The Piper

NINE




Olivia’s work day was a total loss. One canceled appointment, a lot of phone calls that brought her annoyed customers and no sales. Her mind had not been on the job, her thoughts divided between warning phone calls from beyond the grave, and, on the practical side, how she was going to approach Charlotte about Janet telling Teddy scary stories about the house. She considered what she was going to say as she passed through the second light on Ebenezer, on her way to pick Teddy up. She was threading the suburban maze when her cell phone rang.

As always, now, she tensed, but it was Hugh’s name that came up on the caller ID. She hesitated, then said hello, pulling to the side of the road. She was not one of those people who could talk and drive at the same time. Not when the caller was her ex husband.

‘Olivia? Look, is this a good time for you? Are you somewhere private, where Teddy can’t hear?’

The hum of the car’s air conditioner was noisy. Olivia shut the engine down. It was a hot day, the car full of afternoon heat, and the coolness seeped quickly away.

‘What is it, Hugh? Is something wrong?’

‘That’s what I was going to ask you. I have three missed calls from Teddy today, and a weird text message, all between eleven fifteen and noon. Is she sick? Did she go to school?’

Olivia knew that tone of voice. She could picture Hugh, running a hand through the thick, graying black hair, pacing and light on his feet like a thoroughbred horse, nervous energy to spare. ‘Of course she went to school, and no she’s not sick. That’s her lunch break, eleven fifteen.’

‘Surely you’re not letting her have the phone at school?’

‘No, Hugh, I’m not, but I’m not in the habit of searching her backpack, either, every morning before she leaves. What do you mean by a weird text?’

‘It said, let me see, I wrote it down. It said provoking malign troubles.’

‘What? That doesn’t make any sense.’

‘No, and it doesn’t seem like something an eight year old would say just out of the blue. I wondered if maybe someone got hold of her cell phone.’

‘I don’t know. I’ll check. Look, Hugh, I know your heart was in the right place, but the phone thing just isn’t working out. She’s too young for a cell phone.’

‘Yes. That was a bad call. Look, let me be the bad guy on this, since it was my idea. Have her call me tonight and I’ll tell her we decided together to take the phone away. I need to talk to her anyway, she was pretty keyed up last night when we talked. Are things going okay at the new school?’

‘She seems to be settling in pretty well – better than usual.’

‘She seemed really upset last night on the phone.’

‘She was mad at me. We had a little incident in the basement, did she tell you about that? She knocked over a stack of boxes, then lied and said she didn’t when I bit her head off over it.’

‘Well, you did the right thing, calling her on it. This lying thing will probably get worse before it gets better. We’re going to have to tough this out.’

‘Yes, my thoughts exactly.’

‘I take it you’re sure she lied?’

Olivia unclipped her seatbelt and twisted in her seat. ‘No, I’m not sure, but she was standing right there, and there was no reason for those boxes to go over.’

Hugh sighed. ‘I miss you guys, Olivia. I wish to God I’d taken that job in Knoxville. I get that I made a mistake.’

‘A mistake? How about a betrayal.’

‘Yes, all right, a betrayal.’

‘On so many levels, Hugh. I moved with you God knows how many times, and when you had the chance, when we could have come home, all of us, together—’ She choked on it. She always did. ‘You betrayed me and violated my trust.’

‘And I’ve apologized a million times. But in my defense, Olivia, don’t you remember when we first got married? You couldn’t wait to get out of that town. You said it oppressed you there, you wanted to be free.’

‘What are you talking about? Free of what?’

‘Oh, hell, you know. The family. The past. Whatever.’

‘That’s not an excuse for deceit, Hugh.’

‘No, of course not. I don’t want to fight about this, Olivia.’

‘And anyway, that was years ago, Hugh. Years ago. You know damn well I changed my mind. Sometimes you have to leave your home to appreciate what you’ve got.’

‘Yes, yes, I know, you’re right. I should have taken the job, or at the very least, discussed it with you when they offered.’

‘We might still be married if you had.’

‘And we might still be married if you hadn’t read my emails.’

‘I don’t want to talk about it anymore.’

‘I’m still sorry, Olivia. About that, about all the constant moving.’

‘I’m a big girl, Hugh. I could have said no.’

‘Look, about Teddy. Something she said last night really bothered me. Is there any good reason she’s afraid to go to sleep?’

‘She actually said that to you? That she was afraid to go to sleep?’

‘Yes. I didn’t know if she was just, you know, being dramatic and up to her tricks. But she seemed so sincere. And I wondered if it might be something to do with your brother. Him dying in the house.’

‘That, and maybe one of her cousins. Saying things to scare her. Listen, Hugh, what about Teddy coming to see you in California for Labor Day? That would give her something to look forward to, a familiar place to go, to see her old friends.’

‘I won’t be here. I was going to tell you. I’ve accepted a job in Seattle.’

‘You’re moving again?’

‘Yes.’

‘Of course you are. Goodbye, Hugh. I’ll have Teddy call you before bedtime. On my phone. I’m taking the other one away.’