Window of Guilt (14 page)

Mitzy pulled him out the door.

*

“Whew.” Ryan clicked the unlock button on the remote. Then he leaned back in the seat, his eyes closed.

Mitzy climbed into the passenger seat of the minivan. “So you trekked all the way down here to face the man whose son you thought you’d indirectly killed by denying him a transplant.”

“Yep.”

“Better to have done the right thing on a hunch then to hang back and deliberate.”

“Caused me a lot of grief,” said Ryan.

“Let me guess. Laurie doesn’t know.”

“Bull’s eye,” he said, drumming the ignition.

“Time to ’fess up.”

“Why don’t you tell her?” Ryan hedged.

“You’ve made it perfectly clear it’s none of my business,” she said huffily.

“But you made it your business, didn’t you?” Ryan said, his voice accusing. “Just think of the emotional punch you’ll get when you tell Laurie her husband drove all the way to Timbuktu, only to make a fool of himself.”

“Besides, this all fits together. Officer Gomez notified Laurie a young woman by the name of Susie Gray came up to Wisconsin to view the body but failed to ID him.”

“Whoa. Todd Gray’s sister?”

“Evidently.”

“But Laurie never…”

“…Told you Gomez had phoned. With everything else going on, it probably slipped her mind. You’re not the only one with a secret, though.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Two weeks ago, Laurie and I paid a social call on Shakia Williams,” said Mitzy.

“Okay.”

“Shakia’s Todd had your Chicago address.”

“I thought she only had our P.O. box,” huffed Ryan.

“Evidently she had both. Early on in their relationship, she came down with a virus. Too ill to make it to the post office, she asked Todd to mail her rental check to you guys. Then, last March, they got into a violent argument and she kicked him out.”

Ryan pulled to the right lane and cut his speed. “So Shakia breaks
up with this prick. Two months later, he keels over dead on my property.

Mitzy’s eyes opened wide at his mis-speak but he seemed not to notice.

“Wait a minute,” said Ryan, his voice brightening. “Shakia’s TG was after her, not us.”

Mitzy nodded. “Shakia feared Todd was stalking her. She gave the police Laurie’s cell phone number in case she disappeared. The CPD issued a restraining order on Todd weeks before you found the body. Shakia tried phoning him from her mom’s house the day we visited. No land line. His cell phone was disconnected.”

Ryan hit his palm to his forehead. “Shakia’s Todd Gray can’t be the same Todd Gray who harassed me.”

“Why not?”

“Her dude was black.”

“Shakia was dating a white guy whose physical description resembled that of the young man’s picture shown in the newspaper and on the Internet.”

“We don’t know for sure,” said Ryan.

“Considering all these variables, I get why you didn’t confide in Laurie,” Mitzy said. “Especially since the guy collapsed on your property.”

Ryan threw her a quick glance, then returned his gaze to the highway. “I never said that.”

Mitzy looked at him intently. “My mom used to say, ‘Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.’ Which truth is the truth here, Ryan?”

“Lay off, will ya?”

“I’ve interviewed lots of people. Undue stress may cause them to mis-speak once, not repeatedly.”

Ryan clenched the wheel tighter. “The kid’s dead, isn’t he? What’s the difference where the body was found?”

“Yet you did your best to convince Laurie she was hallucinating.” Ryan swung the car over to the exit ramp. “Get out!”

Mitzy peered out the passenger window. “In the middle of cornfields? Not.”

His eyes narrowed. “You don’t get out of my car, I’m calling the state police.”

“You gonna have them physically remove me? Because that’s the only way I’m moving my butt until you get us back to temple. Temple, Ryan, remember? Day of Judgment?”

Ryan pulled the car back onto the expressway. “I’ve had enough of your mouth.”

Mitzy sucked in her breath. “You discovered the body while Laurie lay faint on the kitchen floor.”

“Keep your nightmares to yourself!”

“The question is, why didn’t you call the police when you discovered the body? And how did the body turn up on your neighbor’s driveway?”

Ryan zigzagged across three lanes of traffic and pulled to the side of the road, then killed the ignition. “I had some intense sunburn so I stopped back at the house for Aloe Vera. That’s when I found the dead body. I ran back to the pier for my cell phone. When I returned, the body had disappeared. I saw a police car approaching so I took off. Figured the kid had been up to no good. Didn’t want to put Laurie and my son in even more danger.”

“The police could have helped you.”

“I prefer to protect my own family.”

Mitzy rolled her eyes.

“My suspicions were confirmed when Laurie found the napkin listing our Chicago and summer home addresses.”

“Today you learned you’ve been howling at the wrong chandelier.”

“Unless Todd Gray lied to his family about packing up for Australia and stayed behind to harass me and my family,” Ryan said warily.

“You are paranoid, know that?” said Mitzy.

“I need to root out the real T.G. and discover who put him onto my scent,” said Ryan.

“All by your lonesome?”

Ryan smiled for the first time, rubbing his knuckles. “Uh huh.”

“You gotta notify Officer Gomez. She’ll spread the word to Maggie.”

“I don’t ‘gotta’ do anything,” said Ryan. “The police found the
body.”

“She’s going to be plenty pissed with your withholding of information.”

“Laurie tried to tell Gomez the body was found on our property, but she didn’t buy it.”

“Why dissuade her when you knew otherwise?” said Mitzy.

“Yeah, well I think I’ll keep that scrap of information to myself. I’d advise you to do the same until I find the real culprit.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Know you’ll be putting your best friend in danger.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You have to trust me on this one, Mitzy.”

“I’m not comfortable harboring information concerning an investigation,” she warned.

“Tell Gomez. I’ll just deny it.”

