Carrie from finding out more about her other dad.
Genie was happy for her, but she was also pretty sure that Carrie would have to leave their family. Her hope was that Mr. Ives would see that it would make Carrie miserable if her mom went to jail. Maybe everything could be worked out so that Carrie could visit them.
She felt tears welling up and quickly rubbed her eyes. She would not cry. She would not.
The boys looked back at her anxiously from time to time. She would smile at them and sign, It’s okay. They wouldn’t look convinced. They were too smart to think everything was okay. Any minute now…
“Excuse me, Daddy,” Troy said, as if he had read her thoughts.
Dad made no response.
“Excuse me, Daddy!” Troy shouted.
Dad looked up in the rearview mirror, as if surprised to see them in the back of the SUV. “Yes, Troy?”
“You should turn the GPS on.”
“What?”
“You’re going the wrong way.”
Dad didn’t answer.
“You’re going the wrong way, Daddy. This isn’t the way to Grandfather’s house.”
Genie had known they weren’t going to Grandfather’s from the moment they got in the car. The SUV had an ice chest and groceries and a lot of sleeping bags in it. There were also duffel bags, although she didn’t get a chance to look inside them. In a way it was good, because when she piled the blankets and the big doll in the back, hoping she could say it was Carrie, asleep, she realized that the back of the SUV would look cluttered if Dad glanced in the mirror.
“You’re right, Troy,” Dad said. “I changed my mind.”
“But how will Mommy and Carrie find us?”
Genie thought of a lot of words she would have been punished for saying aloud.
“They’ll-Wait!” Dad looked in the mirror, almost as if he was just now noticing them. He cussed and then pulled to the side of the freeway, in the lane you were only supposed to use if you had a flat tire.
“You’ll get a ticket!” Genie said.
He frowned but kept driving. He took the next off-ramp and parked the car at the first curb where he could safely do so. He turned around and looked right at Genie. He was furious. As angry as she had ever seen him. It frightened her.
“Where’s your sister?”
Genie swallowed hard. “She’s at home. She was worried about Mom.”
He turned white and made a horrible sound, like a growl, but almost like he was hurt. “Goddammit!” he shouted.
The boys started crying.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he said.
His hands were shaking as he took out a cell phone and made a call. Genie, sure that he was calling home, knew that she had just gotten Carrie in big trouble.
“Hi,” he said. “God, I’m so glad I reached you. Listen, call it off. The whole thing. Carrie’s at the house.”
He listened for a while, then said, “Giles?”
He glanced back at the children, then got out of the car. Genie saw him grab his forehead. He looked really, really upset.
He held the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he hurriedly pulled a little notebook and a pen out of his jacket pocket. He wrote something down. He read whatever he had written, hung up, then leaned against the side of the SUV and put his head in his hands. Genie said, “Stay here, boys,” and unfastened her seat belt. She opened the door nearest her and climbed down to the curb just as a car pulled alongside the other side of the SUV.
The woman driving the car rolled down her window and said, “Are you all right? Do you need me to call nine- one-one?”
“Oh, I’m fine, thanks,” Dad said, looking up. “I’m afraid I allowed myself to get too frustrated over getting lost.”
The woman smiled in understanding. “Do you need directions?”
He held up his cell phone and the notebook. “Just got them from my cousin. Thanks. Very kind of you to offer to help.”
The woman said it was no problem and drove on.
Genie put her arms around him. “I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to make you so upset. I know you’re mad at me…”
He hugged her back. “It’s okay. Everything will be okay. I’m not mad. I’m sorry I yelled. Let’s get back in the car before some other Good Samaritan stops to help us.”
They got back in the car and he apologized to the boys, who stopped crying. He asked the boys to sing a song, and they picked “Bingo.”
He started the car, turned the GPS on, and entered an address. He made a U-turn, getting back on the freeway going north. Genie looked out the window as she listened to the boys sing and clap, their voices sweet and high.
Something was wrong with Dad. Whom had he called? What did he want to call off? He’d never tell her. When she got a chance, she’d have to do some snooping.
She watched the scenery without really seeing it, all the while repeating to herself, “Be safe, Carrie. Be safe.”
CHAPTER 43
Thursday, May 2
10:20 A.M.
HUNTINGTON BEACH
I KNEW even as I pulled up that this was Blake Ives’s missing daughter. Until that moment, I had only focused on getting to the intersection of Playa Azul and Vista del Mar. Now, seeing her, I realized that I was with a frightened child who was probably about as confused as a person could be. My own thinking wasn’t exactly clear, either. Now what?
When she allowed me to stand near her, I decided that it would be a good idea to get some idea of her history as she knew it.
She told me about her family. It didn’t take long to realize that she felt loved, was attached to her mother and the man she called Dad, was both bright and articulate. She didn’t look undernourished. Her clothes were of good quality and clean. I saw no bruises or easily discernible signs of physical abuse.
Her story was also one of isolation, though. She was home-schooled, and the only other children she interacted with were members of her family.
“It’s a big family,” she said, “but I don’t even see my cousins more than a few times a year. Really, the only people I see a lot of are Uncle Giles, Uncle Dexter…” I wasn’t sure what the pause after his name meant, except that something about him upset her. But it was the next statement that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“…and, of course, Grandfather Fletcher.”
“Fletcher?” I took a guess. “Graydon Fletcher?”
“Oh yes, do you know him?”
“I know of him,” I said. “I haven’t met him yet, but I hope to do so soon.”
“He’s the best grandfather in the world. I mean, I don’t know a lot of other grandfathers, but he’s kind and good to us. That’s where the rest of my family is today. Everyone except my mom.”
“And you.”
