“You killed Annabelle. And you stand there threatening cats and hitting children and tossing orders around like Josh and I have something to do with all this. Like it’s somehow our fault Del’s missing!” My voice saturated the street. “Back off. Back off, or you’ll never find Del. Whatever the hell it is that you think she has will disappear for good. I’ll make sure of it.”
Josh gave a sharp intake of breath from his spot on the porch, a vote that I’d gone too far.
Carl stiffened, his face tightening hard and his eyes narrowing, a bird of prey eyeing his next meal. “Annabelle? It had a name? It was a chicken. A stupid chicken at that. She didn’t even try to get away. Run over to the Piggly Wiggly and pick out a fryer. They’re on special this week.”
Pick out a fryer? “You bastard.” I spit the words his way without thinking.
Now I really had gone too far. For a few seconds, Carl’s anger crackled like an electrical charge, and if Tellico hadn’t been standing guard, I think he would have lunged at me. I stood my ground, but that was only because I was too afraid to run.
The next moment, as if throwing an invisible switch, Carl’s face relaxed into normalcy, once again a calm businessman, his fury stuffed inside. His screechy laugh made my skin crawl, the abrupt transformation even more unsettling than his anger.
“You’ve got more snap than your sister, I’ll give you credit. But don’t get too damn cocky. I can always find you when I want to. You and Josh both.”
A ball of ice settled deep in my belly, the cold radiating outward to chill my skin. Any sensible person would leave it at that, but the question that had consumed me for two full days took this moment to ignore common sense and make itself known. “At the cabin—back home—you said you manipulated Sawyer into doing something. What did you mean?”
I held my breath, afraid the question would set him off again, but he seemed to relish the opportunity to brag.
“You three always thought you were so much better than me—you and Sawyer and Del. But you were the real fools. That night of the wreck? While you and your precious Sawyer were trying to get Del to stop screaming, I found a bag of cash and a gun in that wrecked car and liberated them. That’s why I couldn’t let Sawyer call the police. The fact the gun freaked you out was just an unexpected bonus. The three of you were so twisted you didn’t even notice I was carrying a bag I didn’t have when you picked me up. That bag held thirty thousand dollars, more money than I’d ever seen before. That money is what backed the start of my current enterprise.”
That explained a lot. “And Sawyer?”
Carl opened his mouth, then closed it, and I got the sense he was deciding he needed to be a little more cautious in what he admitted. “That original funding source wasn’t going to last forever. The bag of money also contained a key, and Sawyer turned out to be able to put it to good use.”
I kept my face blank. Steven had told me about the bank theft—Carl had to be talking about a safe deposit key. He didn’t know I knew anything about it, and I was happy to keep it that way.
Carl rattled on. “I backed Sawyer into a corner, and he helped me out. I had high hopes it was the start of a long and interesting partnership, but the idiot nose-dived into the Gulf. What a tragedy.” Carl’s smirk belied his words.
He shook himself. “Enough with the ancient history. You’d better get busy. I’ve got more important things to do than to keep chasing after you.”
He came down the front steps, and I had to step aside to let him pass, dragging Tellico along with me. Standing so near him made me think of land mines and rumbling volcanoes and tectonic plates under massive tension. I’d never met a person so calm on the surface but so primed for explosion.
His half smile, his relaxed shoulders, the confident way he walked was all fake, an act he must have practiced for years, but he was careful to give Tellico plenty of room as he made his way down the walkway.
I turned as he headed toward the street, keeping my eye on him, and Josh joined me.
Carl paused when he was halfway to the curb. “Call me when you find her. Better yet, get her to hand over the two thousand eighty-milligram tabs she took. Or the money she got from selling them. I hired her to deliver across town, not to disappear with it.”
In a single heartbeat, the shreds of anger that were still supporting me disappeared, replaced once again by overwhelming fear. I knew Carl was playing for high stakes, but I hadn’t envisioned anything on this scale. He receded from view, down the street, but I was too stunned to watch where he went.
