Time and Trouble (11 page)

Her mouth dropped open and the goodwill that had been softening her face dried up and disappeared.

“
It
’
s about honesty,
”
he said.
“
It
’
s the most basic ideal any of us have, to live honestly, be honest. That matters maybe more than anything.
”

Kathryn and Gary nodded in his direction, as if he
’
d passed a test. Then they looked back at Penny.

“
Don
’
t you see?
”
he asked.
“
It isn
’
t about a little gold
—”

“
Gold plated.
”

“—
heart. It
’
s about doing the right thing, so you can sleep easy.
”

She stood up so abruptly her chair wobbled, and would have fallen to the floor had not Gary reached out a long arm and steadied it. The sunshine in her was so completely gone that her skin seemed darker.

Maybe she was mentally ill. He
’
d never considered that before, but it wouldn
’
t be the first time he had been naive or stupid and willfully manipulated by a crazy girl.
“
What?
”
he asked.

“
I can
’
t go to the police.
”
Her voice was so low and strained her neck grew hollow-centered and veins stood out on it.
“
And I won
’
t. For starters, I
’
m a runaway.
”

“
Shit, man!
”
Gary said.
“
You brought a runaway here? Somebody the police want?
”

His housemates glared as if he
’
d deceived them, put them in jeopardy.

“
She
’
s eighteen,
”
he said.
“
She left home. Nothing illegal about it.
”
He didn
’
t want to explain his loose relationship with her, the rescuer fantasies that had gotten him into this mess. Not with her right here, ready to become hysterical if he implied she was less than everything to him.

“
Besides,
”
she said, breathing hard as if she
’
d been running, and facing him, eyes riveted on him.
“
You saw my mother run after the car. She
’
s pretending to be crippled, committing fraud. I can
’
t involve the police in my life. They
’
ll arrest her, and then what? What happens to Wesley?
”

He shouldn
’
t even have tried. Surely shouldn
’
t have mentioned honesty. Penny didn
’
t understand it. All she understood, or thought she did, was that if her mother the insurance-scammer went to jail, then nobody would take care of Wesley. Not her father, who, she was positive, was already living a double life. And that left only Penny, and how could she make a living, do any of it? And if she couldn
’
t, Wesley would be sent to foster care. He knew the drill and its circular form by heart, she
’
d said it so often. She
’
d built herself a trap and nailed boards over its exit.

The housemates looked at each other silently, but he heard their unarticulated questions, objections, fears in four parts as clearly as if they
’
d been singing a madrigal.

He tried to think his way out of this.
“
Let me get through this,
”
he said.
“
It isn
’
t the idea of telling the cops that worries you, it
’
s
your
telling them, right?
”

She frowned, took a deep breath, shrugged, then nodded. He didn
’
t think she meant it, but it would have to do.

“
Then don
’
t take it in. Mail it with a letter explaining what happened. A computer-written and printed letter they can
’
t trace.
”

“
What if they come here, man, and pull the file out of the computer?
”
Gary asked.
“
Even if you erase it, it
’
s there, you know, and if they bring good-enough technicians
—”

He was going to punch Gary out, stitch shut his mouth.
“
Right,
”
he said.
“
Like they
’
d want to, or care, or know which machine she
—”
He shook his head and took a breath. The girl was paranoid. Why give her extra ammunition?
“
Okay, we
’
ll rent time at Kinko
’
s, use their machine, okay? Then I
’
ll mail it from the other end of the county.
”
Jesus, this was stupid, kids playing spies.
“
And I
’
ll write out a script, word by word, of what you could say on the phone to your next-door neighbor.
”

“
Don
’
t forget the one who got hers at a Christmas party,
”
Alicia said. Penny flashed her a furious look. He didn
’
t try to figure it out. He merely nodded.

Penny still glared at Alicia. She hated anybody he liked, and he
’
d liked Alicia
—
as a friend, mostly
—
since the eighth grade.
“
Pen?
”
he prompted.

She looked at him from behind a volcanic mountain.
“
Oh,
”
she said,
“
you mean Mrs.
…
Mrs
…
.
”
her eyes darted from one to the other of the housemates and he couldn
’
t help but see that each in turn dropped their glance to their hands, or the table. He wondered if they, like he was, were suspicious about this, thought she might be lying.
“
Mrs.
…
Matterson. Sure. Same script.
”

“
Fine. So you won
’
t say a single thing about what
’
s on the script, and you
’
ll see if they can help the police find out anything about the hearts. Maybe they were only made in one place, even if a lot of them were made. Maybe that limits something. Or they have a cheap alloy that was only made for a year. I don
’
t know
—
but it
’
s wrong not to try and find out if you can. It
’
s not like you were a witness to a crime and you
’
d be afraid the killer would come after you. You found a trinket near where people were secretly buried and you
’
re providing help. And after you mail the heart and make the calls
—
you
’
re done. When it
’
s all settled out, you
’
ll even get your amulet back.
”

He
’
d presented a good case. Maybe he should have been a lawyer after all, made himself miserable, his parents happier about him. He watched her face, could almost see the stages of thought pass over her features. Hmm. Yes? No. Okay. Maybe. But
…
What stupid, immature counterargument would she find? How long would the rest of the household put up with this crap?

