“What I find so hard to understand now,” she said, “is why he wanted my love and took it as gladly as he did, but never tried to gain my understanding and trust. I would have understood, if he had told the truth. He just kept it from me. He didn’t think I was a fool. He respected my intelligence.” She glanced at Leland. “He just never made use of it,” she said as she returned her eyes to the road. “So he cheated me, too.”

“Did he?” Leland asked.

“In that sense, he did. What about the half-truths and lies about his mother’s relationship with Betty? About his father and the kind of man he was? There was no need for that. I tell you, Joe, it’s not easy to face.”

“Norma, all we really know is that he lied about his background. In most respects, it seems, he had reasons that had nothing to do with you. He had cut himself off from those people. Maybe he wanted to forget them as much as he could.”

“Why did he lie about his father?”

“I don’t know. Possibly he saw him in those terms. His viewpoint of him was different from ours, and not because he was the man’s son. They were equals in the ability to make money, or your husband was even his father’s better. We’re in awe of that ability, whether we admit it or not, and your husband saw it clearly. He understood it, and saw beyond it to the man his father was.”

She smiled. “You make an effective apologist for Colin.”

“You’ve forced me into the position of suggesting alternatives. You’ve sustained a shock and it’s still working on you. I want you to take it easy and remember that we’re dealing with facts. The way your husband treated you all the time he knew you is a fact. Keep it in mind. The reports on him when he applied for his last insurance policies described him as a good husband. Your neighbors thought so and told the investigators that. He didn’t cheat you and you know it.”

She glanced away from the traffic again. “Those investigators’ reports don’t mean anything. A neighbor wouldn’t undercut a man.”

“If he had been doing something ugly behind your back that they knew about, they would. It happens more often than you think. They’ll say whatever comes into their minds.” He had remembered something. “For instance, one of them told of having seen him with approximately five thousand dollars in his pocket one Saturday morning. Did he do that often? Carry that kind of money?”

She frowned and her eyes darted. “No. He never did that.”

“He did it once. The man wasn’t lying or attempting to make your husband look bad. He gave him an excellent report.”