Prologue #2
As he headed to see his boss, he worried that maybe Joel was firing him.
That couldn’t be. Joel was easygoing, despite being the leader of a large, inner city high school campus.
Besides, Carson’s varsity team had won district this year and made it to the second round of the playoffs.
He wouldn’t be let go because of that. If anyone fired him, it would be the athletic director, but he’d given Carson no signs of trouble on the horizon.
“Stop worrying,” he said under his breath, passing noisy classrooms with teenagers ready to bolt for the door the moment the bell sounded.
He entered the secretary’s office and saw her frowning. Carson called her name and she looked up, clearly distracted. Even upset. A woman sat in one of the two chairs designated for visitors, and he wondered if she had anything to do with the situation.
Before he could ask her if things were all right, the secretary said, “Go right in, Carson.”
He did as instructed, tapping lightly on the closed door before entering. Joel was already rising to meet him. Carson spied another man also coming to his feet, dressed in a brown suit and having nondescript features.
“Close the door,” Joel instructed.
After doing so, he faced his principal. “What’s going on?”
“Have a seat, Carson,” Joel said, his voice strained.
A feeling of dread filled him. “No. I think I’ll stand.”
Looking pained, the principal said, “This is Detective Kazinski. If you’ll excuse me.”
Joel slipped from the office, leaving Carson alone with the stranger.
“What the hell is going on?” he demanded. Then fear filled him, and he anxiously asked, “Lily? Angie?”
“Your daughter is fine, Mr. Andrews,” the police detective assured him. “She’s with Child Protective Services, and you will be reunited with her soon.”
“What?” he exploded. “Why were they called in? My wife and I are excellent parents, Detective Kazinski. If someone’s filed a complaint against us, they’re just plain wrong.
Yes, Lily has a bad bruise on her shin now.
She fell. But she didn’t break anything.
She’s never been mistreated. We love her. ”
Sympathy filled the man’s face. “I’m sure you are a great dad, Mr. Andrews. I’m here to notify you of your wife’s passing.”
“Passing?” he croaked, a thousand thoughts swirling in his mind. “Wait. Angie is…dead?”
“I’m afraid so, Mr. Andrews.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head back and forth in disbelief. “No. She dropped me off at school this morning. She took Lily to daycare. We’re going to Tyler State Park for spring break. She’s waiting for me in the car.”
Frantically, he pulled his cell from his pocket. Instead of texting, he called Angie. “Pick up. Pick up,” he urged, even as his stomach knotted painfully.
Kazinski reached and removed the phone from his hands, ending the call. “Please sit, Mr. Andrews.”
“I…can’t.” He swallowed hard, his brain still racing.
Somehow, the detective eased Carson into a chair and took one next to him.
“Mrs. Andrews was at a gas station a few blocks from here. A man carjacked her. Witnesses say she was shouting, running alongside the car as it sped away. Telling the man that her baby was in the car.” Kazinski paused.
“He shot her and drove off.” Pausing, the detective added, “She died on the way to the hospital.”
“No,” he whispered. “No.”
Carson felt cold inside. Dead. Unfeeling. He couldn’t imagine his life without Angie’s laughter. Her teasing. Her lattice apple pies and pot roasts. Singing off key in the shower. Covering Lily’s face with kisses and tucking her into bed.
He met the detective’s gaze. “She’s really gone,” he said dully, reality setting in.
Kazinski nodded. “Yes, she is.”
“Lily?” he said suddenly.
“Apparently, your daughter was crying hysterically after hearing the gunshot. The carjacker stopped a few blocks from the gas station. A witness saw him trying to unbuckle her from the car seat. He couldn’t figure it out and got frustrated.
Ran off. The witness crossed the street and found Lily inside the vehicle and called 911.
That’s why she’s with Child Protective Services. ”
“I need her. Now,” he said, an urgency rushing through him. It was as if he couldn’t believe his little girl might still be alive unless he held her in his arms.
