Changing Fortune Cookies

by P. D. Workman

  “They shouldn’t be.” Vic asserted stubbornly. “If their kids got arrested, that’s not your fault. They shouldn’t have been involved in the burglaries to begin with!”

  “I know… but that’s not the way they feel. As far as they’re concerned… it’s almost like I’m the one who coerced them into a life of crime.”

  “Stupid. If they were my kids, I wouldn’t be protecting them and giving them excuses for breaking the law and hurting other people.”

  Erin shrugged. “You can never tell what you would do in someone else’s situation.”

  “I know I wouldn’t condone my family members breaking the law.”

  Erin looked at her for a minute. Vic’s brows grew closer together.

  “What?”

  “I was just thinking about Jeremy. And about the rest of your family being involved with the Jackson clan.”

  Vic’s face flushed. “I wasn’t talking about that.”

  “I know. But is it that different?”

  “I don’t know what Jeremy might or might not have done. If he was mixed up in something when he first came here… well, I don’t know exactly what it was. And I don’t want to know. He’s clean now, right? He’s an honest, law-abiding citizen here in Bald Eagle Falls. He’s left whatever clan stuff behind.”

  “As far as you know.”

  “Yes.”

  “And if he’s still involved in some illegal activity? Would you go to the police if you suspected something?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I would… probably talk to him first, find out what was going on. See if there was a way to get him back on the right track…”

  Erin nodded. “And the rest of your family? What have your dad and other brothers been involved in?”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t—”

  “And you don’t want to know,” Erin finished. “You mean, kind of like those families whose kids were involved in the burglaries? You want them to stop, but not to have to go to prison for it.”

  “The school kids aren’t going to get sent to prison.”

  “Some of them will. The ones who were old enough. Or violent enough.”

  Vic stared off into space. “I can see them being upset about what happened and wanting to get back at you somehow.”

  “Yeah. But by kidnapping Joshua? Why wouldn’t they do something to hurt or scare me directly? Joshua wasn’t the one who got them arrested.”

  Chapter 32

  It seemed like a long time had passed. Joshua didn’t know how long he had been asleep or passed out. He didn’t like being awake. It was tedious and painful, and he ended up lying there for hours just waiting for something to happen. It was better if he could escape to unconsciousness as quickly as possible. He didn’t have to worry about the pain and the fever. He didn’t have to worry about the long periods of boredom.

  “Joshua. I brought food.”

  Even before his captor said the magic words, Joshua’s senses were coming alive, telling him that there was food in the area. Making him start to salivate like a wild animal. Food, food, food!

  Josh sat up as well as he could and blinked his eyes, rubbing them on his shoulders, trying to wake up as quickly as possible.

  The shadowy figure sat again on the edge of the bed and worked the lid off of a plastic container. As soon as the seal was broken, Joshua’s stomach hurt with the smell of the chicken soup. He wanted and needed it so badly.

  “Thank you,” he breathed. “That smells wonderful. Thank you so much.”

  He tried to wipe the unsightly drool away from his mouth. But despite how dehydrated he was, the saliva continued to gush.

  The shadowy figure pulled out a spoon and dipped it into the warm, fragrant broth. He brought it up to Joshua’s lips. Joshua greedily slurped it. He had a hundred things he wanted to tell his captor at once. How wonderful it was, how he never needed to eat anything else, if he would just keep bringing the chicken soup. How it tasted like what his grandmother used to make with homemade noodles in it. Josh was transported back to her kitchen, always full of delightful simmering soups, baking bread, jams and preserves and pickles.

  But he didn’t say anything to start with, slurping the soup off of the spoon as quickly as it could be lifted to his mouth.

  Eventually, the spoon started to slow. Joshua could hear it scraping the bottom of the bowl. His captor scraped up as much of the remaining liquid as he could and offered it to Joshua.

  “It’s so good,” Joshua said. “Just like my baba used to make.”

  “It’s not your baba’s recipe,” the figure hissed.

  “No. I didn’t mean that. I just mean… it reminds me. It’s so good. It makes me think of all of those days helping her when I was little. We would go there in the fall. Mom would make Campbell and me help get all of the garden produce put up for the winter. We were good at it. And Dad too. He was always good at cooking.”

  “But now it’s just you. You’re the only one who is left of your family.”

  Joshua bit his scabby, dry lip. He wanted to protest that his dad and Campbell were not dead, they just weren’t at home anymore. Joshua wasn’t the only one left. He wasn’t even the only one left in the house. His mom was there too. He had always loved her, wanted to tell her all of his successes and to hear her praise. He knew that she didn’t give praise like some of the other moms did, always telling their kids that they were so smart and talented at everything. No one was talented at everything. Joshua knew that when his mother said he had done a good job of something, he really had. She didn’t make stuff up or gush. The slightest word of approval from her meant that he’d done a stellar job.

  “Soon, you won’t have to be here anymore.”

  Josh cocked his head and blinked his eyes. Because he was being let go? Or because he was going to die? He was glad that his captivity was coming to an end, no matter which way it was.

  He just hoped that his mom would be okay.

