She turned back to Desmond, but he was staring mournfully across the Walshes’ wooden fence to the neighboring yard where a hodgepodge of plastic toys was spread out across the yellowing grass. She found those big, smooth, garish jungle gyms and tricycles and kiddie pools among the ugliest things on the planet and had felt partly relieved that Gerald had never shown a flicker of interest in any of them and was, from time to time, openly disdainful of children who did. Another part of her was worried that it might mean he was doomed to miss out on some important piece of childhood and that it was her fault: perhaps he was trying to please her by dismissing toys as “ugly” and “stupid.” This morning, Desmond had given her a book by his lover’s mother which he said she’d probably find interesting. He hadn’t elaborated on why she’d find it interesting, but it seemed to indicate he thought either she or Gerald needed help on the question of child rearing.

“It sounds as if Pauline Anderton was quite a hellion,” Jane said.

He shook his head. “What troubles me is that it contradicts so much of what they said before.”

“Don’t you often find there are several versions of the truth?”

“Yes, but usually not from the same source. And then all that nonsense about Anderton getting obese. I’ve seen pictures of her shortly before she died. I hate to think the Walshes are that unreliable.”

“Sometimes people like to perform for the camera,” Jane said. “I’ve seen it before.”

“They did take to it, didn’t they?”

In this awful glare of sunlight, Desmond looked older than she’d seen him look before. More gray in his hair, and more crepey wrinkles around the eyes. Jane put out her cigarette carefully and slipped the butt into the pack. It was so easy to offend people with cigarettes these days, it was almost refreshing. She’d have to carry a pack around as a weapon, even after she’d given up this latest bout of indulgence. “Is that all that’s troubling you?” Jane asked.

“The Walshes? Well, no.” He put on a pair of sunglasses and squinted across the yard. “In addition to everything else, Russell and I can’t seem to get our footing in dealing with each other. The last couple of times we’ve talked, I’ve had the feeling the air is leaking out of our relationship.”

“Should I press for details?”

“Please don’t. It would probably embarrass both of us.”

That was vague enough to mean anything, but if he was referring to some situation with her brother, he was right, she really didn’t care to know.

“Have you interviewed Anderton’s sister? Margo?”