Thirteenth Child (11 page)

“No.”

“We could close for the day. You could talk to the doctor yourself.” “No.”

She was gassing up a car when her mother pulled out in the old pickup.

The day of the hearing arrived. Steve was still weak, but able to attend it. Angie volunteered the information to Kate, her mouth tight. They hadn’t spoken to each other any more than absolutely necessary in the past few days.

“I suppose you won’t come to the hearing, either,” Angie said as she poured herself a cup of coffee and drank it. The cup rattled in the saucer.

“No way.” Just the thought of seeing her father standing up before a judge, all the eyes in the room staring at him, being led away by a police officer to jail…. Would they handcuff him? The thought of it made her sick.

She was serving lunch to some customers out at the picnic table when Angie came back. Kate dumped their food in front of them, then went into the snack bar. Angie wasn’t there. Kate went on into their own kitchen. Angie was sitting at the table, staring straight ahead. She had made up especially carefully that morning, but her face was chalk white. Her lipstick had either worn off or been chewed off. She was dry-eyed, but her shoulders were shaking.

“Three months,” she whispered. “They gave him three months because it was a first offense and I asked them to go easy on him. And because he agreed to go into treatment. He looked so sad, Kate. He said he was sorry. He said to tell you how sorry he was. And he looked old. For the first time—he looked so old. I can’t bear it.”

Kate felt the sting of sudden tears in her eyes. She turned away quickly.

“Mike said it was for the best. He said I’d done the right thing.” Angie seemed to be talking to herself.

“Mike?” Kate whipped back around. “He was there?”

“Yes. He found out when the hearing was. He was with us. I was real surprised to see him there, but it helped.”

Kate felt a surge of anger. What right did he have to butt in? It was none of his business.

No, it was
your
business, a small voice inside her head said. It was you who should have been
there. Don’t blame Mike just because you’re feeling guilty again.

Two days later, Jed called up. Angie had gone to town; Kate answered the phone.

“You seen anything of Mike?” Jed asked. “He’s disappeared. Just took off. Didn’t even collect his pay.”

Before Kate could collect herself enough to answer, Angie opened the kitchen door. Kate took one look at her mother’s face and dropped the receiver.

“It’s Melanie Davis,” Angie said. “They found her body late last night down by the river. She’s been murdered.”

“Melanie Davis? Murdered? That’s not possible!”

“It’s true,” Angie answered. “I can’t believe it myself.”

“When? What happened?”

“Last night. She was supposed to come straight home from her job at the mall to babysit her little brother, but when she didn’t turn up by ten o’clock, her parents started phoning her friends. Mercy Harris works with her at Woolworth’s. She said they left together and she saw Melanie take the river road home the way she usually does.”

Angie’s voice caught. She paused for a moment. “I can’t believe it,” she repeated, as if to herself. “That lovely girl.” Then she made an
effort and went on. “That’s where they found her. The police. Melanie’s parents finally called them and they started a search for her.”

“How …?” Kate couldn’t finish the question. Her mind refused to accept what her mother was telling her. She’d seen Melanie just a little while ago. Melanie was her own age. How could she be dead?

“She was hit. On the head.”

Angie stopped again. She looked as if she was about to cry. “The police found her about midnight. She’d been dragged off the path a bit, behind some bushes—I guess in the dark nobody saw her there until they started looking.” Her voice broke. “She lay there all that time…. Poor girl. All alone….”

Kate started to shake. In her mind she could see Melanie darting out of the car to the Coke machine. Melanie had seen the person who’d robbed the last store. She’d said there was something familiar about him. Had she realized who he was? Had he found out somehow? And that look she’d given Kate—what did that mean? As if … as if he had something to do with Kate.

And Mike had disappeared.

“Poor girl,” Angie said again. “First those robberies, now this. What’s happening around here?”

Angie wasn’t the only one who started making connections between the robberies and the killing. The next morning two police officers strode through the door into the snack bar. One
was Kate’s friend, Constable Downey; the other was a new officer, one she hadn’t seen before.

“Morning, Kate,” Constable Downey said. His face was serious and the usual bantering tone in his voice was gone. “Your mom around?”

