The Long Wait for Tomorrow (29 page)

“Granted, the money’s nice,” Donahue added. “But Mr. Redwood’s got a nice safe there. Not top of the line, but close enough. I think it’s a bit far-fetched that Kelly broke in on a revenge kick, then managed to crack the safe…. Especially if Cody’s the one he wanted to hurt.”

“But that’s not enough to clear him,” Patrick’s father said, keeping his professional opinion to himself. “I mean, you’ve still got a motive, it seems.”

Donahue sighed. “Yes, we do. And we’re rustling up a warrant to search his car.”

“And his house, I imagine,” Elizabeth added.

“We didn’t need one.” Randal stood up and stretched. “His parents let us search their house. Just a superficial glance at
everything. Kelly didn’t go back there last night. Can I get some water?”

“Yes …” Elizabeth motioned toward the kitchen. “So wait, his parents just let you—”

“Frankly, the things that make our life easier sometimes surprise even us,” Donahue sighed, standing up as well. “I just wanted to go over this one more time…. Last night?”

“Kelly drove us to my house,” Jenna said. “He wanted some time alone, and took off for a while. He came back. We sat around talking …”

“About?”

“We graduate in a few weeks,” Jenna told him. “Our lives are a little shaky right now, Detective Donahue.”

The detective gave an appeasing nod. “Between you and me, I don’t think Kelly did it….”

“Thank you.” Jenna smiled best she could.

“Hey, congratulations!” Randal exclaimed, walking back into the living room. He wandered behind the couch and slapped Patrick on the back. “I hear Juilliard’s the place to be if you’re the musical type.”

Patrick balked. “Huh?”

“Saw the envelope there on the table. Looks mighty thick for a rejection.”

“Randal …” Detective Donahue rolled his eyes. “Please tell me you didn’t congratulate—seriously, get his hopes up just based on the envelope.”

Randal’s cheeks remained flushed. And while there was no way to tell what that meant, he quickly apologized. “Hey, I’m
sorry. I’m sure you were probably looking to open it up with your parents.”

“No,” Patrick said curtly. “No, I actually have no intention of doing that.”

Donahue and Randal exchanged looks as Patrick stood up. His parents looked mortified that their son would even dream of bringing up family business in front of two strangers, policemen at that.

“Patrick,” his mother coughed. “I don’t think—”

“I don’t care,” Patrick told them, stalking toward the kitchen. He was tired of his parents and, once again, felt the time was perfect to have his way with them. He took the letter off the table and strode back into the living room.

“Look,” Donahue was saying, “we don’t want to keep you-all any longer …”

“You don’t get to know,” Patrick told his parents, ignoring both detectives. His heart was racing, blood pumping pure anger, fear, and regret. Almost seething as he brandished the envelope in his mother’s face before stuffing it into his jacket. “No matter how much I want to open this right now, I’d rather have you two stuck wondering how you ended up without
either
of your sons sharing this moment with you.”

Jenna came to Patrick’s side, a heartbroken cringe tainting her features.

Patrick’s mother and father remained silent, unable to air their dirty laundry in present company.

Which was all that Patrick wanted from them at the moment, and he turned to their guests, doing what he could to
squeeze out any remaining civility for the sake of an easy exit. “Detective Randal, Donahue, may we please continue this conversation some other time?”

Donahue nodded appreciatively. “With any luck, we won’t ever have to continue this conversation. We’ll be back to search Kelly’s car, of course, but in the meantime … you and Jenna are free to go.”

“Thank you,” Patrick managed.

This was echoed by Jenna as the two of them opened the screen door and stepped outside. It slammed behind them, even as Donahue called out for one last moment of their time.

“If you see Kelly,” he told them, brown eyes narrowing through the pollen-encrusted mesh, “let him know that if he’s in the clear, then he’s in the clear. And he should think about giving us a ring.”

Patrick gave him a weak thumbs-up, and headed down the walkway, Jenna by his side. Head throbbing, knees like rubber. Vaguely sensing tears beneath his eyelids as they left the rest to talk about their young, as adults tend to do.

he rest of the day crept by with a heavy limp. Whenever Patrick glanced at the time, it was either seconds instead of hours or hours in place of seconds. Stop and go, nothing stayed consistent.

Patrick and Jenna had returned to her house.

Jenna’s father, Al, was waiting for them in the living room, standing in front of the television as though his team were down twenty points in the last quarter. He nodded at the screen. His daughter joined him, followed by Patrick. The three of them stared down, all a little alarmed to find that Kelly had made the local news.

Once again, he is only wanted for questioning, though sources within the department have told us that there is concern for his wellbeing Last night, Kelly McDermott, starting quarterback for Wellspring Academy, surprised his teammates, students, and teachers when he abruptly walked off the field in the
middle
of the
national anthem.

The screen cut to footage of Redwood after the game.

As for that, we don’t know what happened. Everyone has been worried about him. We have our concerns and suspicions. We don’t want to speculate. We’re just going to have to wait and see … wait for a chance to talk to Kelly McDermott.

At that point, Al turned off the television, invited them into the kitchen.

Patrick and Jenna then told him everything about the previous night. Al’s concern never went past justifiable limits. His frowns and interjections were welcomed and reasonable. After all was said and done, Al let them know that he had been asleep when they had “arrived” last night, since eight-fifteen. Whether it was true, or if he was saying it for the benefit of any future questioning, Patrick wasn’t sure.

