Cast into Doubt

THREE

Shelby’s extremities were numb, as if she had spent the night outside. ‘I don’t understand,’ she said.

Rob cleared his throat. His voice sounded tinny and his words came in a rush. ‘Believe me, neither do I. Last night I was in a sports trivia contest. I was on a team and . . . oh, it doesn’t matter. Anyway, Chloe got a little . . . restless, and she left. She said she was going to . . . find something else to do. When I got back to our state room, after the contest . . . she wasn’t there. I went back out on deck and I looked for her, but I had no luck. No one had seen her. Finally, I . . . alerted one of the stewards who called the captain and they searched the ship. They didn’t have any more luck than I did. Now we’re heading back to the nearest port. Which is St Thomas.’

‘I don’t understand? How could she get to St Thomas?’

Rob was silent.

‘Rob,’ Shelby demanded furiously. ‘Where is Chloe? Where did she go?’

‘They said . . . they think she must have gone . . . overboard.’

For a moment, Shelby felt her vision narrowing, growing darker.

‘Shelby, are you still there?’ Rob asked.

‘Overboard?’ she whispered.

‘The captain called the police in St Thomas, and the Coast Guard has been searching for several hours now. That’s the droning sound you hear. The planes and the helicopters are searching these waters.’

‘Overboard? Into the ocean?’

‘Yes. That’s what they’re afraid of.’

Shelby had the sudden, impossible wish that she had never picked up the phone, that she could rewind time back to before she had heard this news. Shelby started to shake from head to toe.

‘I don’t know any more than that right now, Shelby. I’m sorry. If I find out anything I’ll let you know.’

Shelby could tell by the distracted tone in his voice that he was finished with her, that he was about to hang up. ‘No,’ Shelby shouted into the phone. ‘No. Wait a minute.’

‘Take it easy. I’m still here,’ said Rob.

‘No.’ Shelby was shaking her head. She stood up, clenching the phone in her hand, and started pacing the room.

‘No, what?’ Rob asked wearily.

Shelby was shaking her head, trying to collect her thoughts. ‘No, I don’t understand any of this. Chloe . . .’

‘I don’t either. Look, I promise I will call you back as soon as I know anything,’ Rob insisted.

‘No,’ said Shelby stubbornly.

‘I have to go,’ said Rob. ‘Just sit tight. I’ll be in touch.’

‘Oh no you don’t. You can’t just brush me off like this.’

‘I’m not doing that, Shelby,’ said Rob in a strangled tone of voice.

‘Well, I’m sorry, but I’m not just gonna sit here and wait for the phone to ring . . .’

Rob did not reply.

Shelby made up her mind. ‘I’m coming down there,’ she said.

‘Shelby, you can’t. I need you to stay there. To take care of Jeremy.’

‘I don’t care what you need,’ Shelby cried. She could feel her own heart beating wildly in her chest. ‘Chloe is my . . . baby. I can’t . . . I won’t . . . I have to be there.’

‘What about your grandson?’

Shelby thought of Jeremy, fast asleep in his bed, and her heart felt as if it were being sawed apart. ‘Just tell me where he can stay. Do you have any friends who can take care of him?’

‘It’s so complicated . . .’ Rob said.

‘Complicated?’ Shelby cried. ‘I’m sorry but my daughter is missing and I am coming down there. Don’t try to argue with me. Just tell me who I can get to watch Jeremy.’

Rob sighed. ‘Call Lianna,’ he said. ‘She and Harris won’t mind. And Molly will watch over him. She adores him.’

‘Are you sure they’ll do it?’ Shelby asked.

‘I don’t know. You were supposed to do it,’ Rob protested.

‘You were supposed to take care of my daughter,’ Shelby cried.

Rob was silent.

‘Look, Rob. I need to be there.’

‘I guess you do,’ said Rob, miserably. ‘Give Lianna a call. I’m sure they will mind Jeremy.’

‘I’ll handle it,’ Shelby said. Before he had a chance to protest or rethink his decision, she said, ‘I’ll get Jeremy situated and then I’m coming. If they find her in the meantime . . .’

‘I’ll call you, of course,’ said Rob dully.

Shelby ended the call, and tried not to think of what the worst could be. Right now, she had to find a safe place for Jeremy to stay, buy a plane ticket – whatever the cost – and go. And not think. Try not to think.

