CHAPTER 39

Like I said, I come from trailer trash,” said Marcia Peaty. “No shame in that, my father, Dr. James Peaty, pulled himself up, it’s even more to his credit.”

“Unlike his brother,” I said.

“Brothers plural,” she said. “And sister. Reyn’s dad, Roald, was the youngest, in and out of prison his whole life, later shot himself. Next up was Millard and between him and my dad was Bernadine. She died after being put away.”

“Put away for what?” said Milo.

“Alcohol-induced craziness. She was a good-looking woman but she used her looks in not the best way.” She pushed her plate away. “I know all this from my mother who hated Dad’s family, so she may have heaped it on a bit. But overall I think she was accurate because Dad never denied it. Mom used to hold up Bernadine as a negative example for me— don’t do what that ‘immoral wench’ did.”

“What’d Bernadine do?” said Milo.

“Left home at seventeen and went down to Oceanside with a friend, another wild girl named Amelia Stultz. The two of them worked the sailor trade and God knows what else. Bernadine got pregnant by some guy on shore leave who she never saw again. Had a baby boy.”

“Brad,” I said.

She nodded. “That’s how Brad came into this world. When Bernadine got put away he was three or four, got sent to California to live with Amelia Stultz, who’d done a whole lot better, married a navy captain with family money.”

Milo said, “Amelia was an immoral wench but she raised someone else’s kid?”

“The way my mother told it, my uncle Millard blackmailed her, said he’d tell her rich husband about her past if she didn’t ‘take the brat.’ ”

“Conniving fellow, your besotted uncle,” I said. “Did he ask anything for himself?”

“Maybe money changed hands, I don’t know.” Marcia Peaty frowned. “I’m aware that this lays responsibility on everyone but my father. I’ve wondered about that, could Dad have been that calculated.” A cheek muscle jumped. “Even if he’d wanted to help Brad, no way my mother would have agreed to take him in.”

“The rich captain was Bill Dowd Junior.”

“Hancock Park,” she said. “On the surface, Brad lucked out. The problem was Amelia had no interest in raising her own kids, let alone one she’d been stuck with. She’d always fancied herself a dancer and an actress. A performer, Mom called it. Which meant stripping in some of those Tijuana clubs and maybe worse.”

“How’d Amelia snag Captain Dowd?”

“She was great-looking,” said Marcia Peaty. “Blond bombshell, when she was young. Maybe it was like that country song, guys going for women on the trashy side.”