“Listen to me, April,” Riley said. “I’ve got to go out of town on a job for a few days. I have to leave right now. I’m taking you to your Dad’s house. I need for you to stay there.”
“Why can’t I go with you?” April asked.
Riley wondered how on earth teenage kids could be so stupid about some things.
“Because you’ve got to finish this class,” she said. “You’ve got to pass it or you’ll be behind in school. English is a requirement, and you blew it for no good reason. And besides, I’m working. Being around while I’m on the job isn’t always safe. You ought to know that by now.”
April said nothing.
“Come on inside,” Riley said. “We’ve only got a few minutes. I’ve got to get some things together, and so do you. Then I’m taking you to your father’s house.”
Turning to Brian, Riley added, “And I’m driving you home.”
“I can hitch,” Brian said.
Riley simply glared at him.
“Okay,” Brian said, looking rather cowed. He and April got up from the table and followed Riley into the house.
“Go on and get in the car, both of you,” she said. The kids obediently left the house.
She latched the new slide bolt that she’d added to the back door and went from room to room making sure that all the windows were fastened.
In her own bedroom, she picked up her travel bag and made sure that everything she needed was still inside. As she left, she glanced nervously at her bed as though the pebbles might have returned. For a moment, she wondered why she was headed off to another state instead of staying here and trying to track the killer who had put them there to taunt her.
Besides, this stunt of April’s had her scared. Could she trust her daughter to stay safe in Fredericksburg? She’d thought so before, but now she had her doubts.
Still, there wasn’t anything she could do to change things. She was committed to the new case and had to leave. As she walked outside to the car, she glanced into the thick, dark woods, scanning them for any sign of Peterson.
But there was none.
Chapter 6
Riley glanced at her car clock as she drove the kids into an upscale part of Fredericksburg and shuddered to see how little time she had left. Meredith’s words came rushing back.
If you’re late, there’ll be hell to pay.
Maybe – just maybe – she’d get to the airstrip on time. She had planned to just stop at home and grab a bag, and now things were getting a lot more complicated. She wondered if she should she call Meredith and warn him that family problems might hold her up. No, she decided; her boss had been reluctant enough as it was. She couldn’t expect him to cut her any slack.
Luckily, Brian’s address was on the route to Ryan’s house. When Riley pulled up to a big front yard and stopped the car, she said, “I ought to come in and tell your parents what happened.”
“They’re not at home,” Brian said with a shrug. “Dad’s gone for good, and Mom isn’t there much.”
He got out of the car, then turned and said, “Thanks for the ride.” As he walked toward his house Riley wondered what kind of parents would leave a kid like that on his own. Didn’t they know what kind of trouble a teenager could get into?
But maybe his mother doesn’t have much choice in that matter, Riley thought miserably. Who am I to judge?
As soon as Brian went inside his house, Riley drove away. April had said nothing during the whole drive so far, and she didn’t seem to be in any mood to talk now. Riley couldn’t tell whether that silence was due to sullenness or shame. She realized that there seemed to be a lot she didn’t know about her own daughter.
Riley was upset with both herself and April. Just yesterday they’d seemed to be getting along better. She’d thought that April was beginning to understand the pressures on an FBI agent. But then Riley had insisted that April go to her father’s house last night, and today April was rebelling against being forced to do that.
Riley reminded herself that she ought to be a whole lot more sympathetic. She’d always been something of a rebel herself. And Riley knew what it was like to lose a mother and to have a distant father. April was bound to be afraid that the same thing would happen to her.
She’s terrified for my safety, Riley realized. During recent months, April had seen her mother endure both physical and emotional injuries. After last night’s intruder scare, April was surely worried sick. Riley reminded herself that she needed to pay closer attention to how her daughter might be feeling. Anyone of any age might have a hard time coping with the complications of Riley’s life.
Riley pulled in front of the house she had once shared with Ryan. It was a large, handsome house with a portico at the side door, or porte-cochère as Ryan called it. These days, Riley chose to park on the street instead of pulling into the driveway and under the shelter.
She had never felt at home here. Somehow, living in a respectable suburban neighborhood had never suited her. Her marriage, the house, the neighborhood, all had represented so many expectations that she’d never felt able to fulfill.
Over the years Riley had realized that she was better at her job than she would ever be at living a normal life. Finally she had left the marriage, house, and neighborhood, and that made her all the more determined to live up to the expectations of being a mother to a teenage daughter.
As April started to open the car door, Riley said, “Wait.”
April turned and looked at her expectantly.
Without so much as stopping to think, Riley said, “I get it. I understand.”
April stared at her with a stunned expression. For a moment, she seemed on the verge of tears. Riley felt almost as surprised as her daughter. She didn’t know quite what had come over her. She only knew that now was no time for parental lectures, even if she had time to deliver one, which she didn’t. She also felt in her gut that she’d said exactly the right thing.
Riley and April got out of the car and walked together to the house. She didn’t know whether to hope Ryan would be at home or not. She didn’t want to get into an argument with him, and she’d already decided not to tell him about the marijuana incident. She knew she ought to, but there simply wasn’t time to deal with his reactions. Still, she really did have to explain to him that she was going to be gone for a few days.
Gabriela, the stout, middle-aged Guatemalan woman who had worked as the family’s housekeeper for years, greeted Riley and April at the door. Gabriela’s eyes were wide with worry.
“Hija, where have you been?” she asked in her heavy accent.
“I’m sorry, Gabriela,” April said meekly.
Gabriela looked closely at April’s face. Riley saw by her expression that she detected that April had been smoking pot.
“Tonta!” Gabriela said sharply.
“Lo siento mucho,” April said, sounding genuinely repentant.
“Vente conmigo,” Gabriela said. As she led April away, she turned and gave Riley a look of bitter disapproval.
Riley withered under that look. Gabriela was one of the few people in the world who truly daunted her. The woman also had a wonderful way with April, and at the moment, she seemed to be doing a better job of parenting than Riley was.
Riley called after Gabriela, “Is Ryan here?”
As she walked away, Gabriela replied, “Sí.” Then she called into the house, “Señor Paige, your daughter is back.”
Ryan appeared in the hallway, dressed and coiffed to leave. He looked surprised to see Riley.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Where was April?”
“She was at my house.”
“What? After everything that happened last night, you took her home?”
Riley’s jaw clenched with exasperation.
“I didn’t take her anywhere,” she said. “Ask her, if you want to know how she got there. I can’t help it if she doesn’t want to live with you. You’re the only one who can fix that.”
“This is all your fault, Riley. You’ve let her get completely out of control.”