Fort Lupton (29 page)

“
Did he notice you?”
Noelle asked.

“
He did,” Seth said. “He
found me in the back. I think he felt sorry for me because he took
me to the bathroom and stayed with me until they came to pick me
up.”

“
Who
came to pick you up?” Noelle asked.

“
People from the school,”
Seth said. “Sandy’s mom, my advisor, and the school
president.”

“
The school president?”
Noelle asked.

“
I’d already sold a piano
symphony,” Seth said. “I was kind of a big deal.”

“
Why did Andy come?”
Noelle asked.

“
Sandy’s mom?” Seth asked.
“She was my peer-mentor. She was assigned to ‘babysit’ me. That’s
what she called me, ‘the baby.’”

“
Did you love her right
away?” Noelle asked.

“
No,” Seth said. “She was
kind of mean to me.”

“
She was?” Noelle couldn’t
imagine Sandy ever being mean to anyone. She looked
surprised.

“
She thought I was just a
stupid kid,” Seth said. “Which I was.”

“
I’m just a stupid kid,”
Noelle said.

“
Goes with the territory,”
Seth said.

“
I looked up this school
and I’m supposed to
sleep
there,” Noelle said. “In a dorm, with some kid I
don’t know!”

“
You are,” Seth said. “But
you’re not going to.”

“
I’m not?” Noelle
asked.

“
You’re going to stay with
Sissy at Bestat’s home,” Seth said.

“
I don’t have to stay in a
dorm with some kid I don’t know?” Noelle asked.

“
No,” Seth
said.

“
How come?” Noelle
asked.

“
Because it sucks to be in
a dorm room with some older kid,” Seth said.

“
It was hard for you?”
Noelle asked.

“
Actually, my roommate
took care of me,” Seth said. “He was a wonderful friend, almost a
brother. He had a few younger brothers and sisters, so he knew
how.”

“
Oh,” Noelle looked
crestfallen. “Will I miss out on that if I don’t stay in the
dorms?”

“
I think you’ll be just
fine,” Seth laughed.

The flight attendant brought a plate of
chicken fingers and mac and cheese for Noelle. Seth helped her get
settled. Noelle wolfed down her food.

“
Hungry?” Seth
asked.

Noelle nodded. Seth raised a finger to the
attendant and she brought Noelle a piece of blackberry pie with a
big scoop of ice cream on top.

“
Did Sandy make this?”
Noelle asked.

“
She did,” Seth
said.

“
It’s my favorite,” Noelle
said.

She ate fast while Seth watched.

“
Are you going to eat?”
Noelle asked.

“
I haven’t been in the
hospital,” Seth said.

Noelle nodded.

“
Will you go with me to
school?” Noelle asked.

“
I planned to,” Seth said.
“I’ll help you get signed in and go with you to your first
class.”

“
Will you be there when I
get out?” Noelle asked.

“
I think so,” Seth
said.

“
Every day?” Noelle
asked.

“
Do you think you’ll need
me to be there every day?” Seth asked.

“
No.” Noelle shook her
head. “But maybe the first day or two.”

“
Why don’t we play it by
ear?” Seth asked. “If you need me to stay, I will. If not, I
won’t.”

“
Is that okay?” Noelle
asked. She leaned into Seth. “Sometimes people don’t like me very
much.”

Seth smiled.

“
It’s true.” Noelle gave a
sincere nod.

“
That’s what happens when
you have real talent,” Seth said.

“
Why?”

“
No idea.” Seth blew out a
breath.

“
Does it happen to you?”
Noelle asked.

“
Not as much now that I’m
an old guy,” Seth said. “But when I was your age, I was the guy to
beat. You know —get a better grade than O’Malley and win a beer,
write a better song, stuff like that. I wasn’t competitive. I was
just some pawn in someone else’s game.”

“
Oh,” Noelle nodded. “I
know what you mean. Mike says you have to just focus on your art.
YOU control your art. YOU make it better or worse. That’s all that
matters.”