“Let me run through a few things with you,” the detective said.
Carson tried to listen to what he had to say, but everything jumbled. It was as if the cop spoke Greek to him.
Kazinski handed over his card. “Here’s my number. I’ll be in touch with you. We’ve already caught the guy. He confessed right away. He’s being assigned an attorney. There’s the possibility of a trial.”
“And my wife?” he asked, feeling broken.
“A colleague of mine is waiting outside. She’s going to walk you through a few things. How to claim Mrs. Andrews’ body. How to get your car back.”
Carson felt as if he were underwater, drowning, no one rushing to save him. Numbly, he watched Detective Kazinski leave Joel’s office. He returned with the woman who’d been seated outside.
“May I offer you my condolences, Mr. Andrews?”
They kept calling him Mr. Andrews. He was Coach Andrews. No one ever addressed him as Mr. Andrews. He almost laughed, hysteria rising within him, thinking of something meaningless at such an awful time.
She introduced herself, but he didn’t care what her name was. He listened, trying to pay attention to what was being said.
“Here’s a packet with information you’ll find helpful,” she told him. “I’ve placed my card inside. If you have difficulty with anything, just give me a call, and I’ll help you cut through the red tape if I can.”
Carson couldn’t help but think of how much he had to do. Claim Angie’s body. Call a funeral home. Plan a service.
And try to wrap his head around living a life without his wife.
“I need to see my daughter,” he said firmly.
“She’s in a car outside,” Detective Kazinski assured him. “We can go see her now. Just try to stay composed, Mr. Andrews. She’s been through a lot. You don’t want to scare her.”
They left the office, and he saw Joel come to his feet, stepping toward him.
“Whatever you need, Carson. Just let me know. You don’t have to come back to school after spring break. Take all the time you need.”
“I’ll let you know,” he said stiffly.
The principal’s secretary looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Carson.”
“Thanks,” he whispered, knowing he would hear that over and over in the next days and weeks. But sorry didn’t mean anything.
The bell had obviously rung while he was inside Joel’s office, but he didn’t recall hearing it. A few scattered students were still in the halls, but most had vacated the building as quickly as possible. Same for the teachers.
He accompanied the police outside to a black sedan. The back door opened, and a woman climbed out.
“Mr. Andrews?”
“Yes.”
She smiled brightly. “Lily is such a love.”
He had no time for niceties. Carson got into the backseat, finding his daughter in a car seat.
Her eyes were swollen from crying. She clung to Ralph Rabbit, a stuffed animal that was her most treasured possession.
It had been the only thing Angie had from her childhood, and she had passed it down to their daughter.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
“Mama? Where’s Mama? Loud noise, Daddy. Hurt my ears.”
“I know, sweetie. I know. We’re going to go home now.”
Carson glanced up, seeing the woman who’d exited the car standing nearby.
“We need a ride home. I don’t have my car here at school.”
All he could think of was if only Angie hadn’t taken him to work today. If she hadn’t stopped for gas in this dicey neighborhood. If she’d taken Lily straight to daycare in her car and let him drop off Binky at the vet’s.
But all the what-ifs in the world would never change the one, final truth.
Angie was dead. She was never coming home again.
Buckling his seatbelt, he closed the car door as the woman climbed behind the wheel.
Carson gave her their address and sighed, his eyes filling with tears.
He placed a hand on Lily’s plump thigh, the one Angie would put her lips to and blow against it, making a god-awful noise that never failed to make their daughter laugh.
He leaned down and did so now, his heart shattering as he heard Lily’s joyful giggle at the sound. He would have to be strong. Protect Lily. Be both mother and father to this precious child.
“Daddy sad?” she asked, cocking her head as she studied him.
“Daddy is sad,” he agreed. “But Lily makes me very, very happy.”
Carson clung to his sanity now—and the hope that his little girl might be the shining light in the darkness which now surrounded him.