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for therapy. Besides, even if I’d told the truth, nobody would have believed me. I was just a girl with emotional problems. He, after all, was an adult, an educated man, a respected psychiatrist. He warned me not to tell because I’d just get into trouble.”
    “I don’t believe An -- Dr. Beltrami ever did those things to you.”
    “Oh, but he did!” Kimmie protested. “You know why I know the memory is real? His hands. He has the longest, boniest fingers I’ve ever seen. The hands of a pianist. When I told him that, he told me to lay still and pretend I was a piano.”
    “Oh, God, Kimmie, that’s disgusting.” Madeleine sighed dramatically. “But for the sake of argument I’ll assume your accusations are true. Did you ever tell your parents about the sex or the powder that made you feel so good?”
    Kimmie stopped in mid-pull. “Oh, Mattie, for heaven’s sake, of course not. They’d disown me over the sex, even if it wasn’t my fault. You know that.”
    “Ow, Kimmie. Pay attention. Finish what you’re doing.”
    Red-faced, Kimmie did as instructed.
    “So you see, Kimmie, it’s a standoff, isn’t it?”
    Kimmie shook her head. “I don’t know what -- .”
    “You think you have a secret about me and Nicole. I know I have a secret about you and Dr. Beltrami.”
    “Okaay.”
    “You’re wrong about me, Kimmie, because there was no fight at the Dunes. But I’m not wrong about you because you did have sex with your psychiatrist and took drugs. You kept silent about what was happening because you’re a coward. Right?”
    “I’m not a coward.”
    “My point is, it would be as unfair of me to tell what I know as it would be for you to tell what you think you know. So both of us need to keep quiet.”
    When Kimmie, looking confused, said nothing, Madeleine raised her voice. “ Agreed ?”
    Kimmie nodded her agreement.
    Madeleine lay back down. “You did a very bad job today, Kimmie. Put some more of that aloe cream on my legs so I don’t look like I’ve been boiled.”
    As she drove home, Kimmie’s head was spinning. Was Mattie her friend or not? Being accused of doing a bad job was unfair. The taunts about Dr. Beltrami dredged up bad memories. Maybe she should stop seeing him as a patient. Or maybe she should report him so no one could accuse her of cowardice.
    On the other hand, she’d just been handed five hundred in cash -- far more than her normal fee -- without a word of apology for the taunts or a word of explanation. Was the money intended to keep her quiet about her flashbacks or simply a sign of Mattie’s loyalty and generosity? Mattie, after all, was the only daughter she knew who was so kind as to move back from Indianapolis and disrupt her life simply to take care of her father, a dying old man whom nobody else had ever liked.

Chapter 9
Walk-Around
Friday, May 10, 2013

    Steve Wright met Madeleine’s handyman and caretaker, Dougie Trubrook, out at the Appledorn farm on Friday morning. He’d had a week to think about his ex-wife’s proposal to do some major renovations on the house, barn, and garage. The list of projects presented in a hand-delivered folder by Dougie at Wright’s Construction’s office was startling. It looked like a half million dollar project taking at least eight months, give or take a few hundred thousand and a few months depending on the details. He rationalized that it was improvident to decline the deal. He wanted to keep his best workers employed and the profit would help pay down his debt to his Dupont Road investors and creditors.
    Rationalizing the project to Lexie took a little more time. But she was a reasonable woman and finally said she had no objection when he assured her that he would hardly ever see Mad Madeleine, given her travel schedule. Dougie would be his contact.
    The two men walked around the acreage first, then stopped at the old family cemetery, enclosed by a white picket fence in dire need of repainting. In the center was a stone