“Crystal?”
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“Janeway.”
You could eat the silence, it was that heavy. I didn’t know how to begin, so I began by telling her that. But she already knew.
“The police were here. They’ve been here off and on since noon.”
Good for the cops, I thought: good for them, not so hot for me.
I was getting nervous. It already seemed I’d been on that telephone a long time.
“Are the police there now?”
“No. They may come back tonight.”
The funny thing was, she never once stated the obvious: she never said, “They’re looking for you, you know,” or anything like that. Still, she wasn’t going to give me what I needed unless I could move her that way.
“I’m going to ask you for something. I wouldn’t blame you if you told me to go to hell. I haven’t done much right so far.”
She was listening.
“I guess I’m asking you to trust me. I’d like you to believe that everything I’ve done, at least after that first night, I’ve done for Eleanor.”
She punished me with silence. I endured it till I couldn’t anymore.
“Crystal”
“Yeah, I hear you.”
“I’m trying io find your daughter.”
“I guess I knew that. And I don’t know why, but I do believe it.”
The wall between us crumbled. Whatever she’d been telling herself with the logical part of her brain gave way to instinct.
“Even when we were talking to the police, I kept thinking of you,” she said. “Kind of like an ace in the hole.”
“That’s what I am. It may not be much…”
“I get feelings from people. Not psychic, nothing like that, but people hit me either warm or cold. When I hugged your neck on the porch that first night, I felt the warm between us. Sometimes people just connect, you know what I mean? I could see that between you and Ellie right from the start. It was warm, but not the kinda thing a mother needs to worry about…except maybe on her side.”
She gave a little laugh. “That’s why I never really gave up on it, even when it came out why you were really here.”
“I’m going to find her if I can. I don’t know how and I’m starting pretty far back. I need your help.”
“Tell me what you want.”
“Are the cops taping this call?”
“They talked about doing that. There was some doubt about whether it’d be productive. Just a minute.” She put the phone down and blew her nose. Then she said, “They’re not exactly expecting a ransom demand.”
“When will you know?”
“They may come back tonight and put it on. Or they may not.”
“If they do and I call back, could you let me know?”
“How?”
“Clear your throat when you answer the phone. I’ll try to find a way to let you know if I’ve got anything new.”
“Or you could call Archie. He wants what we all want.” “A couple of questions. Do you know a guy named Pruitt?“
“He’s the one the cops are looking for. They think he took Ellie with him.”
“Had you ever had any contact or dealing with Pruitt before this came up?”
She paused as if groping for words. “I knew who he was.”
“Tell me about it.”
“A crazy man. He seemed to think we had something…”
“A book.”
