All Good People Here(19)

Behind her, she heard the door fly open. “Margot—”

But she waved a hand over her shoulder at Pete. It had obviously been an accident, and her uncle was standing in front of her now like a scared animal, his breath coming in fast pants, his eyes on her face, wide and wild.

Slowly, Margot lowered her hand from her face. “Uncle Luke? It’s me, Margot.”

Luke stared into her eyes, and after a long moment, his breathing began to calm, his shoulders lowered. “Kid. I didn’t do anything, I swear.”

“I know.”

“This guy just brought me to the station like a criminal.” He gestured angrily to Pete, but his movements had lost their urgency and panic. “But I didn’t do anything.”

“I know,” Margot said again. “I know.”

He took a deep breath and, finally, it seemed all the paranoia had seeped out of him. “Can I go home now?”

“Yeah. Of course.” She nodded, her throat tight. “I’m sorry I didn’t check on you earlier.”

He must not have registered the last part because he just nodded. “Good, good.” He hesitated. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Okay, yeah.” Margot turned. “Pete, could you point us to—”

“Yep,” Pete said. “At the end of this hall, to the left.” He held the door for them both, pointing her uncle in the right direction.

Margot watched as Luke retreated down the hall and disappeared into the bathroom, then she turned to Pete. “I’m sorry,” she said, feeling a kick of betrayal as she did. Luke couldn’t help what he did or said. The chemicals in his brain were misfiring. “His sickness can make him act like a totally different person sometimes.”

Pete shook his head. “Don’t apologize. My grandpa had dementia. I get it.”

“Was he angry the whole time? My uncle. Not your grandpa.”

“No. He got agitated after a while in that room, thought I was arresting him. But when I found him, he was just upset. Like, sad I mean. He was crying.”

Margot swallowed around the tightness in her throat. “Did he say what he was upset about?”

“No. He just kept saying She’s gone. She’s gone.”

“You probably know this, but his wife, my aunt, died last year. What with that and the memory stuff…it’s been hard.”

“Listen…” Pete said. “I don’t want to overstep or anything, but things with my grandpa got pretty bad. My mom took care of him as long as she could, but it was a full-time job, and even then, it got to be too much. Have you…” He hesitated. “Have you thought about putting him somewhere?”

“He’s twenty years younger than the youngest person in any nursing home,” Margot snapped. “I’m not putting him in one.”

Pete nodded, seemingly unfazed. “I get it. Maybe you could think about a caregiver then. I obviously don’t have a dog in this fight, so I’m not trying to convince you of anything, but when my grandpa started wandering out of the house was when things got pretty bad. This was the first time I’ve seen your uncle out like this, but it probably won’t be the last.”

“Right,” Margot said, but she couldn’t look him in the eye. “Okay. Thanks.” At the end of the hallway, she saw the bathroom door open. Luke walked out, looking around. She waved to get his attention and he headed over. “By the way,” she said to Pete, “where did you find him today?”

“He was on the grass outside Community First, by the cemetery.”

Margot sighed. It made sense why Luke had been crying when Pete found him, then. That was the cemetery where her aunt was buried. Why hadn’t she thought to look there?

Back at home, Margot kept shooting anxious glances at her watch as she ushered her uncle inside, then heated up two slices of leftover pizza. Technically, it was supposed to be his lunch, but now it was more like an early dinner. She should have already been in Nappanee, working on interviews for her article, and her boss’s voice was echoing in her head. You need to nail this one.

“Aren’t you eating?” Luke asked from where he sat at the kitchen table.

“I have to take off for a bit.” Guilt gnawed at her insides. “Are you—is that okay?”

“Yeah, kid. No problem.”

“Are you sure? Because I can stay if you need me.”

“No, no. I’m probably gonna lie down in a bit anyway. Don’t know why, but I’m feeling pretty tired.”

She studied his face for a long time before nodding. “Okay. I’ll be home in two hours. Tops.” But he had already shifted his attention to his food and she couldn’t tell whether or not he’d heard her.



* * *



—

At the press conference, Margot tried to focus on Detective Lacks instead of the self-loathing she felt for leaving her ailing uncle only an hour after he’d been picked up by the police.

“We think that is unlikely,” the detective was saying to a reporter standing in the third row. “Five is young to run away, and according to her mother, Natalie had no possessions on her while she was playing that morning. Not to mention, she disappeared from a crowded playground, whereas children typically run away from their houses. Furthermore, Mr. and Mrs. Clark could name no reason why Natalie would be motivated to leave on her own.”