“Maybe that’s because of your past and your father. You used to hate the way he begged for money. Those are your words, not mine, Cady. Whatever…you’ll never have to worry about where your next meal is going to come from.”

Was it her imagination, or did Pete’s voice sound a tad too bitter? And why did his jaw look so grim? Throw out some bait. Another favorite ditty of Lola’s.

“I think I’m going to donate it all to the Aging Actors Guild Lola set up about ten years ago. There’s certainly enough money to fund it almost forever.”

The fork in Pete’s hand speared a succulent pink shrimp off his plate. He popped it into his mouth as he wiggled his eyebrows for her benefit. “Good idea, but I’m sure you’ll change your mind along the way. If your grandmother wanted the Aging Actors Guild to have the money, then she would have made a provision in her will. Instead, she’s leaving it to you. You need to think about that before you make any rash decisions. It always pays to do what the deceased wants. Otherwise, it’s bad luck.”

“Okay,” Cady said agreeably. I know what you’re all about, Pete Danson, money, she thought.

Cady looked down at the mound of rice and vegetables on her plate. How was she ever going to eat all this? Pete was chowing down like he hadn’t eaten in a week, and he was using chopsticks in the bargain, ignoring the fork he’d started out with.

“Pete, tell me about the accident.”

Here it was, the question he’d been dreading. The lawyer in him kicked in as his eyes took on a new alertness. “I can only tell you what the papers said. I’m sure you read them all by now. Your parents and grandmother must have talked it to death.”

“No. No, they didn’t. They would never talk about it. In the end, I simply stopped asking. It changed my life so profoundly. I want to remember, I really do. I need to remember. I never would have stayed at the pond alone. Either I was late, or I was early. Why weren’t you and the twins there? Usually, if I got there first and the rest of you weren’t there, I always left. I never stayed because I was afraid of that place. You know, the tree and all. Plus I didn’t want to get caught with Jeff and Boomer and be alone with those two. The two of them scared the daylights out of me. Not Boomer so much, but Jeff sure got me rattled. Who do you think gouged out my initials in the Judas tree?”

The lawyer in him was still at work. “You had said good-bye to all of us the day before. I guess we all knew you weren’t going to ride the zip line. We were in the park. I don’t know who gouged out your initials. Someone who didn’t like you would be my guess. Maybe Boomer.”