by Lisa Regan
Josie knew this wasn’t entirely true given his admission of a one-time tryst with Krystal, but she didn’t intervene.
“Were you, though?” Gloria said, taking a step toward him. “You fought me about everything. The food the kids ate, the clothes they wore, the medications they took, the vacation spots we chose. Everything. Nothing was ever good enough for you. Why should I believe you didn’t cheat? If you were that unhappy—and I know you were unhappy—why wouldn’t you have an affair?”
Nathan shook his head like a dog shaking off water. “Okay,” he said. “All right. It’s true. I was unhappy. I didn’t like this whole organic lifestyle you wanted all of us to live by. It was too much. Sometimes me and the kids, we just wanted a damn cheeseburger or some candy. That’s right, overly sugary, processed candy that has no place in the natural world. We wanted to have fun, Gloria.”
Tears gathered in Gloria’s eyes. Her voice cracked when she said, “I wasn’t fun? After everything I did for our family, to provide for us? To make our lives better? I wasn’t fun enough for you, Nathan? When are you going to grow up?”
She turned on her heel and began striding away.
Nathan lunged toward her, still held back by Josie and Mettner. “You were a good mother!” he shouted. “Gloria! You were a good mother. Please, listen to me. Please.”
She stopped walking but didn’t turn around. Her shoulders quaked.
Nathan said, “I’m an idiot, okay? I’m immature and I’m an idiot. I’m sorry. I didn’t appreciate you, okay? I’m sorry. But I didn’t have an affair with Krystal. We smoked pot together. That’s it. I mean, come on, what’s more believable? I was having some long-term affair with her or I was smoking weed with her in the evenings?”
Slowly, Gloria turned back to face him. She wiped tears from her cheeks. Some of the tension had left her face.
“Do you believe me?” Nathan asked.
“Yes,” she said. “I do. But why did Krystal say you had an affair?”
His gaze dropped to the ground. Josie and Mettner lowered their arms tentatively and let him have some space. When he looked back up at Gloria, he said, “It was that stupid Student of the Month thing.”
Confusion passed over Gloria’s face. “Are you high right now?” she spat. “What are you even talking about?”
Nathan took a step toward her. “Remember Wallace’s regular teacher went on maternity leave? They had that sub right before the crash?”
She gave her head a quick shake, urging him along. “I guess. Whatever. Get to the point.”
“You don’t remember Wallace coming home and announcing that he was Student of the Month?”
“Oh,” Gloria said, her irritation draining away. “Yes, of course. He’d never been before.”
“He wasn’t that time either, evidently. Bianca was supposed to be Student of the Month. That’s who their teacher had chosen before she went on maternity leave. Wallace took her planner and changed it so that he was Student of the Month. The substitute teacher had no idea. She just went by what was in the book that the regular teacher had left. The entire class knew about it, but no one wanted to tell. They didn’t want to be tattletales, I guess, but Bianca was upset.”
“I’m sure that’s not true, Nathan. Besides, what does it matter?”
“Krystal wanted me to go to the principal and have it changed back. Bianca had just done all that fundraising for pediatric cancer research. She deserved it. No one in the class would stand up for her. Krystal said that she felt like a bitch telling on a twelve-year-old boy and that I—that we—should just do the right thing and make Wallace tell the truth and apologize.”
“Why didn’t I hear about any of this?” Gloria asked. “You never told me.”
“Because I knew you wouldn’t believe it unless Wallace told you himself. I confronted him about it, but he wouldn’t admit it. Krystal told me to go to the school anyway, without you or him, but I wouldn’t.”
Gloria put a hand on her hip. “You were discussing our son with the woman you smoked pot with but not with me?”
Nathan took another step forward, hands up in a conciliatory gesture, but Gloria stepped back in time with him. “I’m not saying I was right. I’m just trying to tell you what happened. When I refused to set the record straight about the Student of the Month, Krystal threatened me. First, she said she would tell you that we smoked pot and when that didn’t scare me, she said she would lie and tell you that we were having an affair. She was angry with me. She’s probably always been angry with me. That’s why she lied about the affair.”