Two thousand eighty-milligram tablets of some sort of opiate? A street value of more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. No wonder Carl was pissed. No wonder he’d chased Josh across the state on the off chance he’d lead him to Del. We were in even worse trouble than I’d thought.
What the hell had Del been thinking?
I sank onto the front steps, and Josh thudded down beside me. His face was sheet-white, except for the red mark on his cheek where he’d been hit. Del, you idiot. I put an arm around Josh’s shoulders, but I could think of nothing to say. We were caught in the middle with no easy way out.
Patsy crept out from the bushes and crawled into Josh’s lap, keeping a close eye on Tellico as she snuggled in. Josh patted her automatically, but none of the tension ebbed from his body.
“How’s the face?”
“I jerked back when I saw his arm coming my way. It’s not too bad.”
“Risky, jumping in like that.”
He turned to face me, indignant. “I couldn’t let him hurt Patsy.”
“I know. You were faster than I was. I would have done the same.”
So, what now? Even after this latest episode, after seeing another example of Carl’s violence and discovering the extent of his investment, I couldn’t just walk away. I’d already thrashed through the reasons I felt obligated to look for Del, but now I had to add another one: my own damn pride. If I let fear drive me into hiding, I’d never be able to look myself in the mirror again.
And I needed to find a way to make Carl pay for his evil. I couldn’t do that if I disappeared into the mountains.
Josh gave a long shuddering sigh, and I belatedly realized he was close to tears.
“It’ll be okay.” I didn’t believe it. I knew he didn’t believe it either. “We’ll find your mom. We’ll get things settled.”
Josh gave an impatient shake of his head. “No. You don’t get it. All of this is my fault. All of it.”
“Don’t be silly …” I stumbled to a halt. He looked so stricken, so convinced, it felt cruel to shrug off his distress. “Tell me. How is this your fault?”
Josh wiped his nose with the back of his hand and looked at me with red-rimmed eyes. “Carl used to hang out at The Lantern, and some days I’d see him on my way home from school. He’d say hi, and he acted nice, and he had expensive clothes and a new car, and I thought he would be better than some of the guys Mom went out with.”
He paused. I waited for him to pull himself together enough to keep going.
“So, one day, I pointed him out to Mom. I thought he’d be a step up; I didn’t know they already knew each other. And then they started dating … and Mom just got more and more pills … and now Mom is missing … and Annabelle … and Patsy …” He couldn’t go any further.
I gave him a major hug. Maybe a hug for him. Maybe for me. Holding on tight to someone at least stopped my insides from shaking.
Josh gulped his way into some semblance of composure.
“Look, Josh, none of this is your fault. Del and Carl made their own choices.”
“But if I hadn’t …”
“No buts. You can’t take responsibility for someone else’s decisions.”
Easier said than done.
We sat there a while longer in silence, the evening’s shadows creeping their way up the street, softening the decrepit details. Even the neighbor’s Doberman was quiet for a change.
“So,” Josh said a
t last. “Maybe one good thing about Colorado is it’s a long way away from Carl.”
I squeezed his shoulder. Indeed.
A proper aunt probably would have talked about emotional issues for another hour, tried to offer better support than what he could glean from petting a stray cat. But I was exhausted, and I was no kind of proper aunt. “What about ordering in some pizza?”
He shook his head as if thinking about food was ridiculous, but perhaps he was as eager as I was to avoid tough topics for a while, because after a minute he pulled out his phone. “Pepperoni for me and a veggie special for you?”
“Sounds good.”
He tapped away. “Delivery in forty-five minutes.”
Ordering the pizzas took Josh thirty seconds, probably a standing account linked to Del’s magic credit card. How often had he been here with a foodless kitchen, ordering in to eat a lonely dinner with his video games?
CHAPTER TWELVE
Bryn
We headed inside. Josh settled on the couch and grabbed his game controller, either back to normal or making a valiant attempt to fake it. Probably faking—he was still occasionally rubbing his cheek with a deep scowl.
