“You and your husband?” I asked.
Helen nodded. “Michael and I were married forty-six years before he passed. He was a firefighter here in town. He was already in ill health and had been forced to retire when 9/11 happened. I think having to sit here day after day and watch those smoldering buildings on TV really got to him. I believe his not being able to do a single thing to help broke his heart. He passed away in his sleep in February of 2002.”
As I took a seat on the sofa, I did some quick math in my head and arrived at the conclusion that this sprightly Mrs. Santa Claus, who had to be somewhere in her early eighties, appeared to be far more healthy and vital than her former boss, the much younger Roger Adams.
“So what would you like to know about Chris Danielson?” she asked, settling into a worn recliner. “I knew of him, of course, but I never met the boy in person.”
Those were almost the same words Shelley Adams had used.
“But you did know Danitza?” I asked.
“And still do,” she replied. “I met Nitz almost as soon as she was born, while she and her mother were still in the hospital.”
“You’ve known the family that long?”
Helen nodded. “I went to work for Roger Adams when he was still single, fresh out of law school, and just opening his practice. I actually attended his and Eileen’s wedding. As for Danitza, I couldn’t have loved that girl more if she’d been my own grandchild.”
“So when the whole estrangement thing happened between Nitz and her parents, that must have bothered you.”
“It bothered me, all right,” Helen agreed. “I was really disappointed that Roger and Eileen treated Nitz as an outcast. She’s certainly not the only young woman in Homer to become pregnant out of wedlock. I thought Roger and Eileen should have done what the rest of us do under those circumstances, namely take their medicine and make the best of it, but they didn’t. As a friend of the family who also happened to be an employee, I had to keep those opinions to myself.”
“From what I’ve been able to learn, Roger was infuriated by Nitz’s pregnancy, and I have reason to believe that Roger might have been behind Chris’s disappearance.”
“I don’t doubt that a bit,” Helen agreed. “I believe Roger handed Chris a fistful of cash and suggested he go elsewhere.”
“You don’t think Roger might have done something more permanent?” I asked.
“As in kill him?” Helen asked. “Is that what you mean?”
I nodded.
“Absolutely not,” Helen declared. “Roger Adams may be an exceptionally stubborn and unforgiving man, but there’s not a murderous bone in his body. Roger has defended a killer or two over the years, but he could never be one.”
“So a bribe yes, but murder no?” I asked.
“That’s how I see it,” Helen said. “And you can’t really blame him. As far as husband and father material, Chris wasn’t a very likely prospect, and I’m sure Roger did what he felt was necessary in hopes of keeping his child from making what he regarded as a stupid, life-changing mistake.”
“You don’t fault Roger for that?”
“For shutting Nitz out his life?” Helen asked. “I certainly blame him for that, but when it comes to his having sent Chris packing, I don’t begrudge him that at all. Under similar circumstances, had I been in a position to pay the piper, I might have done the same thing.”
“Let’s talk about Danitza for a moment,” I said, changing the subject. “I understand you went to see her not long ago.”
“I did,” Helen said with a nod. “I felt as though she needed to be aware of what’s going on with her father.”
“What is going on with him?” I asked.
“The man is seriously ill,” Helen answered. “I wanted to give Nitz a chance to make peace with him before it’s too late, not for his sake but for hers. If she doesn’t at least try to put things right between them, I’m afraid she’ll live to regret it.”
The Roger Adams I had observed earlier in the day was in no condition to have a meaningful discussion with anyone, much less his estranged daughter. In fact, if Nitz showed up on his doorstep, I doubted he’d recognize her.
“It was the best I could do,” Helen continued. “I probably shouldn’t have meddled, but as I said earlier, I’ve known Roger since he was a very young man. In many ways I’ve been closer to him than to my own son.”