Just One Look (2004) (29 page)

A few minutes later she told Max and Emma to get ready. They were going for a ride. Both children grabbed their Game Boys and piled into the back of the car. Scott Duncan moved toward the passenger seat. Cram cut him off.

"Problem?" Duncan said.

"I want to talk to Ms. Lawson before you go. Stay here."

Duncan snapped a sarcastic salute. Cram gave him a look that could have held back a weather front. He and Grace stepped into the back room. Cram closed the door.

"You know you shouldn't go with him."

"Maybe not. But I have to."

Cram chewed on his lower lip. He didn't like it, but he understood. "Do you carry a purse?"

"Yes."

"Let me see it."

She showed it to him. Cram pulled a gun out of his waist. It was small, almost toylike. "This is a Glock nine-millimeter, model 26."

Grace held up her hands. "I don't want that."

"Keep it in your purse. You can also wear it in an ankle holster but you'll need long pants."

"I've never fired a gun in my life."

"Experience is overrated. You aim for the middle of the chest, you squeeze the trigger. It's not complicated."

"I don't like weapons."

Cram shook his head.

"What?"

"Maybe I'm mistaken, but didn't somebody threaten your daughter today?"

That made her pause. Cram put the gun in her purse. She did not fight him.

"How long are you going to be gone?" Cram asked.

"Couple of hours, tops."

"Mr. Vespa will be here at 7 P.M. He says it's important that he speaks to you."

"I'll be here."

"You sure you trust this Duncan guy?"

"I'm not sure. But I think we're safe with him."

Cram nodded. "Let me add a little insurance on that front."

"How?"

Cram said nothing. He escorted her back. Scott Duncan was on his cell phone. Grace did not like what she saw on Duncan's face. He finished up his call when he spotted them.

"What?"

Scott Duncan shook his head. "Can we go now?"

Cram walked toward him. Duncan did not back down, but there was definitely an understandable flinch. Cram stopped directly in front of him, stuck out his hand, wiggled his fingers. "Let me see your wallet."

"Pardon me?"

"Do I look like the kind of guy who enjoys repeating himself?"

Scott Duncan glanced at Grace. She nodded. Cram still had the fingers wiggling. Duncan handed Cram his wallet. Cram brought it over to a table and sat down. He quickly rifled through the contents, taking notes.

"What are you doing?" Duncan asked.

"While you're gone, Mr. Duncan, I'm going to learn everything about you." He looked up. "If Ms. Lawson is harmed in any way, my response will be"--Cram stopped, looked up as though searching for the word--"disproportionate. I make myself clear?"

Duncan looked at Grace. "Who the hell is this guy?"

Grace was already moving toward the door. "We'll be fine, Cram."

Cram shrugged, tossed Duncan his wallet. "Have a delightful drive."

No one talked for the first five minutes of the ride. Max and Emma used their headphones with the Game Boys. Grace had bought the headphones recently because the beeps and buzzes and Luigi shouting "Mamma Mia!" every two minutes gave her a headache. Scott Duncan sat next to her with his hands in his lap.

"So who was on the phone?" Grace asked.

"A coroner."

Grace waited.

"Remember how I told you that I had my sister's body exhumed?" he said.

"Yes."

"The police didn't really see a need for it. Too expensive. I understand, I guess. Anyway I paid for it myself. I know this person, used to work for a country M.E., who does private autopsies."

"And he's the one who called you?"

"It's a she. Her name is Sally Li."

"And?"

"And she says she needs to see me right away." Duncan looked over at her. "Her office is in Livingston. We can hit it on the way back." He turned back away. "I'd like you to come with me, if that's okay."

"To a morgue?"

"No, nothing like that. Sally does the actual autopsy work at St. Barnabas Hospital. This is just an office where she does her paperwork. There's a waiting room we can stick the kids in."

Grace did not reply.

The Bedminster condos were generic, which, when you're talking about condos, is something of a repetition in terms. They had the prefab light-brown aluminum siding, three levels, garages underneath, every building identical to the one to its right and to its left and behind it and in front of it. The complex was huge and sprawling, a khaki-coated ocean stretching as far as the eye could see.

For Grace, the route here had been familiar. Jack drove by this on his way to work. They had, for a very brief moment, debated moving into this condo development. Neither Jack nor Grace was particularly good with their hands or enjoyed fix-the-old-home shows on cable. Condos held that appeal--you pay a monthly fee, you don't worry about the roof or an addition or the landscaping or any of that. There were tennis courts and a swimming pool and, yes, a playground for children. But in the end there was just so much conformity one could take. Suburbia is already a subworld of sameness. Why add insult to injury by making your physical abode conform too?

Max spotted the complicated, brightly hued playground before the car had come to a complete stop. He was raring to sprint for the swing set. Emma looked more bored with the prospect. She held onto her Game Boy. Normally Grace would have protested--Game Boy in the car only, especially when the alternative was fresh air--but again now did not seem the time.

Grace cupped her hand over her eyes as they started moving away. "I can't leave them alone."

"Mrs. Alworth lives right here," Duncan said. "We can stay in the doorway and watch them."

They approached the door on the first level. The playground was quiet. The air was still. Grace inhaled deeply and smelled the freshly cut grass. They stood side-by-side, she and Duncan. He rang the bell. Grace waited by the door, feeling oddly like a Jehovah's Witness.

A cackling voice not unlike the witch in an old Disney film said, "Who is it?"

"Mrs. Alworth?"

Again the cackle: "Who is it?"

"Mrs. Alworth, it's Scott Duncan."

"Who?"

