“What is going on with you and Jane Norton?” she asked. “I saw your carpool last night.”
“Let’s talk inside,” he said. They walked back into the house and he shut the door. He explained running into Jane, their talk in the rain, and their visit with Brenda Hobson.
It had moved beyond taunts and videos. “Why would someone burn down this woman’s house?”
He watched her. “Someone who blames her for our son’s death.”
The silence grew thick. “What, me?” Perri finally said. “Are you crazy, you know me, you know I would never—”
“I didn’t think you’d ever hit and drag someone, even Jane, but I saw the video.”
“Cal. Cal. Come on. You know me.”
“And I saw the new posting. What were you doing when David died, Perri?”
“I was here. Waiting for him to get home. Here. Trying to find him after Kamala called and said he’d taken off with Jane and they weren’t studying.”
“You didn’t go anywhere?”
“No. That post is a lie. I felt guilty I wasn’t out looking for him. I know I said that to people. But this person is trying to make it sound like I was a horrible mother or somehow to blame.”
“So what does Liv Danger know that she threatens to say?”
“It’s all a lie.” Her voice broke. “This is some horrible person hiding behind a name our son created!” Her voice rose in a scream. “And you would believe a liar who hides behind a name, a perversion of something David made, rather than me.”
It was like she opened a crack in the world. The anger, the fury between them that had been smothered in politeness.
“You’re divorcing me because we lost our son,” he said. The words tumbled from him as if penned inside for a long time. “That’s the only reason. Nothing else. Because you hurt so much you can’t bear to love anyone. Well, I hurt, too. But I’m not angry at the world because he died. You said you wanted a divorce. I didn’t want it, but I said fine, whatever makes you happy. As if giving you whatever you wanted would make you happy again.
“But you’ll never be happy again. Because the grief has burned you down, Perri, and I can’t do this anymore. I loved you. I loved you so much. And now I just…now I’m the one that wants the divorce.” He said it, almost in triumph. “How does that sound? I want it right now. And you can blame Laurel and Jane or the world, but…” His voice trailed off. “I’m not going to tell you how to feel. You tell yourself that.” He went to the door.
“Cal, wait.” His words had rocked her; he had never spoken that way before to her. “Listen. The original postings from Liv Danger came from my computer. I had Maggie, a friend at work, trace it. But I swear, it’s not me. If it was, I wouldn’t tell you this. Someone hacked me or got into the house. Help me. Please, help me. I swear to you, on David’s life, it’s not me.”
She could see the words leash his fury for a moment. “Then who is it? It’s not me. Who would want to frame you?”
“Jane. Or Laurel,” she said. “You know they hate me.”
“You hate them. You hate them like nothing I’ve ever seen. You know, it’s weird how you think that everyone else changed after David died but you didn’t.”
The words were like a blow. “Cal.”
“I mean, video doesn’t lie. You attacked her.”
“She was at David’s grave.”
“Her being there is understandable to everyone but you. She started to leave when she saw you there, didn’t she?”
After a moment Perri nodded.
“And you pulled her from the car and dragged her over to the grave that you were so desperate she not visit.” He shook his head.
I will not cry, Perri thought. I will not. I will not. The tears, unshed, felt hot as flame.
“You have to help me, Cal, find out who this Liv Danger is,” she said. “Liv Danger was a cartoon character Jane and David created. I found a sketchbook with all their notes. It was hidden in his room. He never showed it to me.”
Cal studied her face as if looking for proof of a lie. “He never showed it to me, either,” he said.
“So. Liv Danger knew it was in his room. Then it has to be Jane. She’s trying to make me look bad. It’s revenge. She wants to blame me for all her problems the way she thinks I blamed her for David’s death.”
“The way she thinks. You do blame her for David’s death. You do. You always have. Have you ever talked to her? Really talked to her since the accident?”
“No. I don’t need to talk to her. It wasn’t an accident. She tried to kill herself and she killed David.”
“That note was old.”
“That doesn’t matter. She wrote it.” She made her words into a counterpunch, she saw the spittle fly from her lips. “She had been thinking about it.” This was a certainty, and she refused to let it go.
“That girl is the same girl who’s lived next door to us for years. We know her. She doesn’t even have a car. Now you think she went down to San Antonio and burned down a bunch of houses to make a point?”
“Maybe she did. She has friends, they could have helped her.”
“With arson?”
“Well, are you accusing me? Why would I do this?”
“Do you think she knew you were going to be at the cemetery and that the driver would happen to record you freaking out? She’s not making you look bad, you’re doing that yourself.”
“I can’t believe you are taking her side. How did Liv Danger even get that video?”
“The rideshare driver posted it on her own page and tagged Jane, so it appeared on her page. Liv Danger has to be watching her page. And other people started to share it.”
“It proves that it’s her. Or Laurel.”
“No, it doesn’t. I am not taking a side,” he said with infuriating calmness. “Maybe it is Laurel. She’s an obsessive. But I don’t think it’s Jane. She told me she was starting to get some of her memories back.”
Perri gave a little gasp and stepped back.
The doorbell rang, twice, then a fist pounding on the door.
Cal opened the door. A compactly built man stood there, in black T-shirt and jeans, eyes rimmed red, bristly dark hair shaved close, a rope of tattoos curving up his thick right arm. “You Mr. Hall?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Shiloh Rooke.” His voice was low, menacing, yet playful in a way. “I understand you visited my old friend Brenda Hobson after her recent misfortune.”
“Um, yes.”
“I’ve had a recent misfortune as well, Mr. Hall, a real bad one. Now, I guess it’s not a coincidence that Brenda and I were the two paramedics who tried to save your boy. I called her when I saw her name in the news this morning and she filled me in on your talk with her.” He strolled in past a shocked Cal, giving Perri a measured look.
“You can’t just come in here…”
“I tried to save your son’s life, you could show a little gratitude,” he said. “Be friendly and all.”
“What do you want?” Perri said.
“I want to know who came after me and Brenda. Was it you? You mad we couldn’t save your boy?”
“It’s not us,” Perri said. “I swear.”
“Did someone burn down your house, Mr. Rooke?” Cal asked calmly.
“No. They came after my fiancée.”