she was asking somebody how they were? They got hurt?”
“Something like that. But then the other call came in. Kelly said at first she thought it was a telemarketer or something, because Ann said there was some talk about a deal. And then she got a little angry.”
“Angry how?”
“Ann said something like, don’t be stupid or you’ll end up shot in the head. Something like that.”
Slocum tried to process it. “Shot in the head?”
“Yeah.”
“What else?”
“That’s really it.”
“What about a name? Ann must have said someone’s name?”
“No, there were no names.”
He looked like he’d come to a fork in the road and didn’t know which way to turn. This new information only seemed to frustrate him more. It was my turn for a question.
“What the hell’s going on, Darren?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit,” I said. “You’re in some kind of mess, and you’re in over your head.”
He shot me a sly grin. “I might not be the only one.”
“Excuse me?”
“The way I figure it, you may have come into a little windfall lately. Like, within the last few weeks.”
“I’m not following you, Darren.”
His grin shifted into something menacing. “I’m just giving you a heads-up. That windfall, it’s not yours. And hanging on to it, that’s a real risky thing to do. You take a day or two to think it over and do the right thing, because after that, you’ll be running out of options.”
“I don’t have a goddamn clue what you’re getting at, and now it’s my turn to tell you something: threatening me, that’s a risky thing, too. I don’t care what you do for a living.”
“Couple of days,” he repeated, as if I hadn’t spoken. “After that, I won’t be able to help you.”
“Go home, Darren. Your family needs you.”
He started walking back to his truck, then stopped. “I gotta say, it’s a hell of a thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Your wife, my wife, both friends, both with little girls that play together-both dying in accidents within a couple of weeks. What are the odds of that?”
FIFTEEN
Kelly made the point, once she was in the car with Fiona and Marcus, that she hadn’t had any breakfast, and since it was almost lunchtime, maybe they should get something lunchlike to eat. It was Fiona’s plan to take Kelly, first, to the Stamford Town Center and buy her a new winter coat because she’d outgrown the one she’d worn last year and Fiona was not confident Glen would notice. Then, after that, they’d backtrack to Darien, where it was Fiona’s plan to take a tour of two of the local private schools, give Kelly an idea where she could go once Fiona had managed to sell Glen on the idea.
“We’ll eat at the Stamford Town Center,” Fiona decided. Kelly said they had a pretty good food court, so she could wait. Fiona would have preferred a sit-down restaurant where someone took your order and brought it to you, but she was inclined to indulge the child, because there were some things she wanted to ask her about what had happened with her friend’s mother, and she wanted the girl to be forthcoming.
Once the three of them sat down, Marcus and Fiona each with a latte from Starbucks and Kelly with a slice of pepperoni pizza, Fiona asked about the sleepover.
“I thought it was going to be fun but it was really not so good.”
“Why’s that?”
“I came home early. I called Dad to pick me up.”
“Weren’t you having a good time?”
“I was sort of at first, but then it wasn’t fun anymore.”
Fiona leaned in a little closer. “And why was that?”
“Well,” Kelly said, “Emily’s mom got really mad at me.”
“She did?” Fiona asked. “Why did she get mad at you?”
Kelly said, “I’m really not supposed to talk about this.”
“I don’t see why you can’t talk about it with me. I’m your grandmother. You can tell your grandmother anything.”
“I know, but…” Kelly studied her slice, picked off a pepperoni slice and popped it into her mouth.
“But what?” Fiona said.
“I kinda promised not to tell anybody, except I told my dad because he’s my dad.”
“Who did you promise?”
“Emily’s mom.”
Fiona nodded. “Well, she’s not with us anymore,” she said matter-of-factly, “so you can’t really break a promise to her now if you talk about it.”
“It’s okay to break promises to dead people?” Kelly asked.
“Absolutely.”
Marcus was starting to shake his head. “Fiona, what are you doing?”
“Excuse me?” she snapped.
“Look at her. You’re upsetting her. She’s starting to cry.”
It was true. Her eyes had filled with tears. One threatened to spill over and trickle down her cheek.
“I know this may be troubling, dear,” Fiona told Kelly, “but sometimes, talking about a traumatic event can be therapeutic.”
“Huh?” said Kelly.
“If you talk about what makes you feel bad, it can end up making you feel better.”
“Oh. I don’t think so.”
“What sort of promise did Emily’s mom ask you to keep?”
“She didn’t want me to tell anyone about the phone call.”
“Phone call,” Fiona said. “A phone call. What phone call was that?”
“The one I heard her make.”
Marcus was shaking his head disapprovingly, but Fiona ignored him. “You were listening in on someone else’s phone call?”
“Not on purpose,” Kelly said hastily. “I wouldn’t do that. That would be eavestroughing.”
“ Eavesdropping, Kelly,” Fiona said, not even cracking a smile. “So if it wasn’t on purpose, how did you happen to be hearing this conversation?”
“I was just hiding,” Kelly said. “From Emily. I didn’t really hear that much of it anyway because she was whispering a lot.” The tear finally spilled down her cheek. “Do I have to talk about this?”
“Kelly, it may not be pleasant to go over this, but I think-”
“Can I talk to you a minute?” Marcus said to his wife.
“What?”
“Sweetheart,” Marcus said, taking out his wallet and handing a ten to Kelly, “take this and go get yourself something for dessert.”
“But I haven’t even finished my pizza yet.”
“If you get it now, then when you’ve finished your pizza, you can start on it immediately.”
She took the ten from him. “Okay.” They watched her scamper over to the ice-cream stand.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Marcus asked his wife.
“Absolutely nothing.”
“That girl’s mother is dead. Now her best friend’s mother is dead. We’re supposed to be taking her out for a
