by Kathryn Shay
“Grandpa, what’s wrong?” Kassie’s voice held alarm.
He shook himself.
“Grandpa?”
“I, um, I remember doing this with your father.” His voice cracked on the last word.
“Wanna stop?” Now, her voice was laced with concern.
“No, no, I love doing things with you that I did with him. It makes...his being gone better.”
“I miss Daddy.” Colette’s sadness wrapped around all three of them.
“I have an idea.” Kassie put her hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Let’s really try to remember Daddy and not be sad.” Talk about grown up. She was being the adult in the situation. But emotion had ambushed him.
Chase managed to say, “Great idea.”
They finished cooking, ate the meat with potato chips, pickles and soda—the girls’ menu—and talked about little things. The meal ended with, of course, s’mores.
When the sun went down, Chase said, “Okay, let’s clean up and go inside.”
They stuffed the trash into a plastic bag and went into the house. He noted the time. Seven o’clock.
“I want my half hour on the iPad.” This from Colette.
“And I need to use the laptop.”
He limited their time on both, except for schoolwork.
“Okay. I’m going to the den to pay some bills.”
He left them happily sitting on the couch together and headed to the back of the house.
As soon as he reached the den, the phone rang. “Hello, chief. Bob Zeleny here. Sorry to bother you at home.”
“That’s okay. What’s up?”
“Did you know our mayor had a meeting with the officers on Truck 8 yesterday?”
“Ah, no, I didn’t. How the hell did that happen and I wasn’t told?”
“No idea. She informed them that she’s going to start interviewing people in House 8.” Chase could hear the anger in the fire marshal’s voice.
He couldn’t believe it. She was going ahead with this investigation and didn’t bring it up when he saw her yesterday? She was going ahead with this after what happened at the conference? His mind whirled with confusion and pique.
The doorbell rang. He said, “Hold on a sec, Bob.” He yelled out, “Girls, don’t answer that.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, Grandpa.”
“I’m back.”
“Vanessa suspended me because I wouldn’t help her.”
“Hell.”
“But I’ve been thinking about this. Maybe it’s best I’m there for the interviews. She doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing. And I can look out for our guys.”
The bell kept ringing. Kassie appeared at his door. “Can we look to see who it is? If we know them?”
“Wait a sec, Bob.” To her, “All right. But be careful.”
“Sorry. I’m raising two kids.”
“I hear you.”
“Let me think about this for an hour. Deal with the kids. I’ll call you back.”
He was halfway out the door when he realized the doorbell had stopped ringing. He hurried to the foyer.
The door was open with the chain on it. Kassie and Colette had turned to him. Both girls were pale as snow.
“Who is it?” But in his gut he knew.
Kassie grabbed her sister’s hand. “She says she’s our mother.”
* * *
Vanessa had just gotten out of the bathtub when she heard the front gate buzz. Thinking it might be Chase, though he shouldn’t come to the mayor’s residence, she threw on a terrycloth robe and headed downstairs. Through the intercom she asked, “Yes, who is it?”
“It’s Holly, Mom. Are you free?”
She pressed the buzzer for entrance. “Yes, come right up. Park in the circle.”
When Holly arrived on the porch, she threw open the door. “What a wonderful surprise.”
“I know I should have called, but I dropped Lizzie off not too far from here and I took a chance you might be home.”
“Oh, honey, come on in. I’m delighted to see you.” When she stepped inside, Holly gave her a brief hug. Something else that made Vanessa happy.
Holly looked around. “Wow. This is a beautiful place.” Then she caught sight of Vanessa’s attire. “Oh, were you in the shower?”
“Bathtub. Let me get clothes on. Go ahead and look around if you want.”
Vanessa headed upstairs and slid into long p.j. pants and a T-shirt. Downstairs, she found Holly in the library.
“Mom, this room is awesome. I love the high ceiling. And to be in a space with a wall of books must be soothing.”
“It’s lovely, isn’t it? Though I think this whole idea of mayoral residences is outdated.”
“Do most cities have them?”
“There’s a book on the shelves about the history of them. They date back to the forties, when Gracie Mansion became the official mayoral residence of New York.”
“Huh. Do you like living here?”
“I’ll answer that after I get us something to drink. If you can stay.”
“I can. I’ll have some white wine.”
After Vanessa fetched them a bottle of chardonnay, they took seats at opposite ends of the leather couch. “So, to your question. I loved living here at first. It’s so spacious. Historic. But lately, it feels...lonely. Too big for one person.”
Cocking her head, her daughter asked, “How come you haven’t found anybody to share it with?”
“I date.” She told her about Dawson. “But most other men I meet are work colleagues, so seeing any of them is out of the question.” She felt like a hypocrite. Maybe she could rectify that. “But there’s more to it. There’s someone who is special to me, but he’s an employee of the city. And I’m his boss.”
“That must be hard.”
“More than I can express.”
“Does he feel the same way about you?”
She nodded. “Now, you didn’t come here to talk about my love life.”
