“We’ll talk in the car.
“Wh-why are you doing this? Did something bad happen?”
“We’ll talk in the car,” he said again.
Abby slammed her car door. “Oh my God, this is so embarrassing! What the hell is so important that you have to pick me up now? What’d I do?”
“You didn’t do anything.” He couldn’t tell her the truth, couldn’t tell her what was going on, what exactly the threat was. “I’m taking you over to Jenna’s house now.”
“Jenna’s-for what? How come we’re going there now?”
“Just… just listen to me, please,” he snapped as he maneuvered the car out of the main gates of the school and onto St. Agnes Road. “You’re going to be staying at the Galvins’ for a couple of days.”
“The Galvins-?”
“At their house. Just for a couple of days.”
“Why?”
“You’re not complaining, are you? I would have thought you’d be thrilled.”
“I can’t-I mean, all my stuff’s at home!”
“I’ll get it for you later on today.”
“You don’t know what to get! You don’t know where I keep all my stuff.”
“It’s not a big apartment. I’ll find whatever you need.”
It wasn’t as if Danny could give her an explanation that would make any sense to her. I’m afraid something might happen to you. I’m afraid someone might take you hostage. You’ll be safer, far less vulnerable, in a house in the suburbs surrounded by fenced-in acres and armed guards than in a second-floor apartment in the city with a couple of flimsy locks between you and them.
No reason to terrify her.
“What is the big rush, are you going to tell me?”
“No,” he said. “Not now. Later.”
73
The regular security at Galvin’s house had seemed elaborate enough, with the eight-foot-high wrought-iron fence and the electric swing gate that opened only once you identified yourself.
But Galvin, at Danny’s urging, had hired a private security company that provided trained ex-soldiers and ex-policemen to corporations and wealthy individuals. And now the property had the look of a military base. The two uniformed guards who stopped Danny at the gate didn’t look like the run-of-the-mill, rent-a-cop variety. They looked fit and professional and had walkie-talkies and were armed. A third appeared to be patrolling the perimeter on foot.
One of them came over to Danny’s car. Danny rolled down his window at the guard’s stern behest and handed over his driver’s license.
“I’m a friend. Daniel Goodman.”
“Yes, sir, we’re expecting you,” he said, consulting a clipboard. The guy stared at Danny’s license, handed it back, and nodded to his partner. The gate slowly came open.
“What is this?” Abby said. “What’s with those guys?”
Danny didn’t answer. He couldn’t tell her the truth, but he didn’t want to outright lie. He drove up the long tree-lined road that wound through the woods to the house.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
He pulled over and put the car in park, the engine running. “Boogie, listen. One of Mr. Galvin’s clients has been threatening him and his family.”
She squinted, frowned. “So… what does that have to do with me?”
“The thing is, they’re probably targeting close friends, too. Anyway, that’s what Tom’s security company tells him, and we don’t want to take any chances.”
Her mouth came open. “But what-what about Jenna?”
“She’s being picked up separately.”
“Holy crap!” she said. “I don’t believe this. You mean we can’t leave the house?”
“Just for a couple of days. Until this blows over.”
They pulled up to the house.
Celina answered the door, looking beautiful as ever, in jeans and a beige silk top, but her radiant smile was gone. She wore no makeup and looked a little haggard. She gave a perfunctory smile; she wasn’t hostile so much as remote, guarded. Her life had been rocked by the carnage at Aspen and its aftermath here at home. Everything had changed, and was about to change even more drastically, and she was frightened for her family.
“Abby, would you like to go to Jenna’s room? She’s on her way back right now.” The little rat dogs skittered around them, swarming them, wheezing and rasping, their nails clicking like tiny tap shoes.
“Torito! Loco! Enough!” she said.
She placed both hands on Abby’s shoulders. “Abby, querida, you and Jenna will have a nice time this weekend. Maybe you and Jenna can help make dinner tonight?”
Abby blinked and nodded. “Okay, sure,” she said, unenthusiastic, giving a quickly disappearing smile.
“There’s nothing to be scared about,” Celina said.
But Abby didn’t look convinced.
A few minutes later, Tom Galvin and Jenna came through the front door, followed by a stocky black man in a navy sweatshirt, his gun holstered on the left side of his belt. In his ear was the coiled wire of a security earpiece. He stood in the doorway.
Galvin looked ill. His shoulders seemed stooped. He was pale, with beads of sweat on his forehead. “We’re all set, Dennis,” Galvin told the guard, who nodded and left, pulling the door closed behind him.
“Mamá!” Jenna gasped, her eyes wide. “Will someone tell me what is going on here? Are we, like, prisoners here? Is anyone going to explain?”
“Celina,” Galvin said flatly. “Have a talk with the girls. Danny, you and I need to have our own talk.”
“What about College Night?” Jenna said.
“Huh?” her father said.
“Tonight at school,” Abby said. “College Night. Everyone has to be there.”
“Sorry,” said Galvin. “Change in plans. College Night’s been canceled. You girls can stay here and have a party.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Jenna told her father. “It’s not, like, optional. We have to go.”
Danny shook his head. Celina said, “It’s not good time.”
“Dad, every single girl in the class is going to be there,” Abby said. “There’s going to be admissions reps from Yale there, and Princeton and Brown, and the college counselors will be telling everyone what we have to do, and answering questions. It’s not a choice. I have to be there. We both do.”
“Not tonight,” Danny said. “Sorry.”
“You think I want to go to College Night?” Jenna said to her parents. “Abby really wants to go, okay? I mean, it’s not like I’m even going to get into college. Not unless you buy them a gym.”
Galvin looked stung. “Don’t say that, honey. The right college will be lucky to get you.”
“Lucky to get you, you mean. Anyway, you can’t force us to stay here. We’re not prisoners.”
“Actually, I have bad news for you. I can force you to stay here. Last I looked, I’m your father.”
“And I wish to hell you weren’t!” Jenna shouted. “You’re a goddamned Nazi, you know that?” The sharp edge of her banked fury was blunted only by her tears.
Galvin was quiet for several seconds. Then he shook his head, as if all the fight had gone out of him. “Don’t talk that way,” he said softly.
“I hate you!” Jenna said. “You’re ruining my life.”
“Your father loves you, chica!” Celina said. “Don’t say like this!”
“No!” Jenna shouted, and she stormed upstairs. A moment later, Abby followed Jenna.
Galvin muttered something to Celina in Spanish. Then he said, “Right now, Danny and I need to have a talk of our own.”