"People came by all last evening and everyone brought food," she said by way of apology. "I think it's a way to force you to eat by guilt, when you're not at all hungry." She opened the back door to a pleasant redwood deck overlooking a small, well-kept back yard.
"Jeff finished the deck last fall," she said, "just before the snow. You should have seen us out here cooking steaks in our mittens."
The deck was furnished with wicker furniture, two chairs facing each other and a sofa with a coffee table in front of it. A milk glass vase with a spray of daffodils rested atop the table. Mrs. Byrne sat on the sofa and Dean took the chair to her left. The air was hot and heavy but the small backyard setting remained pleasant. Birds sang in the mature trees that ringed the deck and there was a country smell of spring.
Cynthia Byrne explained, in nervous little spurts, how she had heard the news of her husband's disappearance. Dean let her talk on, not interrupting her with questions for fear the tears would start. She had received notice from Parkside's police officer McCarthy the prior day, Tuesday, late in the afternoon. She was alone at the time but McCarthy would not leave until there was someone with her. At his insistence she summoned Janice Riley.
Another neighbor's husband drove to the high school for her son Randy, who was at baseball practice.
"Randy was so good-so brave about it. He tried for the longest time not to cry. When he finally did, he was all apologies. 'I don't do the death bit very well,' he said." Then she too began to cry, making Dean feel like a bastard for imposing on her grief.
He rose from the chair. "Look, I really can do this later. The timing is lousy for me to be bugging you with questions."
"No, please stay. I know you're just doing your job." She made an effort to compose herself, taking deep breaths. "It's better if I have something to take my mind off-other matters."
"Do you have people who can stay with you?" Dean asked. "Relatives?"
"I called my mother. She lives in Indiana but it's so difficult to make any plans until...they find Jeff. Mother's head librarian in a small town and it isn't easy for her to get away. Jeff's father is dead and his mother is in a nursing home. We're both only children so there aren't any brothers or sisters. Janice's husband called a doctor last night and he gave me something. And the priest from the church where Jeff and I sometimes go came by." She looked up at him. "I'm sorry, I keep talking as if Jeff is still alive."