by Peggy Dulle
As soon as we got in the car, they started yapping at me.
“I’m so glad that you’re going to come and work at the camp,” Lori said.
“And it’s really cool that you’re thinking about adopting a child,” Terri added.
“Well, we’ll see about both of those things.”
Before we ordered our burgers, I handed the manager Carl’s card. He smiled, whispered to the clerk and she took our order.
The air was crisp but we sat outside. Lori said she didn’t like to be confined in such a small building. Terri leaned over and whispered to me as we walked out the door. “She spent too much time cooped up in a car and now she prefers to sit outside.” She rolled her eyes. “No matter what the weather is like.”
“You’re a good friend to her.”
“We’ve been friends forever. I love her like a sister.”
Lori turned her head toward us. “Stop talking about me like I’m not here – and I love you like a sister, too, Terri.”
Both girls smiled at each other. Their affection was obvious. It was nice that they had each other.
During lunch, the girls talked mostly about school, their weird science teacher, and the boys they thought were cute. I’d forgotten what it was like to be with teenagers. I prefer the five year olds in my class. With them there was less giggling.
“So do you have a boyfriend?” Lori asked.
“I have someone that I’ve just started seeing, but I’m not sure if anything is going to become of it.”
“A new boyfriend, how exciting!” Terri said.
“What’s his name?”
“His name is Tom and he lives in Gainsville.” Maybe the name would ring a bell with Lori.
They looked puzzled. “Where’s that?” Lori asked.
“Up north.”
“In the snow?” Terri asked.
“By the snow.”
“I love the snow,” Terri said.
“I hate it!” Lori said. “Too cold!”
“I’m not much of a snow person, either,” I said. “I prefer to be warm.”
“I don’t like the cold, but I love the snow.” Terri swung her arms back and forth. “Making snow angels, skiing, drinking hot chocolate and having snowball fights.”
“Drinking hot chocolate I can relate to,” I said.
“Me too,” Lori agreed.
As we drove back to the camp, the girls continued their barrage of questions. I answered each one, and then asked one of my own. I talked a little about the people I’d met in Gainsville to see if Lori remembered anyone but was met with a blank stare. She did confirm a lot of the information that I’d read in her file at the judge’s office.
“So do you want a girl or a boy?” Terri asked.
“I don’t care. Just a healthy child, that’s what’s important.”
“I wasn’t healthy when I was adopted, but Mom and Dad took me anyway.”
“Your mom and dad are very special people.”
“Yeah, they are.”
“Do you have any happy memories from your childhood before you were adopted, Lori?”
“A few.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know why, but I remember ice cream and lots of it. My mom wasn’t the best of moms, but she loved ice cream, and even if we didn’t have money for food, we always got some.”
“Is your mom still alive?”
“No, she died. That’s why I was put into an orphanage and adopted.”
“I’m sorry about your mom.”
“That’s okay. I’m much better off now and I think she’d be happy knowing that. I remember she cried a lot and always promised me she’d stop drinking.”
“Do you remember much about your real dad?”
“Not really. My mom always told me he was working out of town. But now that I’m older, I understand she probably didn’t even know who he was. It was just her way of letting me hold onto the thought that he might come back.”
“Parents do that. You didn’t have any brothers or sisters?”
“No, it was just Mom and me.”
“And lots of ice cream.”
“Yeah.”
We pulled into a parking slot at my motel. The girls scrambled out, thanked me for taking them to lunch, and then went back to their rooms in the main building. I needed time to gather my thoughts about Jessie and Lori. There were quite a few similarities between the two, but the biggest difference was Todd. How could she have forgotten she had a brother?
Standing in front of my motel door were two of Carl’s goons. They didn’t even need their clown costumes – I knew exactly who they were.
“Hello, gentlemen.”
“Carl wants to see you.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Here I go again!
Chapter 23
I could tell they were trying to be polite, but it was hard for them. It was probably easier to just pick me up by the arms and drag me to Carl’s office.
As they walked along side of me, I felt weird. It was like having an escort, but I knew if I deterred from our destination, they’d pick me up by the arms and carry me again.
When we got to Carl’s office, Beverly was there. She was sitting behind his desk, working on the computer. I smiled and went in. “Carl wanted to see me.”
“Actually I was the one who asked Bruno and Oscar to find you and ask you to come here.”
I sat down in the chair in front of the desk. “What can I do for you?”
“We had a visitor today.”
“Who?”
“An ex-friend of yours.”
“Really? Who?”
“Tom Owens.”
“You’re kidding me. Tom is here?”
“Yes, he was looking for you.”
I laughed. “Probably wants me to change my mind about seeing him.”
“Probably.”
“Where is he now?”
“I sent him away. I told him I’d tell you that he’d stopped by and if you were interested in seeing him again, you’d call.”
“I’m not.”