Gloria studied him for a long moment, appraising. Then she said, “She wouldn’t be holding onto the stupid Student of the Month thing for two years after the kids died. She only told me recently that the two of you had had an affair. She wanted to hurt me, Nathan. Why? Why would she do that?”
Nathan’s hands dropped to his side. Before their eyes, he seemed to deflate and for a second, Josie wondered if he was going to fall. In a small, defeated voice, he said, “I don’t know.”
Josie stepped forward. “I think I do.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
It took some convincing to get both Cammacks to accompany Josie and Mettner to police headquarters. Once a news van showed up outside of All Natural Family and Child, it gave Josie a little more leverage. The last thing the two grieving parents needed was press coverage of them airing their dirty laundry with one another. Josie sent Mettner to Komorrah’s to get Nathan some coffee while she secured a bottle of water for Gloria. The Cammacks waited in the first-floor conference room, facing off across from one another. It seemed like an eternity since Sebastian Palazzo had paced this very room talking about his missing wife to Josie and Gretchen when in fact it had been less than twelve hours ago.
Josie checked the time on her phone as she stood outside the door to the conference room. It was just after eight thirty in the evening. She hadn’t eaten dinner. Her fingers flew across the screen of her phone as she asked Mettner to get her some pastries from Komorrah’s while he was there. It would have to do. She answered the handful of texts that Noah had sent checking in on her and then messaged back and forth with Gretchen so that they could update one another on where things stood.
The search for Faye Palazzo was a bust. No one had seen her leave the house. No one had seen her walking around the neighborhood. She wasn’t in any of the places that police looked, including the cemetery. The ERT had processed the Palazzo kitchen and front entryway but hadn’t come up with anything. Sebastian Palazzo was so beside himself that Gretchen was considering taking him to the Emergency Room unless he calmed down. They promised to keep one another apprised of any and all developments. By the time Josie dropped her phone back into her pocket, Mettner was back with coffees for her and Nathan Cammack as well as several cheese Danishes for Josie to consume later at her desk.
“You’re the best,” she told him quietly as they went into the room with the Cammacks. Josie sat beside Nathan, pushing a cup of coffee in front of him while Mettner sat across from them beside Gloria.
Nathan said, “Are you gonna, like, read us our rights or something?”
Gloria rolled her eyes.
Josie said, “We’re only here to talk, Mr. Cammack. Neither one of you is a suspect in any crime, but we are still investigating the murder of Krystal Duncan. Also, Faye Palazzo went missing this morning.”
Gloria gasped, eyes on Josie. “What? What do you mean?”
“Just what I said. Faye Palazzo is missing.”
Mettner said, “Have either of you spoken with her recently? Say, in the last twenty-four hours?”
Both Gloria and Nathan shook their heads. Nathan said, “I saw her at the meeting on Monday night. That was it. Jesus. Where do you think she is?”
Josie didn’t answer, instead asking her own question. “In the course of our investigation into Krystal’s murder and Faye’s disappearance, it has come to our attention that Krystal had found out some items of inform
ation before her death.”
“What does that mean?” Gloria said. “Could you be more specific?”
Josie said, “It has to do with the date of the bus crash.”
Gloria tipped her head back, looking at the ceiling, and sighing heavily. “This again. When does this end? When will it be over? First, the trial and now you come around rehashing all of this shit. Why can’t anyone let my children rest in peace?”
“Our children,” Nathan put in. For the first time, he picked up the paper coffee cup and took a sip.
Gloria glared at him.
Josie said, “Like it or not, Krystal Duncan was found murdered and your son’s nickname was found at the scene. Other than work, the only people that Krystal associated with were members of the support group for parents of the children killed in the accident. Now we have a second member of that group missing. The last time Krystal attended a meeting, she was visibly upset, and she said a number of things before storming out.”
