Chapter 17

 

Sara steadied her mother’s arm as they walked into the clinic.

“Now you two go on,” Mom said. “Riley’s right here and she always takes great care of me.”

“I’ll stay with you,” Sara said. “There’s nothing important at school today and, besides, they always give me extra days for my assignments whenever you have your chemo.”

“I know, sweetie, but I also know you have a math test today. You were studying for it last night. I’m not letting your grades fall off because of me. Go on, now.”

Mom pulled her stick-like arm away from Sara and reached for the nurse who’d greeted them.

“Matthew, drive your sister to school. I don’t want either of you to be late.”

“Sure, Mom.” Matt kissed his mother’s forehead. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Sara looked back as her mom went into the treatment room with the nurse. Not that she loved hanging around during the chemo treatments, but she really wasn’t up for school today either. She was sick of the teachers asking about her mother and sick of the kids who gave knowing looks whenever papers were handed back. Sara’s grades were falling and everyone knew it. She debated about hanging back, hoping her brother would just get in the car and forget about her, but he didn’t. Matt was several paces ahead of her when he reached the door, but he turned and waited.

Her feet dragged as she got in the car. Neither of them spoke during the ride to the high school. The car stopped at the curb in the drop-off zone.

“Later,” Matt said as she got out. He roared off, too important to hang around and try to catch the eye of high school girls anymore.

Sara watched his battered old Mustang circle the teachers’ parking lot and stop at the street before he gunned it again and pulled into traffic. He would report for his job at the machine shop and then go back and pick up Mom at the clinic on his lunch break, most likely going back to work after she was settled at home to rest. Sara stared at the building; kids were milling around but she didn’t see anyone she knew.

The first-period bell rang and she started moving, knowing at once what she would do. She walked to the end of the building and while everyone else was tromping up the steps and filing inside, Sara kept going. A small irrigation ditch ran beside the school property; she jumped it easily, even with her backpack on, and ducked through a thick stand of scrub willow.

Invisible to the eyes of those inside the buildings now, she felt her step lighten. A day alone!

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had more than a few minutes to herself. Tiny apartment, sharing a bedroom, Matt and his friends hogging the living room and TV. She skirted the ditch bank and picked up the pathway across a vacant lot, noticing for the first time in weeks the field of late-blooming sunflowers. Preoccupied with school and her mother’s health, she couldn’t think of the last time she’d stared up at the sky, played with cloud patterns in her head or picked a flower. She plucked one of the sunflowers and let out a happy giggle.

She would make herself a hot cocoa and watch movies all day. There were a half-dozen DVDs she hadn’t seen yet. Or, she might get back to that book Lindsay Beacham loaned her two months ago. She used to love to curl up in the big chair they once had in their living room—before the apartment—and read all day long until her eyes went fuzzy and her head felt as if it were stuffed with cotton. Pure bliss.

The possibilities felt endless and the fifteen minute walk went by in a flash. She let herself into the apartment and locked herself in. For one long moment she simply stood there and savored the silence. Nothing made a sound but the refrigerator motor until a thump sounded from the unit next door—the front door closing as someone left. Ah—truly alone now!

Sara flung her pack through the bedroom door and it landed on her bed with a soft thud. While the kettle heated water for her hot cocoa she hurried about, making her mother’s bed with clean sheets and gathering a few stray clothing discards into the laundry basket. No way was she going to use her secret day off to do chores, but this way she wouldn’t stare at the mess and let it bug her all day. She dropped her backpack to the floor in the space between bed and wall, refusing to let the reminder of school diminish her pleasurable day either.

By the time the kettle whistled she’d decided on the book. She could watch TV anytime with the family. Reading was a solitary pleasure and perfect for her mood now. Plus, this was one she couldn’t very well read in front of her mother, a bestseller title everyone was buzzing about because it contained a lot of sex. Truthfully, Sara was more interested in the historical setting but a tiny part of her thought if she’d read the book she wouldn’t feel like such an outsider at school. It felt as if everyone had read it but her, and now she could be part of that crowd. Silly, yes, but tempting.

She carried her mug to the bedroom and felt around under her mattress until she found the paperback. A pile of pillows, switching her jeans for flannels jams, the opening line of the book: From the moment Sir Richard took me into his arms, I knew it was wrong …

Sara sighed and sipped her hot chocolate, eyes riveted to the page as she slipped into the world of Elizabethan England. She had no idea how much time had passed when she heard a key in the front door lock. Surely, chemo wasn’t done already, she thought with a sinking feeling.

A glance at her mother’s bedside clock confirmed that couldn’t be the case. It was barely past ten. The door opened and she heard her brother’s voice. He wasn’t alone. Crap.

She tiptoed from her bed and quietly closed her door. Matt would assume she’d left it that way this morning, and as long as she remained quiet he and his friends didn’t need to know she was here. Except what was he doing home at this hour? He was always hyper-diligent about putting in enough hours at work—the family was surviving on his paycheck since Mom’s disability money was practically nothing. With luck, he’d just stopped by for something he’d forgotten. She stood with her ear to the doorjamb.

The front door barely closed before a male voice—not Matt’s—practically exploded.

“What the hell you tryin’ to pull with me?”

“Me? I—”

“Part of my haul is missing and you’re tellin’ me it’s not your fault?”

A scuffle, then someone slammed into a wall, sending a shudder through the whole apartment. Sara flinched and slapped a hand over her mouth.

A third voice spoke up. “Kurt, we don’t know—”

“Shut it, Wolfe! Shut it right now!” Heavy footsteps paced the length of the living room and back. “I gotta think. Gotta figure this out.”

The footsteps continued, slowed.

“When’s the last time either of you saw all five bags?” Quiet. “When!”

Matt’s voice, tentative: “Uh, the picnic area. Right after—”

“Yeah, yeah. But the black ones I brought with me. When?”

Wolfe’s voice this time: “We came into town, I cut through the Meadows, went down that lane …”

Another loud thump against a wall somewhere.

“Hey! Hey, someone’s going to hear all this noise and report us,” Matt said, sounding a little more composed this time.

“Matt’s right. We have to calm down and think this through. So one bag’s gone but we still have four. That’s a lotta money. We’ll just div—”

“Yeah? Well, we’re dividin’ up the full amount and I’m gettin’ my full share. You two get the rest.” The heavy steps went toward the front door. “You hear me? This ain’t my loss.”

The door opened and slammed. Sara squeezed her eyes shut, trying to cram the tears back inside.

“Wolfe, we have to report—”

“No way! You saw the news. That lady—that driver he shot? She’s gonna die, and you know what that means? Means murder. Means you and me, we’re accessories to it. We’re goin’ away forever if we’re caught. I’ll shoot my own head off before I go to prison forever, Matt.”

“But, what if—”

“He ain’t ever confessing, if that’s what you’re worried about. This is all about the money, for him. He’s coked up and furious right now but he’ll cool down. Once we get our shares, I’m leaving this town,” Wolfe said. “Probably this state. I’m getting so far away from him that nobody can connect the two of us. We just gotta hold out til he calms down and we divvy up the cash.”

Matt said something else, so low Sara couldn’t catch it.

“Exactly,” said Wolfe. “You go back to work, I go back to work. We just do our jobs like any other normal day. A few more days … a week or so at most … we’ll be done with him.”

Sara heard steps go to the front door, heard it open and close, heard the key in the lock. She waited a full five minutes before she dared peek out of the bedroom. The apartment was empty but her wonderful day alone had been shattered. She retreated to her bed and leaned against the headboard, staring into space.