Her Something Impetuous

by Hunt Harris, Kim

  There was some reason they couldn't, a voice in the back of her head said. She wasn't quite sure why, but…

  And then it hit her. A blast of cold water that stole her breath.

  “Ahhh!” she screamed and pushed past Will. He gasped and she heard him fumbling with the faucet knobs, swearing a blue streak.

  She grabbed a towel and held it over her mouth while she tried to stop laughing. “Are you okay in there?”

  “Not sure yet,” he gasped. “I may be having a heart attack.”

  She reached to open the shower door but he yanked it closed. “Can you get me a towel please?”

  She grinned and reached for another towel. “Here. But there's no reason to be modest. I've seen you naked already. Very impressive, by the way.”

  “Yeah, well, you haven't seen me naked after I've been sprayed with ice cold water. So let's just let you keep the image you already have, okay?”

  Will pulled on his jeans and toweled off his hair. He caught his reflection in the mirror and saw his own smile.

  Damn. What was he doing here? What business did he have grinning like he had no care in the world?

  He heard Karen singing in the next room and there he was, grinning again. He wasn't the kind of guy who believed in happy endings. He believed, in fact, that for the most part things worked out the way they always had worked out. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer, the guy in the middle rocked along and hoped to escape the biggies like cancer and natural disaster.

  He thought most people were lucky to have a few good years where things went their way, maybe they met someone whose company they enjoyed for a while, maybe they had a job they didn't despise. Everyone had some good and some bad, and hopefully things leaned more to the good.

  But this morning…this morning he found himself feeling things he hadn't felt in a long time. In twenty years or more. Hope. Anticipation for the future. Even excitement.

  He shook his head and splashed water on his face. First things first. Right now he had to focus on finding a way to keep him and Karen out of jail. On seeing what Kitty had to offer and figuring out Michael's angle so he could make a plan to short-circuit it. He would think about the future then.

  Whenever his mind said the word future, though…it was accompanied by the fresh-face and blonde hair of the woman in the next room.

  The phone rang and he heard her answer it. His own phone was still downstairs, and he pulled his shirt over his head and jogged down the stairs to get it and his keys. He picked up his phone from the table beside the sofa and saw that he had messages. He tucked the phone to his ear with his shoulder and listened while he fastened his watch.

  The first was from the cop in New Orleans. He couldn’t believe the guy had turned so quick. Will figured he would have to fly out there at least two or three times and make a few threats before he could get him to open up. But the guy said he was ready to talk if Will was really going to get things put right.

  Reflex and guilty conscience had him glancing to the top of the stairs to make sure Karen wasn’t there. She wouldn’t have heard anything, anyway, but still… He pushed the button to replay the message as he looked around the room for a pen and some paper. He finally found it in the kitchen and jotted the alternate numbers the cop gave him. He folded it and slipped it into his shirt pocket so he could follow up later.

  He chewed his lip and wondered when would be the best time to break the news to Karen that he was planning to expose her ex-husband’s illegal activities. Probably not right after they’d had sex in the shower. Maybe later. Much later. After he had proof he could give her. After he’d had a chance to prove to her that he really was a good guy.

  He wondered how long that would take while the next message began.

  A barrage of Spanish hit him and he was halfway through the message before he realized it was the one-armed guy from Kitty's house. He frowned and pushed the number that repeated the message.

  Kitty had left town. Something about a lot of money and a fancy car. Something about a cat. A yellow sister? Will shook his head and replayed the message again.

  Will's Spanish was workable, but the guy was agitated and talking too fast. On the third listen, Will was certain of only a few things. Kitty was gone and she'd left owing the guy money. She was driving a fancy car. The cat and the yellow sister were a mystery to him, as was everything else the guy said.

  He slammed the phone shut and dragged a rough hand through his hair. Damn it all the way to hell and back. If Kitty had hit the road, their situation just got a hell of a lot worse.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “She said she wasn’t feeling well and got permission to miss the football game,” Terri said. “She told me she’d cleared it with you.”

