“No,” Linnet said, and pulled on the door handle. “We’d better go check.”
Myna grabbed her arm. “Maybe we shouldn’t get out.”
She hesitated, staring through the windshield, trying to see through the small beams of light.
“I only see one car,” Myna said. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
Linnet looked at the road behind her. A few more miles and they would’ve made it over the mountain to where the college boys and partying awaited. It felt like a test, a turning point in her short life: keep going and be the fun, free-spirited girl she longed to be, or stay and do what she knew was right. “We should get out and see if we can help,” she said. She reached across Myna and opened the glove box, grabbing the flashlight Pop had put there for emergencies.
They stepped out of the car, meeting by the front bumper of their Honda coupe. They reached for each other like they always had, linking arms. The light from the Honda’s headlights bounced through their legs as they walked closer to the overturned car. Myna pushed against Linnet’s side, gripping her tightly. Her sister’s breath touched her cheek. Fear emanated from her body. The smell of burning rubber stung the air, or maybe it was the scent of a hot engine or leaking antifreeze. It was darker than pitch, and the small flashlight coupled with their car’s high beams weren’t enough to pierce it.
“Do you see anyone?” Myna asked.
“Hello!” Linnet called. “Is anybody there? Can you hear me? Do you need help?”
Rustling sounds came from the woods on their right. Linnet swung the flashlight in the direction of the noise, lighting up the trees and brush. Her heart pounded in her ears. “It must’ve been an animal.”
“What if it’s a bear?” Myna asked.
“It’s not a bear. It was probably just a squirrel or raccoon or something.”
“What if it’s a skunk?”
“Would you stop? You’re not helping.”
Something fluttered behind them.
Linnet whipped around. “It’s just a goose,” she said, relieved, clutching her chest. “Come on.” She shined the flashlight back onto the overturned car. Myna squeezed her arm more firmly. They inched closer. Glass crackled underneath their sneakers. A cool breeze blew.
“Hello,” she said again. “We’re here to help if you need it.”
“I’m scared,” Myna said as they got closer to the driver’s side door.
Linnet shined the light in the front seat. Blood was splattered on the window. They stepped closer and peered in as best they could, but they didn’t see anyone inside. Linnet noticed more blood smeared across the blacktop at her feet. She traced the stain with the small beam of light.
Someone moaned.
“There.” Myna pointed a few feet away from them. Linnet followed with the light. Not far from the front of the car a man lay on his stomach. Neither sister moved for several long seconds, so frightened by what they saw.
“Are you hurt?” Linnet asked, knowing it was a stupid question. Of course he was hurt. “Is anyone with you?” She shined the light back on the car, looking for signs of a passenger. She didn’t see anyone else.
“I’m going to get the phone,” Myna said, and unraveled her arm from Linnet’s. Pop had given them a cell phone for emergencies. The cost had set him back, but he’d said he’d never get any sleep knowing they were out there somewhere without any way to contact him if they needed to.
While Myna made her way back to the car, Linnet stared at the man on the ground. She shined the light on his legs. He was wearing jeans. His feet were bare. His white T-shirt was smudged with dirt. A puddle of blood pulled around his mouth and neck. His brown hair was stained black from a cut by his temple. He moaned again, the sound gurgling from somewhere deep inside his throat. She took a small step closer, leaning forward to get a better look, to offer comforting words, to tell him that her sister went to get their phone. They’d call for help. But something stopped her. She’d seen him before, recognized the gold ring on his left pinky finger.
She stood up straight, her spine rigid. Her breathing came in rapid bursts.
Myna rushed back with the phone. “My hands are shaking too much. You do it,” she said, and shoved the phone at Linnet.
Linnet ignored her sister as she tried to push the phone into her hand. Her nostrils flared, and despite the cool air, the gentle breeze rustling the leaves, she was sweating.
“Here, take it,” Myna said about the phone.
The man continued to moan.
When Linnet still didn’t take it, Myna said, “Fine, I’ll do it myself.”
“Does he look familiar to you?”
“What?” Myna asked.
“Do you recognize him?”
Myna leaned in, clinging to her sister’s arm for support as though she were afraid of falling on top of him.
“Well?”
“Oh, my god.” Myna turned toward her.
Linnet’s insides burned. If he wasn’t on the side of the road bleeding, she might’ve spit on him.
“What are we going to do?” Myna whispered.
Linnet knew what she wanted to do, and it wasn’t anywhere close to doing what was right.
Myna pushed the phone at her again. “We have to,” she said. “Take it.”
“No,” Linnet said, batting her sister’s hand away, knocking the phone to the ground, sending it skidding across the road.
“Now look what you’ve done!” Myna dropped to her knees, her hands frantically searching the macadam.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Myna focused on Linnet’s face the entire time her sister talked. Her sister’s monotone voice belied the trembling of her lips, the remorse reflecting in her eyes; all the while she told Jake the events as she remembered them. When Linnet’s gaze drifted to her lap, Myna understood her sister had taken it as far as she could. It was up to Myna to finish it.
