Untethered (19 page)

A
llie!” Char called, throwing open the door to the house. She hurtled up the stairs to the main floor, calling again. “Allie! Are you here?”

She knew it was pointless, that she was being naive to hang on to the small shred of hope that someone had somehow snuck into the house, found the convertible keys, opened the garage door, backed the car out, and closed the door again all while Allie, hard at work on her studies in her room, hadn't noticed a thing.

“Allie!” She could hear her voice get more shrill the more times she called, and the more times the silent house refused to answer.

She checked the kitchen counter, the place where they always left notes for each other. Nothing.

She ran upstairs and burst into the girl's bedroom.

“Oh, no.”

Allie's bed was made and her dirty clothes, normally strewn over the floor, were neatly bundled in her hamper. These were things Allie did only on three occasions: penalty of death as threatened by
her father; a visit from Lindy; and as self-imposed penance for some teenage sin.

Char raced back to the kitchen and dialed Allie's cell.

No answer.

She texted, in case Justin was driving. Or in case Allie checked her texts while she drove. She wasn't supposed to—it was against Bradley's rules, and the law. Not, apparently, that those things mattered to Allie—she had taken the car, after all.

Char felt the heat rising in her chest and neck as she considered the number of household rules, let alone state laws, the kid had broken. Not to mention making Char frantic with worry for the second time in a single week. She considered what she had told Colleen only a few hours earlier, that having the girl home safe was all that mattered, that she could leave the lectures and rules and confrontation for another day. Maybe this was her thanks for being such a doormat.

She tried Kate next. The girl sounded caught off guard by the call, as though she had forgotten not to answer and found herself stuck talking to someone she had been trying to avoid. She claimed to have no idea where Allie was, and to be offended by Char's questions.

“You need to be straight with me, Kate,” Char said, not buying any of it.

“I
am
,” Kate said.

Char heard the teen push out a blast of breath and she could picture blond bangs fluttering with the upward puff. Kate was doing her best to sound annoyed, falsely accused. But Char had heard this noise before, had seen the way Kate jutted out her lower lip and slid her eyes to one side as she sent her hair scattering with her faux exasperation.

“Nice try, Kate. You're lying, and I know it. Try again.”

Kate said nothing.

“So help me God, Kate,” Char said. “If I find out later that you had any idea where she was and let me pace, out of my mind with worry . . .” She tried to come up with an effective threat, but what could she lord over Kate?

“Look,” Char said, her voice as patient, as understanding of teenage stupidity, as she could make it. “Whatever promise you may have made to her to keep her plans a secret, you need to break it. Now. Whatever she's up to, whatever she was thinking when she decided to take off, it's not as important as us finding her, talking to her, making sure she's safe.”

Kate remained mute and Char could picture the girl shrugging.
Whatever
.

“Is she with Justin?” Char asked.

“How would I know?” Kate said. “I
said
I haven't heard from her.”

“Kathleen,” Char said, and waited, letting the name and the stern tone impart their own meaning:
I know you. I know this isn't how you normally talk to adults. I know you're hiding something.
“I'm going to ask you again: Is she with Justin?”

“I've got to go.”

“Kate—”

But the girl had hung up.

Char put a hand on her forehead. Suddenly, her skull was on fire, and throbbing. In the kitchen, she swallowed two acetaminophen tablets and made herself finish an entire glass of water before lifting her phone again. She tried Allie another time. Still no answer.

Colleen's cell went straight to voice mail, and so did Sydney's. Char left messages for both of them, trying to sound calm. But it
was tough to say “Call me as soon as you can” without seeming panicked.

She hovered an index finger over the nine on her dial pad. Involving the police would bring this to an end faster. But what would the consequences be? Even if Justin was driving, Allie had taken a car without permission, and Char would have to admit this in explaining the situation.

Was it a crime, if it was her own family's car? Would they have to charge her with it, even if Char asked them not to? If Allie was the one driving, surely they would charge her for that. Would it affect her ability to get her license? Char had no idea what the law would do to a fifteen-year-old in a case like this.