  “She didn’t clear it with me,” Karen said. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  “Didn’t you get my message? I left you a message yesterday afternoon.”

  “There were no messages on the machine when I got home last night.” Damn! Karen leaned over the bed and looked at the machine again. It read 0 messages. “It’s okay, Terri. It’s just with Michael threatening to fight for custody of Cait, I’m a little paranoid. She was sick?”

  “She said her stomach hurt and she wanted to go to bed.”

  “I hope she doesn’t have a virus or something.” Her daughter had been sick in bed while she went to a gay bar and made love on the kitchen counter with someone she met a week ago. Yep, she was Mother Of The Year, all right. “I’ll call over to Michael’s and talk to her.”

  “You’re still going to be at the Box Lunch, right? I saw Midge at the game last night and she was practically giddy with excitement.”

  “I’ll be there,” Karen said with a sigh. “The muffins are sun-kissed and ready to go.”

  Terri laughed. “You’re a trooper, Karen. You deserve a medal for dealing with Midge.”

  had a little help, she almost said, then decided against it. She didn’t want to hear any more of Terri’s dire predictions about her future if she didn’t steer clear of Will.

  After she hung up with Terri she called Michael’s condo. Denise answered, sounding hoarse and groggy.

  “Good morning, Denise. I need to talk to Cait.”

  “Hrmmbin,” Denise said. She cleared her throat a couple of times. “Cait isn’t here.”

  “Where is she? Terri told me she’d come over there yesterday afternoon after school.”

  “Well, she’s not here.”

  Karen’s heart dropped to her stomach. “But she is there.”

  “No, Karen, she’s not.”

  “Go look in the other bedroom. Maybe she was just quiet and you didn’t know she was there.”

  “She’s not—” Denise sighed. “Fine. I’ll be right back.”

  The phone clattered and Karen waited as the ensuing silence stretched out. She stood and paced in front of her bed. Where was she? Michael wouldn’t kidnap her, would he?

  There was a shuffling noise and Denise came back on. “Bed empty. Bathroom empty. Couch empty. No one is here except me, and I am trying to sleep.”

  “Cait said she was going over there yesterday afternoon. She spent the night there, didn’t she?”

  “No, Karen,” Denise said stiffly. “I haven’t seen her since I took her shopping the other night.”

  Karen clutched her stomach. Will walked through her bedroom doorway, took one look at her face, and crossed the room to grip her elbow, his blue eyes questioning.

  “Where is Michael?” Karen asked. “Is he there? I have to talk to him.”

  “He went into the office early.”

  “Did he come home last night?”

  “Yes, late, and he left early this morning. He works very hard, you know. Look, Karen, I’m sorry you can’t keep up with your own kid, but I don’t –”

  Karen punched the End button and tried to decide who to call first.

  She called Terri back. “I know this is crazy, but just check Amanda’s room a
nd make sure Cait’s not there.”

  “Amanda’s right here,” Terri said. “Eating breakfast. What’s wrong?”

  “Cait is not at Michael’s and Denise said she hadn’t been there all night.”

  Will’s eyes grew wide with alarm and he tightened his grip on her elbow. Karen was both relieved and terrified to see his reaction. So she wasn’t the only one who thought this was bad news. But it would have been nice to hear she was about to fly off the handle for no good reason.

  “When did you see her last?” Karen asked Terri.

  “After school she came back to get her things. She said Michael was on his way over to pick her up.”

  “Did he?”

  “God, I’m sorry Karen. I didn’t see. She was waiting outside on the front porch and Todd was having trouble with his football uniform and I got busy helping him with that. I never saw Michael pick her up.”

  “Ask Amanda if she saw anything.”

  She could hear the two of them talking in the background. “No, Amanda was getting ready for the game. The last anyone saw Cait was when she was waiting on the front porch.”

