Damaged Amazon

by Kim Pritekel

  He slammed his way to the garage door that led into the house, noting the sound of the TV in the kitchen. He shrugged out of his jacket as he headed in that direction and saw Sylvia sitting at the island eating chips.

  “What exactly makes you think Doritos makes a good dinner?” he demanded, his voice far more harsh than he intended it to be.

  The teen glanced up at him from where she’d been staring at her phone screen. “No food in the house. Mom was supposed to get groceries today but didn’t.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Dinner with the girls,” Sylvia said before crunching another cheesy chip.

  “Yeah, right,” he said, removing his wallet from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He removed a fifty-dollar bill and tossed it on the counter. “Order some dinner. Where’s your brother?”

  “Upstairs,” she said, shoving the bag of chips aside as she grabbed the money. “Killing something on his video game, I’m sure.”

  “Did he get his homework done?” Andrew asked, eyebrows drawn.

  Sylvia snorted as she met her father’s gaze. “That would require him to actually go to school, Dad.”

  “What? Again?”

  She nodded, grabbing her cell phone. “Again. Pizza or Chinese?” she asked, phone ready to dial.

  “Whatever you want,” he said with a heavy sigh as he continued through the kitchen to the winding staircase. He tossed his coat over the banister and dropped his briefcase on the floor before he stormed to his son’s bedroom, reaching for the doorknob only to find it locked. Raising a fist, he pounded three times on the thick wood. “Open the door, Tyler!”

  “Fuck off!”

  “Little bastard,” Andrew growled and marched off to the bedroom he shared with Jill and grabbed the skeleton key from its hiding place in his bedside table drawer. Sadly, he’d learned long ago to not only hide the key but make sure it was always handy. Marching back to the locked door, he easily disengaged the lock and threw the door open. Tyler, who was lying on his unmade bed, held the controller for his Xbox One in his hands.

  “Jesus!” he yelled, sounding startled. “Get the hell out of here!”

  Andrew glanced over at the screen of the mounted flat-screen, noting the gore and blood splattered across the animated world. “Turn that shit off, Tyler.”

  “No. Get out of my room.” Tyler turned his back on his father as he returned his attention to his game.

  Enraged—by both his son and his afternoon—Andrew stormed over to the bed and grabbed the wireless controller from Tyler’s hands and threw it across the room, only for it to slam against the wall.

  “What the fuck did you do that for?” Tyler enraged, scrambled to his feet.

  “First of all, you will not use that kind of language in my house! Second of all, why the hell weren’t you at school today?”

  “She fucking promised,” Tyler said, glaring at his open bedroom door.

  “How many times do we have to cover this, Tyler? You’re failing your classes. You don’t show up, and when you do, you disrupt the class.”

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” Tyler yelled, moving farther into Andrew’s personal space. “You don’t know one whit about me, don’t give a shit about me, so fuck you!”

  “Who do I think I am?” Andrew was incredulous, shocked by the outburst. “I’m your father!” he roared.

  “Yeah?” Tyler smirked. “Then maybe you should actually stick around and act like it.”

  As though physically punched, Andrew took a step back, his hand coming to rest on his stomach. No idea what else to say, he turned to leave. “You miss one more day of school and that game box disappears,” he said, slamming the door shut behind him.

  He stood there for a moment on the landing, hands on hips before he ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He grabbed his coat and briefcase and headed to his office, bypassing the bedroom. As he plopped down in the chair behind the desk, his phone alerted him to activity on his Facebook account. Grabbing his tablet, he went to the social media site and saw that he had a new friend request from Laura Caffey.

  He stared at her name for a moment before, with a small smile, he brought his hand up and tapped the screen, accepting the request.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cheyenne, WY

  The constant drone of the Bobcat’s engine was drowned out by the music blaring in Tony’s ears. The fifty-five-year-old was a twenty-year veteran of the Cheyenne Landfill. It was decent pay, good benefits, good enough to send his daughter off to college. She was a med student and had given him the best Father’s Day gift ever two years ago of a bandana and a bottle of peppermint oil. She’d learned in some of her classes working with cadavers to put a few drops of the fragrant and strong oil on the material then tie it around her face, bank-robber style. It sure helped keep the stench of the dump at bay.

