When the police show up on your doorstep in the middle of the night, it is never a good sign. And when you’ve just informed them of your son going missing, even worse.
I could tell from Rosa’s expression that she already knew that Chase and Odelia weren’t harbingers of glad tidings, and already Tilton Bond was supporting her as Chase said, in somber tones, “I’m sorry to have to tell you that we’ve found Todd, Mrs. Bond.”
“Oh, no,” said Rosa, clasping a hand to her mouth. “He’s not… dead?”
“I’m afraid he is.”
“No!” she cried, then wordlessly opened and closed her lips, even as she staggered back. We all moved inside, and there, seated on the cozy couch in the living room, Odelia and Chase took turns to inform the parents of the boy that Todd had died that night.
“I knew he hadn’t left for Mexico,” said Tilton softly. “I should have gone looking for him, instead of relying on his good sense to come home again when he felt he should.”
“But how?” asked Rosa. “How did he die? He was such a good swimmer.”
“The investigation will have to bear that out,” said Chase.
Todd’s sister Aisha, awakened by the voices, now also came down and joined us. When she was informed, by her stepdad, of what had happened to her brother, she went very quiet and very, very pale. She just sat there, looking thoroughly shocked, and I think it was understandable that Odelia and Chase left soon after. There was no point asking a lot of questions now, coming so soon upon the terrible tragedy. Todd’s parents and his sister needed to process what had happened, and maybe in the morning questions could be asked, and the investigation begun in earnest as to what had happened to the boy.
For now, at least, it was time for us to go home, and get some rest.
I still couldn’t help, though, to ask, while we were driving home, “Odelia? Is it true that you’re having a baby soon?”
In spite of the tragic events, Odelia smiled.“I knew you were going to ask that, Max. And no, for your information, I’m not pregnant. So you can put all your concerns to rest, and also those of Gran and Scarlett and the others. If or when the time comes, I promise you’ll be the first to know, all right?”
“Pregnant?” asked Chase.
“Somehow the cats have gotten it into their nut that I’m having a baby,” said Odelia. “Don’t ask me how.”
“But you said so,” said Dooley. “When Rosa asked if you were thinking about starting a family, you said, ‘Oh, absolutely.’”
“And I wasn’t lying, Dooley,” said Odelia. “But that doesn’t mean we’re starting a family right now.”
“Oh,” said Dooley, and shared a look of relief with me.
“Look, Harriet and Brutus are going to ask you a lot of questions,” I told my human. “In fact they even told me to do anything that lies in my power to prevent this baby from joining our family, and I think you should probably know that they’re extremely worried.”
“And why is that, pray tell?” asked Odelia, that look of amusement still playing about her lips.
“Because they think you’ll kick us out the moment the baby is born,” said Dooley.
“Oh, please,” said Odelia. “You know I would never do that, don’t you?”
“But cats and babies don’t mix, Odelia,” said Dooley. “Everybody knows that.”
“But you’re not like other cats, are you?”
“We’re not?”
“No, you’re very special kitties, and I’m sure that if I had a baby, you would never think of harming a hair on that baby’s head, now would you?”
“No, of course not,” said Dooley, cutting me a look of concern.
“Harriet and Brutus did seem very anxious,” I said. “And I do mean very, very anxious.”
“I’ll have to have a talk with them,” said Odelia. “But I can promise you right now, that when Chase and I decide to have a baby…”
“Which will be soon, if it’s up to me,” Chase added with a slight grin.
“Very soon,” Odelia confirmed, sharing a knowing glance with her husband, “you can rest assured that you won’t be kicked out. But you have to promise me to take good care of this baby, all right?”
“Of course,” I said warmly.
“We will take very good care of the baby, Odelia,” Dooley intoned.
“But you will talk to Harriet and Brutus, though, won’t you?” I asked once more.
“Oh, you can bet on it,” she said, and I had the distinct impression that a few home truths were about to be dispensed to that fearsome twosome.
Chapter 21
The next morning, we found ourselves the guests of the Bond family once again. Tilton and Rosa sat where they’d sat last night, and so did Aisha.
“I don’t understand,” said Rosa, and it was clear she hadn’t had any sleep, and neither had Tilton. “Todd was such a good swimmer.” She was holding a picture of her boy, probably aged twelve at the time, holding up a medal which he’d won in a swimming competition. She showed it to Odelia and Chase, to prove that her boy couldn’t have possibly drowned.
Tilton had placed a comforting arm around his wife’s shoulder, but he, too, looked badly affected by what happened.
“Do you think he might have… done this to himself?” asked Odelia.
Rosa looked up.“You mean did he kill himself?”
“He would never do that,” said Aisha. “Never.”
“He did seem unhappy lately,” said Tilton.
“You had an argument with Todd before he ran off?” asked Chase.
“I did, yes,” said Tilton.
“What was the argument about?”
“The usual,” said Tilton. “His grades had been slipping lately, and I told him that he needed to focus more on school and less on some of the extracurricular activities he liked to get involved in.”
“Like what?”
“Partying with his friends, obviously, but also some concert he wanted to go to.”
“Stage Patrol,” said Aisha with a faint smile. “He just loved that band.”
“Since it was a school night, we felt he shouldn’t go,” Rosa explained.
“Especially since his grades weren’t good,” Tilton specified. “I told him that if he applied himself more, that maybe we could allow him to go to concerts and whatever, but as long as his grades kept slipping, first he needed to address that.”
“He felt you were being too strict with him,” said Aisha softly.
“But we were only doing it for his own good,” Rosa said.
“I know, Mom, and I think Todd did, too.”
“Do you have any idea why he decided to stay with Scott, Aisha?” asked Odelia.
Aisha shrugged, but didn’t look up.
“Aisha?” asked Rosa, alarmed.
“Well, the thing is that Todd had a girlfriend,” said Aisha, “and I think he wanted to spend more time with her than with us.”
“Girlfriend?” asked Rosa, who looked greatly surprised by this. “What girlfriend? He never said anything about a girlfriend.”
“Well, he wouldn’t, would he?” said Aisha. “You would just have told him he couldn’t see her anymore, not until his grades improved.”
“Who was the girlfriend, Aisha?” asked Chase gently.
“Scott’s sister. Layla,” said Aisha, her eyes still fixed on the carpet.
Odelia and Chase shared a look of surprise, and so did Rosa and Tilton.
“Scott didn’t approve, though, so Todd and Layla tried to keep a low profile. Which is why they hadn’t told anybody, not even me. I caught him texting her one night, so that’s how I found out. I confronted him about the text, and so he told me the whole story.”
“Scott didn’t approve of his sister dating his best friend?” asked Odelia.
“No, he thought it was creepy that his sister would get involved with Todd.” She shrugged. “Don’t ask me why. I thought he would have been happy, but Todd said he freaked out. So they told him they’d broken up, just to make him calm down.”
“But they hadn’t?”
Aisha shook her head.“As far as I know they were still seeing each other, only they were making sure that Scott didn’t find out this time.”