Tell Me Everything

A week later, Bob is on the porch at Matt Beach’s house, admiring the spring foliage and bright sun. Bob is thinking about Lucy, about the matches he put in his pocket before heading to New York. But instead of going to New York, Bob has been staying with Matt every day and night. For a week, all the papers in town will talk about is Diana Beach’s suicide.

Recently, the newspapers explain, Diana had become the top suspect in Gloria’s murder, after a red wig was found at the crime scene. Police traced the wig to Diana and discovered that Diana’s car had passed through a Maine toll booth on the day of the murder. By the time the Connecticut police were on their way to arrest Diana, Diana was already headed back to Shirley Falls to take her own life.

The first few days after his sister’s death, Matt sleeps most of the day and night. Then, he starts talking, and Bob listens for over six hours as Matt discusses how his father Walter sexually abused Diana when they were young. Though Gloria knew about the abuse, she did nothing to stop it—in fact, she occasionally seemed to resent Diana for it. One day, when Diana was 15, she told Walter that she would kill him if he ever touched her again. Walter moved out a few months later.

Matt admits that he knew Diana was guilty; she had visited once when Ashley Munroe was in the house, and she could have stolen the credit card then. But more than that, the quarry where Gloria was killed gave it away. Matt tells Bob that when Diana was a teenager, a friend of Walter’s (one whom Diana had liked and trusted) raped her at the quarry. When Diana got home that night, Gloria called her a “whore.”

Matt gives Bob Gloria’s journals and Diana’s suicide note. In the note, Diana confesses, though she also says that she initially suppressed the memory of killing her mother, one of her frequent memory lapses. Diana explains that her husband’s desertion set her off, recalling all of the terrible pain of her youth. “But I did a good job with my life, for the most part,” the note reads. In conclusion, Diana writes that “if Matt had been convicted of this, I would have confessed.”

That night, Bob reads Gloria’s journals, which are filled with self-loathing. Bob thinks about Lucy, and he feels that he is “one of the luckiest people alive.” Suddenly, Bob hears a sound like a mewling cat. Bob realizes that Matt is crying, and he goes to Matt’s room. Matt cries in Bob’s arms for almost an hour, then begs Bob to say in the room while he falls asleep. So Bob does, sitting in the chair by Matt’s bed until dawn.

Sometimes, Margaret comes over with food. Privately, Bob tells Matt about what is happening at the church. He thinks Margaret is now a better minister because she has been “humbled.” On the third day, Bob buys paint and paints over the blood splatters from the room where Diana shot herself. Over and over again, Matt repeats that he “can’t believe she used [his] gun.”

The leaves are growing bigger and greener every day. Matt recalls that when Bob called him to tell him about Diana’s suicide, he called Matt “son.” Bob realizes that he has never called anyone else “son” in his whole life. Matt knows that he is too old to be Bob’s son, but he likes the term anyway.

On the fourth day, Matt wants to throw out all of his paintings (“stupid things,” he says with disgust). To prevent this, Bob takes the paintings over to his house. When Matt wonders why Bob is being so nice to him, Bob explains that he likes Matt. Matt replies that he feels the same way. Later that day, Margaret calls Matt telling him the paintings are “brilliant” and asking if she can buy one for her and Bob’s house.

That night, William calls Bob, wanting to hear about how Bob is doing with Diana’s death. The whole time, William asks questions, and he doesn’t say a word about his parasites. Bob is struck by how innocent William is of Bob’s feelings for Lucy. Then Margaret shows Bob how she wants to hang Matt’s picture, right above their staircase. It looks amazing there, and Bob texts Matt a picture. “So cool—” Matt replies.