For the next hour or so the two parents pairs and Steph got busy planning the memorial service. David said it wasn’t the right time, but Pauline told him there would never be a right time. And she was right, of course. When was the right time to bury your son? But David managed to pull himself together long enough to participate in the conversation, and soon they had the bare bones of what they wanted to do.The funeral director would then take what they had, and create a beautiful service to commemorate Jeff. Once his body had been flown back to France, David and Pauline planned to organize a funeral in the church where Jeff had been christened, and where his parents had been married. They would even get the same priest who’d christened Jeff, acting as a poignant coda to his life.
Having finished this impromptu meeting, David and Pauline retired upstairs. David needed to lie down, and Pauline didn’t want to leave his side, since he had developed a very unhealthy pallor, and she worried about his heart.
For a moment Steph sat with her parents, but then the door opened and Kevin entered. And he wasn’t alone, for he had brought Dominic along with him.
The two men were holding hands, and Kevin had a sort of determined look on his face. He looked briefly at his mother, then cleared his throat.
So that’s what Mom’s frantic messaging had been about. Kevin must have asked her if it was a good idea to introduce his boyfriend to his dad.
“What’s this?” asked Dad, his mood immediately turning frosty when he caught sight of Dominic. “What is a Kosinski doing in my house?!”
“Dad, there’s something I have to tell you. Something important.”
“Something we have to tell you, Mr. Stewart,” Dominic added.
“No,” said Dad in a low voice as his eyes went wide. And as Kevin and Dominic launched into their announcement, his face actually took on the same ashen pallor as David’s had a few moments before.
CHAPTER 38
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It was already late in the afternoon when we arrived at the house to talk to Steph. Odelia and Chase wanted to give her an update on the investigation, even though quite frankly there wasn’t a whole lot to discuss. But they felt they owed it to her to keep her in the loop. Especially Odelia had developed a fondness for the young fashion designer, and wanted her to know that they weren’t giving up hope of finding the person who was responsible for her husband’s murder.
When we got to the house, we saw Kevin step from the front door, hand in hand with a young man we’d never seen before. Though he shared a strong resemblance to Beniamino Kosinski. Could it be…
This time Kevin didn’t race off in his fancy Ferrari, but waited patiently for us to join him and his friend.
“I would like you to meet Dominic Kosinski,” said Kevin. “My fianc?.” He smiled at the surprise on all of our faces—even Dooley and me. “I’ve just told my parents. I think they’re a little surprised. But all in all it didn’t go as badly as I’d expected.”
“I think your dad was simply too shocked to react,” said Dominic with a grin.
“Yeah, he’s going to need time to recover,” said Kevin with an equally big grin.
“So is this where you kept sneaking off to?” asked Chase.
“Yes, sir,” said the young man. “I couldn’t very well tell you, since I hadn’t told my parents. But we’ve been in a relationship for six years, and have dated on and off for ten, and I figured it was finally time to come out and tell my folks.” He glanced over to his fianc?, and theyboth looked pleased as punch. “My sister caught us this afternoon, you see, and some of the things she said made me think. So I finally got up my courage and decided to face my parents—especially my dad.”
“You were with Dominic when your brother-in-law was killed?”
“I was, yes.”
“And I can confirm that with a resounding yes,” said Dominic.
“And now we’re off to celebrate,” said Kevin. “I’m getting married!”
“Yoo-hoo!” his partner caroled.
And so they stepped into Kevin’s Ferrari and were off at a fast clip.
“Another suspect less,” said Chase with a sigh. “Pretty soon we won’t have any left!”
“He seemed happy,” said Odelia. “In fact they both did.”
“If they’ve been in the closet for ten years, I’ll bet they’re glad.”
“Why have they been in the closet, Max?” asked Dooley. “Were they punished?”
“They haven’t literally been in a closet all this time, Dooley,” I said. “It’s just an expression. They haven’t told anyone that they were in love, and now they finally have. So they’re feeling happy and relieved, cause now they don’t have to hide—”
“In the closet.”
I smiled.“For instance.”
“They could have hidden anywhere. They both have very nice houses, with plenty of very nice rooms,” he said as we entered the house in search of Steph. “They could have been hiding in the bathroom, or in the bedroom, or even in the attic. Closets are fine, but not for ten years. That’s way too long. I’ll bet they got very clusterphobic in there.”
“I think you mean claustrophobic.”
“That’s what I said. Clusterphobic.”