7:30 A.M.
HUNTINGTON BEACH
GRANDFATHER called, upset. Carrie and Genie helped take care of the boys while Mom talked to him.
Carrie gathered the recycling and took it out to the garage. She had just come back into the house and had stepped into the bathroom to wash her hands, when she heard Mom hang up the phone in Dad’s office, which was across the hall, its door not directly opposite, but six or seven feet farther down. Dad, who had just come downstairs, stepped into the office without seeing Carrie.
“What was that all about?” he asked.
“Sheila’s dead.”
There was a pause, then Mom said, “That doesn’t surprise you, does it, Roy?” Her voice was cold, the way it got when she was really angry.
“What makes you say something like that? Of course it surprises me.”
Carrie told herself that she should turn on the bathroom light and fan, flush a toilet, close the bathroom door- announce her presence in some way.
Instead, she kept the light off and closed the door all but a crack, making sure that no one would see her or her reflection in the big mirror over the sink.
“You seem to need to meet clients at some odd hours lately, Roy. You drove out late last night in the rain. What the hell was that about?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Now, tell me about Sheila.”
There was a long pause. “It’s quite horrible. She was shot to death.”
“Shot to death!”
Carrie had no idea who Sheila was. She prayed that Genie was handling everything okay with the boys and wouldn’t call for her.
“Did you know her well?” Mom asked.
“No, didn’t really know her at all. She was a little younger than me. I think she went looking for her birth parents and found out her dad was in prison for beating her mom. Sad story. Who killed her?”
“No one knows.” Mom’s voice was tense as she said, “Apparently a reporter showed up right after it happened.”
“A reporter? Anyone you know?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. We worked together at the Express.”
Carrie worked hard at not making any noise, but this revelation almost made her yelp. Mom had worked at a newspaper? That didn’t seem possible.
“And?” Dad said, impatient.
“Her name is Irene Kelly. And let me tell you, she’s a bitch on wheels.”
“What do you mean?”
After a brief hesitation, Mom said, “Why, just that she’s tough and sharp. She won’t let this go. She’ll run down every lead imaginable. Even if the police forget about this, she won’t. She’s a veteran reporter with lots of connections all over the city.”
Dad said, “Well, good. That’s good. Is Graydon shaken up? Maybe I should go over there.”
“Maybe,” Mom said. “By the way, I hear Kelly just did a big piece on missing children.”
After a pause, Dad said, “Really? I’ll have to take a look at it. Did he say anything about that?”
“Oh, not a word.”
Carrie heard her father picking up his keys-he’d walk by here any minute. She shut the door to the bathroom quietly and locked it. She turned on the light and was about to turn on the water when she heard her dad say, “Where are the kids? We should have shut the door.”
“They’re in the kitchen.”
“I’ll say good-bye to them, then.”
Carrie waited until their voices retreated, then quickly washed her hands and hurried toward the kitchen.
“Oh, there you are,” her dad said, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I have to go into Las Piernas to see Grandfather.”
“Where were you?” her mother asked Carrie.
“I took the recycling out,” Carrie said.
“She was gone a loooong time,” Aaron said.
Carrie froze, but Genie said, “No she wasn’t, silly.” She smiled at their parents. “Aaron thinks any minute Carrie isn’t here to spoil him is a loooong time.” She mimicked him perfectly, making both Aaron and Troy laugh. Carrie smiled gratefully at her.
Her mother was still studying her, but that was interrupted by Troy accidentally knocking over a carton of milk. Carrie and Genie immediately set to work on cleaning up the mess while Mom and Dad soothed Troy.
“Sorry to leave you with all this chaos, honey,” Dad said to Mom. He watched her, then said, “Do you want to come with me?”
Mom seemed surprised. “Do you mean it?”
“Yes.”
“But the kids…”
“We can bring them, too.”
“At a time like this?”
“You know Dad loves to see any of his grandkids. They’ll cheer him up.”
“Why does Grandfather need cheering up?” Genie asked.
“One of the cousins died, Genie,” Dad answered. “I don’t think you ever met her. Do any of you remember Sheila?”
All four children shook their heads. There had been deaths before this-Dad had twenty brothers and sisters, and a few aunts, uncles, and cousins had been lost in the past few years. Grandfather had children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren now, and many of his children and grandchildren had adopted children or become foster parents with large families of their own. Carrie loved it when the whole family-well, most of it-had its annual reunion. It almost felt as if there was a whole country of Fletchers, even if not everyone used that last name. But she couldn’t remember anyone named Sheila.
“She didn’t go to any of the reunions,” Dad said.
Carrie waited to see if her dad would say Sheila had been shot, but he didn’t.
Her mom said, “Roy, is it safe? You don’t think…there won’t be anyone…”
“No, of course not. I’ll call just to make sure. How soon can you be ready?”
“Kids?”
“Five minutes!” they shouted in unison, a familiar family joke about how much time they would need. Genie and Carrie took the boys by the hand and hustled them upstairs to get them out of their pajamas and dressed.
Carrie was already dressed, Genie just needed to put on shoes. Carrie followed Genie to her room, where she had just enough time to sign to her sister, Thank you! I have so much to tell you.
Genie signed back, Not in the car. Mom will be watching.
Mom didn’t know sign language, and if she saw the two of them engaged in secret conversation, she would put a stop to it. Dad knew how to sign, so they were only supposed to practice when he could watch what they said.
At Grandfather’s, Carrie signed as Genie finished tying her shoes.
Yes, her sister signed back, standing. Genie called out to the boys that it was time to go downstairs, even while she continued signing to Carrie, Yes, at Grandfather’s.
CHAPTER 21
Tuesday, April 25