“That’s what you said, but I wanted to leave the door open incase you changed your mind.”
“Not a chance, but do you think I should give him a call and make sure he gets the message that I’m not interested?”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“It might be with him. He’s such a control freak, you know.”
“I think he got the message.”
“Still, he can be stubborn. Would it be all right if I used this phone to call him? My cell phone just doesn’t work well in this canyon and I don’t want to have the conversation in the lobby of the motel.”
She hesitated. “I guess so.” She handed me the phone.
I dialed Tom’s cell phone. It rang and rang and then eventually went to voice mail. It never had done that before. I waited for the beep. “Hi Tom, this is Liza. Beverly told me that you stopped by today. I thought I made myself clear. I’m really not interested in pursuing a relationship with you. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t call or stop by to see me again. Thank you.” I hung up the phone and looked at Beverly. “Did that sound convincing enough? Do you think he’ll get the hint?”
“Yeah…” Her voice trailed off.
I got up. “Well, I’ll see you later. I’m going back to my motel room and write out a postcard to my sister.”
After leaving, I went to the roof of my motel and dialed Tom’s number again. Still no answer. I dialed the station in Gainsville.
“Sheriff’s Department.”
“May I speak with Tom Owens please?”
“He’s not here right now.”
“Can you tell me when he’ll be back?”
“I’m afraid not, Ma’am.”
“My name is Liza Wilcox…” I never got a chance to finish.
“Tom’s new lady friend?”
“Yes.”
“I guess it’s okay for me to tell y
ou. He got an email from someone and said he had to go out of town for a few days and check something out.”
“Did he say who he got the email from or where he was going?”
“The email was from someone named Justin. But he didn’t say where he was going.”
“Thanks.” I hung up and dialed Justin’s number.
“Hey, Teach.”
“Did you send that email to Tom?” Silence. “Justin, did you send the email with all the information to Tom?”
“Yeah. I know I was supposed to wait until something happened to you, but I didn’t like the sound of that. I wasn’t going to wait until I heard you’d been killed. Give me a break, Teach. I couldn’t live with that. I sent it right after I talked to you this morning.”
“Well, he came up to clown camp looking for me and now he’s not answering his cell phone.”
“Do you think the clowns did something to him?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m sorry, Teach. I was just afraid for you.”
“It’s okay, Justin. I shouldn’t have put you in the middle of this.”
“How can I help?”
“Is there anyway to figure out where he is from his cell phone?”
“No, not unless he answers it. But didn’t you say that your cell phone didn’t work in the canyon?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he’s either not in the canyon or he’s got a better cell phone than you. If his wasn’t working, calls would go directly to voicemail rather than ringing.”
“Is there any way to boost my cell phone so that I’d be able to use it in the canyon?”
“Sure, but it’s more complicated than you could handle. It would mean going to a Radio Shack and attaching several electronic components to your cell phone. It would be easier to buy a better phone.”
“There’s a place downtown. Would they have the type of phone that I’d need?”
“Since the town’s in the canyon, they probably would know exactly what you could use.”
“Perfect. I’m going downtown.”
“Keep me informed, Teach.”
“Okay.” I flew down the stairs, got into my car and drove downtown. The store was just closing.
“Hey.” I pounded on the glass.
The clerk came to the door. “We’re closed.”
“I’m going to be working up at the clown camp and I need a cell phone that I can make calls with in this stupid canyon.”
“You’re going to be working at the camp?”
Isn’t that what I just said? “Yes.”
He opened the door. Fifteen minutes and several hundred dollars later I had a phone that worked in the canyon. I drove back to the camp and dialed Tom’s number. It continued to ring. I didn’t leave a message, instead I just kept dialing.
If Tom was in danger, how could I help? I unlocked the glove compartment and got out the gun he’d given me. I wasn’t sure I could actually hit anything with it, but maybe it would scare someone. There weren’t any pockets in my clothes, so I put the gun in the waistband of my pants on my back. I might have felt like a real detective, except my hands were shaking and my stomach was churning. Then I slipped on a jacket from the backseat to hide the gun.
I wandered around the camp, dialing and listening for the ringing sound. If Tom was in the camp someplace, hopefully I’d be able to hear his phone ringing.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and I jumped.
Chapter 24
I slowly turned around, expecting to see Beverly’s goons again, but it was Terri.
“Sorry, Liza. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay.” I put the phone in my pocket. “What can I do for you?”
“Can we do that interview now?”
Now? With Tom possibly lying dead someplace? I didn’t have time for her, but I took a deep breath and settled my stomach. I’d give her a few minutes and then find an excuse to send her on her way. I smiled. “Of course.”
“I’ve gotten a lot of information about you from our conversations, but I have a few specific questions.”
We were passing the steps of the auditorium, so I sat down. “Ask away.”
“You never talk about your mom and dad. Do you have issues with them?”
