Gone(72)

ONE WEEK LATER





CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE / Reunion


Peter wanted a beer, but steered clear of the bars. He stopped by the grocery store and picked up a six-pack of cheap domestic. Althea was still gone, running some errands. The two of them were barely speaking, just short practical conversations. They hadn’t made love in days. They were both on temporary leave. They’d be showing up to work only to be interviewed by Internal Affairs.

Meanwhile, the media had been making hay. For days it had been round-the-clock coverage of the family’s emotional homecoming. Nick Spillane being paraded from the state trooper barracks into a waiting dark SUV played on an endless loop. Mugshots of the Rafferty brothers, Tony Spillane, John Hayes. It was a major coup for the federal government. Hutchinson Kemp was considered something of a hero, if an inadvertent one, leading the authorities to this huge crime syndicate bust.

Nothing about an illness affecting people in record numbers, though Peter had seen more sick people every day. He was washing his hands constantly, steering clear of public spaces.

He sat on the couch in the small house he shared with Althea, reluctant to turn on the television and see more of the same. Something didn’t add up.

He gazed around the room. He and Althea had only been living together for a few months, but there were signs of her feminine touch all over the place. From the hanging pictures to the plants, the throw rugs and the cozy couch blankets, Althea had made it their home. He didn’t want to lose her. He didn’t want to lose what they were building together. But for the past few days, the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with had felt like a stranger.

When the key hit the door and Althea came in, he’d still been lost in thought. He stood up from the couch. An apology he’d been rehearsing all the week was on his lips. Althea hurried in, the outdoor air trailing behind her. She hastily set down some bags and started looking for something.

“What’s going on?”

“Where’s the TV remote?”

He helped search for it. She found it mashed between the couch cushions and flicked on the flatscreen. She seemed excited not upset. “Watch,” she said, before he could ask her again what was bothering her.

She turned to one of the cable news channels. Hutchinson Kemp was being interviewed: “Journalistic responsibility falls on documentary filmmakers. But as a filmmaker, there’s a degree of manipulation involved. You want to tell a compelling story. You’re trying to sell a product, hope it works in the marketplace, gets people excited. It’s hard to completely divorce yourself from that, especially if there is a sensational or controversial issue to capitalize on.” Kemp looked remorseful. “I guess with Citizen Farmer, we got a little carried away.”

Peter was aghast. A week after he’s rescued, Hutch Kemp is talking to the media about journalistic responsibility? A commercial came on, and Peter turned to Althea.

“I just found out this was on,” she said. She stared at Peter, her face still glazed from the cold. He wanted to kiss her, to make her warm. “It’s weird, right?”

He nodded, momentarily speechless. He’d had his apology prepared for her. He knew he’d been fixating about Rondeau, about the whole thing, when he’d been neglecting her, their relationship. But it seemed like she’d been thinking about it, too.

“It’s . . .” she began, and then shook her head. He nodded for her to continue. “It’s like, I don’t know, it’s a bit weird that he’s recanting that documentary. Related to the farming, and all of that . . .”

The program came back on. The silver-haired interviewer — Peter thought his name was Cooper something — addressed the camera.

“Hutchinson Kemp, along with his family, was captive for six days. His work-in-progress, Nothing Disappears, focuses on the treatment of waste disposal in modern society. Investigators believe that during the process of making the film, Kemp stumbled across an element of organized crime. He was then kidnapped, along with his family. In the days since his astonishing rescue by law enforcement, the public outcry has been a bit surprising — many people on social media sites, such as Reddit and Twitter, are saying that Kemp’s previous film, the documentary Citizen Farmer is really what got him into the hot water. Kemp states that the film was ‘exaggerated’ and that allegations of a conspiracy between the government and the meat industry are unfounded.”

The shot switched to Hutchinson Kemp, sitting in an elegant chair in what looked like a den. Peter wondered if it was at the man’s home, but he didn’t think so. He studied Kemp’s face. Was he ashamed or contrite?

It switched back to the interviewer. “So, you have one film that seems to be spot on, where you really did uncover something tucked away. But you’re saying that Citizen Farmer was not that film.”

Back to Kemp. He didn’t hesitate or search for the words, they seemed to come easily to him. Rehearsed, like Peter’s apology. “That’s right. I think I was trying to get there, trying to have that breakthrough film. And Citizen was that for me, but I had to push it to get there.”

The interviewer nodded. “Typically, though, the public disdains a dolled-up story, or any embellishments to factual reports. I’m thinking of James Frey’s memoir A Million Little Pieces or, Stephen Glass and his fabrications while working at the New Republic . . .”