  Chapter 33

  The ladies’ tea had been a quiet and somber affair. Usually, there was lots of visiting and laughter. The women enjoyed getting together on their day of rest to just sit and relax and have a cup of tea together and talk. They shared what had happened during the week, any gossip that hadn’t yet been shared and rehashed, and expectations for the coming week. A nice way to end the week.

  But with Joshua still missing, and people now believing that he really might have been kidnapped rather than just running away, people didn’t want to smile or laugh too much. Mary Lou wasn’t there, and they talked about her in hushed tones. All of the disasters that had befallen her family in recent years. She really didn’t deserve to have something else like that.

  Charley was assisting Erin. The ladies’ tea was a bit early for her, but she made it when she was needed. Vic was, Erin assumed, in the city to run errands, maybe to attend the LGBT-friendly church there, or maybe she had gone to do some spelunking, or visit a mine with Willie. She hadn’t said what her exact plans were, but that was generally how she spent Sundays off.

  Most of the women had started to wrap it up and say their goodbyes. A couple had left already. Erin collected teacups as they were finished, wiping down the tables as she went.

  The bells on the door jingled. Erin looked up to see if someone had forgotten a purse or if Terry had come to help her with clean-up. He sometimes did if he wanted to go somewhere together.

  She was surprised to see Mary Lou in the doorway. The low buzz of goodbyes between the ladies who remained in the bakery ceased. Everyone was quiet, looking at Mary Lou.

  She nodded and smoothed non-existent wrinkles in her pantsuit self-consciously. She forced a smile and a few hellos.

  “Yes, nice to see you…” she murmured to no one in particular. She was looking toward Erin. Not directly at her, eyes kept low, but it was clear that it was Erin she was there to see.

  “Hi, Mary Lou,” Erin greeted warmly. “It’s good to see you.”

  She waited for the other ladies to vaca
te the bakery, but they hung around as if they wanted to see what was going to happen next.

  “That’s it for the day,” Charley said loudly. “We need to close up shop. See you on Monday. Sale on blueberry muffins.” She made motions to shoo everyone out.

  The women renewed their goodbyes and reluctantly left Auntie Clem’s.

  “Old vultures,” Charley muttered as she shut the door behind them and flipped the sign over to ‘closed.’

  “Thanks,” Erin told her.

  “Yeah, no trouble. You just need to speak up. Don’t be so worried about offending people.”

  “I have to think about that,” Erin protested. “If I want to keep people’s business, I need to stay in their good books.”

  “Not as much as you think you do,” Charley said firmly. “You’re the only bakery in town. If they don’t want to pick up mushy bread at the grocery store or drive into the city, you’re the only game in town. So stop acting like people will stop coming if you tell them it’s closing time.”

  Erin shrugged, knowing that Charley was probably right. Erin was too much of a people-pleaser. She had grown up trying to keep her various foster parents happy, trying to read every tiny change of expression and to understand all of the unwritten rules. It hadn’t always been easy to make friends at new schools and to fit in with families or cliques that had been formed years before. Charley hadn’t had to worry about stuff like that. She didn’t understand how precarious relationships could be.

  “I’ll wash up in back, you can take care of things out here,” Charley offered. She grabbed the last of the teacups and trays and took them into the kitchen.

  Erin turned to Mary Lou. She wanted to hug her and ask how she was doing, but Mary Lou had always been cool. Even when they were getting along, Erin wouldn’t have dared hug her without a clear invitation.

  “Hi.”

  Mary Lou looked around. She’d been in Auntie Clem’s many times before. There wasn’t exactly anything to comment on. “The tea went well?”

  “Pretty quiet today.” Erin didn’t say that people were worried about Joshua and Mary Lou. She would know that without Erin having to twist the knife.

  “I see. And you are doing well? Where is Victoria today?”

  “In the city, I think. She goes to church there.”

  “When she goes to church.”

  “She goes pretty regularly.” Erin didn’t want Mary Lou judging Vic to be less of a Christian because she didn’t get to church every single week like most of the Baptist ladies. Mary Lou’s opinion of Vic was already low enough.

  “Does she.”

  Mary Lou again looked like she was searching for something to talk about. What was Erin supposed to do? Ask her about Joshua? Ask her why she had come? There was no clear path for the conversation to follow.

  Erin looked away from Mary Lou, out the front window of the bakery. It was a beautiful day. Clear blue sky. Before long, Terry would probably be coming to pick her up.

  “I owe you an apology,” Mary Lou said finally. She was a plainspoken woman and she didn’t try to weasel out of it. “I shouldn’t have blown up at you over the fortune cookie. It wasn’t anything to do with you.”

  Erin shrugged. “Well, they were my cookies. You knew that.”

  “But you weren’t the one who put it in there. I should have gotten more information before assuming that it was your fault.”

  Erin looked at her curiously, wondering what it was that had made Mary Lou change her mind. “I would never do anything to hurt you. And something like that… it was cruel.”

  “And I should have known that isn’t the kind of person you are. I jumped to conclusions without thinking about what kind of a person you are or whether my conclusion was reasonable. I was hurt and I just lashed out.” Mary Lou gave herself no quarter. “That was the wrong thing to do. I know better.”