  His head bobbed to Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” as he pushed hundreds of tons of trash toward the area where later he’d come through with a grader to dig trenches for the garbage to be buried.

  He put the powerful little machine in reverse before pushing forward again to gather what his first pass had missed. His music list switched to Alabama’s, “Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler).” He was singing along when he spotted something he couldn’t quite make out.

  Bringing the Bobcat to a stop, he turned off his music and removed the earbuds. As he hopped down, his worn work boots crunched on gravel before he made his way to what had caught his eye.

  “What the hell is this?” he said, reaching out to touch the strange object. “Holy shit!” He scrambled away. His crab crawl back to the Bobcat would have been amusing under different circumstances. He climbed up enough to reach his cell phone. Flipping the antiquated phone open, he dialed 911.

  ****

  Beulah, Colorado

  Nora grinned as she glanced over at her niece. “You know, you look about how I felt the first time I went to find this geocache. I promise you’re not off to the firing squad.”

  Kristie met her aunt’s gaze. “Sorry. Guess I see this as dorky as hell.”

  “It is dorky,” Nora said, bringing up a hand to brush a branch aside. “But, since I consider myself quite the dork, I feel at home doing this.” She laughed at the dramatic eye roll she received. “You know, it was your Aunt Shannon who introduced me to this. She was only a kid, then. But, she got me hooked, and once I went back to work, I did this all over the world.” She glanced down at her phone and the geocaching app, which was guiding them to their target.

  “Do you think she’d dead?” Kristie asked, sidestepping a fallen log.

  Nora’s heart stopped every time she was asked that or every time she, herself thought about it. “I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I hope to hell not.” She let out a heavy sigh, reaching up to readjust the strap of the backpack that was hitched up on her right shoulder. Inside she had packed bottles of water for the pair, a lunch, as well as a bag of her geocaching swag, items to be left behind. “I know Sarah is doing all she can to find her or find out what happened to her.”

  “Who’s that?”

  Nora looked over at the teenager, noting her style, the attitude of “screw you” that radiated off of her and wished, not for the first time, that she could have had half the kid’s spunk and confidence at the same age. She also understood what LJ wanted her to get to with the girl, so she decided to be honest and open to get the conversation started.

  “Well, she’s the detective who is looking for Shannon, but she was also my first girlfriend.”

  Kristie stopped abruptly. “Wait, you’re gay?”

  Nora glanced back at her, fighting the urge to burst into laughter. “Yeah,” she said nonchalantly, continuing in the direction her phone GPS led them. She was surprised at how overgrown the area had become compared to her first time there so many years ago. She did grin when she heard Kristie jog to catch back up to her.

  “You’re a lesbian?”

  “Tried and t
rue.”

  “How did I not know this?” There was shock in her voice. “Oh wait, maybe it’s because you’ve been everywhere else but here for most of my life,” Kristie said dryly.

  Nora felt those words to her core. She watched the girl who walked by her side for a long moment. “I’m sorry, Kristie,” she said, meaning every word. “Your dad put me up to this today, to talk to you, but to be honest, I’m so glad he did.” She stopped walking and touched her niece’s arm to get her to stop as well. “Listen, having Bella with me for almost two weeks, I’ve come to realize how much I missed with you and with Tyler and Sylvia.” She looked away, fighting back tears of regret. “I mean, shit, I don’t even know your favorite color.” Shaking her head in self-recrimination, she continued on, silence filling the air for several minutes

  “Red.”

  “What?”

  “My favorite color,” Kristie clarified. “It’s red.”

  Nora grinned. “Mine, too.”

  “Get out! Very cool.” Kristie eyed her. “Your first girlfriend, huh? Were you in high school together?”

