“Yes.”
“Why didn’t Margaret give them to you?”
Douglas’s face tightened.
“She tried.”
I waited.
“At first she thought your mother had simply hidden the letters because she disapproved of me. Margaret confronted her.”
My heart began beating faster.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Douglas looked at Lucas.
Lucas reached into the suitcase again.
This time he removed a small cassette tape.
I almost laughed.
It looked so ordinary.
A cheap plastic cassette with a white label.
On it were two handwritten words.
Evelyn — June.
“My mother recorded their conversation?” I asked.
“Margaret did.”
“Without telling her?”
Douglas shook his head.
“Your mother knew.”
I looked from the cassette to him.
“Why?”
“Because Margaret told her she wouldn’t leave until she understood what had happened.”
I sat very still.
“Have you listened to it?”
Douglas nodded.
“Once.”
Lucas added quietly, “Dad never wanted me to hear it. I only listened last month, after he became ill.”
