The Suicide Note

“Why is it,” she said, “that whenever I ask you a perfectly legitimate question you give me a stupid answer?” She stirred her iced tea with a straw, the ice cubes clinking violently.

“I’m not trying to,” he said. “It’s just… it’s unpleasant.”

“Pah! I know it’s unpleasant! That’s why I’m trying to get it over with!”

He passed a hand over his eyes. “Fine, fine, let’s just start over.”

“Okay.” She took a sip and breathed deeply. “The last time you talked to her, did Mom say anything out of the ordinary?”

He groaned and placed his head in his hands. “God, I don’t know.”

“Damn it, Peter, you were the one living with her. You were the one who spoke to her last, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then tell me what she said to you.”

“I don’t remember!”

“Oh come on, yes you do. You just don’t want to talk about it. Stop being such a wimp and help me figure this out.” She crossed her arms and glared at him across the restaurant table.

He drew a shaky breath and met her gaze. “You’re cold, Katherine, you know that?”

“I am not. You were just closer to her. Now will you please tell me what she said?”

“Yeah. Sure.” He leaned back in his chair and seemed to deflate. “She told me that the fridge was broken and that she’d put all the food into coolers until the repair man came.”

Katherine stared. “That’s it? That’s all she said?”

“That’s all.”

“That doesn’t sound much like a suicide note to me.”

“It makes sense. Mom was always practical.”

“Yeah, but don’t people who commit suicide leave long letters explaining why they did it? All she did was tell you that the fridge was broken.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. The police said it was a suicide.”

“But what if the police are wrong? What if she was killed?”

“Don’t be stupid. Mom was a sweet, old lady. Who would want her dead?”

“I don’t know, a thief or something.”

“Nothing was stolen.”

“Well, maybe an old enemy? Maybe it was the woman she stole Dad from.”

“Who, Diane? I thought she forgave Mom. They used to joke around about how Mom saved her from a terrible fate.”

“Yeah, but listen.” Katherine leaned in. “I overheard a phone conversation between the two of them that ended in a pretty vicious cat fight. I’d never heard Mom swear before but damn, she used every word in the book.”

“What was it about?”

“I only heard one side of the conversation so I can’t be sure, but I think it was over Dad’s watch.”

“What? That’s crazy.”

“Yeah. Diane said that, since she gave it to him back when they were married, she should have it, and Mom basically told her to screw herself. Dad wore that thing every day; it was like a part of him.”

“I remember.”

“And this was recently after Dad had died, so things were still pretty raw. I mean, you saw how Mom hoarded all his stuff for half a year. We didn’t get so much as a necktie until we had that little family meeting.”

“So she and Diane fought before that? I can see how Diane would be pissed. Mom was pretty nuts back then.”

“Yeah, do you remember when she told you that you couldn’t use the toaster oven because Dad used it every morning and he was the last one to touch it?”

“She told me I would have to make toast over a burner.”

“That’s the sort of crazy that went into this argument.”

“Jesus. But do you really think Diane would want Mom dead over that?”

“Well, they never spoke again. It’s not like they ever apologized to each other.”

“Still, that sound a little far-fetched to me.”

“Did I also mention,” Katherine said with a triumphant smile, “that Diane was recently placed in a psych ward for violent behavior?”

“Are you serious? How did you hear about that?”

“I ran into one of Mom’s old friends at the supermarket. I guess she went after the neighbor’s dog with a steak knife.”

“Jesus. But how would she have gotten out? I thought psych wards had tight security.”

“Her family visits her and takes her on little outings, with supervision of course. She could have slipped away.”

Peter laughed. “A decrepit old lady giving a psych ward attendant the slip? Come on.”

“Then what do you think of this: I read in the newspaper that an attendant was recently fired because he was negligent in his watch of a patient. It said that they found her wandering by herself. It must have been Diane. They didn’t use her name, but it has to be.”

“Oh my god. Diane killed Mom.”

“We need to go back to the house and see if Dad’s watch is still there. If it’s gone, we might have enough evidence to prosecute.”

He shook his head. “We’ll need more than–” His cell phone cut him off. “Hold on, it’s David.” He flipped open his phone. “Hey brother, what’s up?… I’m at a restaurant with Katherine, why?… oh my god… Jesus… yeah, we’ll be right over.”

“What? What’s going on?”

“They found Mom’s suicide note. It was in the fridge.”