Taking an unfamiliar road

By the time they’d released her from the hospital, Jenny had worked out the whole story.

“Dina was a smoker,” she told the officer. “After she stabbed Bill, she attacked me, not realizing I was inside the apartment. And then, thinking she’d disabled me, she tossed her cigarette into the kerosene lighter down the hallway.”

What about running out of the house with the knife, Officer Culpepper had asked. Jenny liked Officer Culpepper; she had a gruff voice and thick Harlem accent, but something in her eyes had Jenny trusting her. A good woman, honest, too.

“Imagine my feelings. I was angry, I was in shock. I saw my husband murdered, I saw my home destroyed by fire. And the woman who did it was getting away …”

What did it matter if Dina took the fall for the episode? She was dead, after all. And she’d betrayed Jenny’s marriage, so she deserved to take the blame. Officer Culpepper filed her report, but the inquest would be set for October 31st. Appropriate, Jenny thought – Halloween.

Jenny had Mr. Whitlinger pick her up from the hospital. He was the super at the building. Pathetic, Jenny thought, that Mr. Whitlinger was the only person she could ask to pick her up from the hospital. Her husband dead, her home destroyed, and the closest friend she could ask to help her out was the maintenance man. And he didn’t even have a job any more. The fire had destroyed his job along with the building.

“You have anywhere to go?” he asked when they finally drove down West 18th Street.

“Yes,” Jenny said. “Take me to Frank Campbell’s.”

Ah, yes, Mr. Whitlinger said – but why was Bill being laid out all the way up town? She told him, they’d buried Bill’s parents, when they’d died.

“Where’ll you go after the funeral home?”

Jenny had no idea – but she’d figure it out. First thing, she wanted to see Bill’s face. She wondered if she’d feel any guilt when she looked at him. Doubted it.