“I told the police that, but Shea could’ve gone to Dallas later.”
“No. She was here on Tuesday night, all night. We had dinner. We worked on the wedding favors.” Dru said what came into her head. She and Shea might have done something else, or nothing. What mattered, though, what she was sure of, was that Shea hadn’t driven to Dallas or anywhere else since she’d been back in Wyatt.
Joy didn’t confirm or deny Dru’s defense of Shea, and the air between them was thick with foreboding, a darker shadow of doubt.
“The wedding is two weeks from Saturday.” Dru didn’t know why she said it.
“I’ll have buried my girl by then,” Joy said.
5
Lily called Paul in the hour or so before dawn, and when he answered, his voice, like hers, was gravelly with lack of sleep.
“I heard from AJ just now,” she said. “He asked me to bring him his passport.”
“So he’s not out of the country,” Paul said after a moment. “But the cops haven’t found his passport.”
“Does he have a safe-deposit box?” Should she know? Did other parents know such things about their grown children?
Paul ignored her question. “Did he say where he is? How did he sound?”
“I don’t know. Tired?” Lily thought about it. Her dad had gone downstairs to make coffee, but she was still in the upstairs hallway near the ancient landline, afraid to leave it in case AJ called again. “He didn’t talk much above a whisper.”
“I wish he’d called me,” Paul said with obvious disappointment.
Lily agreed. “Yes, I’m sure you would have handled it better.” She meant it; she wished AJ had called Paul, too. Then when he came away with no more information than she had, he’d have only himself to blame.
AJ had a safe-deposit box, Paul said. He’d seen to it when AJ went overseas. If Lily didn’t know, it was because she’d forgotten, not because Paul had failed to tell her. “Bushnell can get a warrant,” he said, “if they won’t let me open it. He’s getting one now for AJ’s cell phone. It’s just a long damn process.”
Lily said, “Don’t you think it’s time to contact Edward and let him know what’s going on?” It occurred to her if he’d listened to the news, he might know already. It was even possible, she thought, that he would reach out to her. The realization made her heart pound irrationally. The possibility of talking to him again, of seeing him, thrilled her even as she was panicked by it.
Paul said, “I think getting a criminal attorney involved at this point is premature, but should the time come, I’m not calling on Dana. I’ll get someone else.”
Lily was taken aback. What did he mean? She was afraid to ask. Afraid a discussion would lead to an argument. Paul would see that she cared, that it mattered. It wasn’t a risk she could take.
A silence closed around them, an empty room without an exit.
Paul broke it. “I asked Bushnell if he was still thinking this could be a kidnapping and Becca somehow got mixed up in it. Got in the way.”
Lily couldn’t speak. Her mouth was dry, as dry as sticks.
“I could see by the look on his face that he doesn’t. I almost wish for it, you know? A ransom demand? At least then we’d know what the hell it is we’re dealing with. The cops would get the FBI involved, get somebody on this that’s got a fucking brain.”
Paul didn’t ordinarily use foul language. He claimed those who did were only showing their ignorance and lack of civility. But he was at the end of his rope now, and he had no control. The police weren’t his employees; they didn’t take orders from him. Inside, he must be seething, Lily thought. He must be ready to explode.
“If Bushnell or any of those assholes call you, don’t tell them you spoke to AJ,” he said. “I don’t want to help them find AJ, not until we know more about the kind of trouble he’s in. Tell them to call Jerry—let him deal with them.”
“But I don’t understand.” Lily went to the top of the staircase and looked down it, seeing nothing. “Suppose AJ has been kidnapped, or someone is keeping him against his will. We need the police to get him back. Not telling them could get AJ killed.” I will never forgive you, never speak to you again if that happens. The threat burned through her mind. It was the same one she’d shouted at Paul after he’d forced AJ to enlist.
“You want him arrested and charged with murder? Fine, talk to them, then. I can’t stop you.”
“No, Paul. I didn’t mean—” Lily stopped. “Paul?” she said, but she knew he’d hung up on her, that she was talking to dead air.
She was annoyed when her father agreed with Paul.
“If AJ’s trying to get away, get somewhere he feels safe, we don’t want to go tipping off the cops,” her dad said. “If they were to corner him and things got heated, it could go bad in a hurry.”
They were sitting in the pair of old rockers on the front porch now, drinking the coffee her dad had made.
“Paul said it’s likely they’re watching the airports.”
“Because they haven’t found the passport.”
“Yes.” Lily set down her mug, feeling too shaky to hold it. Before coming outside, she’d put on an old sweater she’d found hanging in the coat closet, and she wrapped it more tightly around her.
“I just don’t think the kid would go on the run without telling someone. If not you, me, or Paul, then Shea. He’d want her with him.”
“She hasn’t talked to him, though.”
“So she says.”
Lily looked over at her dad. “You think she’s protecting him?”
“I don’t know her well enough to answer that. But we both know people lie. For any number of reasons,” he added, and when he shifted his gaze from hers, it gave Lily an odd feeling.
“Paul said they’re getting AJ’s cell-phone records. Won’t they find out who he’s called and where he is?”
“Yeah, they have to get a subpoena, and that can take a while if a judge will even grant the request. The cops have got to establish probable cause.”
It seemed to Lily there was plenty of that. While they sat around talking about the alternatives—maybe AJ was a fugitive, maybe AJ was a hostage—the evidence was pointing to something far worse, a possibility that none of them wanted to look at, much less discuss. “Paul wants me to call Jerry Dix if the police try to question me again.”
“Dix? He’s a corporate attorney, for Christ’s sake. Who was the attorney you worked with before when AJ was arrested? Edward something.”
“Edward Dana. I think we should call him, but Paul wants to hire someone else.”