“No, I didn’t. But let me say I’m sorry about your situation. And actually, I came to talk about my love life.”
Oh, no, had Joe Santori said something to her about the arson?
* * *
Chase went into fire mode, the one where he kept calm despite the circumstances. As if he was commanding his men, he walked over to the door and closed it. Immediately, pounding began. “Girls, go to your room. I need some space to deal with this.”
“Grandpa, no!” Kassie was wild-eyed. “She says she’s our mother.”
More pounding. Then, “Chase, open up. I know you’re in there.”
“I’ll verify this. But I’m going to do it alone.”
Kassie crossed her arms. “No.”
Colette said, “I’ll go.” She ran upstairs. He wished he could go after her, help her with what she must be feeling, but that was out of the question.
More horrific pounding.
He grasped Kassie’s arms. “I love you, Kassie, and I promise, I’ll do what’s best for all of us.”
“Promise me you won’t send her away before I can talk to her.”
“Honey, please go.”
After she reluctantly left, he unchained the door and opened it. Nancy stood before him, dressed in tight jeans and a two-sizes-too-small denim shirt tied at the waist. With her was a man with more tattoos than he could count. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Nancy said, “Let us in.”
Sidling outside and closing the door, he faced them squarely. “No. We can talk out here.”
“Suit yourself.” Tattoo man leaned against the railing. “Nancy told me what she asked you for.”
Nancy stuck out her chin. “I want the money.”
“I already gave you $10,000 to go away.”
“I need ten times that now.”
“How do I know this will be the last of it?”
“I promise.” Her smile was smarmy.
“I don’t believe you. My lawyer told me I should r
eport you to the police. My hesitation was I didn’t want Kassie to find out you offered her to me for a price.”
Now a look of revulsion came over Nancy’s face. “All high and mighty aren’t you, Chase? You always were. Well, I’m in control here and you’re not.”
“The girls already know about you. That was your leverage.”
“The girls are her leverage.” The guy stood now. Ludicrously, Chase noticed how his belly hung over his belt. “If she says she wants them to come live with us, they’ll come.”
Keeping his calm, he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Go ahead and try it. Even if the legal decree where you relinquished your parental rights was revocable, which it isn’t, you’d be hard-pressed to prove to the court you want them after the evidence I have. By the way, I’m getting more. You’re being investigated as we speak.”
“What evidence do you have?” the guy asked.
“A ten-thousand-dollar check. And your note.”
Nancy pouted. “Not conclusive. I looked it up on line.”
“I’m saying no to your blackmail, Nancy.”
“You’ll be sorry.”
“So will you if you interfere with our lives again. Get out of here.”
The man gave him the finger and verbally told him the same. Then they both walked down the sidewalk, climbed into a battered pickup truck, and drove away, the muffler roaring and spitting like hell.
He took a deep breath and went back inside. Colette sat on the stairs. “Come here, baby.”
She hurried the rest of the way down and threw herself into Chase’s arms. “Why’s she here, Grandpa? I don’t know her. I don’t wanna go with her. I wanna stay with you.”
He hugged her tight. “You won’t ever have to go with her.”
“Promise?”
“I promise. Let’s go get Kassie and we’ll talk about what’s happened.”
“’Kay.” He hiked Colette onto his hip and climbed the stairs, holding her close, and only let her down when they reached Kassie’s door.
He knocked. “Kass, can we come in?”
No answer.
“Kassie, open the door or I’m coming inside.” There were no locks on the kids’ rooms. He reached for the handle. Turned it.
Kassie was not in her room.
* * *
“I’m confused about my relationship with Joe, Mom. It’s progressed a lot since that night at yoga when we talked about him.”
“A lot as in...?”
She blushed. How cute. “Honey, I’m not asking for intimate details, though if you need to discuss them, like we used to, I’m okay with that.”
“I’m not shy about it, Mom. After he got hurt Monday, I had an epiphany. I knew I wanted to date him. He agreed. Then—like the next day—we had a stupid fight over him taking Grandma to Dutch Towers.” She explained that to Vanessa. “I was at fault. I got miffed he did that without asking me. Then Joe got hot about my reaction and stormed off.”
“Are you still angry?”
“No, we made up, but not until last night. I was opening the door to go see him when he was about to knock.”
“Good for both of you.”
“He stayed the night. We were up most of it.” Again, she blushed. “The sex was off the charts, in my meager realm of experience. But things were tender, too.”
“And?”
She explained the clash today.
“Oh, honey, all this is normal in a relationship. You need to get to know each other’s likes, dislikes, beliefs, behaviors. And you won’t be comfortable with everything the other is and says. You’ll have to compromise.”
“I guess I know that. But we seemed to set each other off so easily.”
“That’s normal, too. And, I hate to bring this up, but there’s something that might be in the back of your mind in this, what we discussed after yoga that day. You might have residual fear of getting close to a man, thinking the relationship is fine, then him walking out of your life. You might never get rid of that.”
“Actually, Joe and I discussed our pasts in that respect.”