“I’m going to make a few phone calls.” Best to do it while he was occupied. “Give a shout when the pizza gets here.”
“Yeah, okay.” Spaceships already filled the television screen.
I went into the kitchen, pulled one of the beers out of the fridge, and pressed the ice-cold metal can to my forehead for a long moment. Opened it and took a deep swallow. If Del had stocked any whiskey, I would have reached for that instead.
Carl. A hundred and fifty thousand dollars. We were totally, totally, totally screwed.
I dialed Steven and was fortunate enough to catch him still on duty and at his desk.
“Nothing new to report on Del, I’m afraid.” Loud voices echoing in the background were overlaid with chewing sounds. I could practically smell the Juicy Fruit. “Nothing has come back on either your sister or her car. Did you learn anything in Memphis?”
“No luck here, I’m afraid.” I didn’t want to say anything about drugs but didn’t like the blatant lie. “Well, maybe a glimmer of something. I’m going to keep following up, and I’ll let you know if I learn anything definite.” There, that was a little better.
“Any information about your sister’s activities can help, but remember, this is a police matter.” There was a pause. “So … about Carl Griffith.” His voice was much quieter, and I had to concentrate to make out his words. “I reached out to a buddy of mine on the Memphis force. The unofficial belief is that the reason Griffith hasn’t been found guilty on his various charges is because of witness intimidation.”
My nerves were so fried, I almost laughed out loud. Carl? Intimidating? Yeah, no kidding.
“Watch your step,” Steven continued. “Stay clear of trouble. I’ll keep working on tracking your sister. I’ll let you know what we learn.”
“Stay out of trouble.” Good advice, but it felt like it was coming a little too late.
We traded another set of empty promises to connect at the lake someday, and I hung up.
I called Landon next and caught him as he was checking the goats. “Bryn, you wouldn’t believe how fast these twins are growing. I’ll send a video clip of them playing chase. Josh will love it. How’s everything going? Is everything okay?”
No, everything was not okay. Del’s troubles closed in around me, and hearing about the goats kicked my homesickness into high gear. “Today has been a mixed bag. We had a nice afternoon hiking and canoeing, but that already feels like ages ago.”
I recounted Dave Bradford’s story and walked Landon through my reasons for thinking Del had gone to Aspen. His listening powers were just as strong over the phone as they were in person, and I shared all the details.
“I’m sorry to hear that Del seems pretty far gone.” Landon paused, and I could picture him by his barn, leaning against a fence post, thinking. “Do you believe her drug use is connected to why Carl is looking for her?”
“Yeah, that’s the really bad news of the day. Carl was waiting for Josh and me when we got back here. It turns out Del stole two thousand tablets of some sort of opiate from him. That’s what he wants back.” I told him what Carl had said and done. When I got to the part where Carl stared at his lighter, I stumbled over my words. Just thinking about that scene tossed me back there, watching his disturbing fascination with the fire.
“Bryn, I don’t like the sound of any of this. He hurt Josh and he could have hurt you. Do you really have to go all the way out to Colorado?”
The way he said it made it sound like Colorado was on the other side of the planet, but I wouldn’t have expected anything different. I’d confessed my whitewater fears to him, and he’d shared the terror of being lost for hours on crowded city streets when he was five and on a family vacation. “I know it’s not rational to hang on to those fears,” he’d admitted, “but my brain won’t let it go.”
I knew plenty about irrational fears. “Yes, I need to go. She’s my sister. I can’t walk away and abandon her to Carl. And I can’t leave Josh without a mother. Is there any way you can keep things going at home for a while longer? The way Carl was acting today, he’s capable of anything. It will take two days to drive out to Aspen, and heaven knows how long to search.”
Assuming I could even figure out exactly where to look. The hopelessness of what I was proposing hit me all over again, filling me with doubts.
“It’s not a problem.” Landon’s calm voice made me believe it. “Everything’s fine. Do what you have to, and I’ll keep close watch here. If you don’t give it your best shot, it’s going to haunt you forever.”