  “God, I wish I’d been brave enough to have a girlfriend in high school.” It was her turn to study her companion. “Like you.” Nora grinned. “Yes, your dad knows, and yes, he’s totally fine with it. He does wish you’d be open with him about it, though.”

  “I can never tell my mom,” Kristie said with a sad sigh.

  “I know. That’s how it was with my dad.”

  “How old were you? Like, when you came out?” Kristie asked, hopping over a small stream, Nora following.

  “I don’t remember that being here,” she said, glancing back at the water. “Uh, well I knew I was a lesbian pretty much from the age of four, but I had no idea what it was called.” She gave Kristie a leering grin. “I only knew I wanted Brooke Shields’s hair to move out of the way in the movie, The Blue Lagoon.”

  Kristie burst out laughing. “God, that’s sick.”

  Nora chuckled. “Hey, I was four, okay? But, I guess I always knew.”

  “Did you date guys?”

  “A few, never slept with them, though,” Nora said, her face twisting into a grimace. “Gross.”

  Again, Kristie laughed. She raised her hand for a high five. “Woohoo! Fellow gold star.”

  Nora slapped her hand. “What’s her name?”

  “Julia.”

  Nora recognized that smile and knew her niece was absolutely in love. “Pretty name.”

  “Pretty girl.” Kristie brought out her phone and scrolled until she found what she was looking for and showed her aunt.

  “Wow. Total knockout,” Nora said, looking at the selfie of the two girls, Julia a beauty with long blond hair and bright blue eyes. She handed the phone back. “Is it serious?”

  “Yeah, it is.” Kristie gave her an adorably shy smile. “I kinda think I want to marry her.”

  Nora’s eyes grew huge. From what she knew about teenage love, it was pretty much seasonal then moved on to the next season. “Wow,” she said, glancing down at her phone. “This way.” She indicated they needed to turn left. “That’s quite a statement.”

  “She gets me, you know?” Kristie said, following Nora in their new direction

  Nora gave her a sad smile. “Yeah, I get it.”

  ****

  “Okay, you’re sure you’re okay with this?” Nora asked, nervous. “I mean, she’s five and can be a handful.”

  “Uh, sis,” LJ said, an eyebrow raised. “You do know that Kristie was once five, right?”

  Nora covered her face with her hands for a moment before looking at him with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  “Why the hell are you so nervous, anyway?” he asked.

  Nora glanced out the window above the sink and ran her hand through her hair. “I don’t know.”

  “Is it the fact that you’re spending the afternoon with Sarah Sanchez to find information out about Shannon or is it that you’re spending the afternoon with Sarah Sanchez?”

  She glanced at him. “Yes.”

  LJ walked over to her from where he’d been leaning against the wall and took her in a hug. “It’s okay.”

  Nora smiled as she rested her head against his chest, just like she used to do. It had been a long time, Adrienne cracking the whip more and more the longer they were together, isolating him from her, from all of them. Well, and then she ditched the entire bunch and ran away to every other country but her own.

  “You know,” LJ said softly, his deep voice resonating against Nora’s cheek. “Kristie couldn’t stop talking about you last night at dinner.”

  “Yeah?” Nora grinned.

  “Yeah. Seems you had quite the impact on her. She even downloaded the geocaching app on her phone, she said.”

  Nora chuckled at that. “Guess she’s a dork now, too.” She pulled out of the hug.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. She’s an amazing young woman, LJ. You’ve done a helluva job with her.”

  “I’ve tried. I honestly don’t think I would have survived this situation without her.”

  Nora gave him a sad smile, rubbing his arm in comfort. “Everything happens for a reason, LJ,” she said. “Without Adrienne, you wouldn’t have your daughter.”

  “Very, very true.” He glanced through the window over the sink. “Sarah’s here.”

  Nora peeked out the window as Sarah’s Mustang pulled up behind LJ’s truck. After several deep breaths, she took mental stock of herself. She was dressed casually in jeans, boots, and a sweater. It was a cool, late September day. She nervously tucked her hair behind an ear as she watched Sarah climb out of her car and walk to the house.

