“But Seth doesn’t know where Joey is,” Maggie stated.
“I don’t believe him. Look at him…I can’t even stand the sight of him,” Rock shot back at her.
Rock had been interrogating Seth for the past thirty minutes. Seth, who was worried sick about Joey, had broken down and started to cry. Then he turned angry and began to argue with Rock. That’s when Maggie stepped in to deflect the fury building behind Rock’s simmering eyes.
Finally, unable to stand by quietly, Juju asked Maggie and Seth to wait for her outside. When they were gone, she turned to Rock. “Have you looked down in the basement? Remember the things Thelma did to Seth?” she reminded him.
“What are ya sayin’, Juju? Are you tryin’ to say that Thelma is crazy?” Rock roared.
“No. What I’m saying is that Thelma likes to party…sometimes a little too much. She could have put Joey down the basement and just forgot,” Juju stated cautiously, not wanting to become the focus of his aggression.
“Fine! Go and look down the basement and come back and tell me if she’s down there,” Rock said.
While Juju was gone, Rock thought about Thelma. He decided that Juju could be right; Thelma may have done something with the girl and forgotten it. He thought back to Friday night, when Thelma and her girlfriend had been pretty fucked up. He had left them a lot of dope, and by the time he got back to the house, a little past one o’clock in the morning, the two of them were still going strong. He remembered what Thelma had asked as she looked directly into his face. “Is that you, Rock? Is that you, baby?”
Thelma was so high she couldn’t even be sure that he was her husband. That was a first for her. Rock thought back to when he and Thelma were young, before the drug use. She had been such an innocent girl. But over time, drugs and alcohol had won the race. Her addiction had built slowly over a three-year period. Now, her sole purpose in life was to get rip-roaring hammered every day.
Juju stepped back into the office, interrupting Rock’s thoughts. “Well, was she down there?” Rock asked with mocking sharpness.
“No, but that doesn’t mean Thelma didn’t do something to her. You know Thelma ain’t right when she’s on a heavy binge,” Juju said.
Rock gave her a hard look—the kind of look that let her know she was on thin ice and needed to be careful about what she said next.
“All I’m sayin’ is that we should look around a little bit. I’m just bein’ realistic, Rock. Look, I know Joey didn’t run away, ’cause if she did, Seth would know where she went. When Maggie asked him about Joey, I could tell by the look on his face he didn’t know nothin’. So? Can we look around a little?” Juju asked apprehensively.
Rock considered what she was saying. He didn’t like it, but he also didn’t like the thought that Joey was somewhere in his house dead and rotting.
“Yeah, OK. But listen real good. I don’t want Thelma to know what you’re doin’. So if she asks, I’m payin’ you to clean up around here,” Rock warned.
“OK, I’ll go get Seth and Maggie—” Juju started.
“Nah, I don’t want that whore and that little asshole in my house. You can look inside. Tell the two of them to keep searching the neighborhood. Tell ’em to ask people if they saw her,” Rock instructed.
When Juju went outside to tell Maggie and Seth the plan, she found them huddling close together next to a large tree. The temperature was below freezing, and the wind was whipping, making it unbearable to be outside for a sustained period.
“Fuck! It’s freezin’ out here,” Juju said.
“No kidding. What took you so long?” Maggie asked, her teeth chattering.
“I convinced Rock to let me look around his house. I thought maybe Joey was down in the basement, but she ain’t. So now he’s gonna let me take a look upstairs and all. I told him Thelma could’ve gotten real fucked up, and maybe she put Joey somewhere,” Juju explained.
“Good. Let’s go back inside. I’m freezin’,” Seth announced.
“You can’t,” Juju told them honestly. “Rock is being a dick. He doesn’t want either of you inside the house. I’ll tell ya what. You guys cut through the back and head down to the deli on Kensington near Somerset. I’ll take a look around and then meet you there.”
“I’m not so sure about leaving you here by yourself. What if something happens and we’re not around?” Maggie asked.
“Nothing is gonna happen. You’re such a worrywart. Now go! If you cut through Rock’s backyard, it’ll be quicker,” Juju suggested.
“Come on,” Seth told Maggie, pulling her by the arm. “I know how to get there.”
“You have to be careful,” Maggie instructed Juju before leaving her. “Rock isn’t exactly trustworthy. If you don’t meet us in forty-five minutes, we’re coming back.”
“I’ll be fine. Now just go before we all freeze to death out here,” Juju said, wrapping her arms tighter around her chest.
As Maggie and Seth reached Rock’s backyard, the wind howled. They felt as if they were being sliced by razor blades. They clung to each other, struggling to walk against the strong wind. Then, to their disbelief, they felt sleet. Suddenly, they were inching through driving sleet and rain.
