Two Time by Chris Knopf Read Free Book Online

it?”
    “What?”
    “Agoraphobia.”
    Her shoulders slumped a little, but she still looked stiffly amused.
    “It’s an anxiety disorder. I don’t know if agoraphobia is exactly the right term. And I don’t relish discussing it, I’m afraid.”
    “Sorry I’m just thinking it must be difficult.”
    “It’s a bitch, Mr. Acquillo. That doesn’t make me one.”
    “’Course not.”
    “Or some terrifying creature.”
    I jerked my head toward the back of the house where we could hear Belinda rattling around.
    “You’re not the one I’m afraid of,” I said.
    That loosened her up a little, or so I imagined from an almost imperceptible shift in the way she sat in her chair.
    “It isn’t much of a life, you know, but it was infinitely better knowing that, at least some of the time, it could be spent with Jonathan. We would sit, right here in this room, and chat. About just about everything. I read the newspaper every day, and watch a little CNN—you have to be careful not to watch too much, it’s habit forming. And I have a group on the computer with whom I converse. And Belinda, she’s out and about a bit. You can keep up very well if you try a little. And, of course, Jonathan lived in the whole world. He knew so much. But then, you know, we didn’t just discuss current affairs. He really wasn’t the big stiff people thought he was. If you knew him as I did. You can’t imagine what it means to me to have him taken away”
    “I can. I can imagine, but that’s all. I’ve lost a lot of people, but not like that.”
    Her composure began to waver. She put her teacup down on the tray as if the weight of it was suddenly impossible to bear.
    “I still can’t quite understand why you’re here.”
    I shrugged.
    “One of the cops investigating the case asked me to talk to you.”
    “Very curious.”
    “He’s actually a friend of mine. Since I was there when it happened, he thought maybe you’d be more likely to talk to me.”
    “I have nothing to hide. I’ve told them everything.”
    “So, no theories.”
    “No. And I don’t care.”
    “Pardon?”
    Having regained her strength, she scooped the teacup off the table. She looked right at me.
    “It’s absolutely immaterial to me. He’s gone, and nothing will change that.”
    “With all due respect—”
    “Please, Mr. Acquillo, understand. There’s nothing I can do about this. I’m here, in this house. Jonathan left me enough to live on—my God, enough for me to live a thousand years. But I’m hardly up to a crusade. I can barely imagine a trip to the grocery store, so how am I to hunt down my husband’s killers? Isn’t that for the police? Foolish me, I always thought that’s what they did. Not send over retired engineers. With all due respect.”
    She looked over my shoulder. When I turned around I saw Belinda standing in the foyer.
    “I changed my mind,” I told her. “I’ll have some of that tea after all.”
    Belinda looked over at Appolonia for permission.
    “Please, Belinda,” said Appolonia. “It’s quite good.”
    Belinda spun on her heel and left abruptly enough to stir the air.
    “She’s really a doll once you know her,” said Mrs. Eldridge.
    A few hundred comebacks leapt to mind, but I managed to shove them back down.
    “You’d like my friend, too. Joe Sullivan. The cop who asked me to talk to you. He’s new on the case. He’d be here himself, but he thought it’d be too much for you.”
    “I’m sturdier than I look, Mr. Acquillo.”
    “Sam.”
    “Okay Sam.”
    “I believe that.”
    “Because of your powers of perception?”
    “Yeah. Engineers are big on deductive reasoning.”
    “I’ve heard that. I studied abnormal psychology. Surprise, surprise.”
    “Doctorate.”
    “Boston University.”
    I pointed to myself.
    “MIT. Just across the river. Though I once lived in a BU frat house. In the attic with the mice.”
    “This is why your friend thought I’d speak with you? You’d know the secret