“You didn’t call for help?” Jake asked. His face was pale. He remained still, unmoving, as though he were frozen to his seat.
“We didn’t call for help,” she said.
“What did you do then?” Jake asked. “You had to have done something. You couldn’t have just left him there.” His tone was weighted with disbelief, his face contorted into something like incredulity.
Myna clung to her sister’s hand. “We fought,” she said.
* * *
“Why did you do that?” Myna’s palms scraped the macadam, unable to see the little black phone in the dark. “Help me find it. We have to call someone.” She pulled herself up and yanked the small flashlight from Linnet’s hand. Her sister didn’t resist, just stood there, motionless, staring where the man lay on the side of the road. He’d stopped moving, or moaning, or whatever it was he’d been doing when they’d first found him.
“We have to go,” Linnet said.
“What? No.” She shined the light all around, knowing it was futile. How could she find something so small and dark on the blackest of nights?
Linnet grabbed Myna’s forearm and squeezed, her nails digging into Myna’s skin at the exact spot of her birthmark.
“We have to go,” Linnet said again. There was something frightening about her voice. “We have to go now,” she said, but there were so many more words she’d spoken in their private sister language. If they leave now, he won’t be able to take Mom away.
Linnet raced to their car. Myna hesitated. Maybe it was too late to save him anyway. But no. No. She could’ve sworn she heard him breathing, a faint feathery sound. He was breathing.
“Let’s go,” Linnet hollered.
Myna took two steps backward. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.” She turned and joined her sister.
Linnet started the engine and pulled away from the overturned vehicle. While Linnet concentrated on driving, navigating the windy road toward home, Myna held her stomach and rocked. Time became a hazy thing, thick, permeable, the cracks in her sister’s logic already fill
ing with doubt.
Finally, finally, they arrived home. Linnet pulled into the driveway, and they got out of the car. Their mother ran down the steps of the front porch. She was halfway across the yard when she stopped suddenly. Myna noticed a suitcase in her hand.
“Oh,” their mother said. It was clear who she was expecting, and it wasn’t them. “Oh.”
Silence fell between them. It buzzed in Myna’s ears, filling her head, absorbing her thoughts, extinguishing all words.
A strange noise erupted from their mother’s lips. It started softly, a hiccup kind of laughing sound growing gradually in volume. She started pulling bobby pins from her updo, the curls falling and bouncing, half up and half down, all around her head. Her laughter became harder, unpleasant. She turned then and slowly made her way back inside the house, leaving the awful din echoing in the night air.
Myna’s breathing was heavy, her underarms damp. She clung to Linnet, needing to anchor herself from the sinking feeling of hopelessness pressing on her shoulders.
She wasn’t aware of how long she stood clinging to her sister in the driveway. She didn’t remember walking to the side door. The lights in the guesthouse were turned on. Pop was busy working in his study, unaware of the events unfolding around him.
They crept through the kitchen and down the hall, pausing outside the master bedroom where they heard sobbing coming from inside.
“Come on,” Linnet said, and held Myna’s hand, leading her to their bedroom.
They lay on the bed, side by side in the dark room, their hips and elbows touching, their hands firmly clasped together. Myna smelled the sweat on her sister’s skin, the scent of nervous odor underneath her own arms.
“So it was true,” she whispered. “She was going to run away with him tonight. She was leaving us.”
After a long pause, Linnet said, “Well, she can’t now, can she?”
* * *
Myna let go of Linnet’s hand. She reached across the table to touch Jake’s arm to offer some kind of comfort. “I know this isn’t easy to hear,” she said.
“No, it’s not.” He pulled his arm away.
“I understand you’re angry,” Myna said. Why wasn’t Linnet saying anything? Her sister sat rigid in her seat, her spine straight.
“I don’t know what I am,” he said. His eyebrows knotted together. He seemed to be trying to reconcile everything they’d just told him.
“What do you plan on doing now that you know the truth?” Linnet asked. There was something hard in her tone.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I just don’t know what to make of all of this.”
“We understand,” Myna said. If she showed him some compassion, maybe he’d understand why they had done what they had. They’d been two scared kids who had made a terrible, awful mistake. If she could go back in time, she’d call 911, she’d stay until help had arrived. She had never been so sorry about anything than she was about this.
“Do you really understand?” he asked. “Do you really get what you both just told me?” His hands were in fists on top of the table. The vein in his neck bulged.
“I think you need some time,” Myna said. “Maybe we should go.” She stood.
Linnet hadn’t moved. “I want to know what you’re planning to do.”
Myna slipped her hand underneath Linnet’s arm. “Come on.” She attempted to pull her up. “Let’s give him some space.”
“What are you going to do, Jake?” Linnet asked, allowing Myna to lift her out of the chair. “We didn’t break any laws!” she hollered as Myna continued to pull her across the room and out the door.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Linnet tossed her purse and car keys onto the kitchen counter. She rubbed the back of her neck where a tension knot had formed. Ian’s car was in the driveway. Either he’d decided Hank should miss baseball practice or the rain had decided for him. She imagined Hank was in his room studying, although she doubted he could concentrate.
