In Sickness And In Death Part 3

Erica handed me her prescription as we stepped into the hall outside Dr. Albert's office. "He said to get this filled on our way home. And we need to pick up my car from The Cat's Meow. I have to work tonight."

I put my hand on her arm to bring her to a halt. "Did you talk to Dr. Albert about your poor self-image, your drinking, and that stuff about being a receptacle?"

"Yes, Jolene." Erica resumed walking, kicking the new fallen snow into the air. "He says my medication helps promote weight loss."

"Really?" I read the prescription. It was for the same stuff she'd been taking for the last year, maybe a higher dosage. The fact sheet from the pharmacy said it could promote bloating. Good thing Erica never read the fact sheets.

"He also said studies have shown that women's hymens can regenerate after months of celibacy. I'm going to be a born-again virgin."

I stopped walking. She took a few more steps, missed me, and turned around.

We couldn't have this conversation in front of Danny, and I didn't want to lose the opportunity. "What are you talking about?"

"I offered to go home with one of the guys at the bar last month. We did it before, a couple years back. He pa.s.sed. He said my receptacle has been used one time too many and was stretched out like a chicken that had laid too many eggs. Then n.o.body wanted to go home with me anymore, not even this guy who always sits around until after two a.m. talking to me. And he's not even that good-looking."

This must be what Ray meant when he said Erica was making a fool of herself all over town. She'd been begging men to take her home. Ugh!

I resumed walking. Erica followed.

"A guy over at The Cat's Meow liked me. He wanted to take me home, but Gumby wouldn't let him." She twirled her hair. "Gumby's just jealous. He wanted to make it with me a couple months ago, but I turned him down."

I stumbled and righted myself. Gumby got married five months ago. Was he cheating on his wife already? I shouldn't be so surprised with his track record. But Erica was Ray's sister-in-law. Gumby should show more deference to his comrade-in-arms.

"Dr. Albert said I could be a virgin again if I abstain for a few months. Then my receptacle will be brand new." Erica twirled in circles across the parking lot. "He's so smart. He might even want me then."

I didn't attempt to explain all her faulty logic, nor did I question the quality of Dr. Albert's therapy. Abstaining sounded like a wonderful idea to me. At least it would keep her out of The Cat's Meow.

We climbed into the front seat of the car. I turned over the ignition and glanced over my shoulder as I clicked the gear into reverse.

The back seat was empty.

I slammed the car into park and leapt out of the car. "Danny? Danny?"

My gaze swept the parking lot and the grounds beyond. I couldn't spot any movement other than a plastic bag blowing with the wind.

I raced into the office building and crashed through the door to Dr. Albert's waiting room. No sign of Danny.

I ran back outside. Erica met me at the door. "Did you find him?"

"No."

I darted across the parking lot, threw open my car door, and wrenched my cell phone from my purse. My hands shook as I dialed Ray.

He answered on the second ring.

"He's gone."

"Danny?"

"Yes, yes! I left him in the car outside Dr. Albert's office. I locked him in and told him not to open the doors for anyone. I came out with Erica and he was gone."

My mouth felt dry. A lump formed in my throat. I'd lost another child.

"Do you think someone took him, Ray?"

"I doubt it. I'll issue an Amber Alert anyway. What was he wearing?"

I told him.

"Okay. Stay right there. I'm on my way."

I hit the end b.u.t.ton and met Erica by the trunk of the car. "Ray's coming. He doesn't think anyone took him. Danny must have taken off by himself."

Erica kicked a stone across the parking lot. She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. "You didn't tell Danny I wanted you to give him back, did you?"

____.

Ten minutes later Ray arrived. He sent me into the building to knock on all the office doors while he conducted a car-by-car search of the parking lot. The psychiatric center sat a quarter-mile off the nearest artery, so he reasoned that Danny didn't walk away. We would have spotted him.

No one in the office building had seen Danny, nor had the guard inside the psych center. I returned to the parking lot where Ray was talking on his radio.

"Erica said a car was parked next to you when you pulled in. Do you remember what kind of car it was, Darlin'?"

I looked at the spot where Erica stood, outlining a car with frantic waves of her arms. A faint car shape remained in the snow-covered parking lot. "It was a white car, Jo. I remember."

I closed my eyes and visualized pulling into the parking spot. "A white Toyota Camry, a 1996 maybe."

Ray announced that information over his radio.

A male voice responded, "I got a white Camry in sight. Southbound on Pinion Heights. O-o-o-h. Correction, make that stationary at the Charleston intersection. He just rear-ended a Volvo."

"I'm on my way." Ray leapt into his car and took off, siren blaring.

Erica looked at me. "Aren't you going to follow him?"

We chased Ray's sheriff's car, exceeding the speed limit without fear of being stopped since every available officer was on Danny's trail. I did slow down after sliding a few feet through a red light on the fresh snow.

Ray had pulled over about five miles from the psych center, joining a line of parked cars. Danny sat on the side of the road with his head between his knees. A paramedic knelt in the gra.s.s next to him, talking to him.

Another sheriff's deputy and a state police officer stood in the road with what looked to be the driver of the other vehicle, a Volvo station wagon. His arms waved as he spoke to the officers.

Erica and I avoided them and approached Danny.

Ray got to him first.

"Danny!"

