Grave Apparel (56 page)

“Like
the
Wilcox
brothers? And is Garrison of Gaia going to be there?”

“With
both hands out. GOG is on the list, as well as a host
of
public
interest
and
environmental
groups,
Congressmen,
Senators like our friend
Wilcox,
an ambassador or two.
The

usual suspects. But a Smithsonian would really class up
the
joint.”

She laughed, delighted,
but
then
was
struck by a less pleas ant thought. “What about your family?
Your
Uncle Hugh
or
your cousin Aaron?
They’re
not coming, are
they?”

“Don’t
worry.”
He put his hand
over
hers. “Meeting the pub lic bores them senseless,
giving
money
away
makes
their stom achs turn,
Washington
gives
them
hives
after that
fiasco
the last time
they
were here, and Hugh has
sworn
never
to
leave
Man
hattan
again. And
they’re
smart
enough
not
to
mention
you
to
me.”

“Good to
know.”
She
withdrew
her hand as gently as she could.

“Bring
Vic
Donovan
if you
want.
I’d
just
like
to see some friendly
faces
there, or the whole
event
will be
interminable.”
Jeffrey
pulled a creamy
envelope
from his inside
jacket
pocket.
“You’re
already on the list.
Your
official
invitation.”

“Wow.
Thank
you.”
A
fancy
event
at the
Willard
was
very
tempting. And it
was
business
cocktail, not black tie, so maybe she could
convince
Vic
to come. He
wouldn’t
have
to wear his tux,
even
though
Lacey
thought he
looked
so yummy in it. A
Bentley
event
would
certainly be good for a column or
two.

They
were interrupted by the
arrival
of their lunch. Spinach
and
chicken
crepes
for
her,
salmon
for
the
relentlessly
healthy
Jeffrey.
But before
Lacey
could pick up her fork, her cell phone rang.

“I’m
sorry,”
she said, digging it out of her purse. “I
may
have
to
take
this. Please start without
me.”
She
didn’t
recognize the number on the screen. “Hello?”

“Lacey?”
The
voice
belonged to the little shepherd.
“Lacey,
I need
two
coats.”

“Jasmine?
You’re
not using
Cassandra’s
cell phone?”

“Her phone stopped
working.
Cell phones
don’t
work
good around here
anyway.
But I
know
your
number.
I’m good with numbers, you
know.”

Lacey
gestured to
Jeffrey
that maybe she should
leave
the table to
finish
the
conversation.
“Don’t
be
silly,”
he whispered.
“Sit.”
He took a forkful of salmon.

“Where are you, Jasmine?”

“I need
two
coats,”
the girl insisted.

“Okay.
Two
coats.
Why
two?”
What
was
the
girl
up
to
now?

Building a winter
wardrobe?

“I need one for Lily Rose. I
have
to
take
care of Lily Rose!” Her
voice
expressed
all the martyrdom a
twelveyearold
could manage.
“And
I
have
to do
everything.
”

“Who is Lily Rose?”

“My sister!
You
know
that.”

“No. I
didn’t
know
that,”
Lacey
said.
“You
didn’t
mention her
before.”
There
was
a
huffy
pause.
“Really,
you
didn’t.”

“Well,
Lily Rose is my sister!” Jasmine sighed
loudly.
“A
blue coat and a pink coat. Lily Rose
likes
pink.
” From the
way
she sighed,
Lacey
assumed Lily Rose had to be a younger sis
ter.
“But the blue one has to be
bigger.”

“And
you’ll
give
me
the
shepherd’s
robe,
right?
In
ex
change?”
Jeffrey
was
looking at
Lacey
quizzically.
She
covered
the phone with her hand. “I’m
negotiating
a
fashion
deal,”
she whispered.

“Are
you winning?” he
asked.

“I’m getting hammered.
Twelveyearolds
are
murder.”
She shifted the phone back.

“I’ll
give
you the
robe,”
Jasmine said
reluctantly,
“but
I need
two
coats. Okay?”

“Okay,
Jasmine,
it’s
a deal. What size?”

