Why didn't Darwin want them?" I said softly.
"According to him, it has to do with the war," she said, looking up at me. "He won't talk about Vietnam, except to say that he saw horrible things there, things that convinced him it wasn't fair to bring children into the world." She rolled her eyes. "It's a bit of a cliché."
"You don't buy it," I said.
"No. I don't."
"What do you think his real reason is?"
"It's about maintaining control," she said. "Win is incapable of intimacy. I think he felt having a son or daughter together-let alone twins-would connect him too closely with me, not to mention the child. No matter how much you love adopted children, they aren't blood. It isn't the same." She paused. "He sees me as a combination concubine and governess, not a wife and mother. Those roles would give me too much power."
"Did you object to adopting Billy?" I asked.
"I questioned Win's motives, that was all," Julia said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Win had driven Billy's father out of business," she said. "The two of them owned competing mining companies. It was a very tough time. Win almost lost everything, but he ended up on top, as usual. Then, about five months later, Billy's parents were murdered. I felt Win was playing Gandhi, adopting a rival's child."
I was stunned by the connection, particularly because Bishop had never mentioned it. Had he been silent out of humility? "It does sound admirable," I ventured.
"It may sound that way," she said. "But I'm quite certain he was just posturing for his business associates in Russia, faking his concern for Billy to impress them. He never showed Billy any love."
I could have told her even more about the real Darwin Bishop, including what I knew about his affair with Claire Buckley. But it wasn't the right time. And I wasn't at all sure it was my place. "The question I want to raise is whether it might be safer to have Tess stay somewhere outside the house," I said. "Maybe with your parents, or with friends."
"I don't know if I could do that," she deadpanned.
"Why not?"
" Darwin would never allow it," she said.
Those words certainly spoke to Bishop's psychological control over his wife. "You could do it on your own. You have every right…"
"Rights don't necessarily hold up when you're dealing with someone like him," she said.
"Why is that?"
"The few times I've broached the idea of a separation, he's made it clear he wouldn't let it happen."
"What choice would he have?"
Julia smiled for an instant, as if she was about to explain something about the world to a child. Then her face fell again. "Being Darwin Bishop expands the range of possibilities," she said. "There could be a whole legal team filing endless motions for custody of our children, a media campaign to ruin my reputation and influence judges, months of travel with Garret and Tess to any one of a dozen countries Darwin does business in. He could probably pay Claire enough to convince her to go with him. He might even decide that they should never return."
"And Claire would stay with him?" I asked, wanting to see whether Julia would volunteer any suspicions about the affair.
"Everyone has a price, Frank," she said. "Claire isn't from money. She's very impressed by it."
Julia certainly didn't seem naive about her nanny. But her response didn't tell me exactly how much she knew about Claire's behavior. I didn't want to press her. "The bottom line," I said, "is that Darwin would go to great lengths to keep you from divorcing him."
"Or I suppose I could just disappear."
"You're saying he'd…"
"I'm saying I'm not brave enough to find out, Frank," Julia said. "At least I haven't been in the past. I've never had the courage to walk away."
"Maybe it's time."
"Maybe. Maybe that's one reason I called you. You make me feel like I could do it," she said.
The idea of rescuing a woman was a potent drug for me. "Only because you can," I said. "As soon as you believe it."
She nodded to herself, then focused on me with a new intensity. "Do you really think Tess could be in danger? You believe Darwin is capable of killing our daughter? His own flesh and blood?"