He looked up and quivered. I couldn't blame him. Ray's nostrils were flaring, his neck flushed.

"Where did you get this car, Danny?"

"It's my dad's."

"Bulls.h.i.t."

So much for the no swearing rule.

Danny jumped to his feet. "It is."

"Danny, it was parked in the psych center lot, next to Jolene's car. Why would your dad leave his car there?"

"I dunno, but he did. These are his keys." Danny pulled them from his pocket and dangled them in front of Ray.

Ray s.n.a.t.c.hed them from his hand. I could see the initial P on the key chain. So could Ray. The flush on his neck started to fade. He marched over to the Camry.

We all chased after him.

He tried the ignition. It turned over.

Ray shut it down and opened the glove box. It was empty.

He checked the back seat, under the front seats and the floor mats, and in the seat pockets. All empty.

Ray walked around to the trunk and opened the lid.

A Styrofoam ice chest sat in the middle of the s.p.a.ce. Ray glanced at Danny, who shrugged.

Ray lifted the lid off the chest. A cloud of dry ice rose. It cleared.

We all leaned in.

Erica screamed. She darted onto the sidewalk and gulped fresh air.

I tried to swallow the bile that had washed up my throat and onto my tongue.

Danny took a step back, biting his lip, his body trembling. "My bad. It's not my dad's car. I found the keys in the ignition. Honest."

Ray's eyes reduced to slits.

"Go stand on the sidewalk next to Erica, Danny. Don't say another word."

The other two officers had joined Ray and me behind the car. One of them leaned into the trunk and whipped his head out in the blink of an eye. "What the f-"

What was not in question. It was more who.

A woman's forearm sat in the middle of the ice chest, red fingernails embedded with tiny sparkling rhinestones, the index finger sporting a gigantic ruby ring to match, and the wrist, gold bangles, one studded with rubies. It would have been an attractive limb, but for the naked sinew, dried blood, and raw flesh right about where the elbow should have been. That was the image that kept the bile high in my throat.

That, and the thought that somewhere a woman was missing an arm, and I imagined, most likely her life.

Ray kept Danny with him and sent Erica and me packing. When I saw fear in Danny's eyes, I protested. A bolt of lightning flashed from Ray's eyes into mine. Raising my hands in defeat, I relinquished all custody of the child, giving Danny a light squeeze on the shoulder in support.

As I drove Erica back to The Cat's Meow to collect her car, I hoped that Ray would bring Danny home tonight. Juvenile detention wouldn't do anything to solve his problems, and I didn't like to picture him alone there with all the big bad boys.

Erica and I pulled into the parking lot at The Cat's Meow around three o'clock, after stopping at the drugstore to fill Erica's prescription and have her swallow the first dose.

The strip club had opened at noon. About a dozen cars were in the lot. Erica's black Porsche 944 sat alone, looking forlorn, at the far edge of the lot next to a corn field that still needed to be plowed under. I felt a little forlorn myself, since the Porsche used to be mine. I'd given it to her when I had to buy a four-door Lexus to accommodate Noelle's car seat. Seeing the Porsche now made me mourn her as well as my father. He'd bought the Porsche from an insurance company after it bounced off two trees and a Winnebago. He completed the restoration work himself. The car had been my high school graduation present. Every time Erica ground the gears, I cringed. I'm sure my dad did, too.

Erica slid behind the wheel and backed out. As I followed her out of the parking lot, a woman with fiery red hair stormed out of the strip club and wedged her considerable bulk into a yellow Mustang convertible. Her lips were moving the whole time as though she had someone to talk to, but she was the only one in sight.

A message from Cory awaited me on the answering machine when I arrived home.

"Hey Jo, I'll be bringing a guest tomorrow. What time should we come? Call me. Bye."

I dialed the number at the shop. Cory answered on the third ring.

"How's your day going, Cory?"

"Good. The dealers for the Caterhams returned your calls. They're both headed out of town for the holiday, so you can try them again on Monday."

"Okay. Listen, come by around two tomorrow. We'll eat at four."

"Great. What can I bring?"

"How about an hors d'oeuvre of some kind?"

"Okay. Brennan said he would make candied yams."

"Brennan? Brennan Rowe?"

Cory sounded sheepish when he replied "Yes."

I sank onto the couch. This was an interesting turn of events. We both knew Brennan as a customer, but Cory never let on that he might have a greater interest in the man. "Are you guys dating?"

"Sort of. We went to dinner a week ago, and he came to see me in the show the other night. We went out for coffee afterwards."

"So Thanksgiving will be your third date?"

"Is that a problem?"

"I guess not." But it could be. Danny, the delinquent, might be in attendance. At least Cory and Brennan didn't carry purses for him to pilfer from, but who knows what he might do next? And Erica wasn't exactly Miss Sunshine lately. Neither was I, for that matter. And who knew what kind of mood Ray might be in at the start of an investigation. G.o.d forbid, he might even have to work tomorrow and stick me with the turkey and all of them. I started to ask Cory if he really wanted to expose Brennan to all of us, but he had to hang up to take another call.

I would hope for the best.

____.

Ray arrived home around six o'clock with Danny in tow. He immediately led Danny into the nursery and sat him in the rocking chair with instructions not to move. He closed the door, and I followed him into the kitchen.

"Why is Danny in there?"