The Perfect Child(14)

“I appreciate your concern, but we’ll be all right. I just need to make sure it’s okay to take her outside the hospital and to know if there’s any red tape I need to complete.” I had called her out of courtesy, not to ask permission.

She dropped her voice like someone might be listening. “Listen, I shouldn’t be telling you this, but you are obviously a good person, so I feel like I should warn you.”

“Warn me about what?”

“Janie’s mother.”

No one knew anything about her mother or father. At least that’s what I’d been told.

“They’ve identified her mother?” I asked.

“They have.” She gave me a moment to let it sink in before continuing. “Janie’s mother is dead, and the police suspect foul play.”

“Did you tell Janie?” My head swam with sadness for her. Kids loved their parents no matter how badly they treated them. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair to her.

“I did.” Her voice thickened with emotion. “I told her this morning.”

Janie hadn’t said anything about her mother when I’d seen her this afternoon. Nothing was off or different. She was really happy today, asked to learn a new game. Maybe she was still in shock, or maybe it was her way of coping with things. I couldn’t begin to understand her behavior after everything she’d been through.

“Do they think whoever killed her mother was the same person who hurt Janie?” I asked.

“Like I said, I’m limited in what I can share because it is an ongoing criminal investigation, but the police are pursuing all possible leads at this time.” She waited a few beats before continuing. “Now do you understand my concerns?”



I’d spent most of the night filling in Hannah about my conversation with Piper, but she was too distracted by Dylan and Caleb fighting over whose turn it was on the iPad to give me her full attention. We’d been having the boys overnight every month since they were babies to give Allison and Greg a break. A few years back, Greg had told me they’d never actually gone anywhere when the boys were infants. They’d drop them off at our house and go home to sleep.

“I can’t believe how big they’re getting. It seems like every time I see them, they’ve grown another few inches,” Hannah said. Being an aunt was one of her favorite things in the world.

She watched them, but I stared at her, still mesmerized even after all these years—the way her porcelain skin shone and the tiny freckles sprinkled across her nose. I stretched my legs out on the coffee table. She’d given up telling me to keep my feet off of it. The battle wasn’t worth fighting. “Not an inch, but technically, their bones grow nine millimeters per day, so they are taller.”

She slapped my arm. “Do you have to be such a nerd all the time?”

“Isn’t that what you love the most about me?” I threw my arm around her shoulders, and she settled comfortably onto my chest. I breathed in the smell of her.

Caleb turned around; a miniature Greg stared back at us. “Dylan won’t let me do this level. It’s my turn.”

Dylan was hunched over the iPad, gripping it like it was gold. Caleb eyed it hungrily.

“Dylan, give Caleb a turn now,” I said. Allison and Greg were sticklers when it came to Dylan and Caleb’s screen time. At first, I’d thought they were being too overprotective, but we’d seen firsthand what it did to them. They acted like it was a drug they couldn’t get enough of. I turned my attention back to Hannah.

“What happens to Janie now?” she asked.

“Piper didn’t know. Apparently, Janie’s case is a legal nightmare. She said normally the Department of Children’s Services would put her in foster care until they determined a permanent placement, but there are lots of additional steps since her mother is dead and they have no idea who the father is or any relatives. For now, they filed something called an emergency protective order that gives the Department of Children’s Services temporary guardianship while they try to figure this mess out.”

“Can you imagine all the paperwork involved?” Hannah asked with one eye still on the boys.

I shook my head.

“I still don’t understand why they’re keeping her mother’s death a secret,” Hannah said.

I lowered my voice so the kids couldn’t hear. “She said they don’t want whoever hurt Becky to know that she’s dead. I guess they think maybe someone will come forward if they think she’s still alive? Or trip up in some way?”

She eyed me nervously. “Do you think we should still go?”

Our plan was to take Janie to the park behind the grocery store. It was six blocks from the hospital, and we’d chosen it because it was small and private. I’d spoken with Janie’s psychologist at the hospital to see if she thought it would be too overwhelming, and she’d thought it was a great idea but that we should keep it simple and as low key as possible. We’d chosen the park with that in mind since it stayed empty most of the time and because being around other kids was probably too much for her right now. But even though it wasn’t a busy place, it was still in public. I didn’t want to put us in any danger.

“Piper said if we decided to do it, they’d probably send an unmarked squad car to the park just to keep an eye out for anything unusual or suspicious.”