“I
don’t
know,
you
saw
me. And
I’ve
been
growing.
I’m al most thirteen, you
know.”

I
don’t
know
anything
about
little
girl
sizes!
“What about your sister?”

“She’s
lots
smaller.
She’s
a
baby.
She’s
only
ten.”
“Jasmine, why
don’t
you
have
a
warm coat?”

“Because!” Lacey was obviously an idiot. “Because they
kicked
us out and
threw
everything
we had on the street.
We
only got to
keep
a
few
things. Miss
Charday,
she took the
TV.
She said
she’ll
keep
it for us.
It’s
a good
TV.”

“But where is your mother?
Was
she there when this hap pened?” Jasmine
was
on her
own
wavelength
and
didn’t
an
swer.
“They threw
out your clothes? Who
threw
them out?”

“Yeah,
everything.
And the people outside were stealing our
stuff.
Rotten
people.”

“You
were
evicted?”
Her
heart
sank.
Lacey
occasionally
came upon the remains of an apartment
eviction
while
walking
in D.C. Once she had seen a
woman
frantically trying to
keep

passersby from taking her clothes and her furniture, yelling it
was
hers,
leave
it alone, she
would
get it all
moved.
It
wasn’t
stopping
a
crowd
of
people
from
taking
their
pick
of
her
belongings.

“That’s
what
they
call it. Evicted.
We
had to put our clothes
in
garbage
bags,
but
I
didn’t
get
them
all.
It
happened
before
we
got home from
school.”

“Can you tell me where your mother is?”
“She’s
coming back!
She’s
just gone right
now.”

“She’s
gone? Where are you staying? Do you
have
any
fam
ily to stay with?
You
have
to get to someplace
safe.”

“But we only
have
our mom, and then she
won’t
know
that we got
thrown
out and she
won’t
know
where we are! So I
have
to stay
close.”
The
words
tumbled out of Jasmine, and her panic
was
contagious.
Lacey
tried to catch her breath.

“Where did she go?”

“I
don’t
know!
She’s
done it before so I
know
she’s
coming
back.
She
is!
She
has
this
little
problem,
this
problem
with
drugs, and she drinks too much,
but
she’s
a good person and
she’s
my mom and
she’s
a good mom and
she’s
going to come back for us!”

“All
right, just be calm, Jasmine,
everything
will be
okay.
Where are you staying?”
Lacey’s
stomach fluttered at the fran tic note in the
girl’s
voice.

“We’re
okay.
I’m taking care of Lily Rose.
That’s
my job be cause I’m the big
sister.
So
there.”
There
was
a big sigh from the girl. The
burden
of the big
sister.
“We’re
all right.
Really.
But we need some coats!”

Lacey
tried not to sigh as well. It
wouldn’t
help to turn this phone call into a
symphony
of sighs.
Jeffrey
had stopped eating and
was
listening
closely,
watching
Lacey’s
face.
“I’ll
get them for you. What about your
father?”

“We
don’t
have
a
father.
We
used
to
but
he
walked
out
on
us
and we
don’t
care about him
anyway
’cause
he’s
not a good person.
He’s
not in a good
place.”

“But Jasmine, where are you staying
exactly?”
She tried to
keep
panic or judgment out of her
voice.
“I need to
know.
So I can bring you the
coats.”

“Sometimes Miss Charday lets us stay on her couch. Most of the time, if she
isn’t
drinking too much. ’Cause if she is, she
can’t
hear us at the
door.
I
like
it there, she lets me cook rice and
stuff.
I can cook rice really
good.”
The girl sounded so mature, so responsible. So lost.

“Can I talk to Miss Charday?”

“Not right
now!
I’m not there. Sometimes if
she’s
too drunk we stay in the laundry room. But
it’s
really safe because
there’s
a storage room that nobody
knows
about.
It’s
warm and
the
lock is
broken
and we can get in. So you
don’t
have
to
worry.”
She
sounded
like
quite
the
little
adult,
but living
in
a
crazy
world.