Cast into Doubt

SEVENTEEN

Twenty minutes later Molly, wearing a jacket over her pajama pants and slippers, arrived, shepherded by Lianna. Molly was bleary-eyed, her face swollen from crying. Lianna was beautiful, even with no makeup and uncombed hair. She wore a trench coat pulled over her sweats.

‘Where is he?’ Molly demanded in raw voice. ‘I want to see him.’

Shelby directed the distraught teenager to a nurse who was passing by. ‘That’s her father in there,’ Shelby said.

The nurse nodded. ‘Just for a few minutes. He’s not awake. But he can probably hear your voice. He’ll know you’re there.’

‘Do you want me to come with you, darling?’ said Lianna putting a hand on her daughter’s arm.

Molly shook off Lianna’s hand and looked at her mother with malice in her eyes. ‘No. Don’t you dare.’

‘It’s one person at a time,’ said the nurse.

‘I’ll be right here waiting for you,’ said Lianna apologetically.

Molly did not reply.

Shelby looked at Lianna questioningly.

‘They never forgive you for a divorce,’ she said with a shrug of embarrassment. ‘At a time like this, it’s all my fault.’

Shelby nodded knowingly. ‘I suppose.’

Lianna sat down heavily on the chair next to Shelby. She pulled her trench coat tightly around her and looked at Shelby in disbelief. ‘What happened?’

Shelby shook her head. ‘The police don’t know yet. Somebody ran him off the road. They’re thinking it might have been road rage.’

Lianna peered at Shelby. ‘You sound skeptical.’

Shelby looked back at her frankly. ‘First my daughter. Now Rob.’

Lianna frowned and pulled at her plump upper lip with her index finger. ‘It is bizarre.’

‘It is to me,’ said Shelby.

‘You must be utterly wasted,’ said Lianna.

‘I am. I dread trying to explain this to Jeremy.’

‘I can imagine,’ Lianna agreed, shaking her head. ‘This all so unreal. Molly is beside herself. She loves Rob. More than anything.’

‘He’s a good father,’ said Shelby.

Lianna sighed. ‘Yes. He is. I guess we’ll be here for a while.’

‘Well, now that you’re here, I’m thinking I’ll head back to their house,’ said Shelby. ‘Rob asked Jeremy’s teacher to babysit and she’s been there for hours. I should probably let her get home. Besides, much as I dread telling him, I don’t want Jeremy to hear this from anyone but me.’

‘I can understand that,’ said Lianna.

Detective Camillo emerged from a room down the hall and walked up to where Shelby and Lianna were sitting.

‘This is Detective Camillo,’ said Shelby. ‘He’s investigating what happened.’

‘You are . . . ?’ he asked Lianna.

‘I’m Rob’s ex-wife,’ said Lianna. ‘Our daughter, Molly, is in there with him now. My husband is parking the car.’

‘Where were you tonight, Mrs Kendricks?’

‘Mrs Janssen. Well, I was home. With my family. My husband’s a doctor. A neurologist, actually. He often operates at this hospital. Maybe you know him. Harris Janssen? Here he is now.’

Lianna waved to Harris, who was striding toward them, jingling his keys in his hand. Shelby noticed the glow in Lianna’s eyes as she watched him approach.

Camillo seemed unimpressed. ‘Did you and your ex-husband get along?’

Lianna raised her perfectly shaped eyebrows. ‘As well as can be expected. For exes.’

‘Not that well, then.’

‘We each made a new life. And we share a daughter.’ Lianna hesitated. ‘We always will.’

Detective Camillo looked at her, unsmiling. ‘I hope so, ma’am.’

Shelby drove back to Manayunk, and, luckily, found a space only half a block from the house. As she walked up to the front door, she saw Darcie holding back the curtain looking anxiously up and down the street. She waved, and Darcie’s tense frame sagged with relief. Shelby let herself in.

‘I’m back,’ she said.

Darcie rushed up to greet her. ‘How is he? How is Rob?’

‘Well, there hasn’t been much change,’ said Shelby. ‘I guess you could say that he’s hanging in there.’

Darcie burst into tears.

Shelby looked at her in surprise.

Darcie shook her head and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. ‘He’s just such a great father. I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to him. Of poor Jeremy, losing both his parents.’

