“Yeah.”

Allison patted Beth’s arm and returned to her seat.

I said, “Do you think Mrs. Daney knew what Mr. Daney was doing?”

“I don’t know. He was always lying to her. About little things, like it was fun to fool her.”

“What kind of little things?”

“Buying doughnuts and candy and hiding them in his Jeep. He’d be like, ‘Cherish doesn’t want me to spend money on junk food, but we won’t tell her, huh?’ Then he’d wink. Like I was part of the . . . scheme, I guess you’d call it. But then he didn’t share the doughnuts and the candy. He was like, ‘You’ve got to keep that fantastic figure, Bethy.’ ”

She laughed. “Like I was some supermodel. Mrs. Daney was the strict one. Making all the rules, making the kids do their lessons. She could be a little bossy. I figured she didn’t have much fun.”

“Why’s that?”

“She was stuck in the house, cooking, cleaning, while he was driving around to all his nonprofits. He told me, ‘Cherish doesn’t like to have fun.’ Then he’d be like, ‘I’m so glad I’ve got you, Bethy, because you’re so beautiful and young with that gorgeous figure and you do know how to have fun.’ Then, he’d go off on some religious stuff.”

“He talked about religion?”

“Like a sermon in church. Like ‘Fun’s not a sin, Bethy. God made a beautiful world and if we don’t enjoy it, that’s the sin, Bethy.’ ” She smiled. “That was usually right before he’d unzip his pants. It was like he had to . . . convince himself what he was doing was okay with God.”

She waved a hand impatiently. “He’d go off on these long stupid speeches about God and fun. About God not being a God of vengeance like in the Old Testament. God was basically this cool guy who wanted everyone to have fun.”

The Creator as party animal. Hollywood would love it.

Beth Scoggins emitted a ragged laugh. “It was like he had to convince himself he was a nice person. Then I got pregnant and it was like, ‘You’ve got a problem.’ I think he enjoyed it.”

“Enjoyed what?”

“Getting me aborted. On the ride over he was real quiet, but when it was over he was in a great mood. Let’s go out for doughnuts. Like the whole thing was fun.”

* * *

I asked her if she remembered the name of the abortion clinic.

“Woman’s something.”

“The Women’s Wellness Place?”

“Yeah, that’s it. They had all these posters about AIDS and safe sex and making smart choices.”

“Did the doctor do anything besides the abortion?”

“Like what?”

“Blood tests, a general checkup.”

“No, nothing. Like I said, she was real fast. Something for the pain before, then scrape scrape, it’s over, here’s some Midol if it starts to hurt.”