Angie came out of the back room, wiping her hands on a tea towel. Kate sidled back toward the counter. There was a sick uneasiness growing in her stomach.

“What is it?” Angie asked, her voice shrill. “My husband? Has something happened?”

“No, ma’am,” the constable replied. “Nothing to do with Steve at all. We just want to ask you and Kate a few questions, that’s all.” His voice was studiously calm, but he looked ill at ease.

“Questions?” Kate went rigid.

“Yes.” He looked over at Kate, then back at Angie. “You have a boy working here—name of Mike Bridges?”

“Yes,” Angie answered, puzzled.

“He around here now, by any chance?”

“No,” Angie answered. “He’s probably up at Jed’s. He works for him, mostly. Only helps out here now and then.”

“Not anymore, he doesn’t work there.” The other officer spoke up for the first time. His voice was cold and unfriendly. Suspicious. “Seems he just took off somewhere in a big hurry. Nobody seems to know where.”

“Why, I didn’t know that,” Angie said. “Did you, Kate?”

To her horror, Kate saw her hands start to tremble. The cup and saucer she was carrying suddenly clattered. She dumped them into the sink and clasped her fingers tightly together behind her back.

Angie jumped at the crash. Both officers’ eyes swiveled to stare at Kate. She took a deep breath and forced the tremble out of her voice.

“Well—yes, actually. Jed called up yesterday and asked if I knew where he was. You came in with the news about Melanie then, Mom, and I guess … I guess I just forgot to tell you,” she finished weakly.

“Did you have any idea he was planning on going anywhere?” the second officer asked.

“No. Not at all. The last time I saw him he seemed just the same as always—said he’d see me this week.” Kate stopped abruptly. The officer furrowed his brow. He pulled out a memo book and started making notes.

“So you think he must have left in pretty much of a hurry, then—hadn’t planned on it?”

“I didn’t say that. I don’t know….”

“Know where he comes from?”

“Not really. Some little town near Ottawa, he said.” The useless air conditioner roared in Kate’s ears. She wiped a trickle of sweat off her forehead. “He never told me the name. Said I probably wouldn’t have ever heard of it.” Kate twisted her fingers together. A ring on her right hand dug into the flesh painfully.

“When did he first turn up here, Kate?” Constable Downey asked. His voice was quiet and kind. Kate turned to him with relief.

“In June it was, wasn’t it, Kate?” Angie answered, before she could say anything. “Early June. Just before school let out.”

The second officer made a note and nodded his head, as if confirming a thought. “Just before the first robbery—the one at the drugstore.”

“Why, yes,” Angie agreed, then her eyes widened. “But you don’t think—”

“Just checking, Mrs. Halston,” Constable Downey put in quickly. “We don’t have any reason at all to suspect him, but it’s sort of a coincidence, him arriving out of nowhere just before a string of robberies starts, then disappearing back into nowhere right after the first murder we’ve had in this town in over twenty years. Something we’ve got to check out. What did you think of him, Mrs. Halston?”

“Why ….” Angie was confused. “Why, he’s a real nice boy. He’s helped out a lot here. Even came to court with me when my husband ….” She bit her lip.

He turned to Kate. She felt as if she were fighting for breath in the heavy, humid air.

“What about you, Kate? What did you think of him? Anything strike you as unusual?”

“Unusual?” she parroted, stalling for time.

“Yes. Strange. Out of the ordinary.” The constable looked at her closely. She wiped the
sweat out of her eyes again.

Tell him about the first time he’d broken in here? About the attempted robbery? It was now or never. Her eyes slid away from his. There was a splash from the fish tank. The cichlid was harassing Fred.

“Kate?” Constable Downey repeated, gently prodding. His eyes drilled into her.

“No,” Kate said. “Nothing. Nothing unusual.”

“You’re sure, Kate? There’s nothing more you want to tell me?”

The constable’s voice was so friendly. So reassuring. For a moment Kate weakened. It would be such a relief to tell him. To get rid of her secret and her fear. Let somebody else handle it. Let somebody else decide whether Mike was guilty or not. She opened her mouth.

“You keeping anything back from us, miss?” The second officer’s voice broke in harshly.

“No!”

