by Charles Ayer
She sat still for a moment, then drained her coffee cup and stood up.
“I want to go for a swim,” she said. “Your bathing suit’s hanging in the cabana. I’ll be right down.”
It wasn’t a suggestion, so there wasn’t much sense in arguing. Anyway, I didn’t want to.
By the time Doreen got back I’d changed and was lying face down on one of the half-dozen or so chaises longues situated around the perimeter of the pool. When I looked up I noticed that she was wearing a different suit, one that was more conservatively cut in the crucial areas. I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed. Yes I did.
“Jesus, Matt, what happened?” she said, staring down at my back, an appalled expression on her face.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you’ve got a bruise covering half your back.”
“I do?” I said. I only had one small mirror in my house and I hadn’t bothered to try to look.
“You certainly do,” she said, sitting down beside me on the chaise. “It must hurt like hell. So tell me, what happened?”
I started to tell her of my previous night’s adventures, which she probably needed to know anyway. While I was talking she started gently running her hands over the bruised area of my back. Maybe it was nothing more than a professional masseuse would have done, but by the time I’d finished my story she had me so thoroughly aroused that I couldn’t have turned over if I’d wanted to.
“Anyway,” I said, trying to keep my mind focused, “at least it gave me some leverage with the guy.” I proceeded to tell her about my morning meeting.
“I’m proud of you, Matt,” she said, when I was done.
“What, for doing my job badly?”
“Don’t be an idiot,” she said, her fingers penetrating more deeply into my back. “I meant for the way you handled Eddie. That took a lot of guts.”
“I was just trying to be practical about it, that’s all.”
“Maybe, but it was also an utterly decent thing to do.”
“Anyway, I’m sorry this is taking so long, but, personal issues aside, we just weren’t going to get any traction with the police until a week had passed, and I’m sorry about that. Hopefully, we’ll start making some progress now.”
I finally had an opportunity to move, so I rolled over and sat up. Doreen sat down beside me.
“I still haven’t told you why I asked you over, have I?” she said.
“No, you haven’t.”
“It’s an awkward discussion, Matt, and I don’t even know if it’s related to David’s disappearance, which is why I haven’t brought it up until now.”
“But now David’s been gone a week.”
“Yes. I guess I just didn’t believe it would go on for this long.”
“Neither did I, but here we are. So, what is it?”
“I’m not sure I know where to start,” she said.
“How about at the beginning?” I said, trying not to sound impatient.
“Good idea,” she said, smiling at me, “but let me get us some iced tea first.”
“Okay,” I said. She was buying time and we both knew it, but I had to let her do this her way; and, besides, it wasn’t like I was going anywhere.
When Doreen got back she surprised me by sitting back down next to me on the chaise longue instead of inviting me over to sit at a table. Our thighs were touching. I thought she’d resettle herself and create some space, but she didn’t. I certainly didn’t.
“Okay,” she said, taking a sip of tea. “This starts a long time ago. I don’t remember exactly when, but the kids were really little.”
“So, maybe fifteen years ago?”
“That sounds about right. Anyway, I remember one night, just after we’d gotten the kids to bed, David asked me to come into the living room and sit down because we had to talk about something.”
“That must have sounded ominous.”
“Yeah, it did, but it was nothing that I was afraid it might be.”
“What, were you afraid that he was going to ask you for a divorce or something?”
“No, of course not,” she said dismissively. “I thought maybe someone had died or was really sick or something.”
“But it wasn’t that.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“He told me that Allie Cooper had come to see him at the bank that afternoon. She said she had to talk to him about Kenny.”
“Was he already drinking too much?”
“I don’t know, but that’s not what she needed to talk to David about. She said she needed some money.”
“Money? How much?”
“Two thousand dollars.”
“Ouch,” I said. “That doesn’t sound like a lot now, but back then, and given what we were all making, that was a pretty serious request.”
“You’re right, it was. But by that time I’d already sold my first patent so I wasn’t worried about the money.”
“So, did she explain what she needed it for?”
“David told me that she said that they’d gotten themselves in over their heads with the house and cars they’d bought. She said that Kenny wasn’t good with money, and he’d made some rash purchases. She also said that she’d taken over the finances now, and that this would just be a one-time favor.”
“And David didn’t want to part with that much money, even for a friend, without talking to you about it.”
“I handled all the family finances, and on top of that, he didn’t have any idea how much money that one patent sale had raked in, so he didn’t know if we could afford it.”
“So David never even handled the family checkbook?”
“I wouldn’t let him near it; he was helpless. Between him and Kenny they couldn’t have run a lemonade stand without losing track of the dimes.”
“So you paid it.”
“Yes.”
“And that was it?”
“Yeah, for about a year, and then the same thing happened. She made all the same promises, but this time she asked for three thousand dollars. And the year after that, and the year after that. After three or four years the amount was up to ten-thousand dollars, and the requests were coming every six months.”
“And you kept paying it?”
“It was Kenny, Matt, and it wasn’t like I couldn’t afford it.”
“Did Allie give Matt any explanations?”
