“And I told you to call me Arch, right?”
“Yes.”
He was just being nice, she was sure, but he was obviously used to people obeying him most of the time.
“Now, Annie, what can I do for you? Have you found out anything new about Susan?”
“I hate to ask you this. I don’t want to open up old wounds more than I have already, but I was wondering if you had ever considered the possibility that Susan may have taken her own life.”
He was silent for a long moment.
“I remember the police asking me that at the time. I couldn’t imagine it. She never said anything about wishing herself dead. She didn’t leave any kind of note.”
“But she had just lost her aunt and then both of her parents. Wouldn’t that be a reason for her to be depressed?”
“No. Why should she be? Sad, certainly. That was to be expected, but clinically depressed? I don’t think so, but I’m not an expert.”
“I was talking to our Pastor Wallace about her the other day. Do you remember him? He remembers you.”
“Wallace, huh? I’m not sure. I know I talked to the pastor at the church in Stony Point about us getting married there. Could have been Wallace. Why? Does he have any reason to think Susan may have killed herself?”
“No. No, I don’t think so, but he told me he thought she was different those last few weeks before you and she were to have been married. He said you had arranged for him to do your wedding, and then Susan called him and canceled the whole thing. Why do you think she did that?”
Prescott exhaled heavily. “I told you that already. It’s no big mystery. She wanted a big wedding. That’s why we were sailing down to Florida.”
“The big wedding wasn’t your idea?”
“You know how it is with us guys. All that fluffy stuff is for the woman. They usually want to be queen for a day with all the trimmings. I didn’t much care either way, but I knew what it meant to Susan. After all she’d been through, I wanted to do something for her that would make her happy. I had thought getting married at her hometown church was what she wanted, so that’s what I fixed up for her. Then, when I realized she wanted something with all the bells and whistles, I fixed that up for her. Do you really think she could have drowned herself on purpose?”
“I don’t know. I was just wondering. She had no family left except a cousin she hardly knew.”
“Cousin?”
Annie bit her lip. “Um—”
“What’s this about a cousin? Susan didn’t have any cousins.”
“Well, actually, she did. I guess she never talked about this particular part of the family.”
Since it was too late to put the cat back into the bag, Annie went ahead and told him about Sandy and Susan’s grandfather and his two families.
“I had no idea. So what’s this cousin’s name?”
“Sandy. I don’t guess Susan ever mentioned her to you.”
“No. And you say she lives nearby now?”
“Out at Susan’s old house on Elm Street. Do you remember it?”
“Oh yes, I remember the house. I remember it very well. I just don’t remember any cousin Sandy.”
“She and her husband moved here almost ten years ago.”
“That’s kind of a coincidence, isn’t it?”
“Not really. Sandy tells me she wanted the house because of the family link. I guess with her connection to the Morrises being a little, um, unusual, family ties are important to her. And that unusualness was why I wasn’t supposed to say anything to anybody. I hope you won’t mention it to anyone.”
“Out here?” He chuckled. “People wouldn’t even blink at a family history like that, and I don’t know who I’d tell it to in the first place. But I give you my word, nobody will hear about it from me. So what’s this cousin like?”
“Pretty quiet. A real homebody, evidently. She works in her garden mostly. Her husband does handyman work in the area, and she keeps house. She didn’t have all that much to say.”
“Ah. A plump little housewife. That’s nice.”
“No, not plump. She’s tall and slim. Actually, she favors Susan a little bit, from what I remember anyway. There’s a definite family resemblance.”
“And what does she say about Susan? Does she think she committed suicide?”
“No. She didn’t know her very well. They only met a couple of times, but she says Susan was a Morris and would have figured out some way to deal with her problems rather than killing herself.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. Then Prescott chuckled once more. “That does sound like Susan, as a matter of fact.”