Since She Went Away(89)

“She just acted like it was more complicated than I could understand.” He pictured her sitting there on that bench, wiping the tears off her face. He felt awful for her. Even Ursula, tough-minded, sharp-tongued Ursula, broke down sometimes and lost her shit. “She was crying. I think there was something else going on. I went to a party at Kirk Embry’s house. That’s where Ursula was. Bobby Allen was there too. They both said kind of the same thing, even though they weren’t together when I saw them. They both said they were leaving. Like they both were thinking of getting out of town for good.”

His mom didn’t respond. She stared straight ahead, her eyes on the road. Jared could see she’d learned something, that ideas and thoughts percolated through her brain.

And he wondered what they could have been doing in the car that made Ursula freak out so much. Had Ursula said they were kissing? He couldn’t just ask, could he?

“Did you learn anything, Mom?”

They turned onto their street. His mom didn’t answer. She just shook her head as if she’d been made privy to some piece of particularly disturbing information. He wanted to press her for more, but the distant look on her face told him to hold his tongue. They were pulling into the driveway, and he knew if he gave her time to cool down, she’d probably tell him everything he wanted to know.

Not that he wanted to know if she was making out with Ian.

That he might be happy to remain in ignorance about.

His mom seemed to read his mind. Like always. “For the record, we were not kissing. I gave Ian a hug. He’s upset.”

“That’s cool,” he said. “I’m not worried about it.”

She stopped the car and killed the engine. Before the lights went off, something moved near the front of the house. A person. Only the legs were visible at first as they moved toward the car. Khaki pants and white sneakers moving across the lawn. Then he passed through the cone of the headlights. A man, tall and thin and almost sixty, whom Jared had never seen before.

His mom gasped.

“Do you know that guy?” she asked.

“No.”

“That’s not—”

“No, it’s not her dad. It’s not William Rose.”

“Then who the hell is it?” she asked.

His mother reached for her purse. She pulled out her phone and a canister of pepper spray. The man walked to the driver’s side of the car and waved. He wore a lopsided grin, and the zipper of his winter coat was open, revealing an untucked checked shirt.

“I’m calling the police,” she said.

“Hold it, Mom.”

“Who knows who this creep is?”

She lifted the phone. The man gestured. He wanted the window rolled down.

“Mom, just crack the window. See what he wants. Maybe he’s selling something.”

“This late?” His mom handed Jared the phone. She kept the pepper spray. “If he tries anything, he’s getting a face full of this. And then you call the police.”

“I’m on the case, Mom.”

She pressed the button, opening the window less than an inch.

“Hi,” the man said. His grin grew wider. He looked like somebody’s grandpa.

“Who are you?” his mom asked.

“Are you Jenna?” he asked. “Of course you are. I recognize you. I recognize Jared too. I’ve seen you on TV and the papers.”

“Are you a cop?” Jared asked. “Or a reporter?”

The man laughed. “Heavens no. I’m Rick Stearns.”

He said the name as though it would mean something to them. Jared looked at his mom. Was he some kind of relative he’d never met and his mom had forgotten about? Jared hated when he met those people, the ones who knew who he was and he couldn’t remember them to save his life.

“Who?” his mom asked. “I’m going to call the police if you don’t explain yourself. Now.”

“Okay, okay.” The man laughed again. “Of course. Silly me. You don’t know me as Rick Stearns. You know me by my other name.”

“What other name?” she asked.

Then the guy said something weird.

“Domino fifty-five.”





CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR


Jenna told Jared to get out of the car and go to the house.

“Mom—”

“Just go,” she said. “Walk to the door.”

She kept her eyes on the goofy, smiling face of Domino55. Rick Stearns. He looked as though he should be coming to the door to sell insurance. Or else teaching math at the local community college.

Jared’s door opened and closed, and only then did she turn away and watch her son climb the front steps and use his key to enter the house. Like a good boy, he flipped the porch light on, and then she saw the curtains move as he stuck his head out to check on her.

“Move back,” Jenna said. “I’m getting out. And I have my pepper spray ready.”

“Oh,” he said, backing away from the car as she pushed the door open.

She stepped out onto the driveway, her shoes scraping against the pavement. She kept the pepper spray clutched in her right hand and her keys, their tips sticking out through her fingers like jagged claws, in her left.

Rick Stearns took all this in and moved back farther. “I can go if this is a bad time.”