Unconventional Scars (21 page)

“I see. And did she have any contact with you after that time?”

“No. None.”

He scribbled something in his notepad. “So you have had absolutely no contact whatsoever with your mother since
February
, is that correct?”

“That’s correct.”

“Miss Moore, it appears that at some point in June, she left
Mexico
with a large portion of the stolen cash. Would you have any idea where she might have gone?”

Anna was surprised. “Well, yes. She went to
L.A.
I mean, I don’t know if that’s where she went directly, but that’s where she wound up.”

Agent Maxwell’s eyes lit up. “
Los Angeles
, huh? And do you know if she still resides in
California
?”

“Of course she doesn’t. You should know that!” She was baffled. Was this agent testing her knowledge, trying to trick her somehow? What was this all about?

“Miss, this is very important. If you have any knowledge of her current whereabouts, I’d appreciate it if you’d come clean. I can promise there won’t be any charges brought against you.”

“
Charges?
For
what
?”

“It’s illegal to withhold this type of information. You and your uncle could both be charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive. I’m not trying to scare you, sweetheart, I just want you to tell me what you know.” He smiled reassuringly. “Now then. If you’ll just give me her current address, then there won’t be any problems, I assure you.”

It was then that Anna’s eyes strayed to the driveway. She immediately recognized the black sedan parked there. “Have you been staking out our house?”

He seemed contrite. “I do apologize for that, miss. I just needed to make sure Ms. Moore wasn’t hiding out here. Now then . . . her address, please?”

“Her current address? You mean the
Ridge
crest
Cemetery
?”

The man’s polite smile faltered. “I beg your pardon?”

“My mom
died
recently. You guys seriously need to update your records or something
!
” This was ridiculous. Talk about confusion! The FBI was still trying to locate a person who wasn’t even alive anymore. Somebody really needed to get with the program.

He closed his notebook with a snap. “You’re trying to tell me she . . . died?”

“Yes.” Anna felt a bit sorry for the poor man. He’d obviously been sent on a wild goose chase. All that time wasted! “I guess maybe
that information fell through the cracks
. I’m sorry you had to come here for nothing.”

Agent Maxwell appeared dumbfounded. He wet his lips nervously. “You must be mistaken. Our sources indicate that Ms. Moore is alive and well.”

“Mister, I
saw
her. I was there when she was buried. Trust me on this.”

“If you’re lying to cover up her whereabouts . . .”

“I’m not lying! You can ask my uncle if you don’t believe me
!
He should be home any minute.”

The agent took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “Well . . .
I don’t know what to say. T
his is terribly embarrassing. I . . . suppose our wires got crossed somewhere along the way. I’ll get this straightened out right away for you. I’m
very
sorry to have troubled you, miss.”

“It’s no problem, I guess. These things happen. So did you guys ever find that
crooked lawyer
she was with? What was his name, Lockhead or something?”

“Yes ma’am. He was located in
Nevada
and has been arrested.” He winked at Anna. “We always get our man, eventually.”

****

Anna was giddy after her glorious night. She’d returned to bed for an hour after Agent Maxwell left, and now feeling rejuvenated, she danced around the house singing loudly and off-key, until
Uncle
Phil jokingly threatened to tape her mouth shut with a roll of duct tape, which
of course
only made her sing louder. He gave up and joined her in a rendition of
Copacabana
and when Lisa arrived with lunch from a taco place and informed them she could hear them all the way outside, it sent them into gales of laughter.
This is what it feels like to have a normal home life
, she thought.
This is what it feels like to be loved. It’s nice.

She’d called Alex, of course, and they were meeting up at two to hike one of the nearby trails. They loved walking through the woods together, taking in the sights and sounds of nature. The area was full of clear, cold streams and wildflowers
and adorable brown chipmunks.
Once they’d seen a snake. Anna wouldn’t go anywhere near it
, but Alex crept up on it until it slithered swiftly away
. Afterwards,
he
kept sneaking up behind her and grabbing her, causing her to scream. She enjoyed every minute of it.

Today, they were going to one of their favorite spots – a scenic five-mile trail that circled a small but picturesque waterfall. Alex had said that he wanted to talk to her. She wasn’t sure what to make of it, but wasn’t really worried. After all, he was devoted to her. Nothing else seemed all that important.

When they got there, however, he was unusually quiet. Anna had to ask him twice to slow down, too. He seemed to be in a hurry today, or maybe it was just nervous energy, because she’d never seen him so on edge. After three miles,
she was panting.

“Can we please rest for a minute?” she begged
.
Alex stopped, then turned around and backtracked to where she stood.

“What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

“Yes.
Just out of breath.
Why are you walking so fast?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was.” He put an arm around her. “There’s a bench just ahead. Why don’t we sit down for a minute.”

They rested for a while on the bench
. There was a slight breeze, and it helped to cool them.
Anna pushed a lock of
damp
hair away from her forehead. “I almost forgot to tell you. The weirdest thing happened this morning.”

“Oh? What was that?”

“This FBI agent came by asking questions about my mom.
You’ll never believe it. He s
aid when she left
Mexico
she had most of the stolen money with her.”