Seth nodded.

“
That’s what Mike says,”
Noelle said.

“
Mike and Val will come to
check on you in a couple weeks,” Seth said.

“
Sissy too?” Noelle
asked.

“
Sissy was ready to go,
prepared,” Seth said. “Plus, she’s Mitch’s daughter.”

“
Sandy’s dad?” Noelle
asked.

“
My best friend,” Seth
said. “He was always in his element when he was meeting new people,
new places. Everyone loved Mitch. Sissy is like that. She loves new
situations and thrives on challenge. But she doesn’t have Mitch’s
innate charm yet.”

“
You mean like Charlie’s
charisma?” Noelle asked.

“
Charisma, sure. Charm the
spots off a leopard? That’s Charlie,” Seth said. “I’d bet a year
from now, Sissy will have grown into herself and there will be a
lot of spotless leopards!”

Noelle smiled at the idea of a spotless
leopard. After a moment, her face fell and she shook her head.

“
I’m not prepared,” she
said.

“
You’re not,” Seth said.
“Frankly, I’m really glad you are here together.”

“
Why?”

“
Because you’ll help each
other,” Seth said. “When I was a kid, I had an older brother and a
younger brother. We were our own tribe. We helped each other out
with everything we did. My older brother was my hero.”

“
Like Nash and Charlie?”
Noelle asked.

“
Like Nash and Charlie,”
Seth said.

Noelle nodded.

“
I think I’d like to sleep
now,” Noelle said.

“
Here are your pills,”
Seth said.

“
You’ll be here when I
wake up?” Noelle asked.

“
I will,” Seth
said.

“
Thanks Grandpa,” Noelle
said.

Seth smiled and pulled the blankets up
around Noelle. She leaned into her pillow and close her eyes. A
moment later, her eyes popped open.

“
Is it okay to call you,
Grandpa?” Noelle asked.

“
If you like,” Seth said.
“You can also call me Seth. Most people call me
O’Malley.”

“
Oh,” Noelle thought for a
moment. “I like Grandpa.”

“
Then Grandpa it is,” Seth
said.

She closed her eyes. While he watched, she
relaxed into sleep. He gave her covers one more tug and went to
call Sandy.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday evening — 5:47 p.m.

Sandy tapped on the door of Yvonne and
Rodney’s home. Rodney opened the door. He was so tall and big, and
Sandy was so short and small, that Sandy stepped back.

“
Mr. Smith,” Sandy said,
and looked down.

“
Sandy!” Rodney said. He
gave her a bright smile that reminded her of Jabari. “Come in! Get
out of the cold.”

“
I only have a minute,
sir,” Sandy said.

“
What’s all this ‘sir’
stuff?” Rodney leaned down to Sandy. “Are you all
right?”

“
No, sir.” Sandy shook her
head. “I’m not all right.”

Rodney wrapped Sandy in his long, muscular
arms and held her while she shivered. In his embrace, she began to
cry.

“
What is it?” Yvonne’s
voice came from outside the cocoon of Rodney’s arms.

“
She looks like she’s had
a terrible fright,” Rodney said.

Sandy felt Yvonne’s cool, small hand on her
back. Sandy closed her eyes and let these two survivors will their
strength into her. After a moment, she took a breath, and Rodney
let go. Yvonne put her arm around Sandy and guided her through the
house to the warm kitchen.

“
Where’s Jabari?” Sandy
asked.

“
He’s resting,” Yvonne
said. “His schedule is all messed up from being in
Atlanta.”

“
I was on my way to get
him when you knocked,” Rodney said.

“
I’m sorry, but I need to
speak with Yvonne,” Sandy said. “Alone.”

“
I was just going to ask
if you’d forgive me for leaving you here,” Rodney smiled. “Jabari
likes some guy time after his afternoon nap.”

Rodney raised a hand in goodbye and left the
kitchen. Yvonne turned on the teakettle and Sandy sat down on a
barstool.