“You two should stay here for tonight,” Al advised them. “I’m helping a friend with their house today, so I’ve got to be heading out soon.” He stood up, taking steps toward his room. Stopped at the kitchen door and pointed at the envelope in Patrick’s hand. “You going to open that?”

Patrick looked down, turned it over in his hands.

Al sighed. “Well, I think you two did a good thing last night, anyway.”

That took them through to four in the afternoon.

And so the minutes lurched forward with a frustrating inaccuracy.

Patrick tried to pass the time in front of the television, with limited results. He couldn’t stop himself from flipping back to the reports, checking in on the Kelly situation. Sneaking updates that weren’t really updates, just the local news filling time.

Jenna wandered around the house, looking out the window every now and then.

Though occasionally remarking on each other’s presence, they hardly interacted.

It was Jenna who finally suggested they go for a walk.

“What if Kelly shows up?” Patrick asked glumly.

“There’s this car down the block,” Jenna said. “I think the cops are keeping a lookout for Kelly. And I think Kelly’s too smart to come here.”

“Then what are we even waiting for?”

“We’re not.” Jenna opened the door with an irritated tug. “We’re going for a walk, so stop moping around.”

Patrick took exception to that, though he could manage little more than a weak sneer. Hoisting himself off the couch, he turned off the television and went to join her. Upon stepping outside, he was surprised to find that dusk had settled. Another one of time’s little tricks. Projecting back three seconds, he was certain the house he’d left had still been awash with that day’s gray, ethereal light. Now the sky was a dull plum color, clouds protruding from the black in ominous billows.

And now, the hungry rumble of thunder could be heard overhead.

Patrick threw a quick glance down the block.

Sure enough, just out of reach of the tangerine streetlights, a single car was parked. Whether or not it was a stakeout would be answered soon enough.

They walked away from it, eyes on the sidewalk. Sharing slow, contemplative steps, they reached the corner before hearing a car door open, then close.

“Guess one of them’s following us,” Patrick said.

“Guess so.”

They walked in silence, accompanied by further sounds of an eager sky. No words as they rounded the next corner, porch lights turning on as they made their way past flat single-story houses.

It wasn’t until they’d passed the second corner that the raindrops began to fall, and Jenna finally broke their unspoken vows. “Where do you suppose Kelly is?”

Patrick held out his hand, feeling for rain with an apathetic shrug. “I don’t know.”

“He can’t stay hidden forever…. What do you think is going on with what Donahue told us? All that stuff he said was missing from Redwood’s safe, what do you think that was about?”

“I don’t know.”

“Kelly said he took those steroid pills from Cody’s mattress as insurance. To exchange them in return for not telling, just in case Cody told on him. Do you think Cody hasn’t even looked …”

“I don’t know, I don’t
know,”
Patrick snapped, stepping in front of Jenna and facing her. It was audible now, raindrops tearing through the trees, smacking against leaves in a rustling symphony. “Jenna, I don’t
know.
I don’t know where Kelly is, I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m sorry but I can’t just
know
what’s next.”

“Patrick, what …” Jenna took a moment to catch her breath, dragging her hand through her hair, already growing wet with rain. “I don’t expect you to know, I was asking—”

“Everyone expects me to know!”
he shouted. “Everyone’s always talking about the goddamn future like they’re so sure of it!” He felt a few drops splat against his envelope, glanced down.

Jenna’s supplicating tone shifted, grew demanding. “Is that why you haven’t opened that yet?”

Moving quickly, Patrick shoved it into the back of his pants.

“That’s it, right?” Jenna asked, voice loud to compensate for a long stretch of rolling thunder. “You don’t … You know you got in. You know you got in, and you don’t want to open it and find out you have a choice!”

“Choice! Like
you
weren’t nipping at Kelly’s heels, applying to Ohio State.”

“Like Kelly McDermott wasn’t your boyfriend also, you little tagalong!” Her face was dripping now, water spraying from her lips with every other word. “And now that Kelly’s chances at Ohio State are ruined, you turn to me!”

“You?”

“You’re in love with me, you idiot!”

Patrick drew his head back. “What?”

“At least, you’d better be, because if it’s just some pathetic excuse, then you’re no better than your parents! Yelling at them, talking about how they can’t get past … Getting mad at them for how they took Kelly in … Nobody
forced
you to be friends with Kelly, Patrick!”

“I certainly never
asked
for it!”

“You went along for the ride because it was the easiest thing to do, just like everyone else!”

“Oh,
that’s
it!” Patrick gave a condescending bow. “Rah-rah, sis-boom-bah, cheerleader. Ohio State’s got one
hell of a
therapist headed their way.”

Jenna sprung forward, darting her hand around Patrick’s waist, gunning for the letter.

Patrick grabbed on to her arm, felt the slick skin under his fingers.

“Give me that!” Jenna grimaced, sending her other arm around Patrick.

Jenna pressed against him as the two struggled in the downpour, a pair of writhing bodies. Accusations reduced to scattered gasps and heavy breathing. Faces pressed together, side by side, as Jenna fought to look over his left shoulder, then his right. Wet faces sliding against each other, and for one agonizing moment, Patrick felt her lips on his, the full force of her breath, searing, filling his mouth.