He pulled his hand away and clenched it in a fist.
The door of the house opened before he could ring the bell. Barbara, pale and red-eyed, threw herself against him and wrapped her arms around him. He pushed her away. She looked surprised, hurt, accusing.
“Okay,” he said, “how’d it happen?”
Barbara shook her head. “I don’t know.” Her voice was whiny. “She was sitting on the front step. We’d come back from brunch. At the Lobster Shanty? And she was pouting all the way home ‘cause I wouldn’t let her have ice cream. She’d already
“Sorry,” Jake muttered, glaring at her. He wasn’t sorry. He wanted to grab the front of her blouse and smash her against the doorjamb. Ice cream. Kimmy wanted ice cream and Barbara had to play Boss Mommy and tell her no and now she’s gone.
Barbara sniffed. She backhanded a slick away from under her nose. “So Kimmy was pouting and she plonked herself down on the stoop and said she wouldn’t come in. So I left her there. I mean, you know how she gets. What was I supposed to do, drag her in by the ears? So I left her. I figured she’d come in in a couple of minutes. But then when she didn’t, I came out to get her and she was gone. I’m
“We can put on her tombstone, ‘Mommy wouldn’t let me have ice cream.’”
“You shit!” she cried out. She swung at Jake, fingers curled to claw his face.
He caught her wrist and clamped it tightly. When he saw her other hand flashing toward him, he gave her wrist a quick twist and she dropped backward. Her rump hit the marble floor of the foyer. Clutching her face, she rolled onto her side and curled up.
Jake stepped inside, kicked the door shut, and stood over her. “Where’s that dick-head you married?”
“He’s…looking for Kimmyyyyy.”
Jake stared down at her. She was sobbing so hard that her whole body shook. “Hope you’re happy. Wasn’t enough for you to run out on me, you had to…did you want her dead, is that it? I’m sure she was in the way a lot, always underfoot. Well now maybe you won’t have to put up with her anymore. You’ll like that.”
Barbara curled up more tightly.
Why don’t you just kick her a few times, Jake thought.
He suddenly felt sick.
What am I doing? he thought. Kimmy’s out there and maybe she’ll be okay if I get to her in time, and I’m standing here tormenting this woman I used to love.
He felt as if a terrible blackness had cleared away from his mind.
Crouching, he put a hand on Barbara’s bare shoulder. She flinched. “Hey, come on,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
She kept on sobbing.
“You couldn’t have known,” he told her, stroking her upper arm. “I know you love Kimmy. I know you’d never do anything to hurt her.”
“I’ll…kill myself,” she gasped.
“Kimmy’ll be all right. She was upset, she probably decided to run away from home. You know kids.” Jake realized he was echoing Barney’s empty platitude. “Maybe she went to a friend’s house.”
Barbara shook her head. “We…no. Called everyone.”
“She’ll be all right. I’ll find her. I promise.”
“You think…someone took her.”
That was exactly what he thought. Someone took Kimmy—someone with a beast up his back. “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” he said. “I’m sure Kimmy’s fine. Did you check everywhere in the house? She might’ve come in when you weren’t looking, and…”
“Everywhere. Her room, closets…everywhere.” Barbara rolled onto her back. She wiped her wet cheeks with open hands, then let her arms flop to the floor. She stared at the ceiling. She was no longer sobbing, but she struggled to catch her breath. Her green blouse had come untucked in front. Her short skirt was twisted around her thighs. She looked as if she had been the victim of a recent assault, except that she wasn’t bruised and bloody. Not where you can see it, Jake thought.
He took hold of her hand and gently squeezed it.
She glanced at him, then quickly shifted her eyes away. “We looked all around for her,” she said. “I walked around to all the neighbors. Nobody saw her. Harold went out in his car.” She sniffed. She used her other hand to wipe her eyes again. “I kept thinking he’d come back any minute with Kimmy. I kept praying. But he came back without her. That’s when I called the police. Barney talked to me. He…he was very nice. I always thought he was such a jerk, but he was very nice.”
“What was Kimmy wearing?”
“A short-sleeved blouse. Pink. A green skirt. Pink socks and black shoes. And…that necklace you gave her. The one with the snap-together beads. And she had Clew. And her Minnie Mouse purse. She kept Clew in the purse while we ate, and she snuck some pieces of cracker into the purse…for Clew.” Barbara’s voice trembled. “She looked so…so beautiful.”
“I’ll be right back,” Jake said.
In the living room, he placed a call to headquarters. Barney said that he had already contacted all the off-duty officers. They were on the way to help in the search. Jake gave him a description of Kimmy. “We’re all pulling for you,” Barney told him. Jake thanked him and hung up.
Barbara was still on the floor of the foyer, but now she was sitting up, knees raised, arms wrapped around her shins.
Jake crouched beside her. “In a few minutes,” he said, “the whole department will be out looking for her. We’ll find her. Don’t worry, okay?”
She answered with a bleak nod.
“I’ll bring her back to you.”
She lowered her forehead against her knees.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Alison felt herself becoming more nervous as she approached home. She had hoped that Evan would show up while she was sunbathing on the grassy quad and save her from the necessity of calling him. It would have been so much easier, that way.
Naturally, he hadn’t put in an appearance. He’d probably spent the whole afternoon in his apartment, waiting for his phone to ring.
I’ve got to call him right away, Alison thought as she climbed the outside stairway. The longer I put it off, the worse it will be.
At the top of the stairs, she found the door standing open. She stepped inside and took off her sunglasses.
On the television screen was some horror movie with a teenage girl running through the woods, chased by a maniac. Helen was asleep on the sofa, wearing only a white bra and panties. The panties were so old that the fabric had torn away from the elastic waistband at one hip and drooped, showing a crescent of skin that looked like uncooked dough.
Alison went over to the television and turned it off.
“Hey, what’re you doing?”
“I thought you were asleep.”
“Just resting my eyes.”
Alison turned the TV on again and stepped out of the way.
“The door was wide open,” she said. “Good thing I’m the one who came in, and not some nut off the street.”
“Had to get some breeze. In case you didn’t notice, it’s hotter than a hooker’s twat in here.”
“Any calls?”
