Suspicions (8 page)

The women walked out to the parking lot with
Patricia approaching her late model car and Stacey getting into her
well-worn one.

“Don't forget, Stacey. I'll stop by
tonight.”

Stacey just nodded, thankful to be going
home. So many things were flying through her mind that it was hard
to concentrate on the road. One was her concern for Kyle. Then
there was her question about Jason's car and what that meant. Her
concern for Amanda's well-being was close behind, and lastly was
her curiosity about Patricia and what had happened to her
husband.

When she arrived home, she thought of a way
to find out if Jason still owned the little brown car. Going
online, she looked up the phone number for the Department of Motor
Vehicles.

“Can you tell me what cars are registered to
Jason Hunter?” she asked the woman who answered.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I can’t give that
information over the phone. I would need Mr. Hunter to come into
the DMV with photo identification before I can share that
information.”

“Oh. Well, if I had the VIN for a certain
car, could you tell me who the registered owner is?”

“Again, I’d need you to come into the DMV for
that.”

Stacey thanked the woman and hung up,
frustrated that she hadn’t learned anything.

I don’t have the VIN for that old car anyway,
she thought.

Wandering over to the front window, Stacey
gazed at Amanda’s house and fought with herself over whether to
report the information Robby had told her. On the one hand, she
thought, it could be a critical clue in Kyle’s kidnapping. On the
other hand, it could possibly lead to Jason’s arrest.

But Jason couldn’t kidnap a child, could he?
Stacey wondered. Could he be that desperate for money that he would
kidnap a child for ransom? Wouldn’t I know if he was planning such
a thing?

Again she recalled her father and the
complete shock it had been when he’d been arrested for theft.

The smell of chocolate filled the air as
Patricia pulled out the batch of cookies. She hummed to herself as
she scooped the fresh treats off of the baking sheet and set them
on the cooling rack.

“I haven’t made chocolate chip cookies in a
long time,” she said to the empty room. “At least not since Mr.
Summers was here.”

Most of the dough was gone when she poured in
half a cup of walnuts.

“These are just for you, Stacey,” she said as
she watched the beaters spin. “A special treat for a special wife
and mommy.” She turned off the mixer as she spoke.

The finished product was placed on a paper
plate, separate from the plain chocolate chip cookies. Patricia
covered both plates in colorful plastic wrap and set them by the
front door.

Later that afternoon, after the children had
their after school snacks and were settling down to play, a knock
sounded at the door. Before Stacey could stop him, Robby ran to the
door and threw it open.

“Hello, young man. My name is Detective
Perkins. Is your mother home?”

Robby had always been taught that policemen
were his friends, so he opened the door wider and invited him in.
“I'll go get my mom. You can go in there,” he said, pointing to the
living room.

Stacey was in the kitchen trying to steady
her breathing before going in to talk to the Detective. Robby
hardly gave her a chance. He ran in, shouting, “Mom, Mom, there's a
policeman in our house and he wants to talk to you.” When she
hesitated he pulled on her arm. “Come on, Mom. Go talk to him.”

Wiping her suddenly sweaty hands on her
jeans, she followed him into the front room.

Forcing a smile on her face, Stacey entered
the room as Perkins held out his hand.

“Mrs. Hunter, I was wondering if I could ask
Robby a couple of questions about his friend, Kyle.” When she
hesitated, he added, “You can stay with him the entire time if
you'd like.”

She certainly couldn't refuse now, she
realized with horror. She thought her jaw would crack from the
effort of keeping the smile on her face.

Detective Perkins turned his attention to
Robby, who was more than happy to tell him all he knew. When the
description of the car came up Stacey held her breath. Her heart
pounded when Perkins looked her way.

“How long have you known Robby was an
eyewitness, Mrs. Hunter?”

“I told her this morning,” Robby said
helpfully.

Perkins gave her a questioning look.

“I'm sorry, I guess I should have called
you,” Stacey said, fresh guilt and worry rushing through her.

His look was incredulous. “Do you realize
your delay could be hurting Kyle?”

She shook her head, uncertain what to
say.