“Not directly, but she kind of hinted that not only was Kenny drinking most of his paycheck, but he’d also gotten into some gambling problems.”
“Shit. I hate to say it, but it sounds like Kenny. He was always just one great, big, uncontrollable impulse.”
“Yeah, that’s Kenny,” said Doreen. Somehow her hand had settled on my thigh.
“So, is this still going on?”
“That’s what we need to talk about, Matt. No, it’s not.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“A couple of months ago David came to me and said that this time Allie had asked for $150,000. It had never been more than $20,000 before that.”
“What did you do?”
“I hit the roof. I said no.”
“That was too much even for you, huh?”
“I could’ve written the check and never missed it, Matt,” said Doreen, giving me a frank stare.
“Then why did you say no?”
“First of all, because of the principle of the thing. Yeah, Kenny and Allie were our lifelong friends, but enough is enough. I was getting the sense that all I was doing was enabling the guy.”
“And on top of that,” I said, “forking over that kind of money could have blown your cover with David.”
Doreen looked at me appreciatively. “Yes, Matt, that’s right.”
“So, what happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“I never heard another word about it.”
“But you’re starting to suspect that all this might be connected with D
avid’s disappearance.”
“I don’t know, Matt, but you know what they say: ‘Follow the money.’”
“Thanks for telling me this, Doreen. This could be important.”
“Do you think the two things might be connected, Matt?”
“I’m thinking it might be too much to be a coincidence for them not to be.”
“Okay,” she said, suddenly standing. “Enough of all this, let’s go for a swim.”
“Good idea.”
We jumped in the pool and had a relaxing swim in the pool together. The cool water was refreshing and it helped ease the pain in my back. It also helped me clear my head, and, frankly, I needed the physical space from Doreen for a few minutes. But when we got out she sat down beside me on the chaise again.
“I gotta go,” I said, as I toweled off my hair.
“Yeah, you do,” said Doreen. Meaning what? “But before you go, could you do me a favor and put some sunblock on my back and shoulders? They’re feeling burned.”
“Sure,” I said. I went over to a table where a container of the stuff was sitting and brought it back. She turned away from me so I could get to both her shoulders and I started to rub it in. Her skin was like satin, and the early summer sun had burnished it to gold. It was the same skin I’d admired at the pool all through high school. I wasn’t sure it looked burned.
“Hang on a second,” she said, and she reached up and nudged the straps of the bathing suit off her shoulders. “There,” she said. She seemed to lean back into me just a little bit. I put some more lotion on my hands and began to rub it in. I thought I sensed her breathing begin to change. I knew mine had. I rubbed a little more. One of us moaned. Maybe it was me; maybe it wasn’t. I never got a chance to find out.
Somewhere in the house a door slammed.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“MOM?” came a shout from inside the house.
“We’re out by the pool!” Doreen shouted back as she jumped up from the chaise and hastily rearranged the straps on her bathing suit.
Donnie Chandler tumbled out the door the way all teenage boys do. He was a good-looking kid. He looked like his father. His straight blond hair was parted on the side, and it tended to fall over his forehead, just as David’s always had. He wasn’t as tall as David, maybe five-ten, but he was well built. He was wearing a pair of cutoffs and a Devon Central football jersey with the number 12 on it. David’s number.
“Donnie,” said Doreen, “this is Matt Hunter, an old friend of ours. Matt, this is our son, Donnie.”
We shook hands awkwardly as I tried to put the polo shirt I’d worn over back on.
“Nice to meet you, Donnie,” I said.
“Hey,” he said, in a teenaged bass that would someday mellow to baritone.
“Where have you been off to?” said Doreen. After the morning we’d spent together, it was odd to hear her suddenly sound like a mother.
“I told you, Mom, me and the guys went to the pool.”
“Was your sister there?”
“No, Mom, she has a tennis lesson this morning, remember?”
“Oh, that’s right,” said Doreen. “I can’t keep up with the two of you anymore.”
“So, Mr. Hunter,” said Donnie, “you’re the guy Dad threw all his passes to, huh?”
“Well, not all, but a lot of them,” I said.
“It must have been a lot of fun playing on a team that good,” said Donnie, perhaps a little wistfully.
“All I remember is how much fun it was playing football with my friends,” I said, lying. Winning was good. Excelling was good. It was a feeling I’d all but forgotten.
“Look, guys,” said Doreen, “it’s almost 1 o’clock. Why don’t I pull some stuff out of the fridge and we can have lunch together?”
“Sounds great, Mom,” said Donnie. “I’m, like, starving.”
“Sounds good,” I said. I was, like, starving, too, but only the young can get away with saying it.
“Great,” said Doreen. “Just give me a few minutes.” She headed back toward the house and disappeared inside.
“So, Mr. Hunter,” said Donnie. You wanna, like, toss the football around?”
“Sure,” I said. I wasn’t exactly dressed for it, and all I had for footwear was a pair of old running shoes, but they’d do.
