The Concert #2
But there’s no time for apologies. The officer turns from them and lets out a loud whistle to get everyone’s attention.
“Okay, people, we are now looking for two minors who are expected to be alone. They’ve been on the move for as much as one hour.
My best guess is that she took a wrong turn and they’re out in the desert by now.
The children are seven-year-old Poppy McCreight, and five-month-old Elliott Kurilla. ”
A security guard behind Parker says, “Wait? Mike Kurilla’s kid? The dead guy?”
His partner answers, “Yup. And if we don’t find him before a pit viper does, that kid’ll be joining his dad.”
Parker spins around and rushes at the much larger man. He shoves him with everything in his fifteen-year-old body but only manages to cause him to tilt back slightly. “Shut up! Don’t say that about my brother! He’s not going to die! He’s going to live and be with his real dad!”
Silence fills the space as Parker’s words hang in the air.
Rusty is the first to say something. “Zane, what does he mean?”
Zane bursts into tears, nodding his head.
Rusty’s voice cracks with emotion. “You fucked her? You fucked Mike’s girl?”
“Not until after…” Zane answered.
“You’ve been lying to us all,” Kitty says, her voice trembling. “Pretending he’s Mike’s baby.” She narrows her eyes at Sienna. “How could you lie to us like that? We’re family.”
“You … you fucking asshole,” Steven whispers.
“I’m the asshole?” Zane snaps back. “I’m not the one trying to screw a teenager!”
“Neither am I, you prick!”
“You must have done something for her to get naked in your trailer,” Zane snaps.
“Enough!” Sienna yells. “That’s enough. All of you. We need to find the kids. Nothing else matters right now.” She turns to Zane. “Fucking pull it together for once in your life.”
Sergeant Chambers takes over. “All right. Anyone who is not security or law enforcement or medical staff, go into your respective trailers now. Stay there until we come get you, and do not leave.”
Claudia shakes her head. “There is no way I’m going to sit here waiting when my child is missing!”
“This is not a request. It’s an order, and if any of you want to test me, I will charge you with interfering with a police investigation, so help me God. I don’t care how fucking rich or famous you are. You will go down. Now get moving!”
CLAUDIA — 11:48 P.M.
Claudia sits at the tiny table in her trailer, her bra and shirt both wet with milk.
She sobs into her hands, then the sound of Sergeant Chambers’ voice outside silences her.
He’s talking to someone on his cell phone, and she slides the window open to listen.
“Search and rescue is on the way. They said it’s fifty-three degrees and dropping.
By four a.m., it’ll dip down to forty-five, which means we need to find these kids like right now.
” There’s a pause, then he says, “Is highway patrol setting up the blockades?” Another pause.
“Okay, good. No one gets through without having their vehicle checked thoroughly—trunks too.”
Claudia starts to shake again, imagining her baby in a trunk, crying and rolling around, slamming into a tire iron or a jerry can.
She lets out a series of involuntary sobs and doesn’t catch the rest of what he says.
Soon he’s gone, and she’s left alone in a silence so unbearable, it feels like it could literally suffocate her.
She pulls on a sweatshirt and opens the doors as quietly as she can, then steps outside.
When she looks up, she sees Sienna standing in front of her. She’s momentarily scared that Sienna is going to yell at her. But she doesn’t. She holds her finger to her lips, then whispers, “Let’s go find them.”
CLAUDIA — 1:27 AM
The two women hurry along as quickly as they can safely manage on the uneven ground.
The comet is of little use in lighting their way.
Neither of them speaks for what feels like hours.
The shock of what’s happening is too much to allow idle conversation.
The world will know their big secret by morning, and the fallout will be spectacular.
Claudia will lose her rights to everything that belonged to Mike.
Zane will lose his fans and his remaining friends.
The band will break up. Dean will move on.
She could easily lose her recording contract too and wind up having to sue Zane for child support.
Not that either of them could think about any of that right now.
Their focus was singular. Find the children.
They had fallen into an awkward silence after Sienna suggested they look together, as if neither of them knew what to say next.
Two natural enemies—the wife and the other woman—were meant to face off, not team up.
But here they were, setting aside every ounce of pain that brought them to where they were.