He was right. I had to keep going. By the time we finished, I almost believed I was on a reasonable path.
The next call I had to make wasn’t going to be nearly so uplifting.
I punched the number on my phone. Tensed when, this time, it was answered right away. “Hi, Mom. It’s Bryn.”
I leaned against the tiny kitchen counter and braced myself for barbs. She was usually quick to tell me everything I was doing wrong. I generally responded with criticisms of my own, and we usually ended our phone chats with mutual sighs of relief.
I had hoped time would shift her attitude toward me—look Mom, straight A’s, a successful tech career, a life I love—but none of those checkboxes mattered in the least. Her latest campaign was that she wanted me married. Preferably with children. Not out of any grandmotherly intention, but simply because in her mind, having children was a woman’s destiny, and I wasn’t toeing the line. She thought I should be working a standard nine-to-five job in a nice clean office, not spending my time in mud and manure, and she didn’t hesitate to say so on a regular basis. I told myself to accept her chronic disappointment and move on, but every phone call rubbed ground glass into the raw patches.
Mom jumped right in, no hello, no how-are-you, no acknowledgment that she’d ignored my multiple voice mails. “Did you know Suzie Collin’s daughter just got engaged? I talked to Beverly last week and …”
I could picture her surrounded by embroidered pillows on her ancient sofa, her feet propped on a hassock, a coffee mug and ashtray at her side. The curtains would be closed tight to block any glare on the television screen, and a low-wattage lamp in the corner would provide enough light to avoid tripping, but not enough to read by. I could hear some sort of talk show blaring in the background. Since Dad’s death decades before, the TV never had a chance to cool down.
I zoned out. If she thought listing other people’s successes hurt me, she was dead wrong. I tuned that shit out long ago. Or at least that’s what I told myself.
It took about five minutes for the stream of pointless news to pause. When the break came—a break probably prompted by the fact she was reaching for a cigarette and fumbling for the lighter—I jumped in. “Mom, I need to ask you something. What do you know about the way Sawyer died?”
&
nbsp; A normal person would have been surprised at my question. Asked why I was interested after so many years of silence. She asked nothing. I was certain she hadn’t even blinked.
“Well, he was in that tiny plane—what do you expect? He flew way out over the Gulf, called for help, and disappeared. That was that.”
I’d been surprised when I first heard Sawyer had taken up flying. His interests had always centered on the outdoors. But after a day in this stifling apartment, seeing how Del lived, I thought I understood. Alone in the sky. Able to travel hundreds of miles at a time. A bird’s-eye view of a distant world below with no clutter, no traffic, nobody to hassle him. Each flight must have permitted a temporary escape from a life that trapped him.
“Did they find the plane?”
“Oh yes. Well, pieces of it. The Coast Guard found floating bits a few days later.”
“And a body?”
“No. They didn’t really expect to. Such a tragedy. So hard on your poor sister. She’s had such a difficult life, losing her sweet husband in such an awful way, with a two-year-old to take care of and not even any life insurance money. I’m always telling that nice Mrs. Wilson next door how proud I am of the way she’s carried forward.”
I could feel an all-too-familiar tension knotting the back of my neck. “Have you heard from Del lately?”
“No. Not for several months. I sent her a check for her birthday in April, and she cashed it.”
Of course, she did. How much of the money I sent Mom each month ended up passed along to Del for drug buys?
“Well, Mom, I’m actually in Memphis. Like I said in my message, Del has taken off, and I’m with Josh.”
Again, any sort of normal reaction would at least involve some surprise that Del was missing and that I was in the same place as my nephew, but normal had never been the baseline state in my family. “Oh my. I’m sure everything is fine. You know Del has always been adventurous.”
“Yes, well, I need to head out of state to look for her. I wondered if I could bring Josh to your place for a visit while I’m gone. Shouldn’t be for too long, maybe a week or so.”
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