“Cool,” he said, and loped out through the pool gate to the back yard. I couldn’t help noticing that, despite all the obvious similarities, Donnie seemed to lack a certain physical grace that David had always possessed, no matter what he’d been doing. I followed, not loping. There was a football sitting on a small bench just outside the gate, and Donnie picked it up.
David and Doreen had a large piece of property, and behind the pool there was a broad expanse of lawn that covered, I guessed, close to an acre. We tossed the ball around for a few minutes, mostly so that I could loosen up; Donnie appeared already loose and limber. He had a nice motion, but I couldn’t help making a comparison between his throws and his father’s. When David threw the ball, even when we were just tossing it around, it came at me with almost a hissing sound, and it stung my hands. I was one of the few guys who could handle his passes without risking broken fingers. Donnie had a nice spiral, and decent velocity, but that was about it. Maybe he was holding back.
“You wanna run a few routes?” I said.
“Cool,” he said, smiling with a male version of Doreen’s smile.
I started off with some short routes: button routes and crossing patterns. His throws were accurate and his velocity was decent, but even pushing forty I felt like he was leading me more than David ever did, and I didn’t have to run as hard to catch up with them.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s run a post pattern.”
“Cool,” he said, displaying the vast vocabulary of a teenage boy.
There were no yard markers, but I could pace off fifty yards in my sleep and come within a few inches of the exact distance. I took off down the field, cutting in at the same spot I always had, and looked up for the ball. It wasn’t where it should have been. It seemed to be coming at me in slow motion, and even though I tried to adjust, it fell behind me and about ten yards short. I guess it was a decent throw for an average high school quarterback, but I’d never played with an average high school quarterback.
I jogged back and said, “Sorry. I guess I’m no good without yard markers. I ran that way too long.”
“No problem,” he said.
“Lunch is ready, guys!” shouted Doreen. She was standing at the pool yard fence and watching us with a smile on her face. She’d changed back into the slacks and blouse.
“Okay!” Donnie and I shouted back in unison.
“One more pass, okay?” said Donnie. “I hate to finish on an incomplete pass.”
“So do I,” I said. “How about a straight sprint pattern. Just throw it when you’re ready.”
“Cool,” said Donnie.
I took off down the field running hard, but not as hard as I could. When David and I ran this route, David always waited until the last possible minute to throw the ball, until that exquisite instant when nobody else at the game except the two of us believed that he could get it to me. And then he’d launch a rocket, nailing me with it as I ran as hard as I could.
I’d barely run fifteen yards when I looked back. Donnie had already released the ball. It traced a long, lazy arc and I glided under it around 35 yards down the field and made the catch easily.
“Perfect!” I shouted.
“Yes!” I heard Donnie shout behind me.
“Good toss, Donnie,” I said, as I jogged back to him.
“Man, that was the coolest,” he said, beaming. “No wonder Dad loved playing with you so much. Thanks Mr. Hunter.” We high-fived, a first for me, and headed back to the house.
Doreen had laid out cold cuts, deli salads, Kaiser rolls, and condiments, along with a pitcher of iced tea and a quart carton of milk.
“You guys have a good time?” said Doreen.
“The best, Mom,” said Donnie. “Oh, man, this looks good,” he said, as his male teenage brain instantaneously shifted all its attention to the food.
I had a sandwich, some coleslaw, and some iced tea. Doreen had the same, except she ate only half a sandwich. Donnie ate three sandwiches, about a pound of potato salad, and a forkful of coleslaw, probably just to please his mother. He washed it all down with the quart of milk. He’d just swallowed his last bite when the doorbell rang.
“Who could that be?” said Doreen.
“That’s Pete and Rob,” said Donnie, already heading for the door. “We’re all headed back to the pool.”
“Please give yourself a chance to digest your lunch before you go back in the water!” Doreen shouted. She gave me one of those, “what’s a mother to do?” looks.
“Sure, Mom!” he shouted back as the door slammed.
“So, you and Donnie looked like you were having fun out there,” said Doreen, as she began to clean up the kitchen.
“We were,” I said, hoping she would drop the subject. She was silent for a few seconds, her hands resting on the counter, before I noticed that her shoulders seemed to be shaking. I looked closer. Her eyes were closed and there were tears running down her face.
I walked over to her, and before I could say a word she turned to me, put her arms around me, and buried her face in my chest.
“Oh, Matt,” she said, “I’m so scared I can barely breathe.”
“It’s not time to be afraid yet,” I said, not even convincing myself.
“I mean,” she said, ignoring me, “I was looking out at you and Donnie, and it suddenly hit me: What if David’s gone for good? What if that sweet little boy suddenly doesn’t have his father?”
“Please, Doreen, let’s not panic, okay?”
She looked up at me, but she didn’t let go. “You have to find him, Matt. One way or another, you have to find him.”
“I will, Doreen. I promise.”
Her expression hardened. “You shouldn’t promise, Matt. This isn’t some football game.”
“Okay. I won’t promise. But I will find him.”
She put her head back on my chest.
“Okay, Matt. Okay.”
She suddenly broke away from me and started to walk from the room. Had I done something wrong? She returned a couple of minutes later holding a check.