Do Not Become Alarmed(19)

“What were you doing?”

Nora felt her armpits dampen with sweat. “We were looking for birds.”

The detective nodded and made a note.

“I’m not defending the decision to go to that particular beach,” Nora said. “That was a terrible, terrible decision. But I just mean he didn’t do anything to the kids.”

She remembered Pedro wiping his hand on the soft flat leaf, and wondered if the forensics team would find that smear of evidence. Would Pedro admit to what they’d done, in order to explain his absence from the beach, the length of time? She thought of Raymond finding out. Her neck grew hot with shame.

Detective Rivera didn’t seem to notice. “The other mothers,” she said, “what were they doing?”

“They fell asleep,” Nora said bitterly.

“Both of them?”

“I know,” Nora said. “They woke up and the kids were gone. Liv said she would watch them.”

“And you believe they fell asleep?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Because I know them. Liv is my cousin.”

“And the woman from Argentina?”

“We just met on the ship. But she didn’t do anything to the kids.”

“So you have known her one week.”

“Almost,” Nora said. “Well, yes. A week.”

“Almost one week,” the detective said, making a note on the pad. “And were you drinking?”

Nora took a breath. “There was a slushy rum drink,” she said. “Daiquiris. Not very strong, just a lot of sugar. We had one drink each.”

“Who provided this drink?”

“Pedro,” Nora said, with an odd chill, as if she were drinking the icy liquid now, as if it were sliding down her esophagus. “He said they usually serve it at the end of the day.”

“Could it have been drugged?”

“No!” Nora said. She thought of date-rape drugs. Could that excuse her actions? But no, those knocked you out. And she had been fully conscious—more than conscious. Hyper-alert and vibrating. “I mean, sure, test the thermoses. But I had some, and I didn’t fall asleep. And Liv wasn’t asleep for that long. It was just hot out.”

“I’m only asking questions,” the detective said. “We are making no judgments at this time.”

“This is madness,” Nora said. “You could be looking for them right now! This country isn’t even that big! They’re out there!” She had a sudden image of Junie in the emergency room after dislocating her elbow on the monkey bars, being very brave but sobbing quietly, and she was plunged back into the pain. There was a physical ache in her chest.

“I promise you we are doing everything we can,” the detective said.

“I need my kids,” she moaned.

Detective Rivera watched her and made another note.





9.



AT THE TOP of the mountain, lost in the trees, Penny saw a house of bright, varnished wood, with a deck all the way around, looking over the forest. She remembered her parents talking about Switzerland, and this looked like Switzerland in books. Like Heidi lived here. The tank-top woman drove the Jeep through a security gate and up a road, and parked below the house. Sebastian had fallen asleep, his shirtless body sweaty against Penny’s arm, and she jostled him awake. He moaned.

She unbuckled their seatbelt and helped him out. He had a red mark on his pale skin where the seatbelt had been. Marcus helped June. Isabel was trembling, hugging herself in her yellow bikini.

The man with the white horse swung off the saddle and unlocked a door in the lower level of the house. “Welcome,” he said, standing back from the open door.

“I have to poop!” June said, and she ran inside.

Penny started to follow her, but Isabel reached for her arm. “Don’t,” she said.

“We have to,” Penny said. “She can’t go alone. She’s six.” Isabel was being so annoyingly chicken. Penny stepped into the house, and found herself in a large windowless room, a kind of entryway, with two doors off it to the left.

“June?” she called.

“I’m in here!”

Penny walked through one of the doors into a tidy bedroom, and then into a clean white-tiled bathroom. June had her swimsuit down and was folded in half on the toilet, legs dangling, with her chest on her thighs and an intense, staring look in her eye.

“You good?” Penny asked.

June nodded.

The woman from the Jeep led the rest of them—even reluctant Isabel—upstairs. The house was beautiful. Sunlight flooded in through enormous windows, and filtered through green trees. They could see a dappled valley far below. There were stables outside, and a big lawn.

The floors were polished wood, and a big sunken living room had low red couches, with a thick white rug between them. These people probably didn’t have kids, if they had a white plush rug. Penny longed to stretch out on it and take a nap. But first she had to take care of Sebastian. And call their parents.

The kitchen was open and bright, with a big island in the middle. Penny’s mother would like it. The man with the white horse spoke to a woman with a plump, nice face, who began to take food out of the refrigerator.