  “I’m going to call Michael and find out when he saw her last. Do me a favor and ask Amanda and Todd if anything happened in school yesterday, if she was acting sick during the day.” Karen had a funny feeling her daughter wasn’t sick at all. Just fed up with all the nonsense in her life.

  She called Michael’s office. “Where’s Cait?” she asked as soon as he answered.

  He was silent for a moment.

  “Michael, where is Cait? What have you done with her? Is she there?”

  “Karen, calm down. I don’t have her. She’s supposed to come over this afternoon to spend the night.”

  “She was supposed to go to your place last night. But she didn’t.” Karen blinked fast and bit the inside of her lip. Will led her to the edge of the bed and made her sit. “Michael, I don’t know where she is. She told Terri you were picking her up yesterday after school. And no one has seen her since.”

  “Did you call Denise? Maybe she slept in the spare bedroom and we just didn’t see her.”

  “I’ve already called Denise. She’s not there.” She took a deep breath. “Michael, do you have her? Did you kidnap her? Just tell me. I need to know that she’s safe. We’ll work out the custody stuff later.”

  “Did I kidnap her? Karen, are you crazy? Why would I kidnap my own daughter? Why would I kidnap her and then come to work?”

  “Why would you frame me for drug possession? Why would you send someone to break into my house? Why would you do any of the things you do, Michael? Where is my daughter?!?”

  “Calm down!” Michael said. Karen wanted to reach through the phone and slap him.

  “It’s okay,” Will whispered, rubbing her thigh. “It’s okay, just calm down and we’ll find her.”

  “Karen, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have Cait. I haven’t seen her since, what, Wednesday or Thursday. And I never sent anyone to break into the house. Why would I do that? Unless you changed the locks, I still have a key.”

  “I don’t know. But I have to find out where Cait is. Now.”

  “Call her friends.”

  “I did that.”

  “I’m sure you did this already, but check her room. Maybe she came in quietly and you didn’t hear her.”

  Karen felt like a fool, because she hadn’t done that. Good Lord. What if Cait had come in late last night and seen her and Will asleep in each other’s arms on the couch? Or what if she’d snuck in last night while they were having sex on the kitchen counter? The Blue Angels could have flown through in their F-16s and Karen wouldn’t have known it.

  “I’ll call you back,” she said, hanging up and deciding she didn’t care what Cait saw, as long as she was safe. She could turn the conversation into a way to discuss the importance of safe sex. As long as Cait was safe.

  Cait wasn’t in her room. Her bed hadn’t been slept in. Her bathroom didn’t look like it had been used. It was as if she was already gone.

  Karen’s knees grew weak and the only thing that kept her from collapsing was Will’s steady hand under her elbow. Her hands shook and she felt like frantically opening drawers and closets and looking under the bed. She lifted the bed skirt and looked, just in case.

  “You said sometimes she likes to go to Pam’s room when she’s upset.”

  “You’re right!” Karen ran in there, but it was empty, too. “Oh God. Where is she? I’m going to kill her as soon as I find her. Where is she?” She picked up the card Pam had sent last week and clutched it in her hands. “I’m going to call Terri back. Maybe Amanda or Todd will know something.”

  There was no news there, though. “Amanda said some of the kids were picking on her yesterday, and she thinks Cait wasn’t sick so much as she just wanted to get away.”

  “Picking on her?” Karen asked. She could hear Amanda and Todd talking in the background. She heard the words “crack ho” and sat back down heavily on her bed. “Terri, do you think…do you think she might have run away?”

  “I don’t know, Sweetie. I don’t know.” The phone rustled and Karen could tell Terri had put her hand over the mouthpiece. When she came back on, her voice was sad. “I don’t know, Karen. Maybe.”