Shelby looked at the large, sweet-faced young woman kindly. Darcie was in her twenties although she still had the wardrobe of a teenager. But despite her girlish clothes and soft features, she had a certain confidence that Shelby liked. The children in her class always seemed calm and happy at the end of a day with her. ‘You’ve been such a big help to this family. I really, really appreciate it, Darcie. I know Rob does too.’

Darcie sniffed. ‘I’m just glad I can help.’

‘You have. But now you need to go home and get some rest. You’re getting worn out. I assume you have school tomorrow.’

‘I do,’ Darcie admitted.

Shelby reached for her wallet. ‘I don’t know what Rob pays you.’

Darcie recoiled. ‘No. Please. I couldn’t accept anything. This was an emergency.’

Shelby hesitated, then realized she needed to accept the young woman’s generosity. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I may have to call on you again.’

Darcie had recovered her self-possession. ‘Call me anytime. Really. I want to help.’

Shelby followed her to the door and watched her walk up the block. She only lived a few streets away. Darcie looked back and waved as she turned the corner, and Shelby waved back. Then she closed the door and locked it.

The house was utterly silent. She decided to go upstairs and check on Jeremy before she did anything else. She tiptoed up the stairs, and pushed open the door to his room. The light from the hall fell on the boy’s curly hair, the lumpy covers and stuffed animals scattered about the bed. Shelby sighed at the sight of him.

The covers rustled, and then, before she could retreat, she saw Jeremy, squinting into the light. ‘Mom?’ he mumbled.

Shelby’s heart ached to hear him call for Chloe. She slipped into the room and sat down on the edge of his bed, rubbing his shoulder and murmuring soothingly. ‘It’s me. It’s Shep. Go back to sleep.’

‘Shep?’ he asked. And then he emerged from under the covers and buried his face in her side.

‘Hi sweets,’ she said. ‘I’m here. You go back to sleep.’

‘Where’s Dad?’

‘He’s sleeping,’ she said, trying to remain close to the truth. ‘It’s time for everybody to be sleeping.’

‘Is the pirate still here?’ he mumbled.

‘No pirates,’ said Shelby fondly. ‘Just the sandman.’

Jeremy pushed away from her, and peered at her through sleepy eyes. ‘No Shep, there was a pirate here. Before. A lady pirate.’

‘A lady pirate,’ said Shelby, smiling.

Jeremy nodded. ‘I saw her. She was talking to Dad. Downstairs.’

‘I’ll bet you did.’

‘I did. She had a coat with a skeleton. And big hoops in her ears. And one of them things on your eye. That goes on your eye? You know what I mean?’

‘Glasses?’ Shelby asked.

‘Not glasses,’ the child said wearily, as if he could barely tolerate his grandmother’s ignorance. ‘You know, it covers your eye when another pirate tears it out with a hook!’ he cried, roaring, and clawing the air with a crooked arm.

Shelby suddenly felt a chill sweep through her. ‘An eyepatch,’ she said.

‘YUP!’ Jeremy cried.

In her mind’s eye, Shelby saw it all. The Ed Hardy baseball jacket with the skull design on the back. The hoop earrings. The eyepatch.

‘The pirate was here tonight?’ she asked softly.

‘Yeah. I got out of bed, but don’t tell Dad. I heard them downstairs. Dad was yelling.’

‘Was the pirate lady yelling too?’ Shelby asked.

‘Not pirate lady,’ he corrected her. ‘Lady pirate.’

‘Sorry. Lady pirate. Was she yelling at Dad?’

‘No. Well, a little bit. But mainly Dad.’

‘What were they yelling about?’ Shelby asked.

Jeremy yawned, and leaned against her side. ‘I dunno,’ he murmured. ‘The treasure map, probably.’

‘Most likely,’ said Shelby.

‘Maybe Dad knows where the treasure is hid,’ Jeremy mumbled. His eyes were beginning to close, and it was getting more difficult for him to open them again.

‘Maybe he does,’ said Shelby.

‘We’ll ask him. Tomorrow,’ said Jeremy.

Shelby gently smoothed his curls while her mind and her heart raced. ‘Yes,’ she said, as he drifted back to sleep. ‘We need to know.’