Myna came to stand beside her. Rain struck the garden window, pattered against the siding.
“We didn’t do anything illegal,” she said.
“Maybe not,” Myna said. “But what we did was still wrong.”
Linnet nodded.
They were quiet after that, listening to the rumble of thunder. Finally, Linnet gathered a deep breath and said, “I’m going to tell Ian. He has to hear it from me. I don’t want him to hear it from anyone else.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“No,” she said. “I have to tell him myself.”
“Tell me what?” Ian asked, stepping into the kitchen with a dour look on his face. His normal relaxed posture gone, the ropy muscles in his arms, in his entire body, were taut. Linnet rarely saw this side of her husband. She turned to confront him.
“I’m going to go to my room,” Myna said, and scurried out of the kitchen.
Ian shoved his hands in his pockets. “Why did you tell Charlie about Donna Cowell? I told you it was a rumor. Gossip. You don’t know whether it was true.”
“It just came out when he showed up to arrest Pop. I panicked. I had to do something.”
“Well, while you were off with your sister doing who knows what, I had a little visit from Donna.”
“She came here?”
“Yes.”
“Where was Hank?”
“I sent him to his room.”
“What did she say?”
“First, she said she hated me. And then she said I ruined her marriage.”
“Her marriage was already ruined if she was having an affair.”
“Maybe, but apparently, she’d broken it off with Professor Coyle that same day.”
She’d guessed right that the professor had stopped in town to see his mistress.
Ian continued. “But wait until you hear the best part. Both Donna and her husband were out of town that night for a family wedding. They have alibis.” He took his hands out of his pockets and tossed them in the air. “I have to work with her, Lin!”
“I was only trying to help Pop.”
“I get why you did it,” he said, and lowered his voice. “But why didn’t you come to me first? I mean, shit, I was ambushed.”
She went to him, put her hands on his chest, and rested her head on his beating heart. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have said anything without talking it over with you first.”
He stood motionless, unwilling to give in so easily.
She slipped her arms around his waist, clinging to him. “I didn’t mean to break your trust in me. I was just so scared for Pop.” Pop needed an alibi, and she’d pointed Charlie in a direction that she had no idea would lead to a dead end. What was she supposed to have done? She was trying to keep her family from falling apart.
He sighed heavily. “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s been a stressful few days.” He wrapped his arms around her. “But please don’t do it again.”
“I won’t, I promise.” She stayed tucked in his arms, his warmth, savoring it for as long as she could.
The rain continued tapping on the house like sticks on a drum. She pinched her eyes closed. She had to tell him the truth. It was now or never. “There’s something else you need to know.”
CHAPTER FORTY
“Thanks for calling me,” Myna said to Rodney. The LG wasn’t exactly crowded late at night, but some of the regulars hung around the bar, not willing to leave until last call. Jake was hunched over in a chair at the table in the corner of the room.
“He’s been sitting there all night since you left, not talking to anyone, drinking pitcher after pitcher. When I thought he’d had enough and refused to serve him anymore, he got up in my face about it.” He motioned to a few tables and chairs that were overturned. “A couple of the guys got a little protective and knocked him around a bit. He’s lucky I didn’t call the police.”
At the mention of the guys, some of them eyeballed her, sizing her up. They had to have recognized her as one of the doc’s
daughters.
“I’ll take care of it,” she said about Jake, picking up a chair that had fallen on the floor next to him and setting it upright.
Jake knocked it back over. “Leave it,” he said.
She set the chair upright again.
“I said leave it!” Jake yelled.
A couple of the guys from the bar turned around to stare at them.
“Get his things and get him out of here,” Rodney said.
One of the guys said, “How about we toss him out for you?”
Myna held up her hand. “That won’t be necessary. We’re leaving. Right, Jake?” She bent over, trying to get him to look at her. His head was buried in his arm. She placed her hand on his back. “Hey, Jake,” she said. “It’s time to go. Do you think you can walk?”
He lifted his head. He smelled of booze. His eyes were bloodshot, his left cheekbone red and swollen. It wouldn’t be long until it turned black-and-blue. Someone had hit him good. How dare they?
“It’s time to go,” she said again. It took all her strength not to confront the men at the bar who had roughed him up.
He tried to stand, holding his left shoulder where he might’ve taken another hit, or perhaps he’d fallen.
“I’ve got you,” she said, and helped him walk to the door that led upstairs to his room.
“Pack up his things,” Rodney said. “You can settle his bill later. Just get him out of here.”
She nodded and helped Jake up the stairs. She had a feeling Rodney was on their side, and his bravado was just for show in front of his regulars. Otherwise, he would’ve demanded payment for his room right then and there.
Jake leaned on her heavily, his sour breath hitting her in the face.
“You stink,” she said.
“Thank you.”
She laughed, imagining how ridiculous they must look trying to walk up the narrow staircase together. Once inside his room, he dropped onto the bed, folding his arms over his chest, as still as if he were in a coffin.
She smacked his shin. “Don’t you dare pass out on me. We have to get out of here, and I can’t carry you. Now, where’s all your stuff?”
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