Far off in the distance, the road back to civilization is lined with cars—a long snake of brake lights and headlamps, their engines a low rumbling sound. In the opposite direction, a helicopter shines a spotlight down into the wilderness.
Sienna breaks first. “I’m sorry my daughter let you down like this. She should’ve known better.”
Claudia shakes her head, her heart squeezing as she remembers the look on Ivy’s face.
She’s just a child. So vulnerable standing there, hiding behind a blanket.
“Don’t… It’s not her fault. She’s a kid.
Besides, Kitty and Rusty’s daughter let me down first. Actually, my nanny is the real asshole here. ”
“Good point.”
“You can’t trust the French.”
Sienna lets out a small chuckle. “True.”
They walk on a little longer, then Sienna says, “I’m pretty sure this is actually all my fault.
” Her voice cracks, and she stops walking.
“I was so damn sure that what Ivy wrote was just nonsense. I told Poppy that I didn’t want to hear it unless Ivy was actually about to do the bad thing and she had proof. ”
“Oh, Sienna, how could you possibly have known it would lead to this?”
Shrugging, she says. “I’m their mother. It’s my job to know.
I should’ve gone straight into Ivy’s room and read that stupid diary myself.
” She sucks in a shaky breath. “There are a lot of days that I’m sure I don’t know the first damn thing about being a mother.
I try. I try so hard to do the right thing and make sure they have what they need, but …
I’m screwing it all up. And Zane is no help.
Even when he’s there. He’s more clueless than I am.
To be honest, most of the time he makes my life harder.
Not that you’ll believe that because you’ve got your Zane blinders on.
But, whatever. The point is, parenting is really fucking hard, and I may have made a mistake that I can’t take back. ”
For the first time, Claudia feels sorry for Sienna.
She puts on this act of being so confident—the perfect wife and mom—but the truth is, she’s as scared as everyone else.
She puts her hand on Sienna’s shoulder, feeling it shake with the same fear she was feeling.
“It’s okay, Sienna. It’s not your fault. ”
“I think it is.” She stops and kneels down, as if collapsing with the pain of it all.
Claudia crouches, placing a hand on each of Sienna’s shoulders. “We’ll find them. You and me. We’ll find our babies, and they’ll be just fine,” she whispers.
“But what if we don’t?”
She stands, helping Sienna to her feet. “We will.”
They continue on. Sienna sniffles and wipes her tears away. After a few minutes, Claudia mutters, “That fucking comet. The second it appeared in the sky, all the shit started.”
“What?”
“It was the night I … said Zane’s name.” She points up at it, feeling more than a little insane. “And now here it is laughing at us.”
“Fucking comet,” Sienna says.
In the distance, the helicopter stops, hovering for a few seconds before it begins its descent to the ground. Both women watch, hearts pounding.
“It’s them,” Claudia says. “It’s got to be.”
Grabbing Claudia’s hand, Sienna breaks into a run.
Hurrying along, they hold each other up if one of them stumbles, racing to their children, to whatever fate awaits them.
They outrun the fear and the grisly images their brains conjure up.
They shed their anger for each other, the pain they’ve caused one another, their failures to see each other as human beings who need the same things.
They leave behind that awful sense of competition to be seen by a man who saw no one but himself.
When they get close enough, they hear the most perfect of any sound they could hope to hear—two children wailing loudly. It was the same sound you wait for with your breath held in a delivery room. Proof of life.
“Can you hear that?” Claudia asks, forcing her exhausted legs to move faster.
“Oh my God,” Sienna whispers, letting out a sob. “They’re alive. They’re really alive.”
Moments later, they reach the helicopter, just as Elliott is being handed off from a SAR officer standing on the ground to one inside.
“Poppy!” Sienna screams.
Poppy, who was clinging to one of the rescue workers, wiggles out of his arms. “Mommy!”
SIENNA
Sienna lets go of Claudia’s hand and rushes to her little girl, scooping her up and holding her tightly. The pair sob and hug and apologize to each other while Claudia is boosted into the helicopter to take her son.
Sienna lets herself be led onto the aircraft, managing to climb up without letting go of her little girl.
It’s a feat of strength that surprises the men.
It surprises her too. Sienna is so much stronger than she gave herself credit for.
She proved it that night. She can be a leader.
She can be humble and kind to someone who hurt her.
She can be all the things she wanted her children to be. She already was.