“No, they’re dead.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
She frowned. “May I ask how they died?”
I told her the shortest version I could think of about my parent’s airplane accident. Then I stood up.
She stood up, too. “What did your parents do for a living?”
“My dad was a lawyer and my mom a school teacher.”
“Just like you.”
“Yeah.”
“My dad was a lawyer, too, but he doesn’t practice anymore. He and my mom run a small restaurant.”
“That sounds like more work than being a lawyer.”
“It is. I think that’s why I come to clown camp. If I was at home I’d be working at the restaurant and I do enough of that already.”
“Family businesses are like that. Everybody works in them.”
“Yeah.” She looked down at her notes. “Ready for the next question?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Where were you born?”
“San Francisco.”
“Wow, that’s cool. Did you grow up there?”
“No, my mom went into labor when she and my dad were at a party in the city. I was raised in Hampton.”
“Where’s that?”
“Just a suburb in the bay area. How about you, Terri? Where were you born?”
“Don’t know.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m adopted and I don’t remember anything about my life before I started living with my mom and dad. It’s weird because Lori remembers the good and the bad. I don’t remember anything.”
Terri had to be the fifth adoption. The one to the lawyer? Could I have been wrong? Could she be Jessie? I was torn between finding the answer and finding Tom. I needed to do both.
“How about we keep talking and you help me?”
“With what?”
“I lost my cell phone someplace here.”
“How are we going to find it?”
“I borrowed one from the cellular store down town. I’ve been calling my own phone. It rings and rings and then eventually goes to voicemail. If I can keep calling it, then maybe I can find it by hearing it ring. I can’t afford to replace it.”
“Sure, I’d love to help. It’s like an Easter Egg hunt.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, dial away and let’s see if we can hear it.”
I dialed the phone and we both stood up and listened. Nothing. “Let’s start at one end of the camp and make our way to the other. That way we will cover all areas.”
“You don’t remember where you’ve been in the camp?”
“I’ve been everywhere with the kids and I can’t remember when I lost the stupid thing.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
I dialed, we listened and we walked. Pretty soon Lori came up to us.
“What are you guys doing?”
“Liza lost her cell phone. We’re calling it and listening for the ringing.”
“Can I help?”
“Sure, the more ears the better.”
I couldn’t imagine what the three of us looked like. I’d dial, we’d take a few steps, and then we’d all put our heads up and listen. Then we’d walk a few paces and I’d do it again.
A few minutes later Dan joined us. “What are you guys doing? You all look ridiculous.”
“She lost her cell phone. It’s like a hunt. We’re listening for the ring.”
“Cool. I want to help.”
This was ridiculous. Now four of us were searching. What if we found Tom? How was I going to explain him to them? Besides, it wasn’t helping. I still couldn’t hear Tom’s phone.
We’d almost made our way to the other end of the c
amp when Dan put up his hand. “Wait, I think I hear it. Dial it again.”
I dialed and we all listened. I couldn’t hear a thing.
“Yeah, it’s coming from over by the small cabins.”
“How can you hear that? I don’t hear a thing.”
“My mom always said that I had ears like a bat.”
We wandered by the cabins. Suddenly I could hear it too. Lori and Terri yelled together. “We hear it!”
I dialed again and we narrowed it down to the third small cabin. All four of us walked up to the door and I opened it. It only opened a few inches. Carl’s goons stood right inside.
“What are you doing here?” Bruno asked.
Lori stepped forward. “We’re looking for Liza’s cell phone.”
“It’s not in here.”
She shook her finger at him. “Do you know who I am?”
“Yeah.”
“Then get the hell out of our way so we can look for the phone.”
“You’re not allowed in here.”
“My parents run this joint and I’m allowed everywhere. Besides, you’re not important enough to stop me.” She brushed him aside and we all walked in.
He got on the phone immediately. Reinforcements would be on their way soon. If Tom was in here we had to find him fast. Bruno’s friend, Oscar, was standing by another door.
“Dial it again, Liza,” Lori said.
We could hear it ringing behind the door that Oscar was guarding. Lori walked up to him. “Step aside.”
“No.” Bruno shouted, then looked over at Oscar. “I told you we should have gone in and turned off that stupid phone.”
“Do you like your job?” Lori asked as she pointed her finger into Bruno’s chest.
“Yeah.”
“I could get you fired.” She leaned back toward us. “Did you see him make a pass at me?”
We all nodded.
She turned back to him. “Move aside.”
I could tell he was arguing with himself. He looked confused. It was just the opportunity that Lori needed. She dashed around him and opened the door. Lying on the bed was Tom. His hands were tied together and his face looked worse than it had the last time I’d seen him. Both eyes were swollen shut and I could see cuts around his mouth.
Lori looked at Tom and then back at Oscar. “Who the hell is this?”
“Someone we’re supposed to be watching. You all need to leave, now!”