I've Got My Eyes on You(15)

? ? ?

There was a hint of early September in the air on the morning of the funeral. Even though the sun was shining brightly, the breeze was cool. Following Kerry’s casket up the aisle in the processional renewed Aline’s sense of unreality and detachment. Kerry and I should be at the pool together going over what stuff she should take to college, she thought, not here. Not here.

Father Frank’s homily was comforting. As he said, “We do not understand why these tragedies occur. It is only faith that gives us the comfort we need.” Father Frank told again the story of looking at life from the wrong side of the beautiful Persian rug. To Aline it had even more meaning than when he was with them the day she found Kerry in the pool.

The question of whether Alan would dare to show up was constantly on her mind. She watched as people approached the Communion rail, but did not see him or his parents. That was a relief. The sight of him would have driven Mom crazy, she thought. But as Aline and her parents followed the casket out of the church, she did catch a glimpse of Alan. He was kneeling in the last pew in the far corner, his head buried in his hands.





17




Because of her stepfather’s job transfer, sophomore Valerie Long and her family had moved from Chicago to Saddle River. The transition was made even harder because they had moved over Christmas and she had started at the high school in January.

Tall for her age and looking younger than her sixteen years, she had green eyes, jet-black hair and pale skin. The promise of future beauty was in her face. Valerie was an only child, and her widowed mother had remarried when she was five. Her stepfather was twenty years older than her mother. They rarely saw his two grown children, who lived in California. Valerie was sure he considered her excess baggage. Her timid and retiring nature had resulted in extreme shyness.

Last winter at school Valerie had found herself outside already formed cliques and friendships. This made the adjustment even harder. It was in the spring that things began to change for her.

Fast and well coordinated, she had excelled at lacrosse freshman year at her previous school. She was hoping that if she made the team at Saddle River, that would create easy opportunities to make new friendships. As usual things did not work out the way she expected.

Coach Scott Kimball immediately recognized her talent and put her on the varsity squad. The varsity was all seniors except for two juniors and her. She would have preferred to play on the junior varsity with the sophomores and freshmen, but she didn’t want to disappoint the coach or her teammates.

It was Kerry, the team captain, who first admired Valerie’s skill on the field and also recognized how shy she was. Kerry went out of her way to chat with Valerie and tell her how good she was. She became, in essence, her big sister and the closest thing Valerie had to a confidante.

Kerry’s sudden death was a stunning blow to Valerie. She could not bring herself to go to either the wake or the funeral, but stood alone across the street watching the casket leaving the church and being lifted onto the hearse. When she walked away, she was still unable to feel the release of tears.





18




Marge’s close friend was the Crowleys’ housekeeper, Brenda. Brenda and her husband Curt, a retired plumber, lived in Westwood, New Jersey, a few miles from Saddle River. Curt Niemeier had often worked on construction projects with Jack Chapman. Like Jack and Marge, the Niemeiers had lived in a small Saddle River ranch house before the price of real estate had gone up dramatically. They had sold and bought a house in nearby Westwood and a small place at the Jersey Shore.

While Curt was enjoying retirement, Brenda found herself restless. In the early years of their marriage she had been a housekeeper to bring in extra money. She realized she had enjoyed the work and was good at it. “Some people go to a gym. I get my exercise by cleaning.” She decided to look for that kind of work to fill her days. The result was she worked three days a week as a combination housekeeper and cook.

She and Marge had remained close over the years, and when she confided gossip to Marge, Brenda knew it would not go any further. A medium-sized woman with short gray hair and narrow shoulders, she liked her job at the Crowleys’, but did not like them. She considered June Crowley stuck-up and cheap, and her husband full of himself and a total bore. The one person in the family she cared about was Alan. The poor kid got stuck with those two. In their eyes, he can’t do anything right. When he gets an A in school, it should have been an A+.

I know he’s got a temper, Brenda often thought to herself, but I swear those two drive him to it.

Their constant hope was that in September Alan would be enrolled in an Ivy League college so they could brag to their friends.

They’re always after him, Brenda confided to Marge. “If I were in his boots, I’d have applied to the University of Hawaii just to get away from them.

“Of course, I wasn’t there over the weekend when that poor girl was killed. But I gather that when the Crowleys found out that a cop had come over and talked to Alan, they hit the ceiling. And now all I hear around town is that everyone thinks that Alan did it.

“The way the Crowleys are carrying on, I swear I wonder if they don’t think so themselves.”





19




The business of picking up the pieces after Kerry’s death began to fall into place. Aline helped her mother with the personal notes to the people who had sent floral tributes to the wake.