“If you learn anything else, anything at all,
please call me immediately.” He handed her his card.

“I'll be sure to do that,” she said, then
thought, he would be furious if he knew what I was withholding. She
stood and walked him to the door.

After he left, Robby asked, “When is Kyle
coming home?”

“I don't know, sweetheart. I hope he comes
home soon.”

“Am I going to be kidnapped, Mom?”

She immediately took him into her arms. “Of
course not, Robby. You're perfectly safe.”

He didn't look convinced. “But Kyle got
kidnapped.”

Sitting on the couch, she pulled him down
next to her and tried to explain. “Robby, there are lots of people
in the world and most of them are good, kind people.” She
hesitated, wondering how to explain this. “But there are a few
people who are not so kind.”

“Like the kidnapper,” he interjected.

“Right. Like the kidnapper. And people have
different reasons for doing things.” His brows had become furrowed,
deep in concentration. Stacey continued. “They took Kyle because
they wanted some money from his parents. They knew Kyle's parents
would give them money if they would give Kyle back.” She hoped the
explanation would satisfy him.

“Would you and Daddy pay money to get me
back?”

She pulled him close. “Of course we would,
Robby. We love you very much. But, you see, Kyle's mom and dad have
a lot of money. Daddy and I don't. So no one would want to take our
money.” She looked him in the eyes. “Do you understand?”

He nodded slowly. “I guess.”

Stacey rubbed his back. “If you'd like, you
can go watch cartoons for a while.”

She sent him off to watch television with
Nikki, glad his fears could so easily be put to rest.

Her own fears were something else, she
thought as she gnawed on a fingernail, a habit she thought she had
given up in junior high. She deliberated for a while on what to do
about Jason and finally decided she would ask him about the old
brown car that night after they'd put the children to bed. In the
meantime she would act as normal as possible around him.

Before she knew it, it was time to get dinner
started. Quickly fixing a casserole, she put it in the oven then
went into the office to prepare a few necessary things for that
night's party. While she was engrossed in packing up the needed
items, a hand came down on her shoulder. She shrieked and the
little lipstick samples she had been holding went flying into the
air. “Don't do that!” she said, when she saw it was Jason.

“I'm sorry,” he laughed. “Why are you so
jumpy anyway?”

It suddenly occurred to her how to test him.
“Detective Perkins came by today.” She stopped, waiting to see his
reaction, then went on when he didn't answer. “I couldn't keep him
from talking to Robby.”

“And did Robby have anything interesting to
say?”

Not knowing how to take his neutral response,
she said, “Why don’t you ask him? I’m sure he’d be happy to tell
you all about it. Besides, I need to clean up this mess.”

All smiles, he said, “Sure, honey. I'll go
check on the kids.”

He left the room and after a moment Stacey
quietly followed him down the hall. She stood around the corner
from the family room where no one could see her. If someone came
around the corner she wouldn't know it until they were practically
standing on her toes. Trying to quiet her breathing and slow her
racing heart, she listened to the voices coming from the adjacent
room.

Jason spoke and Robby answered. She couldn’t
make out what they were saying but Jason didn’t sound upset. That
was a good sign, she thought.

Then she heard the soft sound of footsteps on
thick carpet. She was frozen to the spot.

“What are you doing, Mommy?” Nikki asked,
coming around the corner.

Jason was right behind her, his face amused
like he had known what she was up to the whole time. “Yeah, Stacey.
What are you doing?”

Embarrassed to be caught eavesdropping, she
walked past them. “I was just coming to check on dinner.”

It was eight-thirty that evening when Stacey
pulled away from the house where the make-up demonstration had been
held. She felt satisfied by the night's work, but was glad to be
getting home early. When she turned the corner to her street she
saw Patricia's car in the driveway - in Stacey's spot.

She felt an ache beginning behind her right
eye. Patricia knew I wouldn't be home for a little while, Stacey
reminded herself. What is she doing here already?

Stacey had to pull up at the curb.

