~ ~ ~
XI
The Second Weekend
If interpretation is a never‑ending task, it is simply because …underneath it all everything is already an interpretation.
Michel Foucault
Kate surprised Charlie Saturday morning. After a leisurely breakfast and a short discussion of what they had to do and where they'd have lunch, she plopped herself opposite him in the living-room where was working on the New York Times Saturday puzzle, traditionally the toughest of the week. He was glad for the interruption because he wasn't doing well, but was almost shocked when Kate asked him where he was in his sleuthing. He didn't think she was baiting him; she seemed genuinely interested.
"Let me start with a small point. I still don't understand why Bolster and DeVries came that night and warned us about McKay being a mercenary and then seem to have dropped the subject when dealing with others in the department. One answer is that they'd just learned what he was and overreacted. The possible answer that nags at me is that they think I or we have a problem with McKay."
"No; I think you're right about the overreaction. I don't think there's more to it."
"Okay, you're probably right. Now we come to the heart of my thinking about the whole thing: two points, first, that list of books; second, McKay wasn't just another guest at Barrett's parties. He seems to have had some sort of special relation with Barrett. Either they knew one another from before or were brought together by something. Okay so far?"
"Yes; there are two main questions: what was that book list all about, and what connected Barrett and McKay? So you really think the list is important?"
"I do. I don't think Bolster and DeVries would see it that way, but I'm sure it's important."
"Ask McKay. Relate it to the course he was originally planning to do."
"I thought of doing that. Even if he denies a connection, it'll be interesting to see his reaction - if he has one. He looked very self-disciplined to me at Marcela's party; I doubt he gives much away. But it's risky. If that list does have something to do with Barrett's death, and McKay learns that I know about it, that could be dangerous."
"You're right; best not raise it. You are going to tell DeVries about seeing McKay?"
"Yes. I'm going to call her before I meet with him."
"Since you think Barrett and Dalton were involved, do you think McKay might have made it a threesome or maybe was himself involved with Barrett?"
"I wondered about that. A gay student I supervised a few years ago… remember me talking about Stephen? He told me there's something called 'gaydar,' you know, instead of 'radar.' He said one gay always recognizes another, but it doesn't seem to work for straights. When I talked to McKay at Marcela's I couldn't tell if he's gay."
"Oh, Charlie, it's worse than that. You flirted like crazy with that friend of Jean's, I think her name was Amber, and Jean told me Amber was the best example she'd ever seen of how being lesbian might be genetic. I never told you this, but she came on to me, and I know she came on to Jean when they first met. I guess it's easier to tell with some men, with what used to be called 'queens,' but I wish I'd talked to McKay myself."
"Oh? Now you're an expert while I bumble around hitting on lesbians?"
"Well, I just think I could do better than you, that's all."
"Okay, let's say for the moment that Barrett and Dalton were involved but not McKay."
"So he was hanging around Barrett just to get himself into the M.A. program?"
"No, not just. We still don't know how they met. That's important. If they had a common interest - like tube amplifiers or single malts - then the whole thing makes better sense. There are people who are buddies because they collect swizzle-sticks, for heaven's sakes. My bet is rare books, given what Dalton said."
"Well, on the threesome theory, McKay may have killed Barrett because something went wrong. On the just-friends theory, McKay may have killed Barrett because of a problem with a common interest. What might you find out on Monday that would let us drop at least one theory?"
"Us? I thought you didn't want me sleuthing. Now were both sleuthing?"
"Well, I'm just intrigued. Okay, so what might you learn on Monday?"
"McKay's interest in philosophy may be genuine. That would make his connection to Barrett look more innocent. I can't imagine McKay shooting Barrett over an argument about the law of excluded middle. But if I learn that his interest is slight or feigned, and that he's trying to learn something from me, that would make him a likelier suspect."
"Are you going to try all of this out on DeVries?"
"I don't think so; I'll just tell her about the meeting and ask if she has any suggestions. Is there another theory we need to consider?"
"We can't ignore the it-was-some-other-dude theory. What about talking with Milford?"
"That'd be great, but I haven't a clue how I'd do it."
"She lives in Coulton, right?"
Kate got up and went upstairs. Charlie assumed she'd gone to the bathroom so returned to his puzzle. After a few minutes he heard Kate's voice upstairs, and in another minute she was back down.
"We'll see her at two, then we'll get a very late lunch."
"See who, Milford? What've you done now?"
"I got her number online and called her. I asked if she could talk to us and invited her to lunch, but she said she'd rather we went to her house. We've got time to get ready and get to Coulton if we start now."
With that Kate went upstairs and Charlie heard the shower. He was a little dazed but realized he was looking forward to meeting and talking with Janet Milford.
The drive to Coulton took nearly thirty minutes due to an accident about half-way. Charlie fumed as the long line of cars ahead not only fought to get into the clear lane, but slowed to gawk as they passed the accident scene. Eventually they found Milford's house.