“You and Laurie are secret mongers, aren’t you?” said Mitzy.

“This time I’m fighting for justice.”

“Back in the Lord’s good graces?”

“And it feels so good,” Ryan sang. He pulled back onto the expressway.

18

“I’m not telling you again, Rory,” Laurie yelled downstairs into the darkened basement. “Turn off that TV and get ready for bed.”

“Just ten more minutes, Mom.
Full House
rerun is almost over.”

“I’m counting.

“Okay, okay, I’m comin’,” called her son, bounding up the stairs. Checking the gas jets on the stove one last time, Laurie eyed the old-fashioned cuckoo clock on the wall, then flicked off the kitchen lights and headed upstairs. 9:00 p.m. Yawning, she grabbed
Chicken Soup for the Kid’s Soul
from the living room bookcase and trudged up the rose carpeted stairs.

“Thought you got lost, Mama,” Rory kidded as he slipped on his basketball pajamas.

“Just cleaning up the kitchen.” Laurie plopped on the Bulls bedspread and thumbed through the book for a story they hadn’t yet read.

“‘Lost’ means a lots of things, you know?” said Rory.

Laurie nodded as she continued skimming the book pages.

“First, it means nobody’s able to find you.”

“Uh huh.”

“Second, it could mean G-d’s not able to find you if you hide yourself ’cause you did something bad.”

Laurie raised one eyebrow. “You do something bad?”

Rory fidgeted with his pillowcase. “Not exactly.”

“You either did or you didn’t. Which is it?”

“Today Mr. Laperdy made me face my desk towards the back of the room because he says I’m always joking around with the other kids. Am I lost to God for doing that, Mama?”

“You’re never lost to the Lord, sweetie. Just save you’re joking around for recess.”

“Hey Mama, there’s one more way a person can be lost.”

“Rory, it’s almost nine-fifteen,” Laurie noted, leaning back against the wall. “You want me to read to you or not?”

“You can hide from yourself. Like telling yourself you did something right when inside you know it was wrong.”

Laurie closed her eyes. She had enough to worry about with Ryan. Not Rory, too, she prayed. “Okay, kiddo, what’s up?”

Rory threw himself into her arms. “Turn out the light and I’ll tell you,” he whimpered.

Laurie rose to flick off wall switch. “Spill it, Rory.”

“I was walking home from school when I saw this baby squirrel lying on its side in the middle of the road. Blood was coming out from under the squirrel and its eyes were staring straight ahead, but its nose was twitching so I knew it was still alive. I looked around for somebody to help me move the squirrel to the curb but it was four o’clock and the crossing guard and other kids had already gone home.”

“What did you do?” Laurie asked more sympathetically now.

“First I tried to call you, but my cell phone was dead. I thought about knocking on someone’s door, but you always say not to talk to strangers. Then I thought about walking back to school and getting the principal, but I didn’t know if he’d still be in his office. So I walked home and pretended nothing happened.”

“When did this happen?” she murmured into his hair.

“A week after school started.”

“You’ve been holding this in for a whole month?”

“I was lost from myself,” he wept.

“There’s nothing you could have done to save that squirrel.”

“Am I going to jail for leaving that dying squirrel in the street, Mama?”

“You’re not going to jail, Rory,” Laurie enfolded her son. “Nobody expects you to be perfect. You’re only eight years old.”

“What would you have done if you found that squirrel, Mama?”

Laurie thought for a minute. “I’d have slipped on some rubber gloves and dumped the squirrel in a trash bag.”

“But he was still alive,” Rory protested.

“He would probably have been dead by the time I got there.”

“How do you always know what to do?”

“Experience.”

“You found a dead squirrel before?”

Laurie gave her son a bear hug. “I’ve just lived a long time. Let’s say The Sh’ma. We’ll read tomorrow.”

Together they recited the short prayer blessing the Lord.

“Mama?”

“Yes, son?”

“I’m glad you know everything.”

“Nobody has all the answers,” Laurie chuckled, shutting his door.

*

Ryan perused the diagram before him. “I’ve never been much of a carpenter.”

“Come on, Ryan,” said Laurie, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder. “The goal is for us to work together as partners. The end result doesn’t matter.”

Ryan laid the instructions down on the redwood railing. “I’m surprised you didn’t ask my dad over to help build a sukkah hut.”

“You complain that he takes over. I want to respect your feelings.”

Ryan laughed. “Who are you and what did you do with my wife? Seriously, though. Why putz around when we can take Rory to the Temple Sukkah like we do every year?”

Laurie glared at him. “You were the one who came back from Urbana on Yom Kippur afternoon, spouting words of forgiveness and new beginnings. This project is our new beginning.”

“What makes you think we need a new beginning?” asked Ryan, eying the diagram.

Laurie paused for only a minute. “For one thing, you only focus your attention on me when we’re arguing.”

He looked up at her, a playful smile on his lips. “That’s not the only time.”

Laurie threw her hands up in frustration. “Right away you’re thinking ‘sex.’”

“New beginnings,” he said, tasting the words on his lips.

“Meaning we find fun things to do together as a couple.”

“Like building sukkahs.”

Laurie drew his head to her breasts. “Exactly.” Then she pushed him away. “Let’s get this sukkah jumpin’.”

“Hope you don’t mean that sentiment literally.”

“Laugh it up, why don’t you?” She gave him a peck on the cheek. “Now shut up and make sure these ten foot beams line up with each other.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said, lining up the boards.

Laurie consulted the Sukkah Project Assembly Guide, then handed her husband a ruler. “Locate the center of the boards, which would be sixty inches, and mark off equal intervals in each direction from the center. There should be seven marks on each board.”