There was a moment of silence. Constable Downey glared at his partner, then he spoke again.

“You’ll let us know, Kate? If you remember anything?” His voice was flat. He sounded disappointed. Kate was certain he didn’t believe her. After a few more general questions they finally left.

“Kate, you weren’t lying to them, were you?” Angie was looking at Kate strangely.

“Of course not!” She stumbled back behind the counter and made a show of collecting some
dirty dishes, but they rattled so badly in her hands that she stopped and just grabbed onto the edge of the sink.

“I like Mike. I’m sure he didn’t have anything to do with this,” Angie said, “but it sure is funny, him taking off like that. If you do know something…. You’ve got to tell them, Kate. You can’t hold things back from the police.”

“You know all about that, don’t you!” Kate exploded. “You certainly do know about telling everything to the police, don’t you!”

Angie’s face went cold. She threw down the towel she’d been holding and left the room.

The church where Melanie’s funeral was held was far too small for the number of people who turned up to say goodbye to her. All of her high school friends and teachers were there, her relatives, her neighbors, her family’s friends, even people who hadn’t known her. The whole town grieved for her, and the whole town was shocked. Nothing like this had ever happened here before. She had been killed with a single blow to the head. With a blunt instrument, the police said. Swung by someone standing directly in front of her.

So she had been facing her killer. Had she had time to be afraid? Kate couldn’t get the picture out of her mind.

Kate and Angie went to the funeral together, but they didn’t speak much to each other. Since
the day of the police officers’ visit, Angie had seemed to withdraw into herself. She had been to visit Steve, but when she came home she went straight to her room without saying anything to Kate. Kate told herself she didn’t care. She told herself she preferred it that way.

At first Kate didn’t notice anything wrong at the church. She and Angie got there early enough to find places toward the back. Several of Melanie’s friends were in the same row; they glanced at Kate and Angie, but didn’t speak. When the church emptied, however, and the mourners began the short walk to the cemetery, following the hearse and the cars bearing Melanie’s family, Mercy Harris fell into step beside Kate. Mercy’s eyes were red and swollen from weeping. Three other girls and Jerry Dunn walked beside her.

“Police find your scummy boyfriend yet?” Mercy hissed.

Kate looked at her, dumbfounded. For a moment she thought she hadn’t heard correctly.

“That lowlife—the one you’ve been so tight with all summer—the one that just disappeared so conveniently—they find him yet?”

“Police have been asking about him all over town. Seems the only ones know anything about him are you and Jed, and everyone knows Jed’s not running on all cylinders,” Jerry said. “Guess that just leaves you, doesn’t it?” He raised his eyebrows; his words were heavy with insinuation.

“Pretty funny, him just disappearing like that. And nobody from around here had any reason to kill Melanie, that’s for sure,” Mercy said bitterly.

“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Kate began, but they turned away and left her standing there. Kate fought to catch her breath. It took several moments to pull herself into any semblance of normality and catch up to her mother. Angie was staring at the cars ahead of them, however, and didn’t seem to notice.

As they prepared to leave the cemetery after the brief ceremony, Kate caught sight of Barney. He was standing back, alone and a little apart from the rest of the mourners. His face was desolate. He looked up and saw her at the same moment, but before she could do anything, he turned brusquely and strode away.

Barney too? Kate thought in despair. He’s blaming me too? He never trusted Mike right from the beginning….

July melted into August. It was the hottest summer on record, the TV forecasters said. The air conditioner was fixed, but it still didn’t work properly.

“Hotter’n you know what,” Bob Dowles said, as he and the other three regulars settled down around their table one day not long after the funeral. There was still nothing new with the investigation; the townspeople were beginning to get angry. And frightened. Girls weren’t walking
home alone anymore, and everyone avoided the river road after dark.

“How’s Steve?” Norris Lamont asked Angie, as she brought them their order.

“He’s getting on real well,” she answered with the brief flash of a smile. “Go to see him every week, you know. Sends you all his regards.”

“Glad to hear it,” Jimmy Bent said.

“He’s making an effort, he really is. Time he comes home, he’s going to be all better. Right back to the old Steve.” She looked over at Kate, behind the counter.