He pulled off the envelope and opened it. Inside was a card, with a silly-looking photo of a cat hanging from some draperies, looking really happy. No words. But inside, Tess had written a note.
Able: Thank you for the flowers, they are beautiful. You continue to surprise me. I’m sorry for barging in to your work. I’ll try not to make a habit of it. I’m especially sorry that I insinuated that my daughter was more important to me than Traci is to you. That was ridiculous and I’m glad you called me out on it. I know you’re working hard. Perhaps this will come in handy as a late night snack. Tess.
He opened the box. Cherry pie. His favorite. Maybe he’d mentioned that a time or two to her when they’d gone to the county fair in August.
He unlocked his door, then carefully picked up the box. He set it down on the counter, grabbed a plate from the cupboard and a knife and fork from the drawer. Then he cut himself a big slab and sat down in his favorite recliner to enjoy a piece.
He did all this before he ever turned on a light.
There was something very nice about eating a surprise piece of cherry pie in the dark. He picked up his cell. It was now almost midnight. Too late to call or text.
He finished his piece and closed his eyes. Leaned back in his chair.
Went to sleep thinking about Tess.
* * *
Gabe wasn’t home when Rena got there. She washed her face and brushed her teeth and put on a T-shirt to sleep in. Then she crawled into bed.
She was still awake when Gabe got home an hour later but pretended to be asleep. He was quiet as he got ready for bed. When he sat down and swung his legs in, she opened her eyes. They were both lying on their backs. “Oh, hey,” she said.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“No problem. Have fun?”
“Yeah, it was okay,” he said with no real enthusiasm. There was a long moment of silence.
“Listen, Rena,” Gabe said. “I get where you were coming from earlier. I do. And I’m not happy about Shannon’s husband. It just seems to me that ever since we agreed to go down this path and selected Shannon, you’ve been looking for a reason to get out of it.”
The bedroom was dark and she was grateful for that. She’d never had a great poker face and now she was confident that he’d know that he’d hit close to home. Gabe had always known her best. And right now, he deserved honesty.
“You might be right,” she said. “I’m sorry about that. Because it’s taken time and money. But the closer we got, it just...didn’t seem right. Not for us.”
“I don’t care about the time or the money. You know that, right?”
“I do.”
“Not everybody has to have a child,” Gabe said, his voice gentle. “We will be happy still.”
He was right. Of course. But under the covers, she slid her hand so that it rested on her abdomen. The emptiness seemed to radiate through her entire body.
“What do you say that we wait, put this discussion on hold for at least six months?” Gabe suggested.
It wasn’t forever. But her eggs would be six months older.
Why couldn’t this be easy for them? It was for so many people.
But those thoughts swamped her with guilt. Life wasn’t easy for Troy and Leah Whitman right now. Or Elaine Broadstreet. Or Alice Quest. Or anybody even remotely connected to Emma Whitman.
Life was just hard sometimes. And feeling sorry for yourself wasn’t helpful.
She turned on her side to face him. Could feel him shift, too. And when she was in his arms, knew there was no place she’d rather be. “We’ll be okay,” she said, her mouth close to his ear. They would be. Could be.
“Damn straight,” he said as he bent his head to kiss her.
* * *
By seven on Sunday morning, A.L. and Rena were at their desks. Blithe and Ferguson were also in. Faster’s office was empty. The chief was likely on the golf course.
“I got the list of all other abductions or attempted abductions at or near day care centers from across the United States for the last twenty years,” A.L. said. He tossed it across the desk.
“That’s a lot,” she said. “More than I expected.”
“Yeah. Here’s the list if we filter out those that were known to be committed by biological or adoptive parents,” A.L. said.
Less than half a page. She tossed it back to him. He left it on his desk where it landed. “Wow. So we were right to give Troy and Leah Whitman a close look.”
“Speaking of close looks, I’m meeting Troy at Garage on Division at 8:00 to look at his service scheduling records. Getting a technical assist from Shawn.” Everybody in the Baywood Police Department knew Shawn. Data forensics was becoming a bigger part of every investigation and Shawn Moby was a fucking magician when it came to ferreting out information that lived in the cloud.
“What are you looking for?” Rena asked.
“Troy says that he was at work early on Wednesday, contrary to what Pete and Cory said.”
“Not a very big place,” Rena said. “You think they’d run into each other if they were all there.”
“Yeah. He said he was in the office area and they were working in the bays. That sort of matches up to what Cory Prider said. He got to work first and then finished up a brake job that had been started on Tuesday. Pete Seoul said he got to work at 7:30 and I guess it’s safe to assume that he started working on a vehicle.”
“Why don’t we just ask them whose vehicles they were working on?” Rena asked.
“Because I don’t really want to talk to those two idiots again and I don’t trust their memory or their intent. Remember how Pete sent us scurrying to Alcamay Corners? I think it’s better to review the records. Plus I wanted to send a message to Troy. That any unexplained absence on Wednesday was going to get critically reviewed.”
“Depending on when the brake job got finished, you’re assuming that maybe that customer would have seen Troy? Or maybe the driver of the vehicle that Pete Seoul was working on.”
“Bunch of maybes but then again, maybe we’ll get lucky. I’d better get going.” His cell phone buzzed. He picked it up. Read the message, then tossed his phone aside.
“What?” Rena asked.
“That’s Troy. Said he couldn’t be at the garage at 8:00. There’s something he has to do.”
“What could be more important that cooperating with the detective who is investigating his daughter’s disappearance?” Rena asked. “I think he needs to—”