The Last Thing He Told Me

“Look, Bailey didn’t mean to be rude to you, but her father is missing and we’re just trying to find out why. It’s putting our family under a great deal of stress. Family is everything to us, as I’m sure you can understand.”

I motion toward the photographs lining the mantel above the fireplace—the Christmas shots of her children and grandchildren, the candid shots of her husband, their dogs, a farm. Several photographs of Elenor and, perhaps, her favorite grandchild, sporting some crazy streaked hair of his own. His in a shade of green.

“I’m sure you’d be the first to go to great lengths for your family,” I say. “I can see that about you. Please just think about it for a second. If I were sitting there and you were sitting here, I’m just asking you, what would you hope I’d do? Because, I’d try to do it.”

She pauses and straightens her dress. Then, miraculously, Elenor sits back down, pushing her bifocals higher on her nose.

“Let me see what I can do,” she says.

Bailey smiles in relief.

“The names can’t leave this room.”

“They won’t leave your desk,” I say. “We will figure out if there is someone who can help our family. That’s all.”

Elenor nods and pulls my list across the desk. Then she picks it up. She looks down at it, in her hands, as though she can’t believe she is doing this. She sighs so we know she can’t believe she’s doing this.

She turns to her computer, starting to type.

“Thank you,” Bailey says. “Thank you so much.”

“Thank your stepmother,” Elenor says.

Which is when an amazing thing happens. Bailey doesn’t cringe when I’m referred to that way. She doesn’t thank me. She doesn’t even look at me. But she doesn’t cringe, which feels a little like the same thing.

I don’t have any time to savor it though because my phone starts to buzz. I look down to see a text from CARL.

I’m outside your house, can you let me in? I’ve been knocking…

I look to Bailey, touch her hand. “That’s Carl,” I say. “I’m going to see what he wants.”

Bailey nods, barely acknowledging me, her eyes focused on Elenor. I head out into the hallway and text him that I’m calling him now.

“Hey,” he says when he picks up. “Can I come in? I’ve got Sarah with me. We were on a walk.”

I picture him standing outside our front door, Sarah in her BabyBjörn, wearing one of the enormous bows Patty loves to stick on top of her head, Carl using his walk with his daughter as an excuse with Patty—an excuse to come and talk to me without Patty knowing.

“We aren’t home, Carl,” I say. “What’s going on?”

“It’s really not a phone type of conversation,” he says. “I’d rather talk in person. I can come back later if that’s better. I walk Sarah at five fifteen, get her some fresh air before dinner.”

“I’d rather hear what you have to say now,” I say.

He pauses, not sure what to do. I can see him considering whether to insist we do this in person later, when it will be easier for him to spin whatever he needs to spin. Because I have no doubt—I’ve had no doubt since I saw the look on his face yesterday—that there is something he knows, something he is afraid to say.

“Look, I just feel real bad about what happened when you came to the house yesterday,” he says. “I was caught off guard and Patty was already so pissed. But I owe you an apology. It wasn’t right, especially when…”

He pauses, like he is still trying to figure out whether to say it.

“Well, maybe I should back up, I mean… I don’t know exactly what Owen told you, but he was really struggling at work. He was really struggling with Avett.”

“He told you that?” I say.

“Yeah, he didn’t go into a whole lot of detail, but he said he was under a lot of pressure to get the software working,” he says. “He told me that much. He told me it wasn’t going as smoothly as Avett had let on. But that his back was against the wall…”

That stops me. “What do you mean ‘his back was against the wall’?”

“He said he couldn’t just walk away. Go get another job. That he had to fix what was happening.”