The Accident

Another pause. “Not that much, just a little.”

“I didn’t see anything like that,” I said. “It might have burned up in the car, but if it was in her purse, it would have survived. Did Sheila tell you she was going into the city that day?”

“That was… that was the sense I had, Glen.”

“She told me she had some errands to run, but she didn’t mention anything about going into Manhattan.”

“Listen, Glen, I never should have even brought this up. I should let you go. I’m so sorry for calling.”

She didn’t even wait for me to say goodbye. She just hung up.

I still had the receiver in my hand, debating with myself again whether to call Ann Slocum and give her hell for the way she’d treated Kelly, when I heard the doorbell ring upstairs.

It was Joan Mueller. Her hair, freed from its ponytail, was falling on her shoulders, and she had on a snug, scooped T that revealed a hint of a purple lace bra.

“I saw you pull in a little while ago and saw the lights were on,” she said once I had the door open.

“I had to pick up Kelly at a friend’s,” I told her.

“She’s gone to bed?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Did you want to step in?” I regretted it as soon as I suggested it.

“Well, okay,” she said brightly, brushing me as she went past. She stood at the entrance to the living room, wondering, maybe, whether I was going to invite her to sit down. “Thanks. I love Friday nights. No kids getting dropped off in the morning. That’s the good part. Not knowing what to do with myself, that’s the tough part.”

“What can I do for you, Joan? I haven’t forgotten your kitchen tap.”

She smiled. “I just wanted to thank you for earlier.” She stuck her hands into the front pockets of her jeans, her thumbs tucked into the belt loops.

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“I kind of used you,” she said, and grinned. “Like a bodyguard.” She had to be talking about when Carl Bain showed up. “I needed a big strong man beside me, if you know what I mean.”

“I don’t think I do.”

“The two parts of my day I hate the most are when Carl drops off his kid and when he picks him up at the end of the day. He creeps me out, that guy. I get this bad vibe off him, you know? Like he’s just waiting to blow up?”

“Has he said something to you? Threatened you?”

She slipped her hands out of her pockets and waved them about as she answered. “Okay, the thing is, I think he’s worried about what his kid might be saying when he comes over. Carlson, he’s just a little guy, and they say whatever comes into their head, you know?”

“Sure.”

“And the odd time, he’ll say something about his mother. Alicia? That’s the mother’s name. Although he calls her his mommy, he doesn’t call her Alicia.” She rolled her eyes. “Of course. Like I need to tell you that. Anyway, sometimes, you know, you ask a kid, Hey, what’s your mother doing today? And this one time, he says his mother had to go to the hospital because she broke her arm. And I’m like, Oh no, how did she do that, and Carlson says because his dad pushed her down the stairs.”

“Jeez.”

“Yeah, no shit? But the next day, he says to me, he was wrong. She didn’t get pushed down the stairs. His dad told him that his mommy tripped. So I figure, he must have gone home, right? And said to his dad, Oh, I was telling the babysitter about Mommy going to the hospital after she got shoved down the stairs, and he must have freaked, tells his kid that he’s got it all wrong, she tripped.” She stuck out her lower lip and blew out hard enough that a few strands of hair momentarily floated.

“So every day he comes by, you think he’s wondering what you’re thinking,” I said.

“Kinda, yeah.”

“When did the boy say this?”

“First time he mentioned it was around three, four weeks ago. He-the dad, Carl, I mean-seemed okay, but lately, he’s been kind of on edge, asking me, did I make any phone calls or anything?”

“Phone calls about what?”

“He didn’t say. But I wonder if someone might have called the police about him or something.”

“Did you?”

She shook her head very slowly. “No way. I mean, I thought about it, Glen. But the thing is, I can’t afford to lose a customer, you know what I’m saying? I need every one of those kids, at least till the money from the oil company comes through. I just don’t want Carl taking it out on me, if someone did put in a call to the police. And I thought, if he knew I had a strong man living next door to me, maybe he’d think twice before he did anything like that.”

I thought she put a little emphasis on “strong man.”

“Well, I’m glad I could help,” I said.

She tilted her head to one side and looked me in the eye. “It’s going to come in, you know. I mean, eventually. And it’s going to be a good settlement. I’ll be pretty well fixed.”

“That’s good,” I said. “It’s about time.”

She let that hang out there a moment. “Anyway, what I wondered was, you don’t think Sheila might have reported him, do you?”

“Sheila?”