  “You’re going through a terrible time. It’s understandable.”

  “That does not excuse it.”

  “Then… I accept your apology.” Erin looked at Mary Lou directly. “How are you managing?”

  Mary Lou shook her head. “Not well.”

  “The police are investigating who it was that had my order for the fortunes changed. Maybe that will lead somewhere.”

  “Officer Stayner told me that. But… it probably won’t lead anywhere. Who knows if it was even the same person, or if it was just someone who wanted to… hurt me.”

  “The order was changed before Joshua disappeared.”

  Mary Lou’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “So it had to be the same person, or an accessory.”

  The older woman nodded slowly.

  “Have they told you anything else?” Erin asked. “About their progress, I mean. Whether they have found anything. Actual evidence.”

  “They won’t say very much to me. I don’t know whether it is because parents are always suspects in their children’s abductions or just because they are playing things close to the vest.”

  “You’re not a suspect.”

  Mary Lou leveled a stare at her. “Of course I am. How many parents have tried to cover up violence they have done to their children by saying they were abducted?”

  “But Josh isn’t a two-year-old. If you had done something to him, he would have fought back.” But even as Erin said it, she knew it wasn’t necessarily true. There were plenty of reasons for teens to stay quiet when they were being abused. Domestic violence victims learned to keep quiet—even adults. There were women and men killed by their partners every day. The police department couldn’t overlook those statistics just because they knew the spouse or parent. However reasonable and nice people seemed in public, you never knew what happened behind closed doors.

  “Do you have any idea who it was?” Erin asked.

  “I wish I did. I’m afraid that I’m not the easiest person to get along with. I’m sure I have offended many people over the years.”

  “But people who would kidnap your child? That’s a pretty severe consequence.”

  “I suppose it is. But I don’t know who it was. I can’t think of anybody in my life, in Bald Eagle Falls, who would do such a thing.”

  Despite her feelings about the gossip and the secrets in Bald Eagle Falls, Erin had to agree. That level of violence seemed extreme. Yes, they had seen more than their fair share of crime since Erin had arrived in Bald Eagle Falls, but that had mostly been related to the Plaints and to organized crime. And those had been cleaned up. There wasn’t any reason to suspect that they were still operating in Bald Eagle Falls.

  Except that a boy had been kidnapped.

  “I wish we could just rewind,” Erin said with a sigh. “I wish we could just go back in time and stop this from happening.”

  “I would do things differently,” Mary Lou asserted. “I would keep a better eye on him. I would pay more attention to what he was doing for school, and that he wasn’t getting into any trouble. I thought that after he was questioned by the police about the burglaries, when he was released, that he would be safe. But what if one of the kids who were involved thought that he had informed on them?”

  “And they did this… to get back at him?” Erin thought about that. “Or to keep him from being able to testify in court?”

  “They must have, don’t you think?” Mary Lou asked. “People knew that he had been questioned by the police. When they started to make arrests, they thought that he had something to do with it.”

  “Right. I guess that’s possible.”

  “What else?” Mary Lou demanded. “What else could I have done?”

  “I’m not sure there’s anything else you could have done. You can’t protect someone twenty-four hours a day. Even if you had been awake and someone came into the house, how would you stop them from taking Joshua?”

  Mary Lou looked at Erin, frowning.

  “What?” Erin asked, disconcerted.

  “You really don’t think that I had anything to do with it.”


  “No. Why would I?”

  “Because I’m the most likely suspect. Especially with the notes pointing in other directions. Why would anyone want to implicate you? The only person who would want to implicate you would be someone who wanted attention distracted from themselves. And that would be me. Family members. Spouses and parents,” Mary Lou said bitterly.

  “I don’t know why someone would want to misdirect attention to me. I assumed… that was for your benefit. Someone wanted you to think it was me. That I had… done something that had caused harm to Joshua.”

  “Why?”

  Erin sat on one of the chairs that had been vacated by the ladies from First Baptist and motioned Mary Lou to take another. After a hesitation, Mary Lou sat down.

  “If that first note hadn’t had my name on it, then who would you have suspected?”

  “I have no idea. Just like I have no idea now. Maybe the parents of the other kids. Maybe… someone that Campbell was in trouble with.”

  “But you wouldn’t have suspected me of having anything to do with it.”

  “No. You’re not the first person I would have suspected of kidnapping Joshua.”

  “I didn’t know anything about it.” Even though Mary Lou said that she didn’t suspect Erin, she wanted to be clear that she hadn’t known about it or had anything to do with whoever had decided to take Joshua.

  “No,” Mary Lou agreed. She closed her eyes and massaged the worried creases in between them. “Nothing to do with it. It was a diversion.”

  Erin nodded. She tried to imagine what Mary Lou’s day would have looked like without that note on the paper.

  Chapter 34

  “Did you ever read Joshua’s article?”

  Mary Lou gave her head a little shake. “Maybe sometime… but I couldn’t bear to now. It would just be too hard.”

  “Did the police look at it?”

  “I’m sure they must have. They wanted to know everything Joshua was doing. Where he had been, how he was doing at school. I told them about him going to Whitewater Junction to do interviews, all of that.”