“I know. Like I said, it’s why I came here. I had to see her, at the funeral. I thought I might just know, from looking at her.”

“And did you?”

“I don’t know what I know anymore, but I think I should go to the police, tell them I was having an affair with him. Maybe it would make a difference.”

“You should,” Harry said.

“I will, before I leave.”

“That will mean that Alice will know about you.”

“I guess. If she doesn’t already.”

“She already knows about this other woman.”

“There is no other woman,” Grace said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Your father and I talked. I was definitely the only person he was involved with. He was racked with guilt. He said it was the first time he’d done anything remotely like this.”

Harry felt her eyes on him, looking for confirmation. “I don’t know what to tell you,” he said. “But think about it . . . he was deceiving Alice with you. What makes you think he wouldn’t have deceived you with someone else?”

Grace pursed her lips, then said, “Because he wouldn’t have. I don’t believe it. Alice is making it up because maybe she wants the police to look at someone else.”

Harry felt a little bit of loyalty toward Alice. He said, “Why wouldn’t she just tell them about you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she didn’t know about us. Maybe because I wouldn’t be a good suspect because I was down in New York City.”

They were both quiet for a moment. Harry’s eyes traced a water stain in the corner of the bedroom’s high ceiling. Finally, he asked, “Were you hoping that my father would leave Alice to be with you?”

“Of course that’s what I was hoping,” Grace said, her voice loud.

“I just didn’t know . . . I didn’t know if you saw it as a fling.”

“I thought it was just a fling, because he was married, and because he was twice my age, and all those other things, but, like I said, I was in love with him. We got one another. So, yeah, I had fantasies that he’d leave Alice and move back down to the city and in with me. It didn’t make me feel good about myself, but I thought about it. I thought about it all the time.” She paused, and Harry didn’t say anything. “Are you mad at me?” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“I seduced your father. He was a married man. It’s possible that I’m the reason he’s dead.”

“I don’t know if I’m mad at you, but I want to know more. About you and him.”