Here and Gone(51)

‘Hello, Audra,’ Patrick Kinney said.





25


AUDRA WANTED TO turn around, slam the door behind her, and run. But she could not. Instead she asked, ‘What do you want?’

Patrick remained seated, his jacket slung over the back of the chair. One hand on the table, a bulky watch on his wrist. Rolex, TAG Heuer, something expensive and ugly.

‘I want to talk,’ he said, a tremor in his voice. ‘Sit down.’

She should have said that she didn’t want to talk with him, but a possibility floated in her mind. So she went to the table, keeping two chairs between her and her husband, and sat down.

It was a large room, a bay window at one end, a net curtain shielding the interior from view. Large framed photographs lined the walls, sepia-toned Arizona landmarks and famous residents. A wedding photograph stood on the mantelpiece of the grand fireplace, a young Mrs Gerber arm-in-arm with her new husband. She looked happy. Audra supposed she must have been happy with Patrick once, though she could not remember such a thing.

‘What do you want to talk about?’ she asked.

‘What do you think?’

‘Do you want to help me? Or do you want to hurt me?’

He bristled, his handsome face darkening. ‘I want my children back.’

‘So do I,’ she said.

His eyelids twitched. A tell. Anger rising in him.

Caution, she thought. Beware.

‘You’re the only one who knows where they are,’ Patrick said. ‘I want you to tell me.’

‘Don’t,’ she said.

‘Don’t what?’

‘Don’t lie to me. Don’t pretend. We both know the truth.’

He watched her for a moment, then said, ‘What are you talking about?’

‘You want me to say it out loud?’

He lifted his hand from the table, made a fist beneath his lips, his college fraternity ring glinting. ‘Yes, I do,’ he said.

Audra fixed her eyes on his, faced his anger.

‘You’re behind this,’ she said. ‘You paid Whiteside and Collins to take our children.’

Patrick tightened his fist, shook his head. ‘Who?’

‘Stop,’ Audra said. ‘I give up. I don’t know how you pulled it off, but you did. You’ve won. Just tell me what you want, and you can have it. So long as I know Sean and Louise are safe.’

Patrick rubbed his temples with his fingertips. He leaned forward, put his elbows on his knees, breathed in hard.

‘You’re insane,’ he said.

Her voice shook as it rose. ‘For God’s sake, just tell me what you want.’

He slapped the table hard. ‘I want you to tell me where my children are.’

‘Stop it, Patrick, you know where—’

‘I don’t,’ he said, hitting the table once more. ‘You’ve lost your goddamn mind. Haven’t you seen the news?’

‘Only a little. They only just let me—’

‘They want your blood,’ he said. ‘All the networks, all the rolling news channels. Every single one, they have your face all over the screen, asking what you did with our kids. They know what you did before, the drink, the drugs, the craziness. How you ran from Children’s Services. They have it on constant rotation. That you’re a danger to yourself and to our children. There’s not a single soul in this country who doesn’t believe you’re a monster. That you hurt Sean and Louise. They’re calling me every minute of the day wanting a statement. They’re calling my mother, for Christ’s sake. What do you think this is doing to her?’

Audra let out a dry and brittle laugh. ‘Well, shit, I wouldn’t want to upset Margaret.’

Patrick sprang to his feet, his fists ready, took one step toward her. He caught himself, stopped, loosened his hands as he shook his head.

‘I just want my little boy and girl,’ he said. ‘Please tell me where they are.’

In the midst of all this, wherever their children had been taken, he remained concerned only for himself and his mother. He didn’t even have the sense to hide it, Audra thought, to pretend he really cared for them.

But if he really were hiding Sean and Louise, he would pretend to care. He was smart and manipulative enough to disguise his true desires.

Audra remained seated as the realization hit her: He didn’t know where Sean and Louise were. He didn’t know, because he didn’t do it. She felt the room chill, as the one hope she’d clung to since all this began crumbled away.

‘Oh God,’ she said, her hand going to her mouth. ‘If you don’t have them …’

He stood over her, flexing his fingers. ‘I’m going to ask you one more time.’

‘If you don’t have them, then who does?’ Audra placed a palm on each side of her head, began to rock back and forward. ‘Oh no, no, no.’

‘You have to stop this,’ Patrick said. ‘You’re the only one who can bring this to an end. Tell me where they are.’

An idea flickered in her mind, the same one she’d had when she spoke with Mel.

‘A private detective,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘There’ve got to be some in Phoenix who could do it. Use your money. Pay someone to investigate Whiteside and Collins, find out what they’re after. You can do that.’