Death of Faye

Faye, the motherly madam of a Salinas brothel, was a woman of warmth and trust, and her death at the hands of Kate—the woman she had taken in as a daughter—was a slow, methodical murder that unfolded over months. Kate, a monster by nature, used Faye's own kindness as the weapon, manipulating her into signing a will that left everything to her new 'daughter' and then poisoning her with a steady, undetectable course of croton oil. The death was not a single violent act but a gradual, clinical dismantling of a trusting woman, a crime so subtle that it was never officially solved, though the sheriff suspected the truth. Faye's demise marks the point where Kate fully transitions from a victim of circumstance into a predator in full control of her environment, a transformation that cements her as one of the novel's most chilling figures.

Faye's Character and the Setting of the Crime

Faye was the antithesis of the stereotypical brothel madam. She was described as "the motherly type, big-breasted, big-hipped, and warm," a woman who provided a "cinnamon-scented kitchen of one's grandmother" rather than a den of vice. Her house was a refuge for "young men puling in puberty" and "the reassurer of misbegotten husbands," a place where sex was an almost accidental byproduct of comfort. Faye herself was "not very bright, highly moral, and easily shocked," a woman who trusted everyone and whom no one wanted to hurt. This trusting nature was her fatal flaw. When Kate arrived, a young woman with a scar on her forehead and a story of a secret she could not tell, Faye's maternal instincts were triggered. She took Kate in, and within a year, the two were "like mother and daughter." Kate's hands were always busy, mostly at drawn work on handkerchiefs, and she helped with the marketing and planning of meals, reducing the grocery bills by a third. She was thoughtful, remembering birthdays with presents and cakes. Faye, the essence of motherness, began to think of Kate as her daughter, and her natural morality took hold: she did not want her daughter to be a whore.

The Will and the Poisoning

The first step in Kate's plan was to secure Faye's fortune. Faye, believing she was giving a gift to her new daughter, drew up a will that left "all my worldly goods without exception to Kate Albey because I regard her as my daughter." The will was simple, direct, and legally irreproachable, witnessed by the cook. Kate's reaction was a performance of overwhelming emotion: "I'm trying to hold on, Mother. I didn't know anyone could be so good." With the will in place, Kate began the physical destruction of Faye. She started with small doses of croton oil, a violent purgative, administered in Faye's food. The first instance was a Sunday night supper, where Kate served a special salad dressing on string beans. Kate herself took the poison to create a cover story of botulism, and both women became violently ill. Dr. Wilde, the family doctor, was called and blamed the illness on home-canned string beans, a diagnosis that Kate had carefully engineered. Faye was never really well again after that night. She would make a little gain and then go to pieces, suffering from violent bleeding and a weakened heart. Kate played the role of the devoted daughter, nursing Faye tirelessly, refusing to leave her side, and becoming haggard from the strain. The other girls in the house remarked, "If Faye was to die I think it would kill that girl."

The Final Act and Its Aftermath

As Faye's health deteriorated, Kate continued her work. She administered more croton oil, and on the night of Faye's death, she gave her a final dose. Kate slipped quietly out of the room, went to the back of the lot, and dug a small hole with a pointed stick. She dropped in a number of small thin bottles and an eye-dropper, crushing the glass to bits with the stick and scraping dirt over them. Rain was beginning to fall as she went back to the house. Faye died, and the cause was attributed to the lingering effects of the botulism and a weakened heart. The girls in the house were devastated, and Kate herself went into a "gloomy stupor" from which it took her a long time to recover. She forgot completely about the will; it was another girl, Trixie, who finally remembered its existence. The murder was a perfect crime, so subtle and so well-covered that no one ever suspected the truth. The sheriff, Horace Quinn, had his suspicions, but he knew he had no chance of convicting her. "They were only a couple of whores, after all," he thought, and a wise sheriff doesn't butt his head against the impossible. Faye's death was the final, necessary step in Kate's transformation from a hunted fugitive into the powerful, feared madam of the most vicious house in Salinas. It was a crime that revealed the full extent of her monstrous nature: her complete lack of empathy, her cold calculation, and her willingness to destroy anyone who stood in her way.