Chapter 40
CHAPTER
AFTER WORK NASH CAME INTO the kitchen from the garage to find Judith in sweatpants and a rumpled T-shirt sitting on a barstool with a cocktail in front of her.
“Judith, you okay?”
She glanced up at him. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair messy, and her face absent of her usual makeup. “I’m fine, Walter. Per-fect-ly fine.”
“How did your day go?” he asked tentatively, wondering what was going on with her.
“It was great. I worked out, I had lunch. I had a drink. I took a walk. I worked out. I… no, that was yesterday. Or the day before. I… I forget.” She giggled.
He drew closer and was struck by the smell of alcohol wafting off her. “And Maggie?”
She shrugged. “I haven’t seen or heard her all day.”
“Nothing? She hasn’t eaten or shown herself?”
“I thought I just said that, Walter,” Judith said, now slurring her words. “I’m sure she’s in her room working on that thing for you.”
He slid the remains of her glass away and said, “You might want to hold off and maybe get some food and coffee into you.”
She jerked the drink back. “Or I might not.”
Concerned about Maggie, he left the kitchen and hurried up the stairs.
He knocked on his daughter’s door. “Maggie? It’s Dad.
Are you all right? Your mother said you haven’t been out of your room all day.
Maggie?” He knocked again and then started to panic.
He had seen her car in the garage. Granted, she could have taken an Uber or gone for a walk. “Maggie? I’m… I’m coming in.”
He tried the door but it was locked.
“What’s going on up there?”
Nash edged to the top of the stairs and saw Judith down below looking up at him. Her drink was in one hand.
“She’s not answering, and her door is locked.”
“She might be soaking in the tub.”
“She could still hear me.”
He went back and pounded on the door again. “Maggie, open the door.”
He waited, praying with all his might that he would hear her footsteps coming to the door.
And that it would open and his daughter would be there smiling at him.
He had always been a worst-case-scenario sort of parent, always thinking about potential disasters if anyone was late or wouldn’t answer their phone.
He felt sick to his stomach when he heard no one approaching the door.
He stepped away from the door and then rushed forward, slamming himself against the thick wood. The only thing damaged was his bony shoulder.
He heard Judith coming up the stairs. “Walter, what the hell are you doing?”
“Trying to find my daughter!” he called back, rubbing his shoulder.
She walked down the hall, looked at him, and deduced what he had attempted. Then she took a bobby pin from the top ledge of the door frame. She inserted one end in the door lock and pushed hard.
They heard a click. She turned the knob and opened the door.
“Voilà,” she said, smiling stupidly. “I used that when she was a kid and wouldn’t let me in to change her clothes or make her take a bath—while you were out globe-trotting.”
An agitated Nash pushed past her and into Maggie’s room. He looked everywhere, but it was evident that his daughter was not there.
Judith came in and sat on the bed. “She probably slipped out when I wasn’t looking.”
“Her car’s in the garage.”
“So she went out with friends. It’s no big deal. She’s a grown woman. When I was in college my parents wouldn’t hear from me for weeks.”
“Yeah, well, it’s different when you live in your parents’ home.” He stopped and looked down at the floor.
“What? Did you find a condom?” she asked jokingly.
He stooped and picked up one of Maggie’s purses, and pulled out her wallet. “Money and credit cards.”
“She has Apple Pay,” said Judith.
“No, she doesn’t, not without this.” He pulled out her phone from the purse.
Now Judith looked concerned. “That’s not like Maggie to leave her phone.”
“I can’t access it. She’s got the facial recognition thing. Look, when was the last time you actually saw Maggie?”
Judith had grown instantly serious. “I… um, last night.”
“What time?”
“Around… midnight.”
“Why so late?”
“She… she came downstairs and we talked.”
“About what?”
“Nothing important.”
“How about before that? Did you two eat dinner together?”
“I… uh, no we didn’t. She was up in her room. She might have made herself dinner. I… was in my room all last night.”
“But you just said she came downstairs and talked to you.”
Judith set her drink down on the nightstand and sat rigidly. “That’s… that’s right. I… came down to get some tea. I couldn’t sleep. She must have heard me.”
“And then what?”
“I assumed she went back to her room.”
“And you really haven’t seen her all day?” he said in disbelief.
“No. I mean.” She stopped and looked guiltily at him. “I wasn’t feeling great. I just chilled out today.”
“My God, Judith, she could have been sick or…” He eyed the phone and then glanced around the space. “Is it my imagination, or is her room messier than usual?”
Judith suddenly rushed to the closet and flung the door open. “Her luggage is still in there. I thought… I thought she might have…”
“Might have what?” asked a confused Nash.
“She, she just seemed upset last night.”
“But you said you talked and it was nothing important.”
“Maybe the influencer thing? The way you ticked her off?”
“Things were good between me and her with that. Judith, you know that.”
“Right, yes, that’s right. I… I don’t know, Walter, okay? She’s a nineteen-year-old woman. Who knows what’s going on behind the scenes.”
“She hasn’t been seeing anyone, has she?”
“Not that she mentioned, but again, who knows?”
Nash noted that his wife would not look him in the eye when she said this.
“Well, there’s no way to contact her if she left her phone here,” said Judith.
“What about her laptop?” said Nash. He hurried over to his daughter’s messy desk set against one corner and said, “No, it’s here.” He turned it on but, like the phone, couldn’t access it. “I’m going down to the security gate to see if they saw her leaving last night or any time today.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing. She probably just went for a walk.”
“Without her phone?” said Nash. “It’s usually glued to her hand.”
He hurried down the stairs and into the garage.