Lost Innocents (19 page)

Maddy approached her tentatively. “Listen, Bonnie, I’ve been thinking…Terry really shouldn’t be climbing the stairs. There’s a foldout bed in the playroom you could use. I didn’t want to move your stuff until I spoke to you about it.”

“We won’t need it,” Bonnie said bluntly. “We’re leaving.”

“Today?” Maddy asked. She felt a combination of surprise and relief. But at the same time, she was concerned about Terry, who had had such recent surgery. He seemed frail and in pain. “Are you sure that’s wise?” she asked. “Is your husband able to travel?”

“We’ll be all right,” said Bonnie.

“But where will you stay?”

“What difference does it make to you?”

“Bonnie…I’m concerned about you, all right? I promised Ni…Father Rylander that I would look out for you.”

“Look, I know why you took us in,” said Bonnie. “It wasn’t to be nice. You were worried about the accident. That we might take you to court.”

“That is totally unfair,” said Maddy, wounded at the baldness of the accusation but acknowledging the partial truth of it.

Bonnie made a face as if she smelled something rotten.

“All right,” said Maddy. “All right. I was a little worried. But I was concerned about you, too. Everyone has their reasons. I’m no better than the next guy.”

Bonnie relented. “You don’t have to worry. We have insurance. I put Terry on my plan when we got married. The car is insured in my name. You won’t hear from us after we leave.”

Maddy thought about Doug, who had disappeared into the kitchen, and about how relieved he would be. He had been so nervous lately. This would certainly make him feel better, although she knew he wouldn’t trust the news. He’d be certain that the Lewises would change their mind. Nevertheless it was bound to cheer him up, no matter how much he might doubt their reassurances.

“What are you two gals talkin’ about?” Terry asked. Sean was grasping his thumb, and Terry was moving it up and down.

“About leaving,” said Bonnie.

“I was saying that you don’t look like you’re in any shape to move,” Maddy said.

Terry sighed. “I’ve had better days,” he admitted.

“Would you like anything to drink? A cup of tea?”

“I could use a cup of coffee if you’ve got it.”

“Sure,” Maddy said brightly. “Bonnie, do you want anything?”

Bonnie shook her head and sat on the sofa, on the other side of Sean. They made a touching picture there, Maddy thought. They had been through a lot. She thought of all that Nick had told her about them. Terry had lived through a nightmare the likes of which…Maddy thought about Doug. The likes of which we could understand, she thought. It was possible for an innocent man to end up disgraced, unjustly imprisoned. Not only had Bonnie stood by him, she had even married him. Clearly she believed in her husband, Maddy thought. There was something admirable about it, really. One more day, she thought. Surely we can manage that. They deserve a break.

Maddy went into the kitchen and put the water on. Doug was sitting at the kitchen table. He looked up at her, an antagonistic expression on his face. She could feel him watching her as she moved around the kitchen, automatically scooping out the coffee, placing the mugs on the counter. Maddy knew something was brewing beneath his silence and his steady gaze. She pretended not to notice.

“What was he doing here?” Doug demanded.

M
addy looked into the hallway and closed the kitchen door, gesturing for Doug to whisper.

“He came to return my bracelet,” she said, indicating the delicate silver-linked chain encircling her wrist. Doug frowned at the bracelet, a gift he had given Maddy on their first anniversary. “How did he come to have your bracelet?”

Maddy could not avoid thinking of how the bracelet had gotten caught on Nick’s sweater. She recalled the impulsive embrace, the surprising depth of feeling between them, and her face reddened. “It got snagged on something when I was in his office…when I went to see him.”

“Went to see him about what?” Doug asked.

“I went to talk to him,” Maddy said irritably.

“Is that why these people are still here? Because he is so chummy with them?”

“No. They are still here because that man got out of the hospital not an hour ago.”

“I asked you to get rid of them but, hey, whatever Father Nick wants…”

“Leave him out of this. He has nothing to do with it.”

“Pardon me,” said Doug. “It seems like what
I
need is last on your list…”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” said Maddy.

“Don’t tell me I’m imagining this. I’ve seen how that priest looks at you. He gazes at you like a sick pup. Do you think that was just a friendly squeeze he was giving you in the driveway?”

