“It was probably just as memorable this way," I said.
He wandered down the slope, uttering benedictions. Nettie instantly sailed in front of me, May at her side. "The reverend has a beautiful speaking voice," said Nettie, "but I would not choose to listen to it night and day. And he did not know beans about Star, although he was very complimentary to May and me."
“I expect the reverend brought Violetta Puce to the Holy Land in hopes of losing her over there," said May. "Are you coming home with us, Neddie?"
“I'll drop in later," I said.
"Going off with the ladies, I expect," said Clark, sauntering up. "The reverend did us proud, but Star would have wanted him to mention her devotion to me, too. The apple of her eye, I was."
•99
•Suki glowed at me from beside the BMW, and Rachel said, "Star and I used to get together at our old place, Brennan's. GrennieMilton certainly wasn't going to walk in. I know it's a little early for lunch, but all I've had today was a cup of yogurt at seven-thirty."
“I never had breakfast at all," I said.
“I just got up," Suki said. "Brennan's is right around the corner from me, and I haven't been there in centuries. It'll be like going back in time."
"They still have that picture," Rachel said.
"Ned, you have no idea what you're in for. Do you know how to find it? Doesn't matter, just follow us."
“I know Brennan's," I said. "But I'll follow you anyhow."
Suki wafted up to her car. Rachel said, “Is one of Star's aunts worried about placing someone in a nursing home?"
"Aunt Joy's husband, Clarence Crothers," I said. "He's in an advanced stage of Alzheimer's."
"Grenville put me on the board of Mount Baldwin, the best eldercare facility in southern Illinois. I could call Liz Fanteen, the director, this afternoon and settle the whole thing in five minutes. Is Clarence ready to be admitted?"
"He has ripened on the vine, if that's what you mean."
“I'll take care of it after lunch. That's a promise."
•10O
•Rachel parked in front of the Irish bar on Fairground Road, and Suki and I found spaces around the corner. When I got out of my car, she was standing on the sidewalk, looking at me a little shyly. “I haven't thanked you enough for your generosity. It's amazing, Ned. You don't even really know me."
“It was supposed to be Star's money. She would have done exactly the same."
Suki put her arm through mine. "That's the only thing that makes me feel right about accepting the money, even though I can't afford to turn it down. I just want you to know how grateful I am."
We filed into a long, dark interior with a polished mahogany bar on one side and wooden booths on the other, which opened into a dining room. A big man with graying temples smiled at us from behind the bar.
"Mrs. Milton," he said. "Haven't seen you in a long time." His eyes met mine for a moment before he glanced at Suki and returned to Rachel. "Would you and your friends like a table in the back?" He gave Suki another glance, and his eyes softened. His entire face opened into a smile. "What do you know, Suki Teeter has come back to Brennan's. As beautiful as ever, too."
"Bob Brennan, you're just like your father," she said.
"You were a great crowd. Will Star Dunstan be joining you?"
A needle traveling at the speed of light went through my heart.
Rachel said, "We just came from her funeral. This is her son, Ned."
"No," Brennan said, shocked. "That's terrible. I'm sorry for your loss, Ned." He reached across the bar and engulfed my hand. "My dad always liked having your mother in the place, and I did, too. Let's set you up in back, and we'll get you anything you like."
He seated us and handed out menus. "The first drink is on the house."
“I'll have a Manhattan, please, and thank you, Bob."
"Same here," said Suki.
“Is that what she used to drink here?" I asked.
"One Manhattan, light on the vermouth, straight up," Brennan said. I ordered one, and he went back into the bar.
Suki examined the walls. "This is spooky. Bob looks just like his father."
"We have to show Ned the picture," Rachel said.
“If you can stand it, I can," Suki said. "Come on. Time for your history lesson." She led me to the back wall.
Rachel said, "God, would youlook at us?"
Just above eye level hung a picture of ten young women and two young men ranged along the bar in summery clothing. Unforced happiness shone from their faces. Radiantly beautiful, Star smiled out from between a stunning young Suki Teeter and an equally stunning young Rachel Newborn.
"Wow," I said.Wow pretty much summed up my response. "This was your group?"
"Most of us." Rachel named the girls in the photograph: "Sarah Birch,Nanette Bridge, Tammy Wackford, Avis Albright, Zelda Davis. Mei-Liu Chang, next to Sammie Schwartz. And that girl who got high on Benzedrine inhalers and talked in rhymes."
"Georgy-Porgy," Suki said. "She just published her second novel, she's got two kids, no husband, and she's the most satisfied person you ever saw in your life. I hate her guts."
I asked what had happened to some of the others. Zelda Davis won a fellowship to Harvard and worked for the State Department. Sammie Schwartz had run off with a Hell's Angel and now taught third grade in Arizona. Nanette Bridge was a partner in a Wall Street law firm. Moongirl Thompson had disappeared, literally, after telling her boyfriend she was going to take a walk up the beach.
Brennan brought in the drinks and took our orders: a salad for Rachel, hamburgers and fries for Suki and me.
"Remember Sujit? Remember the Big Indian?"
"Could I forget them?" Suki said. "When Sujit went back to Bombay, she created a huge national scandal. Two or three cabinet members had to resign. The Big Indian makes avant-garde films. Her real name is Bertha Snowbird."
“I've seen some of Bertha Snowbird's films," I said. "She's really good. Which one is she?"
We returned to the back wall, where Suki pointed out a fierce young woman with straight, center-parted black hair, athletic shoulders, and lioness eyes. A man of twenty-five or twenty-six with matinee-idol cheekbones and close-cut blond hair had his arm draped around her neck.
"Who's the guy?" I asked.
"Don Messmer," Suki said.
Messmer smiled at the camera with the self-consciousness of a man who knows that he is simultaneously out of his depth and onto a good thing. At the other end of the group, a dark-haired man with a cigarette in his mouth leaned against Sammie Schwartz. "Who's the other guy?"
"He taught English at Albertus," Rachel said. She raised her half-empty glass to her mouth and drained it. "His name was Erwin Leake."
I saw Piney Woods sitting on a bench in Merchants Park.Follow a shadow, it still flies you; / Seem to fly it, it will pursue.
•“Why isn't Edward Rinehart in that picture?"
Rachel said, "Edward hated having his picture taken. Suki, remember that time—"
Around a mouthful of hamburger, Suki said, "Sure do." She held up a finger and swallowed. "The other time, too."