Seth pulled Maggie toward a small shed. “Come on, hurry up! We can go in there until it stops,” Seth yelled over the strong wind.
Seth pushed the slide bolt to the right. Opening the door quickly, they stepped inside and pulled the door closed behind them. The temperature inside the small space wasn’t any warmer, but at least they were out of the cutting wind and hammering sleet. Inside, the space was dark, the only light coming through tiny holes in the weathered old roof. Maggie could just about see the old paint cans and garden tools scattered around the shed. She led them over to the middle of the shed, and they crouched down together, trying to keep each other warm.
In a barely audible voice, Seth whispered, “Aggie, what if Joey is dead?”
“She isn’t dead, Seth. Don’t think that way. We’re going to find her,” she responded, attempting to keep his hope alive.
But Maggie had been thinking the same thing. Now, Seth was feeding her own fear that they had lost the girl forever.
“Ohhhhh.”
“Did you hear that?” Seth asked.
“Hear what?”
“Ohhhhh.”
“That! Did you hear that sound, Aggie?”
“Ohhhhh.”
“There it is again!” Seth said with alarm.
“It’s just the wind, baby,” Maggie assured him.
“Ohhhhh.”
“That’s not the wind, Aggie,” Seth insisted as he rose and strained against the noise of the howling wind to listen for the sound he’d heard.
“Ohhhhh.”
The sound was faint, but Seth pushed deeper into the shed, struggling to hear it. He followed his instincts to the back of the shed.
“Ohhhhh.”
“Over here!” Seth yelled.
Maggie moved quickly to his side. A large, canvas, drop cloth was spread over something. They pulled the canvas back, and underneath was a child’s plastic toy box. Seth gave Maggie a grave glance as she moved forward and opened the lid. Inside was Joey, curled up in a fetal position.
“Oh my God,” Maggie said.
Seth rushed in. “Joey? Joey? Can you hear me?”
Joey opened her eyes just a tiny bit but then closed them again.
“Help me,” Maggie yelled over the whooshing of the wind, and the thrashing of sleet and rain, against the thin metal structure.
Seth maneuvered himself around the piles of junk, and together they lifted Joey out of the toy box. Maggie motioned for Seth to lay her on top of the canvas, and then she wrapped the child in the stiff, cold fabric. She felt for a pulse.
“She’s alive,” Maggie told Seth. “Her pulse is weak, but she’s still alive!”
Seth began to run his hand over the canvas feverishly, willing Joey to live and trying to warm her up.
“Ohhhhh,” the soft sound came from deep in Joey’s throat.
“No, don’t touch her, Seth. I think it hurts. She might have broken bones,” Maggie stated with authority.
“Stay with her,” Maggie told the frightened boy.
He crouched next to Joey, afraid he’d lose her; he was scared that she was going to die while he sat there and did nothing to help her.
Maggie pushed the shed door open and raced around to the front of Rock’s house. She banged on the door with a fierce intensity. She watched through the small window as Rock thumped down the hallway, mad as hell.
He swung the door open. “What the hell is your problem, bitch?”
“We found her. She needs help,” Maggie screeched in a high voice.
Juju raced up the hall behind Rock. “What happened?”
“We found her,” Maggie repeated. “There isn’t much time. She needs a doctor.”
Juju opened her hand and pushed it toward Rock. “I need your car keys,” she said without thinking, caught up in the panic.
Rock let out a hearty laugh. “You’ve done lost your fuckin’ mind. I ain’t giving you nothin’ of mine.”
“Then drive us to Dr. Purse,” Maggie said, remembering the doctor who had fixed Seth’s broken arm.
Rock paused for a moment, and Maggie pressed further. “Joey will die, Rock. She barely has a pulse.”
Rock had no attachment to Joey. His only motive at that moment was to protect his wife. It wasn’t hard to get rid of a dead body, but with Maggie, Juju, and Seth knowing about Joey’s condition, that option was just too complicated.
“Bring her out front. I’ll drive,” he commanded, his voice deep and burning with resentment.
They gently put Joey in the backseat of the car, still wrapped in the canvas drop cloth. Rock refused to allow Seth to go with them. Maggie had to assure him that she and Juju would take good care of Joey. She insisted that he go straight back to the apartment and wait there.
“I want to be with Joey,” Seth shouted on the sidewalk, his voice overpowering the wind.
Maggie gripped him by the shoulders. “There’s no time to argue. Do what I say. Joey needs a doctor right now, and cooperating is the best thing you can do to help her.”
As Rock peeled away from the curb, he looked in his rearview mirror at Maggie. She’s a fine-looking bitch, he thought.
Maggie caught him looking at her lustfully in the mirror. She looked down at Joey’s small body and the ashen color of her skin. She looked up into the mirror again and made eye contact with Rock. I hope you die, she thought.