  During her time with her niece, Kristie had asked her several questions about Sarah, which had brought her back to memories she’d been desperately trying to avoid since Sarah had come back into her life. She felt antsy and nervous about the afternoon she’d be spending with Sarah, and in truth, she was terrified what they may or may not find out about Shannon’s disappearance.

  “Hey,” Nora said with a forced smile as she opened the door to Sarah’s knock. “Come on in.”

  “Thanks,” Sarah said, entering the kitchen.

  “Hey, Sarah,” LJ said, walking over to her.

  “He’s going to be staying with Bella,” Nora explained.

  “Oh my God! LJ, it’s so good to see you.”

  Nora watched as the two hugged and felt a strange mix of pleasure and sadness. At one time, LJ and Sarah had been close. For a time, it had been a point of contention between the siblings as Nora had suspected the two had kept in contact even after she’d left the States. In her immature and sanctimonious mind as a twenty-one-year-old, it seemed like LJ was betraying her.

  “You, too. Hey, congratulations on the incredible career.” LJ stepped back after the hug. “I’m so proud of you.”

  “Thanks, LJ.” She reached out and squeezed his forearm. “And hey, congratulations to you on the incredible job you’re doing with the Cyclones. My nephew, Caleb, said you were the best coach he’s ever had.”

  “Your nephew is Caleb Sanchez, as in the greatest punter P-Dub has ever had?” LJ asked, eyes wide.

  “The very one. I spent more time in the stands during those four years than I have in my entire life,” Sarah said with a laugh.

  “Well, damn. You should have come and said hello or something.”

  She shrugged then looked down at her shuffling tennis shoes. “Well,” she said softly.

  In that moment, Nora felt like an ass. She turned away, deciding to get her coat and purse in hand to leave.

  “Ready to go?” Sarah asked. Almost out of nowhere she now stood by the kitchen table next to Nora.

  She glanced at her and gave her a small smile. “Yeah.” Nora cleared her throat to clear her head. “LJ, I should be back before dark.”

  “Take your time, ladies,” LJ said, stepping over to Nora to give her a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Sarah, again, great to see you.”
>
  “You, too.”

  “You gals be safe and good luck.”

  Sarah led the way outside, Nora sliding her arms into her jacket as she followed. It was chilly and the coming winter was already making itself known. She gave the magnificent muscle car a once-over before climbing in.

  “Gorgeous car,” she commented, reaching for the seatbelt.

  “Thanks. I love it.” Sarah gave her a quick smile as she too belted up. “I have to say, that was a bit surreal.”

  “What?”

  “Seeing your brother again.” Sarah started the car and backed out of the long gravel drive.

  “Yes, it was. He always liked you.”

  “He’s a great guy. I hear he and Adrienne had a daughter,” Sarah said, sparing a glance at Nora as she got them on their way.

  “Yes, Kristie. Now, she is a great kid. I actually spent the day with her a couple days ago. She has a good head on her shoulders.”

  “How old?”

  “She’ll be eighteen in the spring. Can’t believe it.”

  “You know what’s amazing to me is you were only a little bit older than that when you moved into the house.”

  Nora looked at her, studying her profile. “Yes, that’s true.”

  Sarah pulled the car to a stop at the stop sign and met Nora’s gaze, which she held for a long moment before she looked away. “So, where to first?” she asked, her voice a bit gruff.

  After nearly two hours of driving around Colorado Springs, Nora doing her best to remember every possible place Shannon might have frequented, she was out of ideas. The two decided to stop for a late lunch.

  “Will this work?” Sarah asked, indicating an Arby’s.

  “Yeah, great.”

  They sat in silence as they settled in and ate their lunch. Nora munched on the last of her curly fries as she studied Sarah, who was studying her fountain drink cup like it held all the secrets in the universe. She took in the dark features, hair pulled back into a casual ponytail. Her skin looked so soft and lovely, definitely touchable. Sarah was a gorgeous, sexy, and deeply passionate woman, but she was also kind and her heart knew no bounds.