She felt both guilty and resentful of his accusation. The fact was that nothing illicit had happened between herself and Nick. She had to remind herself that she had nothing for which to apologize. “Don’t be disgusting, Doug. We’re close friends. He’s leaving today, and he was saying good-bye.”

“Well, maybe that’s how you see it,” he snapped.

Maddy shook her head. “Do you want coffee?” she asked evenly.

“What, are you waiting on them, too?”

“Never mind,” said Maddy.

“If he’s so damn fond of these people, why didn’t he take them in? No, he expects you to do it. Why should you do what he wants? I mean, what claim has he got on you? Unless there’s something I don’t know about.”

Maddy glared at him. “Even if that were true of Nick, which it’s not, how could you show so little faith in me? How could you even think, for a minute…”

“Hey, sometimes things happen,” said Doug with a shrug.

Maddy looked at him through narrowed eyes. There was something altogether too fluid about his idea of morality. “No, they don’t just happen,” she said bitterly. “Not if you don’t let them happen. I’m your wife. I made a promise to be faithful to you, if you’ll recall. I don’t take my promises lightly.”

He lowered his eyes. “Let’s just drop it,” he said.

She stared at him, and the memory of Heather on the doorstep returned. For a moment she wondered. Did he really believe that things could just happen, and he was helpless to prevent it? Could something have just happened between him and Heather? She tried to stop herself from saying it, but she couldn’t. “Heather Cameron was here today,” she said.

“What the hell did she want?” Doug asked uneasily.

Maddy sighed. She reminded herself that it was not fair to torment him. He had been cleared of those charges. She recalled Heather’s odd behavior and how reassuring she had actually found it. “I think she’s mentally deranged. She said she was jealous because she thought you were involved with some other girl named Karla.”

“Karla?”

“Another girl from school who has a crush on you or something. She was all bent out of shape, as if you were being unfaithful to her. Can you imagine coming here and saying that to me? It was loony. Kind of scary, really. I thought about calling the cops. I really did. But she left without making a scene.”

“Karla…Needham?” he asked incredulously. “Has a crush on me?”

“That’s not really the point, Doug,” Maddy said coldly.

“No, of course not,” he said, shaking his head. “That Heather is a sick kid. She needs help.”

Maddy felt certain that he was saying the words but thinking of something else.

“So,” he said abruptly. “What did you find when you were playing Nancy Drew? Anything interesting? The map to the hidden treasure?”

“Don’t patronize me,” she said.

“I’m not.” He came around the counter and put his hands on her arms. “I’m sorry. I mean it. I’m sorry about Heather coming here and upsetting you. I wish I’d been here. I would have read her the riot act. And…I am curious. About our guests. Did you find anything?”

Maddy looked at him ruefully.

“Really, Maddy. I’m sorry. I was out of line.”

“Yes, you were,” she said bitterly.

“Okay, so…?”

Maddy shook her head. “I didn’t find anything. Nick had the interesting information.”

“Ah,” he said, clearly wanting to make a sarcastic remark but restraining himself.

“It seems that Mr. Lewis was released the day before yesterday from the state prison.”

Doug jumped up from the chair. “My God. And you’re just telling me this! What were you waiting for? How could you just let me go on without knowing this? Without mentioning it?”

“It’s not the way it sounds. He was in for a crime he didn’t commit. The real killer confessed, and Terry was released.”

“Killer? Killer? Oh, great. You mean he was in for murder?” said Doug.

“That he didn’t do,” whispered Maddy, gesturing for him to keep his voice down.

Doug threw up his hands. “They’re in our living room.”

“Well, they can spend one more night.”

“Spend the night? You think I’m going to have a violent criminal in the same house with my family?”

“Stop shouting,” said Maddy. “Look, I told you. He didn’t do it. He was released because he did not commit the crime. Nick told me all about it. He has been meeting with him in the prison these last few years. He said that Terry was amazingly strong about the whole thing.”

“Oh, sure,” Doug cried. “One hypocrite endorsing another. You can’t really believe that, Maddy. I mean, use your brain.”

“What is that supposed to mean? Nick is not a hypocrite.”

