‘Jerome has notebooks like that,’ Barbara said. ‘They’re made of moleskin. May I have another energy bar?’
‘Knock yourself out,’ Hodges tells her. He grabs a pad from his desk and jots Moleskine. Then, returning his attention to Tina: ‘Could it have been an accounts book?’
Tina frowns in the act of peeling the wrapper from her own energy bar. ‘I don’t get you.’
‘It’s possible he was keeping a record of how much he’d paid out and how much was left.’
‘Maybe, but it looked more like a fancy diary.’
Holly is looking at Hodges. He tips her a nod: Continue.
‘This is all good, Tina. You’re a terrific witness. Don’t you think so, Bill?’
He nods.
‘So, okay. When did he grow his moustache?’
‘Last month. Or maybe it was the end of April. Mom and Daddy both told him it was silly, Daddy said he looked like a drugstore cowboy, whatever that is, but he wouldn’t shave it off. I thought it was just something he was going through.’ She turns to Barbara. ‘You know, like when we were little and you tried to cut your hair yourself to look like Hannah Montana’s.’
Barbara grimaces. ‘Please don’t talk about that.’ And to Hodges: ‘My mother hit the roof.’
‘And since then, he’s been upset,’ Holly says. ‘Since the moustache.’
‘Not so much at first, although I could tell he was nervous even then. It’s really only been the last couple of weeks that he’s been scared. And now I’m scared! Really scared!’
Hodges checks to see if Holly has more. She gives him a look that says Over to you.
‘Tina, I’m willing to look into this, but it has to begin with talking to your brother. You know that, right?’
‘Yes,’ she whispers. She carefully places her second energy bar, with only one bite gone, on the arm of the sofa. ‘Oh my God, he’ll be so mad at me.’
‘You might be surprised,’ Holly says. ‘He might be relieved that someone finally forced the issue.’
Holly, Hodges knows, is the voice of experience in this regard.
‘Do you think so?’ Tina asks. Her voice is small.
‘Yes.’ Holly gives a brisk nod.
‘Okay, but you can’t this weekend. He’s going up to River Bend Resort. It’s a thing for class officers, and he got elected vice president next year. If he’s still in school next year, that is.’ Tina puts the palm of her hand to her forehead in a gesture of distress so adult that it fills Hodges with pity. ‘If he isn’t in jail next year. For robbery.’
Holly looks as distressed as Hodges feels, but she’s not a toucher and Barbara is too horrified by this idea to be motherly. It’s up to him. He reaches over and takes Tina’s small hands in his big ones.
‘I don’t think that’s going to happen. But I do think Pete might need some help. When does he come back to the city?’
‘S-Sunday night.’
‘Suppose I were to meet him after school on Monday. Would that work?’
‘I guess so.’ Tina looks utterly drained. ‘He mostly rides the bus, but you could probably catch him when he leaves.’
‘Are you going to be all right this weekend, Tina?’
‘I’ll make sure she is,’ Barbara says, and plants a smack on her friend’s cheek. Tina responds with a wan smile.
‘What’s next for you two?’ Hodges asks. ‘It’s probably too late for the movie.’
‘We’ll go to my house,’ Barbara decides. ‘Tell my mom we decided to skip it. That’s not exactly lying, is it?’
‘No,’ Hodges agrees. ‘Do you have enough for another taxi?’
‘I can drive you if you don’t,’ Holly offers.
‘We’ll take the bus,’ Barbara says. ‘We both have passes. We only took a taxi here because we were in a hurry. Weren’t we, Tina?’
‘Yes.’ She looks at Hodges, then back to Holly. ‘I’m so worried about him, but you can’t tell our folks, at least not yet. Do you promise?’
Hodges promises for both of them. He can’t see the harm in it, if the boy is going to be out of the city over the weekend with a bunch of his classmates. He asks Holly if she’ll go down with the girls and make sure they get onto the West Side bus okay.
She agrees. And makes them take the leftover energy bars. There are at least a dozen.
21
When Holly comes back, she’s got her iPad. ‘Mission accomplished. They’re off to Teaberry Lane on the Number Four.’
‘How did the Saubers girl seem?’
‘Much better. She and Barbara were practicing some dance step they learned on TV while we waited for the bus. They tried to get me to do it with them.’
‘And did you?’
‘No. Homegirl don’t dance.’
She doesn’t smile when she says this, but she still might be joking. He knows she sometimes does these days, but it’s always hard to tell. Much of Holly Gibney is still a mystery to Hodges, and he guesses that will always be the case.
‘Will Barb’s mom get the story out of them, do you think? She’s pretty perceptive, and a weekend can be a long time when you’re sitting on a big secret.’