“Stop,” said Hilary, holding up a hand. “There’s a warrant for DNA now. This is serious. Where’s your son? Why isn’t he with you?”
“Oh, I wanted things for him to…stay as normal as…” My voice trailed off.
“Mrs. Bailey—”
“Call me Liza, please.”
“Liza, this is a murder investigation. There’s a warrant for your son’s DNA, which means they have something—semen, blood, don’t know yet, but something—and they think your son’s DNA might be a match.”
I felt my mouth open slightly, made it close. “Oh my God,” I managed.
“Sorry to be abrupt, but this is very serious.”
“OK,” I said, biting my lip, a useless anger toward Hilary Bensen rising in my throat.
“Listen to me,” said Hilary. “I need you to go get your son and bring him to my office. We’ll administer the DNA test, and the three of us can have a long talk, decide where to go from here.”
“DNA test?” I said.
“Charlie is going to be OK,” said Hilary. “You hear me? It’s going to be OK. But you need to get him and bring him here. Now. There are going to be photographers looking for him; it’s just hitting the news cycle. Park in the garage—here, use this pass.”
“Reporters?” I said weakly, taking the laminated parking pass.
“Liza,” said Hilary. “Snap out of it. It’sgo time,you hearme?”
I met her gaze. “I hear you,” I said.
As she walked me out of her office, she came close, and said, “Don’t talk to any of the others, OK?” I must have looked puzzled, because she said, “The other lifeguards. Don’t let Charlie speak with them. He’s on his own now.”
-1-
Xavier
XAVIER’S STOMACH BEGINS HURTINGafter breakfast. He knows he should not have taken the smoothie from Roma. She’d been so nice about it, saying she was going to JuicyJuicy and would be happy to grab him a Peach Melba.
“I added protein powder,” she’d said, handing him the orange cup as he walked out the door to work. Would he ever stop being a fucking idiot? But they all wanted to believe she wasn’t what they all knew she was. The amazing part was that even though he knew her better than anyone—she’d taken his favorite blanket and hidden it when they were babies; she’d almost suffocated him but always stopped in time; she’d held him underwater in the pool but let him free before it was too late; she’d sent texts to friends and strangers from his phone; and on and on—he, more than anyone, wished she was the sister he wanted. His twin.
“Don’t you trust me?” she’d said, holding out the orange cup.
So he’d taken the smoothie. He’d sipped it in front of her:Yes. I trust you.
By the time he gets to work, he can barely drive. He rests his head on the steering wheel, but then opens his car door to vomit on the pavement.
He is going to have to drive himself to the hospital. Wrenching pain seizes his stomach, and he feels boiling hot.
Xavier blacks out.
-2-
Bobcat
ROBERT’S BOSS AT THERosewood Pool stops him on his way to lunch. John is a funny guy. He obviously misses being a teenager(like every other grown-up, as far as Robert can tell) but he seems to have made peace with adulthood, getting a job where he can be in the sun, enjoying his conversations with the guards and the old ladies who swim laps every morning.
Honestly, Robert would rather be John when he grows up than any other adult he knows. Even his mom makes herself smaller all the time, trying to wedge herself into some role that was never made for her.
(“Fancy Oil Wife.”)
It kills him. Can’t she just be herself?