“Wow.
Really?
”

“
That’s what he said. And h
e had no idea she had passed away. Can you believe that?”

“Are you kidding? How could he not know that?”

“I don’t know, but he didn’t. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him. At first he didn’t even believe me and wanted to argue about it. I can’t believe he thought I’d lie about something like that.”

“Did he talk to your uncle?”

“No. He wasn’t home yet.”

“So what did he say about it?”

“Uncle Phil? Nothing. I didn’t mention it to him.”

“Why on earth not?”

“
I don’t know. It’s just . . . h
e gets this look on his face whenever I mention my mom. I think it makes him
sad
to talk about her. I just figured, why even bring it up, you know?”

Alex looked uncertain. “Well, the whole thing sounds pretty strange to me. What was his name, do you remember?”

“Um . . . Agent Maxwell. I think he said his first name was Luke. Oh, and remember when we saw that car across the street and you thought we were being watched? You were right – it was him. He thought my mom might be living with us.”

“He was watching your house?”

“Yeah. All that time wasted for nothing, can you imagine?”

“That seems kinda weird. So whatever happened to that guy she ran off with then?”

“Oh, he was arrested a while back.”

“Huh. Well,
I guess it could have been a misunderstanding. But if you see him again, you should definitely tell Phil. You shouldn’t be talking to those guys without him around anyhow. All right?”

“All right. Now . . . you said there was something you wanted to talk about. What was it?”

He looked over at her, staring into her eyes as if trying to read her thoughts. But all he said was, “You know what, it’s not that important. It can wait.”

“You’re a hard one to figure out sometimes, Somerville,” Anna kidded, poking him in the side and discovering by his yelp that he was ticklish
there
. She used the newfound knowledge to her advantage and tickled him until he held her hands behind her back, punishing her, or perhaps rewarding her, with a long,
delectable
kiss.

“We should get going,” he told her, “before I decide to violate you here in the middle of the woods.”

“Squirrels would get an eyeful
!
” They stood up and ambled on, more slowly this time. Anna paused to pick a magnolia blossom. “Lisa’s having an open house tomorrow night, and Uncle Phil’s going with her to help out. Do you want to come over, maybe?”

“Absolutely.”

Alex appeared to be more relaxed throughout the rest of the day. Which was a relief, because Anna really didn’t see what could possibly be worrisome enough to tarnish their perfect summer. The birds were singing, the sky was blue, and they were in love. Just like in the fairy tales, nothing could ever come between them.

****

So she wants to play hardball, does she? That’s fine with me. I know how to get the truth out of lying little bitches. Once she tastes the barrel of my Glock 17, she’ll change her tune. Faced with death, even a mute canary will sing.

16

Phil had only been gone five minutes Monday evening when the doorbell rang. Later, Anna would chide herself for having opened the door so easily without checking to see who it was. Alex never used the doorbell, after all
– he always knocked. She should have been more aware. Expecting to see her boyfriend, she had opened the door with perfect trust.

Only it wasn’t Alex.

Agent Maxwell stood smiling at her once more. “I’m sorry to bother you again, miss. May I have
just
one more moment of your time? I promise it won’t take long at all.”

She stepped outside onto the porch. “Okay, but just a minute. I have company coming over.”

“I’ll bet you do.” The man’s tone was off, somehow. His smile seemed slightly less charming than she remembered.

Anna felt uneasy. “You know, actually, maybe you should come back when my uncle’s here. He’d probably like to talk to you.”

“I don’t want to talk to your uncle. I want to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“I have some photos in my car that I believe are of your mother. I just need you to take a look at them and identify her for me if you will, please.”

“Why?”

“They were taken near
Long Beach
. I’m trying to confirm that she was indeed in that area before she moved to
Los Angeles
.”

Why would that even matter anymore? Maybe they were trying to figure out what happened to the money.
“Oh. Okay.”

“If you’ll just come with me?” He gestured toward his car.

Anna hesitated, frowning. “Why didn’t you just bring the pictures with you?”

His patience appeared to be wearing thin. “I forgot and left them in the car. What difference does it make? Are you going to assist me or aren’t you?”

“Why don’t you come back tomorrow? I think that would be better.” There was something distinctly
wrong
about this whole situation. The man’s demeanor was morphing by the minute and she didn’t like it one bit.

Agent Maxwell’s eyes turned steely as he pushed his jacket aside just far enough for her to see the pistol tucked into the waistband of his slacks.

“Get in the fucking car.
Now.
”

****

Charlotte Somerville scrounged through the refrigerator, searching. She knew darn well she’d bought some peaches at the grocery store the day before, and now she couldn’t find them. Surely those boys hadn’t devoured all of them already. It was appalling the amount of food those two could put away.

“Alex, what happened to the peaches I bought yesterday?” she asked, as her son emerged from the living room.

“In the left crisper, underneath all that salad junk.”

Charlotte
pushed aside the bags of romaine lettuce and spinach. “Healthy food is not junk. It wouldn’t kill you to eat some, you know.”

“It might. Why take a chance?”