Free A Perfect Husband by Aphrodite Jones Page B

faraway places, like Hong Kong, they still kept coming back to the subject of her shocking death, and about all the police suspicions. They resented the police for intruding into their private lives. They knew their dad had been a public figure in Durham. They knew that the death investigation was standard police procedure. But it still didn’t seem fair.
    â€œIt’s so crazy that they’re doing this to our dad,” Margaret complained.
    â€œI don’t understand why they’re blowing things out of proportion,” Martha blurted. “They’re trying to make a big deal about it for no reason.”
    â€œI wish they would just let it go,” Caitlin said. “I wish they would just leave us alone.”
    The girls didn’t want to talk about the news reports. They knew that Michael had been advised, by his lawyer friends, not to talk to the press. Kerry Sutton, the family friend who was initially representing him, had been angered by the circumstances. Sutton told local reporters that Michael Peterson had been treated like a criminal from the get-go, and because of the so-called police misconduct, Michael had decided to hire a criminal attorney. The girls were aware that their dad had called a top lawyer out of Chapel Hill. But they had no idea what Barry Winston, the attorney, was going to do for Michael. No charges had been filed; there was no foul play being reported.
    The girls felt confident that the situation would work itself out. They knew their dad was innocent. There was no question in their minds. They would later make statements to the media to confirm their beliefs.
    The following morning, as the girls woke up in their hotel room at the Washington Duke, the three of them were still in shock. They really wanted the whole world to go away. None of them wanted to get out of their beds. They were content to stay bunched together, the three of them just comforting each other. They felt upset, and wanted to grieve in their own quiet way. No throng of mourners, no amount of public accolades for their mom, was going to change the fact that they were confronting her death.
    When they were asked by their aunts, Candace and Lori, to help run some errands, to help with funeral arrangements, they weren’t really feeling up to it. But the flowers needed to be ordered, and their mom’s cemetery plot needed to be chosen. It was all so depressing for the girls. Margaret and Martha were just beside themselves, but Caitlin felt these things had to be handled. Clayton and Todd were busy, holed up in the house with their dad. Caitlin told her sisters that they had no real choice.
    The local news, meanwhile, was giving reports about the hazards and injuries that people suffered from stairway falls. One expert noted that in 2001 alone, over 1 million people across America had been treated in hospitals as a result of a slip in a stairway. The local news commented, in particular, about the Petersons’ back stairway. They surmised that because it was in such an old house, because the back stairway served as a utility access for the mansion, the stairs where Mrs. Peterson was found were probably very steep.
    News reports mentioned that police investigators wouldn’t really understand certain factors such as the “orientation gradient,” where people can become disoriented by subtle factors. There was much speculation about things such as the curves in the stairwell, the tread edges, and the handrails. News reporters speculated about the unusual size of the steps, noting that any fall, even a fall down three or four steps, could be very unforgiving. News reports reminded the public of the many factors that might make a person lose their view or vision, especially if the stairwell was dimly lit.
    However, the children suspected, even though they hadn’t made any public statements, that Kathleen and Michael had been drinking quite heavily on the night of her