Love for Sale

replied. “Not at all. He became violent. He started striking me.“
    “No!“ Jack pretended to be shocked.
    “It’s worse yet. He raped me. Violently. Then just walked out of the room. When I finally got my wits back, I sneaked out a back way that not many people knew about and drove back to my apartment in Newburgh.“
    “Why didn’t you go to the police or a hospital?“
    “I’ve never trusted police or doctors. Neither group likes women. Or believe them. I wanted my own revenge. I’m very patient. I knew I’d get a chance to do something awful to him someday. Before I could figure out what to do to him, I discovered that I was pregnant.“
    “Oh, my! How upsetting that must have been,“ Jack said.
    In the other room, Walker was writing furiously. He couldn’t have been as good as Jack was at getting her to confess.
    “It was. But after a little while, I realized it was my baby, too. I wanted to raise her.“
    “How did you know it would be a girl?“
    “I just knew! A woman knows these things. But a month later I had a miscarriage and the doctor told me I’d never have another child. That was when I decided he had to die. He’d not only stolen my virtue, he’d stolen my chance of ever having a daughter.”
    Howard rolled his eyes and thought that was a good thing.
    Miss Langston, as Howard thought of her, was still talking. Louder and faster.
    “So I started spying on him. Waiting along the road to see where he went. Pretty soon I ran out of money and had to take a job here as a teacher. That made it harder to follow him. When I saw him one evening being driven through town in that big red and white car of his, I followed him to Grace and Favor. I hurried to the door and overheard him talking to that stupid girl who lives there. I knew when he was planning this meeting.“
    “That was clever of you,“ Jack said, nearly choking on the words he was having to say to this horrible woman.
    “I made up a story about going home and kept an even closer eye on him. I knew his habits. I knew he always took a good long bath late at night. And I knew the layout of Grace and Favor. I had a good idea of what room he’d be in. I got some tools I thought I could use to fiddle the lock, if there was one. But the door opened at my touch. He looked so revolting in the bath. Leaning over washing his face, his big white back to me. I stabbed him and held his head under the water. I’m not sorry at all. He was an evil man. I’ve righted a great wrong.”
    Jack hardly knew what to say next. He could no longer pretend sympathy. He merely asked her, “Why did you kidnap Mrs. Towerton’s son?“
    “Kidnap? I didn’t kidnap anyone. I don’t know what you mean. When are you going to publish my story?”
    That callous remark made Jack think for a second that he wouldn’t publish it at all. But his reporter’s instinct told him he must. He owed it to himself. He owed it to the public to reveal what kind of man Brother Goodheart had really been.

    The revelations of what had happened that afternoon took all of dinnertime to explain.
    Most of the residents of Grace and Favor were appalled, mostly by the fact that it was a woman who had committed such an act of brutality.
    All but Mrs. Tarkington, who said, “I always said she couldn’t get along with adults. I just never knew how truly hostile she could be if she set her mind to it.“
    “Why did she kill him?“ Phoebe asked.
    Howard Walker had naturally been invited to dinner to explain. He put his answer as tactfully as he could. “Because she said he attacked her sexually and she found that she was pregnant, then lost the baby. I suspect she didn’t lose it accidentally, but she wouldn’t admit that to Jack. She’s presenting herself as the only injured victim.”
    Lily asked, “Why was her car in Miss Jurgen’s garage that day you came over to look over her portion of the house?”
    Walker shrugged. “For some reason, she was under the impression that Miss Jurgen wasn’t home at the time. She wanted to reclaim the rest mof her belongings. Or steal the pots and pans, for all I know. And that’s why she came back again today.
    “And, Lily,“ he went on to say, “I took your suggestion and went through her handbag. She had a bunch of little tools, tiny pliers, manicure scissors, and such, that she must have thought she needed to unlock the door to the suite. She’d have been smart to throw them away when she found out she didn’t need