"Scott Duncan. We spoke a few weeks ago. About your son, Shane."

"Go away. I have nothing to say to you."

Grace picked up an accent now. Boston area.

"We could really use your help."

"I don't know nothing. Go away."

"Please, Mrs. Alworth, I need to talk to you about your son."

"I told you. Shane lives in Mexico. He's a good boy. He helps poor people."

"We need to ask about some of his old friends." Scott Duncan looked at Grace, nodded for her to say something.

"Mrs. Alworth," Grace said.

The cackle was more wary now. "Who's that?"

"My name is Grace Lawson. I think my husband knew your son."

There was silence now. Grace turned away from the door and watched Max and Emma. Max was on a corkscrew slide. Emma sat cross-legged and played the Game Boy.

Through the door, the cackling voice asked, "Who's your husband?"

"Jack Lawson."

Nothing.

"Mrs. Alworth?"

"I don't know him."

Scott Duncan said, "We have a picture. We'd like to show it to you."

The door opened. Mrs. Alworth wore a housedress that couldn't have been manufactured after the Bay of Pigs. She was in her mid-seventies, heavyset, the kind of big aunt who hugs you and you disappear in the folds. As a kid you hate the hug. As an adult you long for it. She had varicose veins that resembled sausage casing. Her reading glasses dangled against her enormous chest from a chain. She smelled faintly of cigarette smoke.

"I don't have all day," she said. "Show me this picture."

Scott Duncan handed her the photograph.

For a long time the old woman said nothing.

"Mrs. Alworth?"

"Why did someone cross her out?" she asked.

"That was my sister," Duncan said.

She flicked a glance his way. "I thought you said you were an investigator."

"I am. My sister was murdered. Her name was Geri Duncan."

Mrs. Alworth's face went white. Her lip started to tremble. "She's dead?"

"She was murdered. Fifteen years ago. Do you remember her?"

She seemed to have lost her bearings. She turned to Grace and snapped, "What do you keep looking at?"

Grace was facing Max and Emma. "My children." She gestured toward the playground. Mrs. Alworth followed suit. She stiffened. She seemed lost now, confused.

"Did you know my sister?" Duncan asked.

"What does this have to do with me?"

His voice was stern now. "Yes or no, did you know my sister?"

"I can't remember. It was a long time ago."

"Your son dated her."

"He dated a lot of girls. Shane was a handsome boy. So was his brother, Paul. He's a psychologist in Missouri. Why don't you leave me alone and talk to him?"

"Try to think." Scott's voice rose a notch. "My sister was murdered." He pointed to the picture of Shane Alworth. "That's your son, isn't it, Mrs. Alworth?"

She stared down at the strange photograph for a long time before nodding.

"Where is he?"

"I told you before. Shane lives in Mexico. He helps poor people."

"When was the last time you spoke with him?"

"Last week."

"He called you?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"What do you mean where?"

"Did Shane call you here?"

"Of course. Where else would he call?"

Scott Duncan took a step closer. "I checked your phone records, Mrs. Alworth. You haven't gotten or made an international call in the past year."

"Shane uses one of those phone cards," she said too quickly. "Maybe the phone companies don't pick those up, how I should know?"

Duncan took another step closer. "Listen to me, Mrs. Alworth. And please listen closely. My sister is dead. There is no sign of your son anywhere. This man here"--he pointed to the picture of Jack--"her husband, Jack Lawson, he's also missing. And this woman over here"--he pointed to the redheaded girl with the spaced-out eyes--"her name is Sheila Lambert. There's been no sign of her for at least ten years."

"This has got nothing to do with me," Mrs. Alworth insisted.

"Five people in the photograph. We've been able to identify four of them. They're all gone. One we know is dead. For all we know, they all are."

"I told you. Shane is--"

"You're lying, Mrs. Alworth. Your son graduated Vermont University. So did Jack Lawson and Sheila Lambert. They must have been friends. He dated my sister; we both know that. So what happened to them? Where is your son?"

Grace put a hand on Scott's arm. Mrs. Alworth was staring out now toward the playground, at the children. Her bottom lip was quivering. Her skin was ashen. Tears ran down both cheeks. She looked as if she'd fallen into a trance. Grace tried to step in her line of vision.

"Mrs. Alworth," she said gently.

"I'm an old woman."

Grace waited.

"I don't have nothing to say to you people."

Grace said, "I'm trying to find my husband." Mrs. Alworth was still staring at the playground. "I'm trying to find their father."

"Shane is a good boy. He helps people."

"What happened to him?" Grace asked.

"Leave me alone."

Grace tried to meet the older woman's gaze, but the focus was gone from her eyes. "His sister"--Grace gestured toward Duncan--"my husband, your son. Whatever happened affected us all. We want to help."

But the old woman shook her head and turned away. "My son doesn't need your help. Now go away. Please." She stepped back into her house and closed the door.

When they were back in the car, Grace said, "When you told Mrs. Alworth you checked her phone records for international calls . . ."

Duncan nodded. "It was a bluff."

The children were plugged back into their Game Boys. Scott Duncan called the coroner. She was waiting for them.

Grace said, "We're getting closer to the answer, aren't we?"

"I think so."

"Mrs. Alworth might be telling the truth. I mean, as far as she knows."

"How do you figure?" he asked.

"Something happened years ago. Jack ran away overseas. Maybe Shane Alworth and Sheila Lambert did too. Your sister, for whatever reason, hung around and ended up dead."

He did not reply. His eyes were suddenly moist. There was a tremor in the corner of his mouth.

"Scott?"

"She called me. Geri. Two days before the fire."