The only thing she knew for certain was that the police wouldn't contact Char in connection with whatever it is they planned to charge Allie with—they would call Lindy. And it would be difficult to blame Lindy for using a call from the police as a reason for putting an immediate end to Allie's time in Michigan.

Char moved her finger away from the nine.

She wasn't being selfish, she told herself. This was about Allie's record, her future, not Char's desire to keep the girl around. And she wasn't making a final decision about involving the authorities. She could reconsider at any time.

She pressed Kate's number again, this time prepared to threaten to speak to the girl's parents if she didn't offer up some information. Kate's line rang once before Char's phone screen lit up with an incoming call: Allie.

“Allie! Where are you? And what the hell were you thinking? Wait—forget I asked that. I don't care. I honestly don't. Just come home. Come home right away. Is Justin driving? Make sure he drives, in case you get pulled over—”

“I'm not with Justin,” Allie said.

Char felt relief flood over her.

Until Allie spoke again.

“I'm with Morgan. And I'm sorry I didn't answer before. I was driving. But we stopped for a minute so she could use the bathroom. And I wanted to call anyway, to let you know I'm okay. We're okay. I felt bad that I left without—”

“Morgan?” Char asked. “What do you mean, you're with Morgan? I thought she was out of town with her mother. Did she come back? Why did you—?”

“She was out of town. But not with Mrs. Crew. She was alone. In Toledo. I picked her up there.”

“You what? You're in
Ohio
? You drove
all the way to Ohio
after school? You must've driven way too fast—”

“I left in the morning. Wes drove me home as soon as you dropped me off at school.”

Char's head pounded harder and she pressed a palm against her temple. Allie had planned this? “You mean—?”

She stopped herself from launching into a lecture about honesty and responsibility and obeying the law. She could address it when Allie was home. For now, she needed to get the girls back to Mount Pleasant before the police did it for her.

“Tell me you're on your way back to Mount Pleasant, Allie. Tell me you are minutes away from pulling into our driveway. Tell me I can call the Crews right now and have them meet you here, so they can get their child back.”

Allie didn't respond.

“Allie.” Char considered the girl's unnaturally tidy room and knew what was coming next.

“I'm sorry,” Allie said.

“My God, Allie. What do you think you're doing? Do Morgan's parents even know she's with you? Because they're aware you don't have your license yet—”

“No, they don't know,” Allie said.

“So, her aunt and uncle let her go with you? Do
they
know you don't have a license? Allie, you really need to get that girl home, or back to her relatives. What if the Crews call the police when they find out? I don't even want to think about what happens to a fifteen-year-old who's caught with someone else's kid. It's kidnapping! Isn't that a felony?”

“The Crews aren't going to call the police,” Allie said, and the smirk in her tone made Char want to reach through the phone and slap her.

How could she be so flippant about this? What if they tried her as an adult? Didn't they do that with kids who were old enough to know better?

“Of course they are!” Char said. “They must be beside themselves. I'm guessing they have every highway patrol between here and Toledo looking for you. Think about your future, Allie. Think about Morgan, and the Crews. Think of the position you're putting Sarah's aunt and uncle in—”

“She wasn't with Mrs. Crew's aunt and uncle, Char. She was with
complete strangers
. People she had never met before in her entire life—”

“What? What are you talking about? Why was she with strangers?”

“Because,” Allie said, “the Crews
gave her away
. To strangers. Because they
didn't want her anymore
.”

Char pressed her palm harder against her throbbing temple. “What are you saying?”

“I'm saying that the Crews aren't about to call the police, because if they do, they're going to end up getting Morgan back and that's the last thing they want.”

Char squeezed her eyes shut and replayed Allie's words to make sure she had heard correctly. She couldn't have.

She asked Allie to repeat it all. Allie did, but the message didn't come out differently, the way Char had hoped it would. Her heart began to race and she clutched her head in one hand, her phone in the other, as she tried to make sense of it.

The Crews gave Morgan away to strangers.

Because they didn't want her anymore.

It was impossible.

It sounded like something from a TV movie.

It sounded like something Morgan would make up.

Char felt her heart slow. “Okay,” she said. “Let's slow down for a minute here, and think this through logically. I mean, let's really think about this. They gave her away? To strangers? Because they didn't want her anymore? Come on.

