Hush

Lake caught her breath.

“Look, I’ve clearly scared you,” the vet said. “Would you like me to call the police?”

“No, no,” Lake said. “I appreciate it but I know the cops in my town. I’ll do it when I get home.”

“Okay, if that’s what you want.” He glanced back at the cat. “Let me just finish my exam and make sure that Smokey’s okay.”

After grabbing an instrument from its holder on the wall, he looked into Smokey’s eyes. Lake sat down on the small stool behind him, her mind racing.

If this was planned, she thought-and surely it must have been because you don’t just happen to show up in someone’s backyard with a hypodermic needle and an electric razor-then it meant that someone was doing their damnedest to rattle her. Did it have to do with Keaton’s death? Her heart sank. Maybe the killer knew she’d been with Keaton-and had followed her to Roxbury. She thought back on the drive yesterday. She didn’t recall any one car following her for any length of time, but she’d been lost in her thoughts much of the time-she probably wouldn’t have noticed.

But that wasn’t the only possibility, of course. She remembered her call to Maggie yesterday. She’d told her that she was coming up here, even given the name of the town, and had asked Maggie to let people at the clinic know. Maggie had also pointed out that the clinic was closing early that day. Anyone with a car could have checked her address with directory assistance and found the house. She’d mentioned to at least a few people at the clinic that she had a cat.

And what about her kids? she wondered frantically. Could they be in any danger? She had to get to the camp and make certain they were okay.

“But don’t exceed two a day.”

She looked up, startled. Dr. Jennings was holding out a small white packet to her.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Can you repeat that?”

“If he acts stressed again, you can give him one of these, but don’t exceed two a day.”

A few minutes later she was headed back to Roxbury, her mind spinning. She wished she could just pack up everything at the house and not have to come back, but she couldn’t take Smokey to the camp with her. Not only would it be cruel to leave him in his carrier all day, but she also couldn’t risk the kids getting a look at him.

She pulled the car into the driveway and scanned all around the outside of the house. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, she left Smokey in the kitchen with food and a fresh bowl of water, and then raced back out to the car.

She was now running ten minutes late. She tried to make up the time by driving as fast as possible, but her foot kept easing off the accelerator as her mind attempted to fathom this new twist to her nightmare. If someone from the clinic had done this, why? Because the person had murdered Keaton and knew she was with him that night?

But if the killer knew she’d been in the apartment, why did it matter so much? Obviously because he-or she- assumed Lake suspected who it was. But if Lake was a supposed threat, why harm her cat and not her? It must be a warning, she decided. “I know you were there and you better shut up-or you’ll be next.” There was no way she could ever let Hull and McCarty find out about Smokey. They would suspect instantly that something was up with her.

Just before she made the second-to-last turn for the camp, she checked her rearview mirror for what seemed to be the hundredth time. No one was behind her.

As she pulled into the overflowing parking lot of the camp, she realized that she’d been so preoccupied with what had happened to Smokey that she hadn’t mentally prepared for seeing Jack today. Jack, who, she suddenly realized, had also known she would be at the house this weekend. Maybe the scare with Smokey wasn’t related at all to Keaton’s death, but to the custody situation. Jack trying to scare her so she’d come unhinged. Could he have done this? Opening the car door, she realized how this thought would have been impossible with the old Jack. But she knew nothing about what the new Jack was capable of.

She heard her daughter before she saw her-as the word Mom rang out from the grassy slope just above the parking lot. It was just like Amy to be waiting excitedly for her arrival-and Lake felt a surge of relief.

“Hey, sweetie,” Lake called, waving broadly and forcing a big smile. Amy was with another girl about the same size, both in their khaki shorts and hunter-green shirts stamped with the camp logo, and they bounded toward Lake as if she were an ice cream truck pulling up on a sweltering hot afternoon. Lake hurried to meet them. Though Amy possessed Jack’s tall, athletic build, she had Lake’s coloring-the brown hair and gray-green eyes-and people always knew instantly they were mother and daughter. Amy, however, was self-possessed in a way that Lake hadn’t been at her age-because of the birthmark she was deeply ashamed of.

As the two girls reached her, Amy threw her arms around her mother’s waist.

“Wow, it’s so good to see you,” Lake said, hugging her back and kissing the top of her head.

“Mom, Mom, this is Lauren,” Amy said, smiling at the red-haired girl with braces standing next to her. “She’s from Buffalo. We’ve been there, right?”

“Yes, on our way to Niagara Falls. Hi, Lauren. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Well, it’s really a suburb,” Lauren said. “Amherst. Have you ever heard of it?”

“Yes, of course,” Lake said. “So tell me about the plan today, girls. The swimming races are first?”

“Yes, and then lunch and then we’re doing a talent show,” said Amy. “Lauren and I are singing. Will is doing an animal dance-he’s a skunk.”

“A skunk-perfect! So where is he?” Lake needed to set eyes on him as soon as she could.

“He’s playing soccer, I think,” Amy said. “He’s probably already filthy. I swear, it’s embarrassing-he’s always covered in dirt. Do you want a tour, Mom? I don’t think you saw everything the day you dropped us off.”

“I’d love one. Are your parents coming, Lauren?”

“Yeah, in a while. They’re always late for everything.” She added an eye roll for emphasis.

They began to ascend the hill, with a few other parents straggling behind them. Jack must not be here yet, she thought looking around, or Amy would have mentioned it.

“Are you looking for Dad?” Amy said, reading her thoughts in that uncanny way of hers.

“Is he here?” Lake asked, trying to sound casual.

“No, he’s not coming now,” her daughter said.

“What?” Lake said, stopping in her tracks.

Amy shrugged and let her shoulders droop.

“The counselor told us,” she said glumly. “She said Dad called the director and told him he’s not going to be here. He said something came up.”

10

THAT MADE NO sense, Lake thought. Why wouldn’t Jack come? Maybe it had something to do with the Boston trip he had alluded to. Or was he trying to avoid her? Her mind flashed back to Smokey. Had Jack shaved him-or sent someone to do it-and now he didn’t have the guts to look her in the eye? Was he trying to screw with her mind in general? There’d been that call in the middle of the night, too. If Jack was responsible for what happened to Smokey, he might have been behind the call as well.

“Are you, Mom?” Amy whispered, breaking through Lake’s thoughts.

“Am I what, sweetie?”

“Are you upset? About Dad not coming.”

“Oh no, honey, I’m not upset. I-I was just curious.”

The three of them finished the climb to the main grounds of the camp. There were dozens of parents and kids up there, already congregated on a grassy expanse worn bald in spots from endless use. Will was there, too, dressed in swimming trunks and devouring one of the many doughnuts that had been laid out on a weathered picnic table. He spotted Lake, waved like he was trying to flag down an airplane, and then ran over, flashing his crooked grin. She almost cried when he wrapped his dirty arms around her.

“You’re already suited up, huh?” Lake said, tousling his silky blond hair.