“I apologize for the short notice,” Maury said. He was sitting in the Youngers’ living room. John and Carol were on the couch, and Jeremy was next to him in the other chair. “We need to leave now.”
John looked skeptical. “I don’t know. I thought the other two guys were going to come back. The doctor guy, what was his name, honey?”
“Valori.”
“Right,” John said, nodding. “Valori. And he said something about money.”
Jeremy smiled. Maury had come up with a story to explain why they were taking the boy, but before he could bring it out, the parents had offered up Father Valori’s line about a special treatment program. It was easy to build off that story — but the parents weren’t convinced yet.
“We work for Dr. Valori. He sent us,” Maury said. He felt the capped syringe in his pocket. They would take the boy, one way or another.
Carol yawned. She wore an off-white robe. “Don’tcha have any papers or brochures we can look at?”
“It’s a brand-new program. We don’t have any promotional material yet. And as for money, we are prepared to reimburse you in the amount of ten thousand dollars.”
“Ten grand?” John blurted.
“Yes,” Jeremy said. “Your son needs to join the residential program right now. We’ll send you the reimbursement fee.”
Maury pretended to cough to cover his mouth. He didn’t want the parents to see him grinning. Idiots.
“John? Do you think we need to check with the foster service?”
John Younger didn’t even look at his wife. “How soon do we get the, ah, the money?”
“When Matthew registers at the program the check goes out automatically.”
“John!” Carol said more loudly.
“Not right now,” the husband said.
There was a knock at the door.
“Goddamn,” John grumbled. “Carol, get the damn door. We’ve never been so damn popular.” He smiled crookedly at Maury and Jeremy.
The brothers braced themselves. Jeremy leaned back in his chair, hopeful that he could see the front doorway. He couldn’t.
Carol opened the door. “Oh, Doctor. I didn’t know you were coming, too. The other men are just —”
Benicio Valori’s face was a mask of urgency. He put a finger to his lips, then whispered, “Say nothing. The men in your home are not with me. They are not associated with Yale University or the hospital.”
“What?” she whispered, the color rapidly draining from her face.
“Who is it?” John called from the living room.
“Tell him it’s the paperboy and you’ll be right back,” Benicio whispered.
“It’s — it’s just the paperboy. I’ll be right back,” she called to her husband.
“Listen,” Benicio whispered, “We need to take Matthew out of here. Those men are not who they say they are. I imagine they are trying to convince you to hand him over.”
“They said they’re taking him to your treatment program. They said they’re going to pay us. It’s just what you were talking about this morning.”
He nodded. “I know. They say what they need to. Where’s Matthew? Is he upstairs?”
“I don’t understand,” she said. “If they’re not working for you, what’s going on?”
“Those men think Matthew knows things. Valuable things. They might be planning to hurt him.”
“Matthew doesn’t know things. He’s retarded.”
“I’m sorry — there isn’t time to explain. Can you help me? Can you go back and keep talking to them while I try and get Matthew out?”
“I don’t know. I —”
“Hey Father. Whatcha doing here?” Jeremy was standing in the hallway.
Carol looked at Benicio. “Father? This is your son?”
Benicio kept his eyes on Jeremy. “Hello. I can’t seem to remember your name, so you have a bit of an advantage.”
Jeremy nodded. “Guess so.”
“Honey?” Carol called, her voice cracking. “Honey?” She turned and walked toward the living room.
“I think you’ve really fucked things up for the church, Father,” Jeremy said, then turned and followed Carol.
“What’s going on?” John asked as Benicio stepped into the room behind Jeremy. “What are you doing here?”
Maury jumped to his feet, his eyes fixed on Benicio.
Carol was crying. “Get them out,” she begged her husband. “Get them all out.”
“What the hell is going on?” John demanded.
Jeremy pointed to Benicio. “He’s just here to make sure things go okay. There’s no problem.”
“Bullshit. Someone better start talking.”
“I can explain,” Maury said, then stopped. “No, actually, I can’t.”
“I want all of you out of my house,” John ordered. “Now!”
“Just hold on,” Jeremy said. “We can figure this out. There’s no problem here.”
Maury slipped the syringe out of his pocket. “We can figure this out,” he echoed.
Benicio saw the syringe. “Look out! He has a weapon!” he yelled, and lunged at Maury, knocking him over. Benicio grabbed the hand holding the needle and slammed it to the floor as Maury fell.
Jeremy pulled a gun from his jacket. “Get the hell off him.”
Benicio didn’t see the gun; he continued to struggle with Maury. The men rolled against the coffee table and knocked it over.
Jeremy kept the gun pointed at Benicio. “Stop it!” he screamed.
No one noticed John slip out of the room. No one noticed until Jeremy felt something cold and hard against his temple. “Stop this fuckin’ bullshit right now,” John snarled.
Maury and Benicio stopped rolling long enough to notice Jeremy and John.
“Drop your fuckin’ gun,” John said.
Jeremy complied.
“And you two shits stand up.”
Maury and Benicio stood.
John shoved Jeremy toward them and pointed his twenty-two caliber in their direction.
Benicio raised his hands.
“This is ridiculous,” Maury said. “Put your little gun away.”
John slowly moved his gun from one brother to the next. Carol stood at the back of the room, watching. She looked shocked.
“Carol,” John said, “call the police and tell them to get over here.”
“You don’t want to do that,” Jeremy pleaded. “The money is real. You’d be giving up ten grand.”
Benicio saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Matthew was standing silently at the front door.
“We don’t want the police here,” Maury said. “Let’s just finish talking.”
“I’m done talking to you shitbags.”
Carol came into the room holding a cordless phone. “You want me to call the police, John?” Her fingers hovered over the buttons.
“Don’t do that, Carol,” Maury pleaded.
“What the hell did I tell you to do, Carol?” John shouted and turned to look at his wife.
Maury jumped toward John, who swung the gun out of the way. There was a loud crack, then Maury fell. Jeremy flew at John, punched him in the mouth, and as he staggered, snatched the gun from him.
Carol screamed and started dialing. Jeremy spun and hit her in the face with the gun. She fell backwards in an explosion of blood.
Benicio didn’t wait to see what else was going to happen. He turned and ran to the front door, scooped Matthew up, and bolted out of the house.
The boy kicked and struggled but Benicio held on to him and kept running until he got to the rental car, then climbed in, still holding the boy. He started the car and sped away.
As he drove he realized that there was a sickening smell on his clothes. An odor that must have rubbed off on him during his fight with Maury. Somehow, Benicio thought, it smells like death.