PART THREE
33
Danny tried to read in bed but couldn’t make any headway. Maybe he was too much of a wimp to be a dad, but he couldn’t stand watching Abby cry. He hated the fights and the struggle that came with having a kid. Generally, he tried not to give in to emotional blackmail, or to be a pushover-kids needed to be given boundaries and limits. Maybe not as much as his own parents had done. But you couldn’t go too far in the other direction, either. Kids, he decided, were like iPhones: They didn’t come with an owner’s manual.
He wished he could be open with Abby, tell her the truth-that her father had gotten involved in some very scary stuff, that her best friend’s father worked with people who murdered without hesitation. That he couldn’t allow her to be a hostage.
But he couldn’t say anything about it. He didn’t trust her to keep a confidence. Certainly not from her BFF.
Lucy came into the bedroom after almost an hour in Abby’s bedroom. She looked tired. He could see dried traces of tears on her cheeks.
He looked up, raised his brows.
She shook her head. “She’s still upset. I told her to forget about homework, and she didn’t fight me on it. She basically cried herself to sleep.”
“Oh, Jesus.”
“I think the nose piercing looks kind of cute on her.” She slipped out of her jeans, then pulled her shirt over her head.
“Oh, come on. She can mutilate her body after she turns eighteen.”
“Whoa, what happened to Cool Dad?”
“I never claimed to be Cool Dad.”
She unlatched her bra and her breasts swayed. “She did it. Okay? That was her little act of rebellion. Believe me, there are far worse ways for kids her age to rebel.”
“She could have pierced her septum and had one of those little horseshoes coming out of her nose.”
“Worse than that. But that’s not what pissed you off, really.”
“That wasn’t the only thing. She went off the grid for three hours. This girl, who sleeps with her phone in her hand and probably posts things on her Facebook page during math class. She just went dark. How would you have felt?”
She settled onto the bed. “You overreacted, okay?”
“I was scared something might have happened to her. She knew I was picking her up at school, and she just vanished.”
“When we were kids, we could go for almost the whole day without talking to our parents, right? On a summer day, you’d go out in the morning, the screen door would slam shut behind you, and you spent the day riding bikes or hanging out with your friends, and there were no cell phones. You didn’t have to check in.”
“It’s a different world. There’re abductions and child molesters and sickos with chloroform driving panel vans.”
“There’s no evidence that kids are more endangered these days. That’s a media myth. Anyway, that’s not even the point.”
“Which is what?”
“You know, I always resented it when people tried to tell me how to raise Kyle. Especially when I was a single mom. Everyone always had advice. Don’t be so strict, don’t be so lax. Don’t let him watch TV, don’t make TV the forbidden fruit. Don’t let him play computer games or video games. I mean, it drove me crazy. Even when people were right. From the very beginning, when you and I first started seeing each other, I told you I was never going to play shrink. Never going to tell you how to be a dad.”
“I asked you to go in there.”
“And I’m flattered she wanted to talk to me. It means a lot. I mean, it’s complicated, navigating our relationship. I’m not her mom, and she doesn’t want that.”
“So tell me what she said. How bad is it?”
“Look, Danny, you’re a terrific father.”
“But?”
“But nothing. You are.”
“And?”
She shrugged. “Why are you doing this, Danny?”
“She’s over there too much. Let’s not you and me argue, too.”
“You’re cutting her off from her best friend.”
“It’ll be good for her.”
“I don’t get it. You don’t mind if Jenna comes over here, you just don’t want Abby going over to the Galvins’ house?”
“Something like that.”
“Why?”
He exhaled, frustrated at his inability to tell her the real story. “Spending all that time over there is just giving her unrealistic expectations. It’s warping her.”
“But that’s not what you told her. You said she can never go over there.”
“Well, for the time being.”
“You need to think about why you’re doing this.”
He reached over, stroked the silky skin of her breasts, gave a nipple a gentle squeeze. She folded her arms.
“What?” he said.
“There’s something you’re not telling me about the Galvins.”
He shook his head, didn’t hesitate, and came right out with the lie. “Not true.”
“There’s something. Something about them you don’t like. What is it?”
“That’s not it at all.”
“Cut the crap, Danny. I know you. I can read you like a book. That time when you claimed you went to the Wellesley College library and you so clearly didn’t?”
“You’re not still on that, are you?”
“There’s something going on. Something about Galvin. Why don’t you tell me?”
“There’s nothing to tell,” he said, and he rolled over and switched off the bedside lamp. “Nothing to tell.”
She looked at him for a long time, but she left it there. The conversation was over. He awoke some time later, realizing he’d forgotten to send a text message to the DEA confirming that he’d done the deed. He got out of bed as quietly as he could. The floor creaked, and Lucy stirred in her sleep.
In the living room he switched on the lamp on one side of the couch, opened his laptop, and waited for it to join the wireless network.
He signed in to the JayGould1836@gmail.com account and began composing an encrypted text message, when he saw there was already a message waiting for him:
Nice work, it said. Meet 10 a.m. tomorrow morning to return equip. location tbd.
He wondered how they knew he’d managed to upload the contents of Galvin’s BlackBerry. He’d only told them he’d try. How did they know he’d succeeded? Maybe it had been uploaded automatically; was that possible? Probably.
How much did they know about him? How closely were they watching?
And when, he wondered, would they finally leave him alone?
34
During the ride to school, Abby gave him the full-on silent treatment.
“Let me guess,” Danny said after a moment. “You’re pissed about this Galvin thing.”
She stared straight ahead.
“Abby, talk to me.”
Silence.
“I hate seeing you like this, Boogie. Let’s talk.”
She opened her mouth, looked like she was about to let loose a stream of invective. Instead, very carefully, she said: “No.”
But he kept at it. His working assumption was that she’d tell everything to Jenna anyway, so he had to be mindful of what he told her. “Look, the Galvins are great people. A totally great family. And Jenna is terrific.” He was willing to exaggerate for the sake of family harmony. “But sometimes people just need to take time off, even best friends. I want us to spend time as a family again. You and me, or you and me and Lucy. Okay?”
She stared straight ahead and didn’t reply. When they reached the drop-off point in front of the school, she hefted her backpack, opened the car door, jumped out, and slammed it without saying good-bye.
Have fun, Danny thought.
Five or six cars ahead in line he saw Galvin’s Maybach limo. Just seeing the car made his stomach clutch. Galvin knew something, suspected something, about him. He had to. Danny prided himself on being a careful observer of people-most writers were-and he’d seen the suspicion dawn on Galvin’s face when he found his BlackBerry in the wrong pocket. It wasn’t exactly subtle.