“Does that sound right to you, on any level? I assume Morgan told you this. Let's consider the source here. It sounds an awful lot like one of her tall tales, don't you think? Like the time she told you—”

“Ask them,” Allie said. “Ask the Crews. Call them up right now and ask them. Mr. Crew told Morgan they were going for a drive. It was a Saturday morning, right before that first Monday when she didn't show up at tutoring. That's why she wasn't there.

“He told her to say good-bye to Stevie and Mrs. Crew, and to give them each a big hug, in case it was a while before they got back. And then he and Morgan got in the car, and he drove
all the way to Ohio
. The whole time, Morgan was asking, ‘Where are we
going?' and he kept saying, ‘Someplace special, you're really going to like it.'

“And then three hours later, they pulled up to this house she had never seen before, and Mr. Crew opened the trunk and there was Morgan's suitcase, and a box with some of her books and toys. And he told her, ‘You have a new family now, and this is where you live.' Just like that—
a new family
. La di da. As though this kind of thing happens all the time. As though Morgan should have seen it coming.

“He walked her up to the door. And get this, Char. When they answered,
he introduced himself
. Because
he had never been there before
, either. He had
never even
met them before
.”

C
har couldn't believe what she was hearing. “What?” she asked, but she wasn't sure what she was asking.

Allie wasn't sure, either. “What do you mean, ‘what'? You mean you didn't hear what I said?”

“No, I . . .” But Char still had no idea what she meant.

“Okay, well, I need to tell you all of this fast, before Morgan gets back,” Allie said. “So the two of them walked into the house, and there's this whole family sitting there in the living room, ready to greet Morgan. Meet your new mom, your new dad, your two new sisters. One from Russia, Morgan thinks, and one from some place in Africa.

“They had both been given away to these people, too. One of them was adopted by a family in Colorado first, and the other from . . . I forget. But it was the same deal as Morgan—their parents, the ones who adopted them and promised to be their forever family, changed their minds, too, just like the Crews. And took them to this couple in Ohio, dropped them off, left them with a suitcase, told them good luck, and disappeared.

“The girls sat with Morgan on the couch and the parents gave Mr. Crew a quick tour of the place. And then they asked if he wanted to stay for a while, help Morgan unpack, have a bite to eat with them. And
he said no!
He said he had a long drive ahead, and he had to get back home. He gave her a hug and he told her this was better for her, that she'd be happier there. And then he left. He
left her there
, Char, with people she had known for all of six minutes!

“These ‘new parents' put Morgan in school and told her to call them Mom and Dad and basically just acted like this was the most normal thing in the world. Remember those calls I was getting, from an area code I didn't recognize, and we thought it was a telemarketer? It was Morgan, calling me from her so-called new parents' house. But since it was an Ohio area code, I never answered.

“And Morgan finally figured out I might not ever answer if I didn't recognize the number, so yesterday, she used her teacher's phone and texted me, and told me what had happened. She told me she was going to run away, and I told her to wait until today because I knew you'd be on campus all day. I told her I'd come get her and take her anywhere she wanted to go.

“I know it was a crummy thing to do to you, and I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. For taking the car, and skipping school, and sneaking away, especially after Tuesday night. But she was so upset, CC. The place was a dump, and the parents were mean. They made her share a room with the other girls, and they were mean, too. She was terrified. She cried all night, every night. And the girls made fun of her for it, and got her in trouble for making too much noise.

“She was going to run away on her own. A ten-year-old! Because to her, being out on the streets alone was better than staying in that place with those people. And it was better than going back to the
Crews. And I couldn't let her do that. You know I couldn't let her do that.”

“Okay,” Char said, her head spinning. “Okay.” She put a hand on her forehead, propping up her head, which suddenly felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. “I know you're upset, and I know you're convinced it all happened. But it all just sounds so . . . fantastical. Like Morgan's imagination has gone a little wild. That's how it sounds to me, anyway. Doesn't it to you, too? I mean, Russian kids and African kids and a new school—?”

