214 Palmer Street(4)

Knowing there was food in the house was one problem solved. Between Cady’s provisions in the freezer and the protein bars in her bag, she was covered for a few days. Hopefully it wouldn’t take any longer than that.

Sarah walked from room to room, opening drawers and inspecting framed photos. One of them seemed to be a family reunion of about twenty people, all of them with big smiles on their faces. An older photo showed a young woman who was presumably Cady’s mom holding an adorable toddler girl on her lap. The one of Cady and Josh on their wedding day was in the living room next to one showing the two of them in Hawaii. Taken during their honeymoon? Sarah wasn’t sure, but Cady’s hair was the same length and color as in the wedding photo, so maybe. In every picture Josh had his arm casually slung over Cady’s shoulders. In a few of them she smiled up at him, their eyes locked in love. It would be hard to fake that kind of devotion. Not impossible, though.

Cady and Josh were a tightknit couple but not to the point of shutting out the world. They still maintained a social circle of couple friends and each had their own one-on-one friendships as well. Both were from the Pacific Northwest, but when they moved to Wisconsin for Josh’s job they made new friends easily, something Sarah envied.

In Josh’s home office the bookcases were noticeably devoid of novels, but he had plenty of textbooks and medical journals. His diplomas were framed and hung above his desk. So many degrees. Josh, she decided, was a bit of an overachiever. “Dr. Caldwell, I presume,” Sarah said aloud. Cady often mentioned her husband’s work on Facebook, but only in passing. He was a scientist, a researcher whose work involved something with the environment. Sarah didn’t know the specifics, but knew his work was the reason the two of them were now on a ship, out to sea for a month. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. It was one thing to work in a lab, but another to do field work. Josh had been asked to replace one of the researchers who cancelled at the last minute, and Cady had gone along for the ride. She’d posted: You know he couldn’t be without me for that long. LOL. All of her friends agreed that Josh would be lost without Cady. He wouldn’t last a week without you, much less a month, her friend Jocelyn commented.

You got the last good one, one of her single friends added.

Because she led a charmed life, Cady was easily able to take a leave of absence from her job, and so off they went. Luckily for Sarah, the remoteness of the ship’s route did not allow for easy communication. Cady promised she’d be checking for messages, but added that the Internet would be spotty at best.

Don’t plan on hearing from me, she’d said. I’m going to be nearly unreachable. In fact, I might be taking a complete social media break and just live in the moment. What do you think of that?

Sarah was all in favor.

In the kitchen, Sarah heated water for her tea in the microwave and returned to her spot at the kitchen table, staring out the glass doors leading to the backyard. Sarah had seen photos Cady had posted of a big tree being removed, a victim of the emerald ash borer. Once the tree was gone and the remains of the stump ground down, Josh had decided to start fresh with new landscaping. Cady had commented, I don’t think anything has been done to the yard since the house was built in the 50s. They were halfway through the process when they got the news about the trip. The landscapers could have kept going, of course, but that’s not how the Caldwells operated. They were such perfectionists that they wanted to be there to oversee things. So the project was put on hold and the yard was now a mess. The old grass had been scraped off and piles of dirt dotted the edges of the property.

To Sarah it looked perfect.

After having toured every room in the house she decided to head out to the garage to check out what really mattered.





FOUR





THEN





Sarah woke up and blinked. Everything hurt. It took a few moments to remember how she’d gotten there. She sized up her surroundings, noting the side rails of the bed, the ceiling tiles overhead, the television in the upper corner softly playing a news program. She was still in the hospital, but no longer in the emergency room. She had a vague recollection of having her head wound cleaned and stitched up, and getting a CT scan. Somewhat later, she had memories of being wheeled down a long corridor, but the actual end of the trip, arriving in this room, drew a blank. Not being able to account for every minute was alarming.

It was only after she shifted her head and saw Kirk in the chair next to the bed that her fears were put to rest. Her husband was here, which meant her ordeal wasn’t hers to bear alone.

When he realized she was conscious, his eyes widened, and he leaned forward in excitement. “Oh, baby, it’s so good to see you awake. How’re you feeling?” His hair, usually neatly combed, stuck up at odd angles. She imagined him running his fingers through it, the way he did when nervous.

“I’ve been better.” She grimaced. “What happened?”

He frowned. “Apparently, you were hit on the head. Hard.”

She tried to process the words but couldn’t make sense of them. “I got hit by something?”

“Yes.” Kirk gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “The police were here a minute ago. They’re coming back in a little bit to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?”

She nodded and closed her eyes, opening them a few minutes later when a doctor entered followed by a gaggle of young people in white lab jackets. He said, “Mrs. Aden, do you mind if the students observe while I ask a few questions and examine you?”