Page 11 of Out Of A Fix

“No. Tomorrow is a teacher-in-service day, so we’re all off.”

“So as far as you know, Darwin will be at Teddy’s until tomorrow night.”

She laughed suddenly, which came off decidedly evil. It surprised me, but I loved the sound. She was utterly adorable. “I don’t think so. He forgot about something.”

“And what’s that?” I asked, unable not to smile.

“Teddy’s family, they’re church people, and I’ll bet you a dollar that Teddy’s mom brings Darwin home today because we’re not church people and he won’t want to go.”

“Why aren’t you church people?”

“Because my mom is a Wiccan—that’s why our front door used to be purple before Dad painted it—and Dad is an atheist. He says if there was a God, then all the bad things that happen in the world wouldn’t be allowed because how does that make any sense?”

I was not about to have a discussion of faith with her midmorning on a Sunday, so I let that go. “So you think Darwin will get dropped off here shortly before church.”

“Yep.”

“Okay. Is Griffin here?”

She shook her head. “He left on Friday night before Aunt Shelly was supposed to visit.”

And now I was getting mad, so I took a breath to calm down. “So you’ve been here alone since Friday night?”

Quick nod.

I grinned at her. “You’re very brave. When I was ten, I don’t know that I would have been able to be all alone.”

She pointed to the left. “Well, Mr. Simmons has friends over on the weekends, Friday night and Saturday, and it’s always super loud, and even though it’s cold outside, he still barbecues, which other people think is weird but I think is cool. He also has a smoker. He brought me brisket and mashed potatoes last night, and it was yummy.”

“Okay.”

She then pointed to the right. “Miss Tabitha and Miss Melody are friends who’ve lived together forever, and they have two big dogs named Zeus and Hades. They brought me corned beef and cabbage on Friday. I ate the corned beef but not the cabbage. The cabbage was gross.”

Nice neighbors, check. “Okay, good. But where is Griffin, do you know?”

She shook her head. “But I think someone left a message on the machine.”

I was surprised. “You guys have an answering machine?”

“Yeah. Dad has it for his business, plus he doesn’t trust people to leave messages on his cell phone. He says it’s safer on a landline.”

“Wow,” I murmured, glancing around for it. “That’s old-school.”

There was a built-in at the edge of the dining room, against the wall that on the other side of, were the stairs that led to the second floor. There was a small ledge with empty glass cabinets above it, and to the right was the phone I grew up with, beige, with buttons, and beside it sat an answering machine. It was not quite as antiquated as the phone, digital instead of tape, but still, it belonged in a museum. This was crazy.

I hit the button, listened, and found out that Griffin Duchesne had been taken into custody by the Eena PD. He would be held at the police station—which I knew from the files Owen had compiled, doubled as a jail with how small the town was—and would be held there until such time as his father, or guardian, came to pick him up. He was found passed out, drunk, in the empty lot next to the high school. By law, they had to add the guardian part, but they knew—they had to have—that Mrs. Duchesne was gone. With Luke out of town, Griffin was looking at a long stay.

I had done my reading on the plane about the police department in Eena. They worked with Newcastle, who in turn fell under the purview of the King County Sheriff’s Office. Basically, if Eena PD needed help, they contacted Newcastle, but normally, they easily handled whatever issues arose. On staff was the chief, two officers and a receptionist.

“All right, Tatum, we gotta go spring your brother.”

“From the big house,” she teased, waggling her eyebrows.

I chuckled. “Go change quick, and we’ll go.”

Since she was in Barbie pajamas and fluffy pink socks, she nodded and bolted out of the kitchen. At the same moment, the sliding glass door leading to the back deck opened, and Darwin Duchesne walked into the house.

My first thought was, great, both doors had been unlocked for God knew how long. That wasn’t going to give me a heart attack at all. My second was that thirteen-year-old Darwin was not dressed like his friend. The other boy, who I assumed was Teddy from what Tatum had told me, was wearing a white shirt tucked into dress pants and a tie. He was followed into the house by a woman in ivory palazzo pants and a black shirt beneath a long cardigan. Two of them appeared as though they were off to somewhere fancy, while Darwin, in jeans, a Harvard sweatshirt, and sneakers, was not.