Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian

Author:Chris Bohjalian [Bohjalian, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective, Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Psychological, Clergy, Fiction - General, Murder Victims, Murder Victims' Families, American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +
ISBN: 9780307394972
Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books
Published: 2010-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

WHEN WE INTERVIEWED Ginny O’Brien the second time, journalists and bloggers already were convicting Stephen Drew. Consequently, Ginny was more forthcoming than she had been initially. It seemed less important to protect the confidences that Alice had offered, since they were no longer secrets shared between friends. And, of course, we knew more, and so we knew which questions to ask.

EMMET WALKER: Alice told you that she and the reverend had an intimate relationship?

VIRGINIA “GINNY” O’ BRIEN: Yes.

WALKER: They were sleeping together?

O’ BRIEN: Yes.

WALKER: When did she tell you this?

O’ BRIEN: Last winter.

WALKER: Can you be more precise?

O’ BRIEN: It was before Christmas. I don’t know how long she and Stephen had had a relationship then, but she first told me about it a few weeks before Christmas. She was all giddy, and so I got all giddy. George was just too dangerous. I understand what she had first seen in him—Lord, I know what lots of people had first seen in him—but underneath it all he was just plain despicable. Horrible. I would have been so happy if she had just left him and married Stephen. Stephen’s not perfect, but everyone would have been better off, and she’d still be alive today. Can’t you just see her as a pastor’s wife?

WALKER: I never met her, ma’am.

O’ BRIEN: Of course.

WALKER: Did Alice come right out and say that she and the reverend were having intercourse, or did she simply imply it?

O’ BRIEN: She said it. They were having sex. But I’m sure she only told me.

WALKER: And this started before she got the temporary relief-from-abuse order?

O’ BRIEN: Long before. Like two or three months before. I don’t know this for a fact, but I always assumed it was Stephen who had talked her into getting the restraining order. She wasn’t listening to me, so she must have been listening to him.

WALKER: How long did the affair continue?

O’ BRIEN: Until sometime late in the spring. She got the restraining order, and George left. I was sure that she would start divorce proceedings and soon enough she and Stephen would be living happily ever after.

WALKER: Why didn’t that happen?

O’ BRIEN: Stephen.

WALKER: What do you mean, “Stephen”?

O’ BRIEN: He didn’t want to get married.

WALKER: Did Alice tell you that she and Stephen had actually discussed marriage?

O’ BRIEN: Not exactly. It never went that far. She just had the sense that …

WALKER: That what?

O’ BRIEN: That she wasn’t good enough for him. Isn’t that sad? Isn’t that ridiculous and sad?

WALKER: Yes, it is.

O’ BRIEN: Of course, Stephen probably didn’t help matters in that regard: He’s a little … I don’t know … aristocratic. At least he thinks he is. And he never seemed to want to move the relationship along. Maybe he felt guilty. WALKER: Guilty because he was having an affair with a married woman?

O’ BRIEN: And a parishioner. I mean, one of his sermons this spring was really interesting and—given what I knew about Alice and him—pretty darn revealing.

WALKER: What did he say?

O’ BRIEN: He went on and on about how awful he was.

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