Nell flung the door to the room open wider. “What the hell do I care? Come in.”
Cindy walked in after her. The room was a total wreck. Clothes were strewn on the floor, paintings on the wall were taken down, or hanging at weird angles. Her laptop was opened on the floor in the middle of all of it.
“What happened here?” Cindy asked alarmed.
“Nothing,” said Nell, grinning now, showing a row of small, perfect teeth. “This is how I live. You got a problem with it?”
“No,” Cindy said. “I’m just frightened for you.”
“Don’t be,” said Nell. “The time for worrying about me is long gone.”
Cindy walked in further and sat on a small chair.
Nell pulled up a broken chair and sat down opposite her. For a moment she seemed glad to have Cindy around.
“This has to be hell for you,” Cindy started. “First your father and now your mom.”
“Hell’s putting it mildly,” Nell said
“I know you and your father were close.” Cindy wanted more from her, craved it, sensed the heart of what happened was right here.
“My father was a dick,” said Nell quietly.
Cindy was shocked. But it was natural that Nell should feel that way after she’d found out that her father had been married to someone else.
“Because of the other wife?” asked Cindy.
Nell’s face puckered. “No. Who cared if he had another wife? I couldn’t blame him for that, one bit. My mother’s a bitch. She was always a bitch - to both of us. I’m not saying she killed him, I don’t think she did. Just that she was a bitch. If my father had half a brain he would have stayed there with his other wife. But he couldn’t. He kept running home.”
Cindy looked around the turbulent room. Parts of it looked like any high school kid’s rooms, posters of rock stars and papers strewn around. She wanted to see what was on Nell’s computer and leaned down towards it.
“Just talking to my friends on Facebook,” said Nell.
“I’m sure you have a lot of them,” said Cindy. “Mind if I take a look?”
“Look all you want,” said Nell as Cindy picked the laptop up.
It was open to Nell’s homepage. Cindy started looking at the people and then stopped cold. Her heart started beating wildly. Right on the top was a photo of Nell and Graham.
“Who’s this?” she asked Nell, totally shocked.
“Graham Kowan,” said Nell matter of factly. “Why?”
Cindy turned towards Nell, amazed. “You knew Graham Kowan? Your father’s son?”
Nell just stared at the photos and said nothing.
Cindy reached out to her. “You’ve got to tell me about this, Nell.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” Nell murmured.
“You and Graham were friends?” Cindy pursued it.
Nell remained silent.
“How did you know him?”“ Cindy was speechless.
Nell became sullen. “He goes to my school,” she said, “no big deal
“You knew about your father’s second family for a long time?”
Nell shook her head. “No.” Flames darted from her eyes.
“Nell, you’ve got to talk to me about this,” Cindy could barely catch her breath. Her mind was racing. She needed to know about this relationship, how it started and why.
But Nell had enough. She pulled her scraggly sweater close around her, went to her door and opened it up. “Go home now. I’m tired.” she said to Cindy. “It’s enough.”
A wave of sorrow flooded Cindy, leaving Nell alone there.
“You can trust me, Nell,” Cindy said softly.
A distorted look crept over Nell’s face. “Oh yeah, I can trust you. Fat chance. Go home now,” she demanded.
*
All the way home in the cab Cindy watched the heavy rain fall, blurring her vision so that, looking through the side windows, the road disappeared from view. Cindy could not erase the image of Nell and Graham though from her mind. The two of them looked oddly at one, unlikely partners who had no right to meet, much less to connect. Cindy wondered whether she should tell Mattheus about this development, but decided not to. It was too premature. She had no real idea what all of this meant, or where it might possibly lead. Cindy decided to go to see Kendra in jail first thing the next morning and talk to her about it.
Usually, when Cindy returned to the hotel and walked into the lobby, Mattheus was there waiting for her. This time he wasn’t. Maybe he was up in his room? She went to the desk to call him. As she dialed she heard the television in the hotel lobby speaking about the on-coming storm. Flights off the island were packed full, ports would soon be closed. The phone to Mattheus’ room just rang and rang. Cindy’s heart dropped.
“Did you see happen to see Mattheus King?” she asked the man at the desk.
“Checked out this morning,” he said.
Cindy felt her body turn cold. It wasn’t possible.