Her lips folded inward. She got up, took her mug to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, popped a can of Fresca and sat back down.
“Sure be nice to put some vodka in this, but I don’t drink anymore. Not that I had a problem, nothing like that, I was always moderate. But since I moved here, I decided to get healthy. Yoga, meditation, walking on the beach, I quit smoking. Put on fifteen pounds, but I can breathe again.”
I said, “Your father was a middle school principal. Did you see any sign he abused his students?”
“I’m sure he did. All those little girls running around, easy for the taking? He ran Chancellor for nearly forty years, why miss out on a great opportunity? But what goes around comes around, as I’m sure you’ve found out.”
“Something happened to him?”
“You don’t know,” she said. “Nine years ago, someone put a bullet in his head.”
Milo said, “Who?”
“Unsolved,” she said, grinning. “The cops said it was a street robbery, but I’ve always wondered if it was some father or brother getting even. Or even a girl who’d grown up and gotten in touch with her rage.”
“Someone like your sister.”
“Did Elise do it? Maybe. I have no knowledge of her being in Baltimore when it happened, but who knows?”
“Was he still working when it happened?”
“First year of retirement. They found his body on the sidewalk, two blocks from his house. His pants pockets were turned inside out, his wallet was gone, and he was lying facedown with a hole in the back of his head. There was certainly no shortage of muggings in the neighborhood, that part of West Baltimore had changed since he was a boy, he was the last white man standing. Not that it stopped him from taking his nightly walks. Denial, I guess. Or plain old arrogance.”
“How did Elise react to his murder?”
“Neither of us talked about it and we had his body cremated. I’d like to think part of her was happy. If she allowed herself to get in touch with her feelings.”
“Part of her?”
“There was probably sadness. Even I occasionally feel that, crazy as it is. He did make me breakfast every morning for fifteen years. Combed my hair until I was eleven. Everyone said he was a wonderful, nurturing man.”
Milo said, “You and Elise never talked at all about his murder.”
“Not a word. In his will, he asked to be buried next to Mother. I had one of Frank’s busboys toss the ashes into the Chesapeake Bay. Out in back of the Cooker, where the garbage cans are. Can I warm up that coffee for you?”
As we drank, she excused herself, returned with a yellowed newspaper clipping in a plastic sleeve.
Former Principal Murdered.
Milo said, “Could we make a copy?”
“You think it’s relevant to Elise’s murder? I don’t see how it could be.”
“I’m sure you’re right, Ms. Stuehr, but two murders in one family is worth looking at.”
“The Freeman curse?” she said. “You know, last night, when you called and told me what happened to Elise, I actually started thinking about that. Wondering if our family is doomed and I’m next. This morning, I woke up, decided that was stupid superstition, it was time to have a lovely day—you know, don’t even bother copying, keep it. I don’t know why I held on to it in the first place.”
I said, “What you’ve told us about your father might help explain why Elise made some high-risk choices.”
“Such as?”
“She binge-drank.”
Sandra Stuehr’s eyes got huge. “You’re kidding. Are you sure?”
“We are.”
“Wow,” she said. “I’ve always thought of her as the moderate one. From the time she turned twenty-one all I got were pompous lectures about the need to control my drinking. We were both attending Blessed, she was a senior, I was a sophomore. Got into partying pretty hard.”
“Did you see each other much in college?”
“Not even then. It’s a small school but we managed to avoid each other. What did she drink when she binged?”
“Vodka.”
“Interesting,” said Sandra Stuehr. “Something else we had in common.”
She drank her Fresca. “Not a coincidence, I suppose. Part of her sermon was, ‘If you’re going to be pigheaded and make a fool out of yourself, Sandy, at least drink vodka, it’ll keep your breath fresh, no one will know you’re a reprobate.’”
I said, “You avoided each other but she found time to lecture.”
“Exactly. My best years were the two after she graduated, I could finally be myself. Did she do anything else high-risk?”
Milo said, “The coroner found opiates in her system.”
“Like heroin?”
“Or something similar.”
Sandra Stuehr placed the flat of a hand against her cheek, as if propping her head. “Unbelievable.”
“People change,” said Milo.
“There’s change and there’s charade,” she said. “All this time I’ve seen her as the smart one. Are there any other crushing insights you want to give me about my sister?”
Milo said, “You lived near Pimlico. Any sign Elise played the ponies?”
“She gambled?” said Sandra Stuehr. “This is like meeting her for the first time. No, I never saw her wager on anything and I sure spent some time at Pimlico. She was the smart one, guys. Summa cum laude at Blessed, Hopkins offered her a scholarship to go to grad school in English. I, on the other hand, barely passed the teacher’s licensing exam. Though that was ’cause I was distracted by my relationship with Frank. She went to the track?”
“No, but she did go to Reno and play blackjack.”
“Must be genetic. He played the ponies. Nothing serious that I knew about, he’d take twenty, thirty dollars to the track, rationalize his losses as ‘recreation.’ Otherwise, he was a total cheapskate. How often did Elise go to Reno?”
Milo said, “We know about once. She went with her boyfriend, guy named Sal Fidella.”
“Sounds like a Mafia type.”
“He’s an unemployed salesman. He and Elise won a five-thousand-dollar jackpot in Reno, lost it the same day.”
“Like Father, like daughter,” said Sandra Stuehr. Her mouth turned down. “Hope that doesn’t end up applying to me. I can’t see how it would.”
I said, “What else can you tell us about Elise?”
“She enjoyed lying.”
“Lying about what?”
“Anything, really. My theory is it began with him. When she was around twelve she began faking illness, probably to keep him out of her bed. She did it all kinds of ways—putting a finger down her throat and vomiting all over herself, soaking a thermometer in hot water, rubbing her skin with one of those sandpaper dish-sponges to bring up a rash, complaining of horrible cramps. She also lied about things that seemed pointless. Not eating the lunch he fixed but telling him it was delicious. Or just the opposite, finishing every bite but coming home and telling him she’d lost her lunch, was starved. I guess she was trying to feel in control. She’d pull sneaky pranks on him. Hiding his slippers, putting his reading glasses where he’d have trouble finding them. Once, I looked out my bedroom window in the middle of the night and saw her letting air out of one of his tires.”
“How old was she?”
“A teenager… maybe fifteen.”
“Did you let her know you’d seen her?”
“No way, I wanted her to like me.”
“Did she lie to anyone but your father?”
“Sure,” she said. “She cheated in school, stole old tests and sold them. I found out because a boy who’d bought one bragged about it to his friend. That night, I searched Elise’s drawers, found a wadded-up bunch of money. I didn’t count it but it looked like a lot. She never got caught, at graduation she won honors and commendations for character.”