Gloria said, “I don’t go to that group, so I don’t see how this concerns me.”
Josie kept going as if Gloria hadn’t spoken. “On the day of the bus crash, Nathan was supposed to pick up your children and Bianca Duncan early from school to go to the orthodontist.”
Silence.
“Nathan texted Krystal while she was at work and told her that the orthodontist had canceled all his afternoon appointments; that he was stuck at work; and that he would not be picking up the children.”
“Stop,” said Nathan, his voice suddenly raspy.
“But the orthodontist didn’t cancel his appointments for the afternoon. Nathan called his office and canceled the appointments, and he was not stuck at work.” Josie caught his eye. “You went home.”
He pushed his chair back and buried his face in his hands, sobbing. The sound reverberated through Josie’s bones like she was some kind of grief tuning fork. Across the table, Mettner lowered his gaze. Josie lifted a hand to touch Nathan’s forearm, but then Gloria’s voice cut through Nathan’s cries. Her tone was carefully controlled.
“It was my fault. It was because of me,” she said. “I called him at work that day. I was home. I had forgotten my planner, and I needed it. I came home after lunch to get it, and there was an issue. I called Nathan and told him to come home. He said he had to take the kids to the orthodontist. I told him to cancel the appointments. When he asked me what he should tell Krystal, I said I didn’t care. I told him to just get his ass home immediately.”
Nathan’s sobs subsided to hiccups. He didn’t lift his head. Mettner slid a box of tissues across the counter and Josie plucked two tissues from it and nudged Nathan until he took them.
Gloria’s voice was cold. “Is that what you wanted to hear? That it’s my fault that our children are dead? That it’s my fault that Bianca Duncan died?”
Josie thought about the conversation she’d had with Paige Rosetti in the garden. If Only is a dangerous game.
“What happened to the children on that bus was not your fault, Mrs. Cammack,” said Josie firmly. “No matter what happened. No matter what choices you made that day. It was not your fault.”
Gloria looked surprised. Then, as tears filled her eyes, she turned her head away. Josie slid the box of tissues back to the other side of the table.
Josie gave both parents a moment to compose themselves. Then she began again. “What was the issue, Gloria? What happened that you needed Nathan to come home that day?”
“Does it matter?” Gloria asked.
“I don’t know,” said Josie. “Why don’t you tell us what happened, and we’ll decide whether it’s germane to either of our investigations.”
Gloria rolled her eyes but said, “Wallace’s PlayStation had been stolen.”
Nathan, finally regaining some composure, said, “We don’t know that it was stolen.”
“What do you think happened to it, Nathan? It was stolen. Just like Frankie’s Roosevelt dime, my Saint Laurent clutch, and that stupid camping stove you never even used.”
He shook his head. “You got rid of the Saint Laurent bag and my camping stove during one of your purges.”
“I would not have gotten rid of that bag,” Gloria insisted.
Mettner asked, “Why don’t you take us through it? Which items went missing and when?”
Nathan said, “It was about four or five months before the bus crash. Actually, it was New Year’s Eve, wasn’t it, Glor?”
She shifted in her chair, folding her arms over her chest, a stance Josie had become used to seeing her in. “Yes. We had that party at the Eudora Hotel. The city Chamber of Commerce put it on. I was looking for my clutch because it went with my dress, and it was gone.”
Josie asked, “Did you think it was stolen at that point?”
Gloria said, “If you’re wondering whether or not we made a police report, no, we didn’t. I thought I misplaced it. It never turned up.”
“Then maybe a month later, maybe two months, Frankie’s Roosevelt dime went missing.”
Mettner said, “Roosevelt dime?”
Nathan answered, “My dad gave it to her. It’s a rare coin. A dime from 1982 with the mint mark missing. She always kept it in this tiny blue pouch—like a change purse—with her initials on the front in glitter: F.C. She kept the pouch inside a box on one of her bookshelves. She had a friend over and wanted to show her, opened the box, and it was gone—the pouch and the dime with it.”