“
How can I help, Sandy?”
Yvonne asked.

“
I know it’s not fair to
bring this up,” Sandy said. “I know I shouldn’t, and if I was
Rodney, I’d be angry and . . .”

“
What is it?” Yvonne shook
her head at the flood of Sandy’s words.

“
I need you to look at
your old journal,” Sandy said. “I know
it’s . . .”

“
Okay,” Yvonne
said.

“
Okay?”

“
Sure,” Yvonne said. “If I
can help, I’m happy to.”

“
Oh.” Sandy gave a slight
smile. “Thanks.”

“
Don’t thank me yet,”
Yvonne said. “My memory is better, but not perfect.”

Sandy took the copy of Yvonne’s journal out
of her enormous handbag. She glanced at the clock.

“
I’m supposed to be
meeting with the police at 6:30 p.m.,” Sandy said.

“
Well, let’s get to it.”
Yvonne smiled.

Sandy started flipping through pages.

“
Why are we looking at
this?” Yvonne asked.

“
There were these men,”
Sandy said. “Friends of my father’s.”

“
Seth?”

“
The one who said he was
my father,” Sandy said. “Before I knew Seth or my dad.”

“
Your monster,” Yvonne
said.

“
Yes, my monster,” Sandy
said. “He’s dead.”

“
There’s a good thing.”
Yvonne nodded.

Sandy found the page she’d marked with a
Post-it. Yvonne came around the counter to stand next to Sandy.

“
I’m going to show you a
couple pages,” Sandy said.

“
What do you need from
me?” Yvonne asked.

“
I need to know if you
know their names,” Sandy said. “Anything about them.”

“
I’ll do my best,” Yvonne
said.

Sandy opened the page to one man. Yvonne
touched the picture she’d drawn and then tapped her chin. She
scowled.

“
Can I see the others?”
Yvonne asked.

Sandy showed her two other pictures. Yvonne
nodded.

“
I know these men,” Yvonne
said. “They are business partners in some financial company, like a
private bank. They finance a lot of businesses here in
Denver.”

Yvonne flipped through the pages. She looked
at one and then the other.

“
They say they are good
Catholics,” Yvonne snorted. “These men are into some kinky shit.
You would not believe . . .”

“
I don’t need to believe,”
Sandy said. “I know.”

Yvonne tipped her head and gave Sandy a
sideways look. For a moment, the two women sized each other up.

“
I’m sorry,” Yvonne said
at the same time Sandy said, “It must have been horrible for
you.”

The women hugged.

“
It’s over now,” Yvonne
said.

“
Not really,” Sandy said.
“I just had to send the kids away because some freak is trying to
keep them from testifying at this rape trial.”

“
It’s not over for
everybody.” Yvonne nodded.

“
Just for us,” Sandy
said.

“
I should have figured.”
Yvonne nodded. “What can I do?”

“
Nothing,” Sandy said.
“I’ll take care of this.”

“
But you have to go to
your meeting with the police,” Yvonne said.

Sandy nodded.

“
I could talk to my
handsome Homeland Security agent,” Yvonne said.

“
Raz is in hiding,” Sandy
said.

“
He’s in danger too!”
Yvonne’s face flushed with rage.
“How . . .?”

“
They own politicians,
agents, police . . . They get
away . . .” Sandy panted from the rage that squeezed
her heart.

“
What can I do?” Yvonne
asked.

“
There was an FBI agent,”
Sandy said. “Out of Arizona. Her name is Angela Montiz. She helped
me with my mom’s case. I think she’s our best bet.”

“
What does Seth say?”
Yvonne asked.

“
He remembered her name,”
Sandy said. “Do you remember these men’s names?”

“
Better than that,” Yvonne
said.

She went around the corner to a closet where
the trash and recycling was stored. She knelt down and flipped
through a stack of old newspapers. Pulling the Business section
from the Denver Post, she stood up.