“He’s the worst kind. Going around spouting Bible passages and lusting after my wife. Why should we take his word that this convict can be trusted? Oh, sure…. Let me tell you something, Maddy. That ex-con is not staying in this house. Do you understand me?”

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that. It’s not just your house.”

The kitchen door banged open and Bonnie stood there. “Terry needs his coffee,” she said.

Maddy and Doug exchanged a stony glance, and then Doug threw open the kitchen door and started down the hallway to the stairs.

“It’s almost ready,” said Maddy, lifting the kettle off the stove with a shaky hand.

“What was he yelling about?” said Bonnie.

“I just told him about Terry being in jail. Father Nick explained everything to me. Doug was a little bit surprised.”

“Did Father Rylander tell you that Terry didn’t do it?”

“Yes,” said Maddy.

“So it’s nobody’s business where he’s been. It wasn’t his fault he was in there.”

“I know,” said Maddy. “I was just trying to explain that to my husband.”

Bonnie glared at her. “We don’t want to be here. I can’t wait to get away from here. And from you, with your perfect little life. All we want is to be left alone, get a nice place to live, and be a family. The less people know about the past, the better.”

Maddy sighed, thinking how her life was not the perfect picture it seemed. “I can understand that,” she conceded.

“People don’t want to give somebody who’s been in jail a chance. No matter what the truth was in the end,” said Bonnie.

“I think it’s great the way you champion your husband. He’s lucky to have a wife like you,” Maddy said.

Bonnie squinted at Maddy. “Do you really think that?” she asked suspiciously.

“Absolutely,” said Maddy. “And I really hope everything works out for you. Nick told me how you met. That you were writing letters and sending him books.”

“We corresponded for two years before we actually met,” she admitted. “I never had a boyfriend before Terry.”

“That’s sort of romantic,” said Maddy.

“When he sent me his picture and I saw how handsome he was, I didn’t want to send him a picture back. I kept telling him I didn’t have one to send. I didn’t think he’d like me when he saw me. But he did.” Bonnie’s plain face glowed with the memory. “He said I was a sight for sore eyes.”

There was a wail from the front of the house. “Honey, Sean’s crying,” Terry called out.

His voice startled Bonnie out of her romantic reverie; her face crumpled, and her glow seemed to fade away, like Cinderella’s finery at the stroke of midnight.

“Kids,” Maddy said ruefully. “They’re tough on a romance.” “I have to go,” Bonnie muttered, and headed back out the door without another word.

T
his just came in from the coroner’s office,” said Delilah Jones, a pretty young black girl who was a cadet fresh out of the Academy.

“I’ll take it to the chief,” said Officer Len Wickes. He was very curious about the contents of the report. He and the other men had hardly foot inside the station since the discovery of Rebecca Starnes’s body. They had been busy knocking on doors, looking for the people who had been in the park the day Rebecca and Justin had disappeared. They had every interviewed skateboarder, every mother they found in the park, and every man with an Asian surname they had been able to locate in town. When they weren’t doing that, they were in the state forest, overturning every rock and leaf, dragging every stream, generally crawling around on their hands and knees looking for signs of the missing baby. But nothing. Nothing. Len felt it like a sickness in his own stomach—that they still had not found baby Justin. Of course, in a way, you didn’t want to find him. As long as you
didn’t
find him, there was still some hope that he was alive. Len made his way to Chief Cameron’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come on in,” the chief growled.

Len opened the door and saw that the chief was studying some photographs at his desk. “Coroner’s report, sir.”

Frank Cameron jumped up from his seat. “Let me see that, Wickes.”

Len handed over the report and stood at attention, hoping he would be allowed to know what the report contained. Frank tore it open and scanned the form, skipping over the information he was already sure of.

“Well, well, well,” said Frank. “How about that? No sexual assault. Somebody sure wanted us to think there was.”

Len cleared his throat loudly, and Frank Cameron looked up.

“Sir?”

Frank always found himself slightly amused by Len Wickes’s military bearing.

“Yes, Officer Wickes?”

“Maybe the killer tried, sir, but he wasn’t able,” offered Len.

Frank nodded thoughtfully. “It’s been known to happen. Sometimes they kill the victim to make sure that no one ever learns of their humiliation.”