Free In Memoriam by Suzanne Jenkins Page A

I’ve had enough for one day.”
    They would go back to Ashton’s Upper East Side apartment and, in relative splendor, discover that the shoeboxes contained not interior design videos, but raunchy pornographic films. Some of it shot through a window screen, in a slit in a drape, or from a parked car window, a zoom lens got closer and closer until it breached the privacy of the room. The male was never identified, but Ted had a pretty good idea it was Jack. The victims were always women who appeared to be unaware they were being videotaped.
    Although they didn’t watch more than a few seconds of the films in one box, it was enough to know that Ashton was either into some sick voyeurism or he was stashing the tape away for Jack. It angered Ted and made him lose what little reasoning he’d garnered since the funeral. But mostly, he was embarrassed in front of his daughter and Natalie.
    “Well, I guess that about sums it up,” he said.
    “I don’t think it had anything to do with Ashton. I mean, we don’t need to go through all the film, but I’m willing to bet he isn’t in any of it,” Natalie said. She was trying so hard to be the voice of reason, but she wasn’t convinced.
    “Why? He was in a relationship with Jack for all his life, until the man died. It feels like something he’d take part in.”
    “Maybe now isn’t the time to bring this up,” Natalie said. “But Ash told me Jack did it to keep his women in line. Those were the words he used. If anyone threatened him or tried to engage Pam, the photos were pulled out.”
    “But those aren’t photos,” Ted said. “I think he just got off doing it.”
    “Maybe,” Natalie said. “What difference does it make why he did it? The guy was a sick fuck.”
    “Yes, he certainly was, and the love of my life was involved with him for forty years. What does that say about Ashton?”
    There was no answer to his question. Natalie had seen Ashton in action; she knew what he was capable of.
    “What are you going to do with this stuff?” Deborah said.
    “I’m not sure,” Ted answered. “I still have all that crap June Hageman told me to burn. I just couldn’t do it. It’s history of the man, whether it’s vile or not.”
    Natalie got up to stretch. “Well, I am going downtown to my apartment. I won’t be going back up to the cabin, I guess. What do you think, Deb?”
    “No, it’s definitely lost something, but maybe just temporarily.”
    Ted shook his head. “He’s ruined that for us, too. I am so goddamned mad.”
    They nodded their heads.
    “Yes, let’s go,” Natalie said, reaching for his hand. “You have too many decisions to make to sit around here moping all afternoon.”
    The three of them went back to Natalie’s apartment to try to help Ted sort out his life.
    Ted and Natalie would stay downtown for the rest of the summer, and Natalie would go back and forth to the cabin upstate to be closer to her boyfriend, Zach. In September, they made the decision that they would live together as a family, and so far, it was working out wonderfully.
     

Chapter 8
    It took Pam and Sandra twenty minutes to figure out how to pull the third row of seats up in the back of Pam’s SUV. They had just enough places for all of them to travel to Lisa’s together. Bernice sat in front with Pam, Nelda and Miranda sat in the next row, and Sandra and baby Brent in the back. Pam looked in the rearview mirror at Sandra perched up in the seat, checking the baby’s car seat, the contraption a nightmare to secure.
    Pam knew she would be doing some mental work in the coming days. Once again, she’d had no inkling that Brent was having an affair with Sandra. Nothing. Not a hint of it. Trying to remember what Sandra’s response had been when Pam told her the news about Brent’s murder, she was sure Sandra went into shock, as any close friend would upon hearing such horrible news.
    Chatting amicably during the ride, Pam pulled up to the front of Lisa’s house. There