As she stared at Chloe’s emergency numbers, written in Chloe’s sweet, familiar hand and posted on the refrigerator, Shelby’s finger hovered over the keypad of the phone. It was too early to call anyone, but Harris Janssen was a doctor. They would probably be used to calls at all hours. And even if she had to wake the house, it didn’t matter. What she needed could not wait. She hesitated for another moment, and then dialed the number. A man’s voice answered gruffly.

‘I’m sorry to call so early. Is Lianna there?’ Shelby asked bluntly.

‘Just a minute,’ the man said, sounding more curious than annoyed.

A woman’s voice in the background asked if it was the hospital calling.

‘No,’ the man said, turning away from the phone. ‘It’s for you.’

‘For me?’ Shelby heard the woman ask, surprised. There were clunking sounds as the receiver was exchanged. Then, a woman spoke warily to her caller: ‘Yes?’

‘Lianna, you don’t know me,’ said Shelby hurriedly, her voice wobbling. ‘I’m so sorry to bother you at this hour. My name is Shelby Sloan. My daughter, Chloe, is married to Rob.’

‘Oh sure,’ said Lianna. Then she hesitated. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

‘I just got a call from Rob—’

‘They’re on a cruise,’ said Lianna.

‘Yes. And . . . well, apparently, it seems that Chloe has gone missing. They think she may have . . . fallen overboard.’

‘Oh my God,’ Lianna cried.

Shelby could hear her husband in the background, asking what was wrong. Lianna turned away from the phone. Shelby could hear her muffled voice say, ‘Rob’s wife is missing on that cruise. They think she went overboard.’

‘Jesus,’ Harris exclaimed.

Lianna returned to the phone. There was no hesitation in her brisk, businesslike tone. ‘How can we help?’ she asked.

Shelby felt relieved, at least for a moment. ‘I hate to ask this of you, but Rob told me to call you. I want to go there right away. To St Thomas. The Coast Guard is searching for my daughter right now and I want to be there. But my grandson—’

‘You’ve got Jeremy,’ said Lianna.

‘Yes,’ said Shelby. ‘I’m staying at their house with him.’

Lianna did not hesitate. ‘Bring him over here. We’ll take care of him.’

Lianna’s words lifted a weight from Shelby’s shoulders. ‘Oh, that would be just great . . .’ Shelby said.

‘No problem,’ said Lianna. ‘Molly will be thrilled to have her brother here for a while. Do you know where we live?’

Before Shelby could reply, Lianna was giving her directions.

Shelby called the airlines, called the airport shuttle and packed up her overnight bag, worrying, as she did so, that she had no lightweight clothes with her. She didn’t want to take the time to go to her own apartment. At the last minute she went to Chloe’s bureau. She did not want to rifle through her daughter’s things, but she needed a couple of T-shirts to wear in the Caribbean heat. She unhesitatingly reached for the handles on the second drawer from the top. It was the drawer where she kept her own T-shirts at home. She knew that Chloe would put them in the same place. As the drawer slid open, the faint scent of Chloe’s shampoo and body lotion seemed to rise to her nostrils from the drawer. The pleasant, familiar smell made Shelby want to moan in pain, but she could not allow herself the indulgence right at this moment. She grabbed a couple of Chloe’s less fitted T-shirts, which looked as if they would fit Shelby as well, and stuffed them into her bag. Then, she slid the drawer shut, left the bedroom and went downstairs.

In the laundry room she found a pile of Jeremy’s clothes that she had already washed and folded. She put them in a bag. In the same bag she packed some of his toys from the playroom, and, in the kitchen, a woven grocery sack of his favorite foods. She worked quickly, trying to concentrate, trying not to think of why she was doing all of this. She waited until the last minute to go back upstairs and wake her slumbering grandson.

‘Jeremy,’ she whispered. ‘Come on, honey. You have to get up.’

‘No,’ he protested.

‘Yes. Come, come. Come on, Jeremy.’

Jeremy frowned, and blinked at her. ‘Why?’

Shelby tried to make her voice sound cheerful, as if this were some wonderful adventure. ‘You’re going to go and stay at Molly’s for a little while.’

A fleeting look of pleasure crossed his little face. And then he frowned again. ‘Are you staying at Molly’s, too?’ he asked.

Shelby hesitated. ‘No honey, I can’t.’

‘Why not? No. I want to stay with you, Shep,’ he insisted.

Shelby pulled him close and hugged him. ‘I want to stay with you too,’ she said, trying to keep her voice steady. ‘But I have to go.’

‘Why?’ he demanded, angrily this time.

