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"My uncle died of cancer," Peter replied wearily. "Aunt Em kept the stuff. At first it was because she couldn't part with anything of his. Then I think she forgot it was there. I guess I should have cleaned out the cabinet while she was in hospital after she had that stroke, but I never thought . . ." He sighed, shivered, and pulled Linda a little closer. "There wasn't any trouble about money, you know. It's true I own the business, but her income was fixed by my uncle's willand even if she spent more, it wouldn't have mattered. I would have paid the bills. She didn't have to ask me for anything.'' |
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He sighed again, but his voice was already better, still husky but no longer hushed as if he could hardly bear to speak at all. Linda pursued the topic. "She pushed you on the ship, didn't she? Why, in heaven's name? Surely she must have known you couldn't go over the rail." |
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"I don't think she did know." Peter's lips twitched, almost finding a reminiscent smile. "She wasn't great at engineering. I was leaning pretty far over and I don't think she understood things like center of gravity." He shivered again. "And, well, I don't think she was thinking about anything very clearly." |
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"The thing that really bothered me was the way she was lying so nice and flat that last afternoon on the ship," Linda said next. "Even if someone had deliberately frightened herwhich was what I thought at the timeI couldn't understand why the person would have stopped to straighten her out. I guess she just lay down |
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