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“Someone will be right out,” he reported to Lily after he hung up.
“When?”
“He said right away. I assume that means immediately.”
“What if it doesn’t?”
Sean felt a tic leap in his jaw. “Look, right away means right away. Like now.”
“You don’t have to snap at me.”
“I didn’t snap at you.”
“Yes, you did. And you’re still doing it.”
“Hey, I don’t need a scolding here.”
“I wasn’t scolding.” She sniffed. “I just don’t like being snapped at.”
“I didn’t—” Sean forced himself to stop. It was idiotic, bickering with this woman while Derek was God-knows-where. “Okay,” he said, getting up to pace some more. “All right, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.”
She turned to the sink and started rinsing the dishes. “I’m every bit as worried as you are, Mr. Maguire.”
“Sean. Call me Sean.”
She opened the dishwasher and rolled out the rack. “Why should I do that?”
“Because I’m sure as hell not going to call you Miss Robinson, Lily.”
She pivoted away sharply and began to load the dishwasher. He checked messages on his cell phone, finding nothing new there. Lily lined up the plates in the rack and separated the silverware into baskets according to category—all the forks in one, the spoons in another. She was stymied by a spatula until she laid it carefully in the top rack. Then she put in the glasses, upending each one according to height. Finally she picked up the box of soap powder and appeared to be reading the directions.
“You need some help with that?” he asked, putting away his phone.
“No. It’s just that I’ve never used this brand before. It says ‘super concentrated’ so I think I might need less. Ah, here we go. Two ounces for the normal cycle.” She opened a drawer and rummaged around inside it. “Now, two ounces. I believe that’s the equivalent of two level tablespoons….”
Sean couldn’t help it. He snatched the box of detergent from her, dumped some of it into the trap until it overflowed, then snapped the thing shut. Finally, he closed the dishwasher and gave the knob a twist until he heard the shudder of running water.
When he straightened up, he saw her staring at him as though he’d crossed some line with her. Hell, maybe he had.
He spied a stray coffee mug on the counter. Its rim bore a half moon of lipstick. Without taking his eyes off her, he opened the dishwasher and stuck it in haphazardly, then shut the machine again, pushing the door with his hip.
“There,” he said. “That’s done.”
“Thank you,” she said faintly.
“I guess I could take out the trash,” he said, gesturing at the overflowing receptacle.
“I believe the cans are in the garage. You’ll want to make sure the lid’s on tight to discourage raccoons.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said with exaggerated courtesy. He picked up the kitchen garbage and headed out the back door. When he turned to close it, he saw Lily Robinson open the dishwasher and carefully put the coffee mug in its proper place.
chapter 10
Friday
9:25 p.m.
In a way, thought Lily, Sean Maguire was a blessing. He was so incredibly obnoxious that he distracted her from worrying herself to the point of despair. So she supposed he was good for something.
When he came in from taking out the trash, she didn’t acknowledge him. She was busy clearing off the countertops in order to give them a good cleaning.
It wasn’t like this was a social situation, anyway, she thought, feeling unaccountably defensive. They wouldn’t have a thing to do with each other if not for the bizarre situation they found themselves in.
“I’m going to go check on Cameron,” he said.
“That’s probably a good idea.” She set down the bottle of Windex. “So how worried is he?”
“Plenty. It’s completely unlike Derek to just take off without explanation.”
“Crystal would never do that, either.”
“Oh, no?” He lifted one eyebrow. “She left them overnight at Derek’s two weeks ago.”
“That’s different. She missed a flight and she was completely in touch by phone the whole time. Listen, Crystal’s my best friend. I’ve known her since I was Charlie’s age. She’s a good mother, and I’m sure there’s an explanation for whatever’s going on.”
He studied her hard, with a blue-eyed gaze that probed almost insultingly. “Have we met before?”
She went back to cleaning the countertops. “Why do you ask?”
“You seem familiar to me.”
She finished the counter and moved on to the range top. She found plenty of spattered grease to attack there. Crystal had never been the world’s greatest housekeeper. When she was married to Derek, it hadn’t mattered because they employed full-time help. Now Crystal was on her own.
“We were both in their wedding,” she told Sean.
“Oh.” He looked blank.
“Sixteen years ago,” she reminded him. “I was just a kid,” she added. “You wouldn’t remember me.”
He snapped his fingers. “As a matter of fact, I do. I made fun of your glasses and braces. ‘When do train tracks have four eyes?’ Remember? I thought that was so hilarious.”
She scrubbed furiously around a knob. “You were a real charmer.”
“I was a punk,” he said easily. “You should have told me to get lost.”
“I believe I did just that.” Agitated, she moved on to the cabinet faces, spritzing the entire row above the counter. When she came to the end of the row, Maguire stood in the way, leaning back against the counter. He didn’t move, so she spritzed him, too.
“Oops,” she said. “Sorry.”
He caught hold of her wrist and gently took the Windex bottle away from her. “Tell you what, Lily,” he said. “Let’s both go talk to Cameron.”