After what felt like too long, Penny
’
s muscles unclenched, her shoulders lowered, her hands loosened out of the fists by her side, and she smiled so that he could remember why he used to find her appealing.

“
Good plan,
”
she said with a nod.
“
We
’
ll do it first thing in the morning.
”

His housemates applauded and Penny made a mock bow and beamed at them, looking like a happy child. He himself felt a rush of joy and ease. They were not going to blow each other up and away this particular evening. He was not imminently homeless.

Although
…
They didn
’
t know her. They couldn
’
t see that there was something wrong with that smiling girl at the table. The Penny that had come home with him was filled to the brim with fears, both semi-sane and irrational, with erratic moods, rock-hard stubbornness, an ability to always choose the dramatic but destructive option.
…
She did not change her mind, did not give in.

This sudden, sunny and complete capitulation did not compute. But peace and Penny coexisted in his home for the first time, so he
’
d be damned if he
’
d question it. Instead, he smiled back, poured himself a beer and forced himself to believe for as long as he could that all was well and going to get better still.

Seven

Emma heard the outside office bell ring and went
out to play receptionist yet again. It was time to put pressure on Zack
—
either he was able to come back, or he was not. She had cut him more than enough slack but she had a business to run, and enough was enough of trying to make do.
“
I
’
m sorry,
”
she said as she entered the outer office,
“
our receptionist is on sick leave and
…”

A man who looked polished for an event more ornate than a visit to her office stood with one manicured hand on the shoulder of a woman in a wheelchair.

She knew that frizzy hair, or a picture of it, the one clear part of the tape. She
’
d seen that face over and over, screaming.

Sophia Redmond, suffering a relapse of insurance-scam paralysis, looked at a newspaper she held, then at Emma, and seemed to find the match satisfactory.
“
You
’
re Emma Howe,
”
she said.

Emma nodded agreement.

“
You own this agency, don
’
t you?
”

Emma was sure she was about to be slapped with something. Billie had done her in, screwed up so badly that now they were being sued. She nodded again.

“
Good,
”
Sophia said.
“
I want to hire you. I read about you in the
l.J.
and that gave me the idea to hire somebody like you
—
to hire
you.
I knew you were the right person
—
and right here, in San Rafael!
”
She waved her copy of the article, as if it were proof of something.

The power of PR, Emma thought. A human interest story can spark a little human interest. Even in the burbs where there wasn
’
t a PI on every corner, it didn
’
t hurt to get your name out, generate business.

“
I like that you
’
re a woman detective. I think that matters,
”
Sophia said. She swivelled her neck to watch her husband as she spoke the words with an air of defiance.

He shrugged and yawned, barely bothering to cover his mouth.
“
I figure a woman
’
s just as good,
”
he finally said.
“
For snooping, that is.
”

Emma said nothing. They were not announcing or threatening a lawsuit.

“
We
’
re here about a missing person. A kidnapping,
”
Sophia said.

So much for new business. They shouldn
’
t have come to her at all.
“
Missing or kidnapped, either way, that
’
s a police matter,
”
Emma said. First Miriam, then the Redmonds bypassing free and available public servants. People were nuts.

“
The girl ran away,
”
Mr. Redmond said.

“
She was kidnapped
—
taken by a cult!
”
Sophia said.

The man waved his hand dismissively.
“
She cut out, is all,
”
he said.
“
She
’
s on drugs. Or knocked-up.
”

“
The thing is, even though she
’
s a senior at San Rafael High, she
’
s a little older than some, eighteen, because we moved a lot when she was a child and also her birthday comes so late in the year, the kindergarten teacher thought
—”

“
Sophia,
”
the man said.

Sophia closed her eyes. Time out. Then she opened them and continued.
“
I don
’
t want you to think she
’
s stupid because she
’
s older. She
’
s not. And not even that much older. There are other eighteen-year
—”

“
Sophia.
”
He didn
’
t raise his voice, but the tension in his throat as he said her name was audible.

“
But even though she
’
s still in school, her age makes her legally an
‘
emancipated adult.
’
Which means she can leave home if she wants to, so it wouldn
’
t be a police matter, especially the way my husband puts it. As if she just plain ran away and wasn
’
t brainwashed first.
”

“
Sophia.
”

It was interesting, Emma thought, how easy it was to ignore somebody in a wheelchair. They were literally below notice, with all the unconscious contempt the expression implies. This man
—
the father and husband?
—
hadn
’
t acknowledged a word Sophia said, not to refute or confirm it except to squelch her. All without looking her way. Not that the woman didn
’
t need levees for her word flow, but if she
’
d been standing next to him, would he have treated her more like his equal?