“Yes, good memory,” Carol said.
“Well, I can’t stop thinking about it,” said Rita. “I didn’t have any earrings but I was a fan of hers. I watched some of her videos. She was so good. I just can’t believe the never-ending violence in our community.”
They all nodded solemnly. There didn’t seem to be much else to say, and they each futzed with their own things before drifting in different directions. Carol walked to the back storage area for inventory. She spent ninety minutes figuring out what needed to be ordered in juniors tops and shorts, then grabbed the empty circular metal racks for the sundresses she had to organize.
The dresses were in every bright color you could imagine, and Carol debated whether to design the racks by color or by style. There were short dresses, long ones, knee-length styles, with sleeves, without, low-cut, medium-cut. She liked to think like a vacationer and she imagined if she was going to the beach somewhere she would first look by color, so she started organizing all of the blues, in descending order darkest to lightest and according to sizes.
As she worked, her mind drifted back to Friday night and how carefree she had felt sitting down to watch the eleven o’clocknews. She had been tired but happy at the end of a workweek, cozy in their den, enjoying her popcorn and cranberry juice and expecting nothing but a normal TV-watching experience. How was it that everything could be upended so suddenly? Her favorite meteorologist murdered, her niece mixed up in it in a strange way? Names on a weird list?
Carol moved from blues to yellows and had started arranging those on the rack from dark to very light when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Kohl’s employees were not allowed to have their phones when they were on the floor, but in back like this it was fine. Thinking it might be Olivia needing something, Carol fished it out quickly and looked down.
It wasn’t a call at all. It was another breaking-news alert from Channel 9. Without hesitation, Carol clicked on it to see if this was anything related to Faith.
BREAKING: MEDICAL EXAMINER CONFIRMS FAITH RICHARDS WAS SIX WEEKS PREGNANT. CHANNEL 9 STARTING A SCHOLARSHIP IN HER NAME. CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE.
“Oh my God, no,” said Carol, and the blues and yellows of the sundresses all started to swirl in front of her eyes. Faithwaspregnant, after all, just as that strange guy Steve had said. The one who was on the list. Thoughts came stomping into her head all at once, knocking into each other like bumper cars.Could he have killed her over some dispute and murdered his own child too? But would Steve really have been Faith’s boyfriend in the first place? He was just so odd. Or did someone else do it, maybe in a jealous rage or who knows what?
Reaching out to steady herself, she held the cool metal rackwhere the dresses were as tears started to pop into her eyes. A baby gone too. Not just one life but two. Faith would have been such a good mother. Carol could only imagine how cute her son or daughter would have been, and Carol would have bet the house that Faith would have shared a lot about the baby on her videos, so this was a lost opportunity for the whole community to follow along on her mom journey.
Carol’s phone buzzed again, a different type of buzz indicating an alert but not from Channel 9. She looked down to see Facebook Messenger with a notification. She clicked on the app to open the message.
Carol, it’s Heather from the vigil yesterday. I just got a breaking news alert about Faith being pregnant and I’m absolutely sick. Chloe and I were already discussing a scholarship. Now that Channel 9 is doing one we thought the FWFFC could try and be the biggest donor. We’re getting a big group together after work tonight to discuss it. Would you be able to attend?
Carol knew her answer almost immediately. Whereas before she thought Heather was level-jumping, now this was a different story. Heather was working with Chloe, so this clearly wasn’t a “hey, let’s get together just the two of us” situation, and there was a baby to consider, for God’s sake. It changed the dynamic of everything. Not to mention… Steve. Maybe that weird guy would be there and Carol could keep an eye on him and look for clues.
When and where are you meeting?
Heather said 5:30 at a coffee shop that was just a little out of the way of Carol’s usual route home. Carol confirmed she would be there. She knew she had to help out. It was another way to honor Faith, and now the baby. She would donate money, solicit others, do whatever was needed to bring justice for Faith. And she wouldn’t tell a soul about what Olivia had found out. That would stay secret. Between the two of them they had three suspects cased out. Olivia could watch Matthew and Laura, and Carol could watch Steve. If they could figure out who Kelly was, they’d be in really good shape.
It was a start. Carol had a laser eye on Steve now. She would be watching him very, very closely.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Laura
June 4
She pulled into the parking lot at Channel 9 at 2:30PM, the usual time for the start of her night shift. But Laura had to sit in her car collecting herself before going in. Her eyes were burning from lack of sleep, and her mind was a pinball machine stuck at some warp speed, the ball zinging back and forth uncontrollably. She was thinking of so many things: Faith’s death, Perry and his latest shenanigans to get ratings, Elliott being out of town so much, and, of course, Quinn. Her baby would always be her top priority and at the forefront of her mind.
Quinn had been up and fussy a lot the night before. But at least his mood seemed to match Laura’s. She was up and fussy too. She rocked and rocked him and put him on the breast so many times her nipples were sore. It was the evening following the vigil and she thought Quinn would be exhausted from the event she had to drag him to, but instead he was wired, arching his back and crying when she put him back in the crib. At one point she literally begged him to sleep, and finally resorted to lying on the floor of Quinn’s room on the rug decorated in rocketships under the crib, curled in a fetal position, trying to will herself even an hour of slumber.
While she dealt with Quinn, Elliott slumbered in the other room soundly. He had arrived home from his guys’ camping weekend later than he said he would. He never took a phone with him on these weekends and she had been waiting all day to tell him about Faith’s death, and as soon as she heard his car in the garage, she ran out to share this horrific series of events he missed while gone.
Breathlessly, she recounted the details, from Friday night when she went to the weather office and Faith wasn’t there to how they had to call Matthew in to do the show, to the call from Perry Saturday morning that Faith was dead, to the vigil and having to bring Quinn and speak at it. Her words tumbled over themselves.
Elliott stood stock-still next to the car listening, the tent he had taken from the trunk in his hand. When she finished he said, “Wow, that was definitely not what I expected to hear. Are you doing OK?”
She nodded, but it was a lie. She was not OK and was hoping Elliott would drop the tent, rush to her, and envelop her in his arms, smothering her with affection, but that did not seem to be his plan. He put the tent up in its spot on a rack in the garage before turning her way again.
“I hate to say this, honey, but Faith being gone does solve one problem for us. No one will be waking us up in the middle of the night anymore. Well, except for Quinn.” He chuckled a bit. Then he came over for a hug and a kiss.
“Missed you, babe,” he said. “What’s for dinner tonight?”
Laura had a hard time reconciling Elliott’s words. They were, in fact, true on some level. Faith wouldn’t be calling anymorebut also she wasdeadand that was a horrible thing. Laura wasn’t sure how to respond, so she focused on just the last part of his question.
“I was pretty beat from the vigil so I just ordered Chinese. There’s plenty for you.”
After dinner, Laura asked Elliott to help with the baby’s bath.