The woman who opened the door would have been stunning if she'd taken a little care. This was someone Barrett would want to be seen with, regardless of his orientation, but Milford seemed to be trying hard for frumpy. She was wearing shapeless and too-large men's sweatshirt and sweatpants, but it wasn't just her clothing or the smears of brown paint that distracted from her lovely facial structure and cheekbones. Her posture was a disaster. She wasn't tall, but stood as if ashamed of her height, shoulders slumped forward, back bent, and head bowed forward. She smiled pleasantly enough, though.
"You must be Kate and Charlie. Come in. I apologize for the mess but I'm still working on the house. I got it cheap and now I know why. Come in."
She'd obviously done the living room first, because it looked refinished and freshly painted. The furnishing was sparse but there was nothing missing. Kate and Charlie sat on a long sofa along the wall and Milford took an easy chair at an angle to them. Without asking she poured red wine from a decanter into two glasses she had laid out on the coffee-table in front of the sofa. She passed the glasses to Charlie and Kate and picked up a mug of tea or coffee. Instead of making small talk she just looked at them expectantly and Kate sailed right into a story she'd clearly prepared on the ride down.
"Janet, we're both sorry to impose on you, but it has to do with Barrett's death. The two detectives heading the investigation thought that maybe Charlie had something to do with it because he and Barrett didn't get on. They searched our house. We're concerned that the police may still have suspicions about Charlie, so we need to know more."
"How does learning about Barrett help resolve doubts the police might have?"
"The thing is, Charlie helped them identify a man named Chet McKay, but wasn't able to tell them anything more. We think they think Charlie's holding out on them for some reason. If Charlie could fill out the picture a little, especially about how Barrett knew McKay, that would help a lot."
Charlie wasn't sure Milford bought Kate's story, but he had to give Kate credit for coming up with it. It was clear from what Milford said next, though, that she wanted to talk.
"Right, good
old Chet. I'm not sure you're right about the cops, but I really don't care. Barrett Wilson treated me very badly and I don't mind telling anybody that."
"Detectives Bolster and DeVries must have talked to you?"
"Sure. They showed up here with the sheriff. Something about jurisdiction. I found Bolster offensive so I pretty much clammed up. He kept pushing at me. DeVries was better. She wanted to know why Barrett and I split up and I moved, but I thought that was my business. I don't mean to shock either of you if this is the sort of thing that shocks you, but I found out Barrett was sleeping with someone else, a man. He didn't deny it and even seemed rather relieved I'd found out. I knew there was no future with him anyway, but you know how it is, once we were living together I worked at it."
Kate and Charlie wisely kept quiet and Milford continued, evidently needing no prompting.
"I'd saved some money while living with Barrett and decided I wanted my own place instead of another apartment. Houses here are a lot less than in Kingsford and I found this one right away. It was vacant, so no waiting; I only spent a few days in a motel."
"Was the other man McKay? Is that why you said his name like you did?"
"Chet? No, he's definitely not gay, or AC-DC. It was worse than that. Barrett was sleeping with one of his students, Rich Dalton. What bothered me about Chet is that he's a real user."
"How'd he and Barrett meet? We heard McKay was a mercenary, and it seems unlikely he'd become buddies with an academic."
"They went back a ways. I got most of this just from hearing them talk. Chet's interested in military history and in philosophy. He met Barrett years ago when he sat in on a Summer course Barrett gave at some community college. That was before Barrett got the job here. Chet obviously schmoozed in with Barrett. When Chet turned up here, he was always around the apartment and went to all of Barrett's damn parties. All I ever did at those parties was lay out snacks and drinks and then go into the bedroom to read."
Charlie couldn't help speaking up because he was afraid Kate might not think to ask.
"Were McKay and Dalton close friends?"
"Not really, at least not on Chet's part, but Rich had done military service and was very impressed with Chet. He hung on every word out of that user's mouth."
"How did McKay use Barrett?"
"Well, it wasn't money, as you might think. Chet has plenty of money. He used Barrett, I don't know how to put it, for legitimacy? It was like he went around with Barrett the way I now realize Barrett went around with me. Chet wore Barrett like a badge that marked him as an intellectual, just like Barrett wore me like a badge that marked him as hetero.
"So you think Barrett was interested in men all along?"
"I didn't think so before but I do now. Frankly, he was a lousy lover."
"Regardless of what McKay felt, do you think Barrett was interested in him?"
"No; I really don't think so. It seemed to me that aside from their stupid book arguments, which at least were genuine, everything else with them was pretend. Chet's voice and manner actually changed when he was around Barrett. He spoke more slowly, as if everything he said had been thought through very carefully. I thought it was so phony but Barrett didn't see it. Actually, I think Barrett got off on having this hard case as a friend. Maybe they were using each other. Look, I don't know if I've helped, but I don't want to talk about them any more. Unless you'd like more wine, I'd really like to get back to my painting. I want to finish the stairs today."
