What was going on in her life, Claudia had no idea. On Facebook she posted jokes and prayer chains, images of sunsets with inspirational slogans: A smile can change the world. Hope is the heartbeat of the soul. Mostly, though, she posted photos of her daughter—a plump, serious-looking child with a bowl haircut—dressed in elaborate outfits: mermaid, Disney princess, a miniature Scarlett O’Hara with ruffled petticoats and an actual parasol. The costumes were weirdly revealing, in ways unflattering to a chubby child, her plump thighs squeezed like bratwurst into lacy stockings. The little girl seemed to know this. She wore an expression of profound dismay.
From the next room Claudia heard a child coughing, a deep, guttural hacking. “Yikes, that doesn’t sound good. Has she seen a doctor?”
“It’s just a cold,” Nicolette said, lighting a Virginia Slim.
You shouldn’t smoke indoors, Claudia thought. But she wasn’t Nicolette’s mother or sister or even, technically, her landlord. How Nicolette raised her child was none of her business.
“You changed the locks,” she said.
Nicolette’s eyes flickered. “There was a break-in up at Roy Bishop’s. I was just being careful.”
Claudia said, “You should have talked to me first.”
Nicolette said, “I ran out of minutes.”
You should’ve kept the landline, Claudia thought. A few weeks after Deb’s funeral, the phone service was terminated, Nicolette-style: she neglected to pay the bill. Claudia would never forget calling the trailer—her childhood phone number, the first one she’d ever known by heart—and hearing an automated voice. This number is no longer in service. Her mother’s lifeline, her portal to the world. The princess phone with its endless spiraling cord.
No longer in service.
Nicolette said, “The fucker charged me a hundred sixty bucks.”
It took Claudia a moment to understand that she was talking about the locksmith. First Nicolette had changed the locks without permission. Now she expected Claudia to pay for it.
She wasn’t going to pay for it.
“I need a copy of the key,” she said.
“I just have the one.”
“No problem. I’ll go to Walmart and make one.” Claudia held out her hand.
“Fine.” Nicolette took her key chain from its hook by the door and removed a shiny new key.
Claudia tried it in the lock to make sure it worked. She wasn’t taking any chances. She thought, I don’t trust you at all.
18
Victor waited and waited. Several times an hour he checked his inbox.
The video obsessed him. He had watched it so many times that it played constantly in his head. Even his sleep was affected. He lay awake thinking of Columbia.
I think she works there.
It was galling to know that she was at the clinic every day, unphotographed. Victor zoomed in to read the street sign in the video—MERCY—and located the address. He studied the building on Google Earth. He knew exactly where she was, and yet he couldn’t get to her. It was a feeling he remembered vividly from his years inside, Barb Vance running loose in the world, forever beyond his reach.
I think she works there.
His mind glossed over this fact. What exactly Columbia did at the clinic was impossible to imagine. Was she a nurse—assisting, in some unfathomable and horrifying way, a doctor who butchered babies? Morally speaking, it was the worst news imaginable, yet in a way Victor was relieved. Better a nurse than a patient. He would rather think of her killing babies than wantonly fucking, impregnated by some guy who wasn’t him.
He checked his inbox until certain conclusions were inescapable. Anthony had gone dark.
The nurses at the VA dressed in pastel scrubs, mint green or powder blue. In the video Columbia wore boots and blue jeans. She was not dressed for nursing, or any other job he could imagine a female doing.
He watched the video again, which was probably a mistake. The video was like a piece of gum rapidly losing its flavor. He knew that he was using it up, yet he couldn’t stop chewing.
He needed more gum.
19
The messages were incessant. The messages, honestly, were a little much.
Excelsior11: Where are my PIX???
Thinking to buy himself some time, Anthony wrote:
LostObjects1977: You’re right, she definitely works there.
Excelsior responded immediately.
Excelsior11: PIX! I need PIX!!
It was, Anthony felt, an untenable situation. He had promised more than he could realistically deliver. On the one hand, his second-best friend in the world was counting on him. On the other hand, he couldn’t imagine going back to the clinic, now or ever.
(The Latino security guard, big and burly, shoulders straining his shirt.)
To get away from his computer, he put on his coat and set out walking. Mass wouldn’t start for an hour, but he didn’t mind being early. The choir would be practicing, Mrs. Morrison praying her Rosary, Mrs. McGann and her senile husband lighting a candle. The place would be lively as a discotheque compared to his mother’s empty house.
But when he arrived at the church, the windows were dark. The stairs to the front door were covered in snow.
For Christ’s sake, Anthony thought. They couldn’t shovel the freaking steps?
For the Mrs. Morrisons of the world, the church steps were hazardous in the middle of summer. Now, encrusted with ice, they were a danger to every hip in the congregation.
He looked around for a shovel. Finding none, he walked around to the back of the church. The sidewalk was nearly impassable. He tried the door of the parish hall and found it locked. The priest’s black PT Cruiser was parked in the driveway, nearly buried in snow.
“Anthony.”
He turned. Quentin the Quick stood in the rectory doorway. Over his black clericals he wore a down jacket.
“Morning, Father,” he called. “I was just looking for a snow shovel. Those steps are pretty icy.”
“No need. Morning Mass is canceled. I asked the janitor to put a sign on the door.” The priest hugged his jacket around him. “We lost power around midnight. Half the town did, apparently. Everyone east of Lisbon Avenue.”
“I’m on the west side,” said Anthony. “No problems over there.”
The priest zipped his jacket all the way to the chin. “I’m glad you’re here, actually. Won’t you come inside for a moment?”
Anthony followed him into the rectory, stamping the snow from his boots. He’d been inside it only once—twenty years ago, with his father, to see the priest about Grandma Blanchard’s funeral. He’d been struck, then, by the somberness of the place, the dark heavy furniture, the purple-tinged daylight through stained-glass windows. The place hadn’t changed in any way he could identify. The room was so cold he could see his breath.
The priest led him into a rear office—more dark furniture, more stained glass. “Have a seat. I was going to make the announcement today, but Grantham Electric had other ideas. I’m relieved, actually. It’s hard to be the bearer of bad news.” The priest folded his hands on his desk. “The archbishop has informed me that St. Dymphna’s is slated for closure.”
The word landed with a thump.