“If you don't believe me, I'm hanging up—”

“Wait! Wait, Allie. Please. Don't hang up. Look, no matter what the truth is—and we can worry about that later—the important thing is to make sure you two are safe. I understand you wanted to help her. But this is the wrong way to do it. I think you know that. So, tell me where you are, and I'll come and get you both. Okay? Will you do that? Find a gas station or a rest area or something and park there, and stay put until I come.”

Char felt her heartbeat slow from a race to a jog as she heard her own words and the reasonableness of her plan. “I'll bring Colleen with me, and she can drive the convertible back. You, me, and Morgan can come here, back to our place. I'll call the Crews and we'll sort it all out.” She looked at the family room couch and pictured the two girls sitting there as Char and the Crews pieced together the story.

“No.”

“What do you mean, ‘No'? I am being one hundred times more understanding about this than your father would have been. I'm trying to help you—”

“I promised Morgan I wouldn't make her go back,” Allie said.
“She doesn't want to go back to the Crews. Not after this. And I don't blame her. And they probably wouldn't keep her anyway. They'll just give her to another new family. Or send her back to foster care.

“And if either of those things happens again, she'll run away again, Char. She told me she would and I believe her. And next time, she won't tell me. She'll just run, all on her own, and who knows what would happen to her. I can't let that happen. I can't risk it. She's a gutsy kid and she probably knows a lot more than she should about how to survive on her own but she's
ten years old
.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Char asked, pacing now, from the family room, through the kitchen, into the living room and back. “Live in a convertible, a fifteen-year-old and a ten-year-old? Think, Allie. None of this makes any sense at all.”

“We're going to Florida,” Allie said, her voice light, as though she had announced they were merely popping to the corner store for a soda.

“
Florida!
What—?”

“Morgan's mom lives there,” Allie said. “Remember she told us that, when she was showing us her Lifebook? Morgan says her mom was in jail—that's why they took Morgan away from her. But Morgan thinks she's out now. So, we're going to find her. To see if Morgan can live with her.”

“Allie, come on! That whole Florida thing is a fantasy! That wasn't a palm tree in her Lifebook! Think about it. How is it that Morgan was in the foster care system in Michigan if her mom's in Florida? And even if it were true, don't you think if she were out of prison and capable of having a relationship with Morgan, she'd have come back to Michigan and tried to find her?”

“No,” Allie said. “I think she knew Morgan was adopted and
she didn't want to interfere with her new family. I think she figured Morgan would be better off staying with them. And I think that once she learns Morgan is not better off with them, she'll want her back on the spot. I mean, what mother wouldn't?”

Char could think of one. Evidently, Allie could too, because the line suddenly grew very quiet.

“Anyway,” Allie said, recovering, “I'm going to drive her down there, and help her find her mom. And if it's not true, who cares? I'd rather be down in Florida with her than up there where the Crews can get their hands on her and give her away again.”

“Florida!” Char said again, because it was so unbelievable she had to repeat it, the same way she had needed Allie to repeat her story about Ohio. None of this made any sense. It didn't sound like Allie at all, to be so impulsive, to race after Morgan on the basis of some tall tale and agree to drive her to the other end of the country.

“You're planning to drive all the way to Florida? Just the two of you? How will you pay for gas? For food? Where will you stay? Have you thought any of this through? Do you realize how crazy this sounds?”

“I cleaned out my bank account,” Allie said. “I have three thousand dollars. We're already rationing. Once we find Morgan's mom and I know she's safe, I'll come home.”

“And if you don't find her?”

“I'll get a job,” Allie said, as though it were the obvious answer.

Char cursed the initiative that Bradley had been so proud of in his daughter. It was still a crazy, impulsive thing that Allie was doing, but she might just be able to pull it off. She was responsible enough to have saved three thousand dollars in the first place, and she was resourceful enough to make it last for a long time. Long enough to cross several state lines, which Char was certain would
add to the list of crimes the teenager might be tried for, convicted of, and, if Char's worst fears came true, sent to prison for.

“Allie,” she said, her voice a whispered plea. “Please. This is crazy. You're going to be in so much trouble—”

“Oh! Here comes Morgan,” Allie said. “I don't want to talk about any of this in front of her. She's upset enough.”

“Wait! Let's—”

“Got to go,” Allie said.

And she was gone.