Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“You weren’t really listening,” I concluded, smiling at her.
She nodded. “Yeah. I know he had to go and not miss this job because I heard him tell Grampy we need the money.”
Which was not great that she knew, but eavesdropping was probably something that happened all the time when you had kids.
“Aunt Shelly was supposed to check on us, but I haven’t seen her, and I don’t have her number.”
How did she not have her number? “Your father didn’t leave an emergency contact list for you in case something went wrong?”
She shook her head. “I think because Griff is here too.”
Disappointing. “Okay,” I replied, thinking that I was going to murder Aunt Shelly unless she had a hell of an excuse for not showing up. “And where is your brother—”
“She’s not actually my aunt,” Tatum clarified. “She’s one of Mom’s friends.”
“Gotcha.”
She stared at me.
“Yes?”
“It’s so weird to be saying Mom after so long. None of us ever say it.”
“Why’s that?”
“I dunno.”
“Why do you think?”
She was quiet, ruminating. I liked how her mind worked, that she didn’t blurt out answers, instead giving real thought to my questions. “I don’t want to make Dar or Griff sad, and I don’t want Dad to get angry.”
“Okay,” I said, thinking that I could, and would, change that. No one was going to heal by not talking. That was not how it worked, and as a fixer, it was in our mandate to fix everything. I wasn’t simply a bodyguard. I was there to do more. “Now, where is Darwin?”
“He’s at his friend Teddy’s house. He has a biology test on Tuesday, and he didn’t want to be here with me and Griff. He likes to study without being bugged.”
This wasn’t making any sense. “Don’t you all have school tomorrow?”
“No. Tomorrow is a teacher-in-service day, so we’re all off.”
“So as far as you know, Darwin will be at Teddy’s until tomorrow night.”
She laughed suddenly, which came off decidedly evil. It surprised me, but I loved the sound. She was utterly adorable. “I don’t think so. He forgot about something.”
“And what’s that?” I asked, unable not to smile.
“Teddy’s family, they’re church people, and I’ll bet you a dollar that Teddy’s mom brings Darwin home today because we’re not church people and he won’t want to go.”
“Why aren’t you church people?”
“Because my mom is a Wiccan—that’s why our front door used to be purple before Dad painted it—and Dad is an atheist. He says if there was a God, then all the bad things that happen in the world wouldn’t be allowed because how does that make any sense?”
I was not about to have a discussion of faith with her midmorning on a Sunday, so I let that go. “So you think Darwin will get dropped off here shortly before church.”
“Yep.”
“Okay. Is Griffin here?”
She shook her head. “He left on Friday night before Aunt Shelly was supposed to visit.”
And now I was getting mad, so I took a breath to calm down. “So you’ve been here alone since Friday night?”
Quick nod.
I grinned at her. “You’re very brave. When I was ten, I don’t know that I would have been able to be all alone.”
She pointed to the left. “Well, Mr. Simmons has friends over on the weekends, Friday night and Saturday, and it’s always super loud, and even though it’s cold outside, he still barbecues, which other people think is weird but I think is cool. He also has a smoker. He brought me brisket and mashed potatoes last night, and it was yummy.”
“Okay.”
She then pointed to the right. “Miss Tabitha and Miss Melody are friends who’ve lived together forever, and they have two big dogs named Zeus and Hades. They brought me corned beef and cabbage on Friday. I ate the corned beef but not the cabbage. The cabbage was gross.”
Nice neighbors, check. “Okay, good. But where is Griffin, do you know?”
She shook her head. “But I think someone left a message on the machine.”
I was surprised. “You guys have an answering machine?”
“Yeah. Dad has it for his business, plus he doesn’t trust people to leave messages on his cell phone. He says it’s safer on a landline.”
“Wow,” I murmured, glancing around for it. “That’s old-school.”
There was a built-in at the edge of the dining room, against the wall that on the other side of, were the stairs that led to the second floor. There was a small ledge with empty glass cabinets above it, and to the right was the phone I grew up with, beige, with buttons, and beside it sat an answering machine. It was not quite as antiquated as the phone, digital instead of tape, but still, it belonged in a museum. This was crazy.
I hit the button, listened, and found out that Griffin Duchesne had been taken into custody by the Eena PD. He would be held at the police station—which I knew from the files Owen had compiled, doubled as a jail with how small the town was—and would be held there until such time as his father, or guardian, came to pick him up. He was found passed out, drunk, in the empty lot next to the high school. By law, they had to add the guardian part, but they knew—they had to have—that Mrs. Duchesne was gone. With Luke out of town, Griffin was looking at a long stay.