Carrie made the sign for mother and left it at that.
Carrie was making up the tray, which usually only got used if someone was sick and couldn’t get out of bed, or on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
Genie said, “Dad, is Mom sick?”
Carrie wondered if she had been reading her thoughts, but turned to see her holding a prescription bottle.
“No, no,” he said, taking the bottle of pills from her. “This is an old prescription, see?”
They saw that he was right.
“Go on, take breakfast up to Mom before it gets cold. And Genie, thank you for finding these. It was dangerous to have them down where the boys might get to them. Mom probably meant to throw them away. I’ll go do that now and be right up with you.” He started toward the bathroom, then turned back to them and said, “Don’t mention this to Mom, okay? She’d probably get upset if she realized she left them down here. I don’t want to ruin her breakfast.”
As they went up the stairs, Genie whispered, “Does he know about Uncle Dex and Mom?”
“I don’t know. I-I think so.”
“That stinks.”
“Yes.”
DAD joined them upstairs. Dad was supernice to Mom. The way he looked at her made Carrie want to cry. Mom was enjoying all the attention, but she gave Dad a kind of look that Carrie spent a long time trying to name. She finally decided that the right word was cynical. As she looked between them, she felt sure that Mom didn’t love Dad anymore.
If she had realized that yesterday, Carrie thought, it would have caused her to be really upset. Added on to everything that was hanging over her head right now, she just felt sad about it in a distant way, the way she felt sad about the reign of Mary Tudor.
“Well, this has certainly been a nice surprise,” Mom said, as if no one had done more than said “Happy Birthday” on her birthday.
“I have another one for you,” Dad said. His voice trembled a little.
Mom smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Oh? I can hardly wait. Then again, there are good surprises and bad surprises.”
“Kids, I think Mom needs another break from all of us, so today we’ll spend the day in Las Piernas, and Mom can just relax here in peace and quiet. Or go for a drive, or whatever she wants to do.”
Mom studied him, then covered a big yawn. “I am tired. Where will you be?”
“Oh, I thought I’d take them to see some of their aunts and uncles.”
“Are we going to Grandfather’s again?” Troy asked happily.
“We might. Get your own breakfasts, then let’s clean up the house for Mom before we go, so she can just relax all day. We’ll leave here at about ten. Will that give everyone enough time?”
The boys shouted gleeful agreement. Carrie and Genie looked at each other. Carrie said, “Maybe I should stay here with Mom, in case…in case she needs anything.”
“Don’t be silly, Carrie,” Mom said. “You go along with the others. I’ll be fine.” She gave Carrie a little kiss and a hug, and then gave hugs and kisses to the others, too.
Dad stayed behind as they cleared the tray and herded the boys out. Carrie glanced back and saw him giving Mom a long kiss, and Mom seemed to be kissing him back. Any other time, such a display of passion would have embarrassed her. Instead, she found it gave her a little bit of hope. Maybe Mom just didn’t know what she wanted.
Maybe they would be all right after all.
AFTER breakfast, as the boys raced to their room, Genie whispered, “I’ll call Ms. Kelly back and tell her not to come by today.”
“Thanks,” Carrie said.
SHE started cleaning up the kitchen. She noticed that the little bowl Dad had used was a mortar. The pestle had been set alongside it to dry. Poor Dad. He must have gone so far as to crush fresh spices for the Bloody Mary. Thinking of this made her feel another wave of hopelessness. One kiss wasn’t going to change things between Mom and Dad.
Genie came running into the kitchen. “Shit!”
Carrie’s eyes widened.
“When I called back,” Genie said, as if she hadn’t just spoken a totally forbidden word, “it wouldn’t let me leave a message.”
“What do you mean?”
“It says her voice mail is full.”
“Don’t feel so bad. She’ll drive here, I won’t be around, and she’ll drive away. I mean, I’m sorry that she’ll waste her time, but we can’t help it.”
“I guess not,” Genie said. “But it might be hard to get her to come here again.” After a moment she said, “Let’s bring the camera Grandfather gave you to his house today and take pictures of you, and then ask him to get them developed for you. When they come back, we can mail them to Ms. Kelly.”
Carrie could think of a number of ways this could go wrong, but agreed enthusiastically, because she could tell Genie was trying so hard to be helpful. She didn’t think she fooled her sister, but maybe Genie was just disappointed about having to change plans.
THE house was never messy, but there were a few chores to be done. Dishes, laundry, dusting-there was never an end to them. Genie supervised the boys while Carrie did the sort of work she’d never entrust the boys to do.
As she put the mortar and pestle away, she saw a jar of strawberry preserves one of their aunts had given them. A Mason jar.
She thought of Genie, of her plea to ask Ms. Kelly about someone named Mason.
THEY were finished with the chores before ten. Genie had even managed to get the boys dressed and ready.
Mom and Dad hadn’t come out of their bedroom.
“Now what do we do?” Aaron asked.
“I know,” Carrie said, wondering if her mother had given her the ability to be an actress. “Let’s play hide-and-seek.”
Genie stared at her. “Are you sure?”
“Of course. I’m braver than you think.”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” Genie said, then turned to the boys and said, “I’ll be ‘it’ first.”
She covered her eyes and began counting. “One-alligator, two-alligator, three-alligator…”
CHAPTER 39
Tuesday, May 2
8:30 A.M.
NEWSROOM OF THE
LAS PIERNAS NEWS EXPRESS
NOTHING like a day away from the office to ensure that your next morning will be delivered hot and fresh from hell.
I heard my phone ringing from across the room as I made my way to my desk. John was motioning me into his office, Mark Baker was calling my name, and Lydia Ames was waving a thick fan of pink message slips at me in an imperative way.
I raised my index finger in the waitress-style “be right with you” sign to John, Mark, and Lydia, and answered the phone as I dropped my purse onto my desk.
“Irene? It’s Caleb. I’m sorry to bother you at work, but I was just wondering…”
I sat down under the pressure of a load of guilt. “Oh, hi, Caleb. Of course you want to know what happened yesterday. Sorry, I should have called you as soon as I got back from talking to the Garcias.” I quickly gave him a synopsis of what we had learned. He was excited and full of questions. I answered a few, then said, “I can’t go into much detail right now-I just got into the office. I can tell you more after I get off work, or you could call Ethan. He was awake when I left the house this morning.”
He thanked me and said he’d call Ethan.
Lydia walked over with the stack of message slips before I finished talking to him. “Your voice mail is full,” she said the moment I hung up the phone. “Here’s hoping one of these people can help you find her.”
“Help her father find her,” I said.
That seemed to amuse her, but she only said, “Better talk to John.”
The talk with John didn’t take all that long. He was pleased with the story. Mark had done his usual fine work, following up on the aspects of the story that concerned the police work in the case of Carla Ives. His review of their efforts ran as a companion piece to mine.