His touch drew a quick, shocked gasp from Lily. She pulled away and cradled her wrist in her other hand.
“All right,” she said, ducking her head. To her dismay, a hot blush crept up into her cheeks. How stupid was that? He’d barely touched her, and she was acting like a complete Sabine.
She told herself to get a grip, but the fact was, good-looking men intimidated her. She was always convinced they were making fun of her. It was ridiculous, at her age, to feel that way, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. No wonder she preferred third-graders.
The phone rang. Sean snatched it up, spoke briefly to the caller and then hung up. “They found Crystal’s car. Dead in the school parking lot. What do you make of that?”
“It means they’re probably together.”
“At least we have something to tell Cameron.”
They found Cameron with a biology book open on the desk in front of him, but he was staring at the clock rather than studying.
“Hey, sport.” Sean went over to the desk and leaned against the edge of it.
Lily had to admit he seemed relaxed and natural around Cameron. Like her, he was being careful not to appear frantic.
“Got a minute?” Sean asked his nephew.
“Who was on the phone? What’s going on?”
“Well, for one thing, your mom’s car has a dead battery and she left it in the parking lot of Charlie’s school. So now we’re guessing your dad gave her a ride.”
“A ride to where? Chicago? They’ve been gone for hours.”
“We don’t know where they are yet, but we’re going to find out. The police are going to drop by and get some more information from us.”
“When? When are the police coming?”
“They said they’d send someone right away,” Lily said.
“What’s that mean, right away?”
Sean looked over at Lily. “I swear, you two…soon, okay? And I’m sure they’re going to want to talk to you.”
“I can’t tell them anything,” Cameron said, closing the textbook with an angry thud. “All I know is my loser mother didn’t show—”
“Cameron,” Lily broke in. “Watch what you say about your mother.” She bit her tongue to keep from taking the thought further. She was thinking of how guilty he’d feel if he found out something terrible had happened.
“I can say what I want,” he retorted.
“Don’t snap at her,” Sean warned.
“I wasn’t snapping.”
“Yes, you were. And you’re still doing it.”
The doorbell rang and the three of them froze. Then, as one, they broke for the stairs and hurried to answer the door.
chapter 11
Friday
10:00 p.m.
This sucks hind tit, thought Cameron, eyeing the cops sitting at the kitchen table. Having two parents missing was actually worse than having them both in your face.
There was a guy and a woman. The guy looked young and kind of geeky, taking notes on some sort of Blackberry device. The woman was older, with a calm demeanor and the no-nonsense air of a math teacher.
Uncle Sean was jumpy but gave them straightforward answers to their questions. Unfortunately, he was clueless. He’d known Cameron’s dad longer than anybody, but didn’t have the first idea of where he might have gone. Lily was trying to act brave, but Cameron could tell she was freaking. Behind her thick-lensed glasses, her eyes seemed too bright, as though she had a fever. She’d bitten off the fingernails of one hand and would probably start on the other when no one was looking.
As for Cameron, he was pretty ticked off by the whole situation. It was probably nothing, just a stupid mix-up. It wouldn’t be the first time his parents caused some big idiotic mess, getting everyone all freaked for nothing. They’d been doing it for years. Just because they were divorced didn’t mean they’d stop.
“So they left the school at three-forty-five,” said Officer Vessey, the guy with the Blackberry.
Lily nodded, her brown ponytail bouncing like a cheerleader’s. “Yes. I went to the faculty lounge to talk with my school principal, and I looked at the clock that hangs over the coffeemaker. It was three-forty-five.”
“Do either Mr. Holloway or his ex-wife suffer from any incapacitating medical condition?”
Everyone looked blank. Officer Franklin said, “Sometimes that accounts for a disappearance.”
“They’re both fine,” Cameron said, and it came out sounding belligerent. Too bad, he thought.
Sean said, “You already have that information.”
“Miss Robinson, did you see them leave together?” asked Officer Franklin, unfazed.
Lily took a sip of her herbal tea. Mom always kept a box of assorted weird tea on hand for her. Lily was a health nut, and chamomile tea was probably the strongest thing she ever put into her body. No wonder she bit off all her fingernails.
“They left my classroom together,” Lily said. “They walked out of the building at the same time. I didn’t actually see them get into Derek’s car together.”
“Would it have surprised you, seeing them drive off together?”
Lily didn’t like the question. Cameron could tell by the way she shifted in her seat.
“I suppose. But maybe not. They both take very laudable interest in their children. Now that we know Crystal’s car had a dead battery, we know why they drove off in the SUV. It makes perfect sense.”
“And what was their state of mind? Can you describe that to us?”
Lily flicked a quick glance at Cameron. He put on a bored expression, like he didn’t give a crap.
“Well, as I said before, it wasn’t a happy meeting. Their daughter Charlene has been struggling in school.”
Like that was a surprise, thought Cameron.
“Were they contentious at the meeting?”