“See, then you have an open line of communication sometimes.”
“Yeah, I guess.” She shook her head. “I haven’t called him today or even checked to see if he called.”
“Do it now.”
Holly fished her phone out of her purse and frowned. “Oh, no. There’s two calls and three texts.” She listened. “All asking me to call him.”
“What will you do?”
“Go to his place as soon as I leave here.”
“I think that’s wise.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Thank you. I’ve waited a long time for girl talk with my daughter again.”
“Then I’m glad I came.”
Vanessa had a brief moment of guilt that she’d kept from Holly the confrontation between her and Joe yesterday. But she didn’t want to muddy the waters between them, and she certainly shouldn’t share her professional concern about the cause of the fire.
* * *
“Where is she, Grandpa?” Colette asked, her face streaked with tears.
“I don’t know.” They’d searched the house for Kassie, twice—the backyard, the front. As calmly as he could, he said, “Maybe she took a walk. Let’s go for a ride and see if we can find her.”
“It’s dark out! Why would she go for a walk?” Colette seemed on the verge of losing control.
“I don’t know, baby.” He retrieved his keys and led her out to the car. Once she buckled herself in the front seat, he started down the street. “Colette, look out your side for your sister. I’ll look out mine.”
Down one street. Empty.
Down another street. No Kassie.
After twenty minutes, Chase knew it was time to give up and take action.
“What are we gonna do, Grandpa?”
Good question . “I’ll call some friends of mine who can help.” God, please let them help.
Not in front of Colette, though. On the way home, he clicked the car phone to call his sister. “Mel, do you happen to be free?”
“Actually, I’m on my way to your house. I made some cookies for the girls.”
“I need you.”
“Explain when I get there.”
Her car pulled in as his did. When they all got out, Colette raced to her. “Aunt Melinda, Kassie ran away.”
His throat got tight. “We don’t know that for sure, Colette.”
“Our mother came here.”
“She did?”
“Yes.” He held Melinda’s gaze. “Let’s go inside.” Once there, he told Melinda, “I need to call some people to help. Could you, um, spend time with Colette in her room?”
“Why, Grandpa?”
“Please, do this for me?”
“Okay.”
As soon as they got upstairs, he hurried to his den, picked up his cell and punched in a number. “Chief Corrigan,” he heard on the other line.
“Dane, it’s Chase Talbot. My granddaughter walked out of the house about an hour ago and I’m afraid she’s run away.”
“What do you need from me?”
“Could you come over? Help me decide what to do. I know this is a lot to ask.”
“Are you kidding, after what you did for my son? I’ll be right there.”
“Thanks.”
When Chase disconnected, he put down his phone. The anxiety of the last hour washed over him. He’d be strong as soon as he left the den. But first, Chase crossed his arms on the desk and buried his head in them.
* * *
The police chief arrived in twenty minutes. Chase was more composed now, even though fear roiled in his gut. “Thanks for coming, Dane.”
“Any time.”
“Let’s go back to the den.”
Once they were ensconced in chairs, Dane said, “Tell me what’s going on.”
“I will. But this is all off the record.”
“Okay.”
“My granddaughters live wit
h me.”
“I knew that.”
“Their mother left them when they were almost two and nine. And you know my son died in that wildfire. You came to the memorial.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Their mother must have found out they lived with me. She came to headquarters.” As calmly as he could, he told Dane about the extortion and how he’d given her money.
“I’m sorry. You know you shouldn’t have paid her off.”
“You have kids, Dane. What would you have done?”
“I’m not sure. In any case, it’s a moot point.”
“My lawyer’s PI is investigating her, but it’s only been a couple of days.”
“Okay.”
“Nancy Talbot, that’s her name. She came here tonight and wanted more money.”
“Of course she did.”
“Kassie saw her and found out who she was. She brought her boyfriend and the three of us had a big row on the porch. After they stormed off, I couldn’t find Kass. I thought she went to her room when I told her I needed to talk to Nancy alone, but she wasn’t there.”
“Do you think her mother took her?”
“Well, she disappeared when they left. So it could have happened that way. Or she ran away.”
“What’s the legal situation?”
He filled Dane in on the parental rights thing and how Scott had left him as sole guardian. “Dane, I have no idea how to find her.”
“I do. We’ll put out an APB to all patrol cars in the city and I’ll assign some to the neighborhood. If she didn’t go with her mother, she couldn’t have gotten far. Meanwhile, we can track Nancy by a lot of means. Find out where she is and if she has Kassie. I’ll make the calls from here.”
“Thank you, Dane. I appreciate this.”
Chapter 21
* * *
Nervous now, but more sure of what she would do, Holly rang Joe’s doorbell. She hadn’t answered his texts or calls, and she regretted that. She hoped she could make it up to him.
Listening to her mother, and her own words about Joe, she decided she wanted to work out their differences through compromise.
The Mustang wasn’t in the driveway, but he could have put it in the garage, which was closed. Or he wasn’t home. Carrying the present she bought him, she went to the front porch.