Chapter 14 #2
After breakfast, Carly and her mother walked the short distance to Cate’s house where Tom greeted them with hugs. “Let’s hear it,” he said, framing Carly’s face with his big hands.
“Hello, Tom,” Carly said with a small smile.
“Wow,” he said, amazed. “You sound just like Caren.”
Carly screwed up her face. “I do not!”
“Ah, yeah, you do.”
“Do I, Mom?”
Carol chuckled at their banter and held up her hands. “I’m not getting into this one.”
“I’ll forgive you,” Carly said to Tom, “because there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long, long time.”
“And what’s that?”
“You’re a good guy, Tom Murphy, and my sister is lucky to have you. We all are.” Carly went up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek, which had gone red with embarrassment.
“Thank you,” he mumbled.
“How’s Zoe doing?” Carly asked.
“Awful.” He shook his head. “What the hell do you tell a fourteen-year-old about something like this?”
“The truth,” Carly said without hesitation. “You tell her the truth, because if you don’t, she’ll hear it from someone whose parents told them the truth.”
“That’s what Cate said, too.”
“Can I see her?”
“She’s in her room. You just missed Cate. She took Steve and Lilly over to Caren’s for the day so we can focus on Zoe.”
“If she asks me what I saw, what do you want me to tell her?” Carly asked.
Tom studied her for a moment before he said, “As much of the truth as you think she can handle, I guess.”
With a nod, Carly climbed the stairs to Zoe’s room. She was in bed with the curtains drawn. Carly knocked softly on the door. “Can I come in?”
“Oh,” Zoe gasped, sitting up in bed.
Carly was grateful to her miracle for giving her niece a moment’s reprieve from her grief.
“My mom said you’d gotten your voice back, but to hear it . . .”
Carly slid under the covers next to her. “Your dad says I sound like Auntie Caren. What do you think?”
“Maybe a little.”
Carly poked her in the ribs. “Do not.”
Zoe’s smile was small and pained.
“Can I tell you something I’ve wished I could tell you at least a million times over the last fourteen years?”
Zoe nodded.
“I love you so much. From the first instant I ever saw you, you’ve had my heart.”
Zoe broke down and slumped into Carly’s outstretched arms.
“Why did this have to happen?” Zoe whispered as she shook with brokenhearted sobs. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I wish I could tell you. I asked myself that same question over and over again after my friends died. Sometimes I still wonder.”
“My dad said you were the one who found her.”
“Yes.”
“Was it bad?”
Carly nodded and was grateful that Zoe didn’t ask for more.
“I want him to die for doing this to her,” Zoe said fiercely. “Does that make me a bad person?”
“No, honey. That’s a natural response to something like this.
You want the person who did it to pay. Chief Westbury, the police, and the FBI are doing everything they can to find him.
And when they do, they’ll make sure he pays.
” Carly wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince, herself or Zoe. “He’ll pay.”
“Am I ever going to feel good again, Auntie Carly?” she asked in a small, shattered voice.
Carly took a deep breath. “It might take a while, but one day you’ll wake up and be surprised when you actually notice the sun is out, the fireflies are back, and the jasmine’s in bloom.
” Her heart ached as she was flooded with memories of a long-ago summer when she had been the heartbroken young girl.
In a whisper, she added, “One day you will feel better, but that won’t mean you’ve forgotten Alicia.
It only means life goes on. Even when you think it can’t possibly, somehow it just does. ”
“Is that how it was for you?”
“That’s exactly how it was for me.”
“And you lost six friends. I can’t imagine that. One is bad enough.”
“Grief doesn’t come in sizes, honey.”
“Do you still miss them?”
“Every day, but I tell myself that by missing them, I’m keeping them alive, even if it’s only in my heart and mind. Does that make sense?”
Zoe nodded.
Carly held Zoe close to her for a long time until she realized the girl had drifted into a restless sleep.
She eased Zoe’s head onto a pillow and watched her sleep.
Her face was puffy and red from crying, which infuriated Carly.
That the same man was probably responsible for both their tragedies .
. . They had to find him—and soon. Enough was enough.
Carly was on edge all day. A steady stream of people dropped by her parents’ house to check on her.
Molly and Debby came after the coffee shop closed for the day.
They were still there when Matt Collins and Agent Nathan Barclay arrived to take a statement from Carly about what she had seen at the lake.
They also grilled Debby about the call she had taken from the man pretending to be Chief Westbury.
“He sounded just like him,” Debby insisted. “It never occurred to me that it wasn’t him. I’m so sorry, Carly.” Debby’s soft brown eyes filled with tears. “If anything had happened to you . . .”
“I’m fine,” Carly assured her friend.
They stared at her every time she opened her mouth. She supposed it would take some time before they got used to hearing her talk and stopped staring.
Molly and Debby left a short time later.
While Carly recounted her story to Matt and Agent Barclay, the doorbell rang again.
This time it was a neighbor bringing over brownies.
Carly hated that she was waiting for Brian and that every time the caller wasn’t him, she had to absorb a fresh wave of disappointment. So much for not getting my hopes up.
“How’s Chief Westbury?” she asked Matt.
“He’s doing great. He passed all the heart tests, so they sent him home with orders to take it easy for a few days.”
“That’s a huge relief.”
“From what Mary Ann told me, he’s been desperately worried about you, though,” Matt added. “I’m sure you’ll hear from him.”
Agent Barclay handed Carly his card. “Give me a call if you think of anything else.”
“I will.”
Carly’s mother showed them out and then came back to the living room. “What do you feel like having for dinner? Anything you want.”
“I miss your meatloaf,” Carly confessed.
“Then meatloaf it is. Do you think maybe you could try to take a nap before dinner? You look beat.”
“I am.” She stretched out on the sofa.
Carol spread a light blanket over her.
Carly smiled at her. “You’re spoiling me rotten, Mother.”
“And enjoying every minute of it. Go to sleep.”
While Carly dozed on the sofa, the phone rang a couple of times, and her father came home. Before she knew it, her mother was shaking her awake. “Honey? Dinner’s ready.”
Carly sat up and tried to emerge from the deep sleep she had fallen into.
“Do you feel any better?”
“Yeah,” she said with a big yawn.
“Chief Westbury called while you were sleeping. He really wants to see you. I told him we’d take a walk over after dinner.”
Startled, Carly looked up at her mother.
“That is, if you feel up to it.”
“Of course I do,” Carly responded in what she hoped was a light, breezy tone. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Carol snorted with laughter as she folded the blanket and returned it to the back of the sofa. “Whatever you say.”