“We looked everywhere,” said Gloria. “She was so upset. We even took the vacuum apart and emptied out the filter because we were afraid maybe somehow the dime had come out of the pouch and had fallen onto her bedroom floor, and I had accidentally vacuumed it up. I did that more to appease her than anything else. I mean, the pouch was gone, too.”
“But there was nothing in the vacuum,” added Nathan. “We never did find it.”
Josie asked, “The clutch and the dime. How much were they worth, do you think?”
“Combined?” asked Gloria. “Maybe six, seven hundred dollars.”
“What about the camping stove?” asked Mettner.
“I never even opened the box,” Nathan said. “It was a high-end stove, so probably three hundred bucks? When the weather got nice, I went to the garage to get it out. I thought that we could use it out back to roast marshmallows—” He looked at Gloria from under his lowered brows. “The vegan kind, in the yard. But the stove was gone. Gloria had taken some things to Goodwill, and I just assumed she had donated it.”
Mettner said, “You thought she donated a three-hundred-dollar, brand new camping stove, and you didn’t say anything?”
Nathan shrugged. “Not by that point. We’d fought over it several times before that.”
“He spent entirely too much money on it,” said Gloria. “He doesn’t even like camping. He didn’t even own a tent.”
“I would have gotten around to it eventually,” Nathan said.
“Oh, like you got around to kayaking and learning how to smoke meat?” She turned to Mettner. “He has a habit of buying overpriced things for hobbies he never takes up.”
Before they could get any more off topic, Josie said, “But the day of the accident, you said you came home and Wallace’s PlayStation was gone?”
“Yes,” said Gloria. “It was set up in our family room, where the kids hung out when they had friends over and I could keep an eye on them. I walked past that day and noticed it was gone. That was the final straw for me. I called Nathan and told him to come immediately.”
Josie said, “You thought these items were being stolen?”
Gloria nodded. “Yes. I did.”
“Not at first, though,” Nathan said. “Neither of us thought anything was being stolen. We just thought we were going crazy. Misplacing things. Getting rid of things but not remembering.”
Mettner asked, “Do you think someone was sneaking into your house and taking things?”
“Or someone we knew was taking things,” Gloria suggested. “Our neighb
orhood is very safe. There are a ton of families. All of our children played together. We all watched each other’s kids.”
Nathan added, “There was always some barbecue or kid’s birthday party or book club… it was endless. Every family hosted things. There were always people in and out of the house. Even Virgil—the bus driver—came to everything. He was a good neighbor and friend to all of us before the accident.”
Gloria glared at him. “Don’t say his name, Nathan.”
Josie brought them back to the topic at hand. “You thought it was someone you knew?”
Gloria shrugged. “We weren’t sure. We weren’t even sure it was really happening at first.”
Mettner asked, “Could you make a list of people who had been in your house during that time?”
Nathan laughed. “You’re kidding, right? Just make a list of almost all the neighbors in a ten-block radius. Not to mention that there were also a few times we had to have contractors at the house for repairs.”
Gloria added, “There’s no way to make a comprehensive list and if we did, it would be dozens of people. The point is that it never occurred to us that anyone would steal things from our home, so we weren’t paying attention. That’s why I wasn’t sure until the PlayStation went missing. That was a big-ticket item. I mean, the clutch was more expensive, but I hardly ever used it. The PlayStation? Wallace lived for that thing. That’s what I thought when I saw it was gone: he is going to be devastated. He played it almost every day after school—with time limits, of course. It was at that moment that things came together for me. I thought all of these things were related, and someone definitely had been coming into our house and taking things! I was freaked out, upset, so yes, I called my husband.”
Nathan shook his head, not meeting her eyes. “And I came running. Ditched the kids. Ditched work. Came home.”
Gloria said, “They should have been safe on that bus.”
Josie said, “Did the two of you ever tell anyone about this? The missing PlayStation? The canceled orthodontist appointments? You meeting at home while the kids were finishing up school?”