  “Oh God.” Karen tucked her feet up on the bedrails and wrapped her arms around her stomach. “I have to call the police. Can you guys help me? Can you ask Amanda to call around with their other friends and see if she can find her? The other kids will talk to Amanda even if they won’t talk to me.”

  “Sure, Karen. Sure, we can help. Whatever you need.”

  “I’m going to call Michael back. Please, the moment you find out anything, anything, let me know.”

  “Of course. Sweetie, it’s going to be okay.”

  Karen swallowed and nodded, because she couldn’t speak. She hung up.

  “She’s run away?” Will asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t know where she is. But I think so. Some of the kids were giving her a hard time yesterday, because of me.” Her voice broke on the last word. “Will. What am I going to do? I have to find her, now.”

  “We’ll find her.” He gave her a quick hug. “She hasn’t been gone that long, and we have a lot of people to look for her, right? You, me, Michael, Terri and her family. We’ll find her.”

  “I have to call Michael and tell him what’s going on. Maybe he knows where she might have gone.”

  She told Michael what she suspected. “I’m going to call the police. If a person is under eighteen you can do a missing persons report immediately, right? You don’t have to wait?”

  “Don’t do that. I mean, let me do it. I know who to talk to so it’s handled the right way, with the highest priority. Why don’t you concentrate on talking to her friends? I’ll handle talking to the police.”

  “Okay. Call me as soon as you know anything. Michael?” She clutched at the comforter on the bed, her throat tight. “Maybe you should ask about any reports from last night. You know, crime reports or accident reports.” Will slid an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him.

  “I will. She’s okay, Karen. It’s going to be okay. Don’t panic and go alerting the news or anything. She’s fine.”

  Karen hung up and dropped her head in her hands. “I have to get out of here. I have to”

  The doorbell rang. Karen jumped up and ran to her bedroom window. “Damn it! It’s Midge. She’s here for her stupid muffins.”

  She jogged downstairs and opened the door for Midge just as the phone rang again. She motioned for Midge to come in as she answered the phone.

  It was Terri. “I don’t know if this is important or not, but Todd said she told someone she was going to transfer schools.”

  “Transfer schools? We never talked about that.” She passed the stairs and saw something out of the corner of her eye. Will stood at the top, discreetly out of view of the living room. He stepped back as she led Midge into the kit
chen.

  “You didn’t put them in the airtight container I gave you?” Midge said when she saw the muffins sitting out on the counter. She gave a tight smile. “I’m sure it’s fine, though. They’ll be fine. I just gave that to you so they’d be nice and fresh for the Box Lunch tomorrow.”

  “Sorry,” Karen mouthed as she looked around until she found the basket Midge had left on her front porch last week, and pulled out the container. “Okay, Terri, thanks for telling me. Michael is filing a report with the police right now. I’ll call you back later.”

  Her mind raced with this latest news as she put the muffins into the container. Transfer schools? Why would she transfer schools? And to where?

  “No, no, remember my directions? First line the container with the towels I gave you.” Midge reached in and pulled out a stack of neatly folded paper towels. “Line the container with this so they’ll be protected.” She gingerly lifted the muffins out and laid the paper towels in the bowl like she was getting ready to place a newborn baby in it.

  Karen gritted her teeth and waited for Midge. The phone rang again.

  This time it was Denise, wanting to know if she’d found Cait yet. “No, not yet. I have her friends searching. We’ll leave here in a few minutes to go looking ourselves.”

  “Don’t forget to check the airport,” Denise said.

  “The airport?” Karen gripped the counter. “She wouldn’t have gone to the airport.” Would she? She could be thousands of miles away by now…

  “Did you add the vanilla I gave you? You can’t use the vanilla you get at the grocery store here, you know. It has to be from Mexico. Only the vanilla from Mexico will work…” Midge trailed off as she reached into the basket and drew out the bottle of Mexican vanilla. She held it up to the light and gauged the level in the bottle. “It doesn’t look like any of it’s gone.” She narrowed her eyes at Karen.