She had already decided, as she packed up his things, that she was not going to tell him what had happened. She was not going to say that his mother was missing. How could she make him understand, when she didn’t understand it herself? Besides, it was too soon. There was no need. It could all prove to be a horrible misunderstanding. ‘Your mom and dad need my help,’ she said, ‘so I’m gonna go help them. And you have to help too, by going to Molly’s and being a good boy. Can you do that?’

‘No,’ Jeremy protested.

‘Please. Shep needs you to do this.’

Jeremy stuck out his lower lip and folded his pudgy arms over his chest.

‘Please Jeremy. I’m really in a fix. Nobody can help me but you,’ said Shelby.

Jeremy hesitated. ‘OK,’ he grumbled.

‘That’s my boy,’ she said. ‘Now quick, put some clothes on. Molly’s waiting for us and we need to go.’

It turned out not to be a lie. When Shelby pulled into the driveway of the large, stone house in leafy, upscale Gladwyne, Molly was the first person she saw. The girl was standing in the doorway in shapeless sweat pants and a Jonas Brothers t-shirt, peering anxiously out at the driveway through purple-framed glasses. Her long, dark brown hair was twisted into a ponytail, and her round face, marred by acne, looked ashen. When Molly spotted them, she turned and called into the house behind her. Then she opened the door and started down the front steps. She was wearing large, furry green slippers that made her feet look like a clown’s.

Shelby parked, and lifted Jeremy, who was dozing again, out of his car seat. He fell against her chest, warm and completely relaxed. The young teenager came toward Shelby holding out her arms.

‘Molly?’ Shelby asked.

Molly nodded, as Shelby gently shifted Jeremy to her waiting arms. A couple appeared at the front door. Lianna was immediately recognizable from Chloe’s descriptions of her. She was a slim, beautiful woman with fine features, huge dark eyes and black hair. She was barefoot, wearing a comfortable-looking bathrobe, and a worried, sympathetic gaze. Behind her, Harris Janssen, the neurologist who had stolen her away from Rob, was not at all what Shelby had expected. Knowing how good-looking Rob was, Shelby had pictured his rival as a lothario who looked like a movie star. Harris was a balding, stocky man of medium height with a round face and a gap between his front teeth. He was dressed in casual, Saturday clothes, a pair of baggy cords and an oatmeal-colored sweater. He looked like the sort of man women would confide in as a friend, while they slept with other guys. Of course, he was a doctor, Shelby thought. There was something very attractive about having an MD after one’s name. And Chloe had always said, during the year she had worked in his office, that Dr Janssen was the soul of kindness. He was well known for his volunteer work, and Chloe had once told her that he often treated patients even if they had no insurance.

Harris was the first to offer his hand. ‘You must be Chloe’s mother. She’s such a lovely girl.’

‘Yes. Thank you,’ said Shelby. ‘She’s always spoken highly of you.’

Lianna reached out her hands to accept the bag of toys and clothes that Shelby had lifted from the back seat of the car.

‘There’s a bag of his favorite foods too,’ said Shelby. ‘I’m sure I’ve forgotten things but if you need anything . . .’

‘Molly has a key to the house,’ said Lianna, shifting the bags in her arms. ‘I’m sure we can find anything we need for him.’

‘I’ll take that,’ Harris said, reaching for the bag of groceries.

‘I can’t thank you enough,’ said Shelby. ‘Rob doesn’t want me to come, but I just have to be there.’

‘Of course you do,’ said Lianna, reaching out and briefly grasping Shelby’s hand in her own. Shelby felt the warmth of her grasp, and her gaze. ‘I’d do the same if it were Molly. Don’t worry about Jeremy. We’ll take good care of him. Just let us know – you know. I’m sure it will be all right.’

Shelby pressed her lips together, blinking back tears.

‘Do you need a ride to the airport?’ Harris asked.

‘I’ve got a taxi picking me up at the house in about half an hour,’ said Shelby. ‘I’m too rattled to try and drive there.’

‘Because I can drive you,’ said Harris.

‘No. I’m covered. But thank you so much,’ said Shelby.

‘Don’t worry about Jeremy,’ said Lianna.

Shelby nodded. She turned to Molly who was still holding Jeremy.

‘He weighs a ton,’ Molly said. Then she nodded to Shelby. ‘I’ve got him though.’

‘Thank you, Molly.’ Shelby bent over her sleeping grandson, inhaled his scent, and kissed him. Before her tears could splash on him, she turned away and got back in the car. The family in the driveway, their arms full of Jeremy and his belongings, frowned as they watched her go.