Charlie and Kate thanked Milford and promptly left. Both were silent in the car until they were on the main road back to Kingsford.
"So what'd you think?"
"I'm not sure, except it looks like the threesome theory is a nonstarter. What did you think of Milford?"
Kate pondered for a moment.
"I thought she wanted to get a lot off her chest. I was surprised at how she looked. She's beautiful, but it's as if she's trying to cover it up. I didn't expect her to dress up for our visit, but the sweats were a bit much and she sloughed around like she was our age."
"Hey, speak for yourself. I thought she wanted to talk, too. What she said made it clear she doesn't like McKay and is bitter about how Barrett treated her. That puts her back in the suspect group as far as I'm concerned."
"There has to be more. She and Barrett lived together a good while and I thought what she said about working at the relationship was true; it's what she said that I thought most genuine. She obviously resented McKay. I understand what she was saying about him using Barrett and Barrett using her, but that's where I thought there was more. I can't decide if it would be harder on her to lose a man to another man or another woman."
"You don't think she'd have had doubts? I mean, they obviously slept together when living in that apartment. Wouldn't she be able to tell Barrett had, ah, other interests?"
"Maybe - no, probably not; she'd just have written him off as she said, a lousy lover. Few men are good lovers, you know, regardless of how hetero they may be."
"Okay, okay, let's not pursue that one."
"Maybe Dalton was Barrett's first homosexual adventure. If she said she was working at it, their relationship mightn't have been too good and driven Barrett to admit something he'd been denying or just to experiment. Do you think Bolster and DeVries would have dug up previous relationships Barrett had with other men?"
"Maybe, but I doubt they'd tell us. How would that change anything?"
"Probably wouldn't, but I just thought of something else. If Milford's right about McKay being a user, has it occurred to you that he might see you as a replacement for Barrett?"
"No…, but you're right."
Their late lunch was pleasant and they had the restaurant to themselves. They tacitly agreed not to talk about Barrett or McKay or Milford and Kate was magnanimous in not bringing up the condo. Instead they talked about a trip to New York for a theater binge.
That night Charlie thought that when he called DeVries on Monday before meeting with McKay he'd have to tell her about Milford.
Charlie spent Sunday morning reading and preparing for the next day's class. Preparing was made difficult by thinking about the seeing McKay the next day. He was willing to work with McKay, if he thought his interest was genuine. But if McKay's interest seemed feigned, he could well be looking for a Barrett-replacement or be up to something more sinister.
Kate decided she didn't want to go out for lunch so Charlie cooked up an omelet stuffed with just about everything he found in the refrigerator. After a couple of glasses of wine he was feeling more relaxed about both the class and McKay and was just getting into his new mystery when the phone rang.
"Dr…. Uh, Charlie?"
What might DeVries want on a Sunday?
"Yes. Working Sunday?"
"As usual. I have a quick question about something that's come up."
"No problem; actually, I was going to call you tomorrow about Chet McKay."
"That's why I'm calling. Dan and I spoke with Mr. McKay this morning. He mentioned he's seeing you tomorrow. I just wanted to confirm that."
"It's about his doing a reading-course. He was going to do one with Barrett, but of course now has to find an alternative. He crashed a party a friend of mine gave to talk to me. He went with Dalton, who was invited. He certainly could have come to my office, but he probably thought things might go better if he approached me on a social basis."
"Dan and I are still working out why he's in Kingsford and what he's up to. We want to better understand his presence and how it connected to Dr. Wilson."
"Kate and I saw Janet Milford today. She said McKay is a user and exploited his relation with Barrett to justify himself and his presence here. She also said Barrett used McKay, liking to be friends with a hard case. Actually, she talked more about McKay than Barrett."
"That's interesting. When we spoke with her she barely mentioned McKay."
"She told us that she thought Detective Bolster questioned her too aggressively and that she was del
iberately less cooperative than she might have been."
"I see. Now, I'd advise you to say as little as you can to McKay. Just stick to business. And listen carefully. He might drop something of use, especially about his connection to Dr. Wilson. But don't ask him anything; knowing how he responded to our questions, that would silence him. He's very reluctant to talk about anything of a personal nature."
"Okay; good advice. The last item I have, and I apologize for what would be gossip if Barrett hadn't been killed, is that Milford confirmed Barrett and Dalton were involved."
"As we thought, but it's good to have confirmation. I've taken enough of your Sunday. Let me know if you learn anything from McKay relevant to the investigation."
Charlie hung up and told Kate about the conversation, pointing out he now didn't have to call DeVries in the morning. Kate agreed with DeVries' advice and Charlie went back to his book, acquiring another glass of wine in the process. That night he alternated between worrying about the next day's class and his meeting with McKay. When he finally fell asleep Charlie dreamt he was listening to McKay lecture his class on Foucault.