Upon entering the house she could hear
Patricia's throaty laughter followed by Jason's masculine voice.
Stacey felt uneasy, but pushed the feeling away and walked into the
family room where her husband and children were sharing a bowl of
popcorn with her director. Stacey almost felt like an intruder.

Stacey looked directly at Patricia. “You're
early.”

She was all innocence. “Am I? I thought you
said you'd be home by eight.”

Had she been here that long? Stacey felt
greatly irritated. She was almost certain Patricia knew they had
agreed on nine. “Do you have the products?”

Patricia gave Jason an engaging smile. “Jason
was kind enough to help me carry the boxes into the other
room.”

Stacey looked at Jason with a smile that did
not reach her eyes. “Thank you, honey.”

The silence stretched on uncomfortably until
Patricia stood and put on her coat. “Well, I guess I'll be going
now.” She turned back to Jason. “Thank you for the popcorn.”

“Sure thing,” he said, staring at the
now-empty bowl.

“Oh, and Stacey? I brought over some cookies
for you. The ones with the nuts are especially for you.” She smiled
at Jason. “I know you and the children don’t care for nuts.”

“Thanks,” Stacey said, opening the door for
Patricia. As they stepped onto the porch Stacey let out a
shriek.

“What in the world is wrong?” Patricia
asked.

Stacey didn’t say anything. Grimacing, she
pointed at a large black spider that hung near the front door.
Patricia took off one high-heeled shoe and smashed the spider
against the house. Embarrassed by her fright, Stacey didn’t say
anything.

“All better now,” Patricia said. She turned
to go but stopped and twisted back to Stacey. “Sorry about getting
here early. Sometimes it gets so quiet at my house that I just
can’t stand it.” Then she walked out to her car and left.

I wonder where her husband is, Stacey thought
before going back into the house.

When she went back inside she could hear
Jason putting the children to bed. He's probably trying to avoid
me, she thought. She walked to her bedroom to change into a pair of
sweats but stopped in her tracks as she stood in the doorway.
Stacked neatly in one corner of her bedroom were several boxes with
“Beautiful You” written on them.

Calmly changing into sweats, Stacey waited
while Jason put the children to bed. At Patricia's parting words
she had felt sorry for her and her irritation had diminished. But
now . . .

When she heard Jason go into the family room
she went into the children's rooms and kissed them goodnight. Then
she walked into the family room where Jason was suddenly engrossed
in a television program. An unfamiliar scent of perfume lingered in
the air. She picked up the remote and turned off the
television.

“Hey,” he said in annoyance.

“What was Patricia doing in our bedroom? You
know perfectly well that I keep my products in the office.”

He let out a heavy sigh. “When she got here I
offered to help her carry the boxes in.”

“Yeah, I know how helpful you can be,” she
said.

He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, she got to the
front door first and I just followed her in. She headed to our
bedroom and I didn't want to embarrass her by telling her that was
the wrong room. I was planning to put the stuff in our office
before you got home.”

“I'll bet you were.”

He was getting exasperated. “Look. She's your
boss. I was just trying to be polite.”

Though bothered by his actions, she knew she
shouldn't jump to conclusions. “I'm sorry, Jason. It's been a bad
day. I guess I'm just on edge.”

“By the way, your sister called. She
mentioned you sounded upset and you said it was urgent.” His
eyebrows drew together. “What's going on?”

She was caught off guard. “Nothing. I just
wanted to tell her about Kyle, that's all.” She hesitated, thinking
about the brown car with the red trunk. “Jason?”

“Yeah?”

“Remember that old brown Toyota Celica you
used to own?”

“Yeah? What about it?”

“When did you sell it?”

An expression of surprise flashed across his
features, but he quickly recovered. “I don’t remember.” He paused.
“I’m tired, Stacey. I’m going to bed.” He suddenly grinned and
walked over to her, pulling her into his arms. “Are you
coming?”

Though his answer had been vague, Stacey felt
reassured by his strength and knew she had to believe he was
innocent of anything to do with Kyle’s kidnapping. He gazed into
her eyes and she felt drawn to him. She slid her arms around his
neck and whispered in his ear. “Let’s go to bed early tonight.”