Part 23 (1/2)
They didnt say much.
A snow plow was coming down the alley, and Lucky pulled over to the side of the street.
Moonlight didnt get out. Lucky reached over and patted her hand.
”That didnt go well,” Moonlight said.
”Christas got a right to be worried.”
”I dont see Charlie coming after her. He has to know whatll happen if he breaches his parole order. And, even more, whatll happen if he...well, if he attacks her again.”
”Unfortunately these men with their obsessions and their power complexes dont always see reason, Moonlight. Is there anything you can do? I mean the police?”
”Probably. This is a small town. A disadvantage when it comes to keeping Charlie away from Christa but an advantage when it comes to keeping an eye on him. Ill give John Winters a call and mention it. This is important to him, Mom. Hes the one who found her, after all. Catch you later.”
Moonlight got out of the car and slammed the door. She crossed the street, and gave her mother a wave as she ducked into the alley that led to the back of Alphonses Bakery. It was snowing again; fat flakes fell onto Moonlights golden head.
Children. You never do stop worrying about them. And even about those that arent yours.
Lucky drove up hill to Aspen Street.
Moonlight would not be at all pleased to know her mother was planning to make a call on Lorraine LeBlanc. But Lucky knew Lorraine from the years when the girl had hung out at the youth center where Lucky volunteered. Lorraine hadnt been seen at the center for years, but as far as Lucky was concerned, that was an irrelevant detail.
Parking was difficult on Aspen Street, but making one of her famous U-turns, she found a spot outside a concrete and gla.s.s monstrosity that was the very definition of gentrification.
She locked the car and marched down the sidewalk.
The walk had not been cleared so Lucky made her own path by stepping in half-covered footprints.
She pressed the doorbell. She didnt hear anything in response. It was ten oclock. An unlikely time to find a sixteen-year-old girl awake. Too bad. She was here now.
She looked around. The paint on the door frame was peeling, a section of window set into the door covered with plywood, the cement steps cracked and broken. It was possible the doorbell didnt work. She knocked on the door. That got a response: inside the house a dog barked and something moved. Shed raised her hand to knock again when the door opened. Lorraine was nicely dressed in a long blue sweater over jeans. Gold hoops were through her ears and a gold necklace shone at her throat. She had her hand on the collar of a big mutt. The dog strained at the restraint, but it didnt bark again.
”Yes?”
”Lorraine, Im glad to find you at home. I was pleased to hear Garys back in Trafalgar. Hearing about Gary naturally led me to think about you and I thought Id drop in and see how things are going.” Lucky smiled. She never had any qualms about b.u.t.ting in where she might not be wanted. As far as Lucky Smith was concerned, if she wasnt welcome, she soon would be. And if not, there was obviously something wrong and she needed to find out what.
”Thats nice of you, Mrs. Smith.”
”Im sorry I havent been in touch before this,” Lucky said. ”But we do get busy with our own lives dont we? Tea would be nice.”
”Tea?”
”Thats if you have time, of course. I wouldnt want to stop you if youre going out.” Reverse psychology. Worked every time.
As it did this time.
Lorraine stepped back, releasing the dog. ”Sure, I can make tea. Come on in, Mrs. Smith.”
Lucky held out her hand to the dog and let it have a good long sniff, knowing that her clothes must be full of the smell of Sylvester. When the dog seemed satisfied, she stepped over the threshold. The house was shabby and desperately in need of paint and a hammer and nails. But it was reasonably clean. She followed Lorraine into the kitchen. The dog followed Lucky.
The dishwasher door was open and the sink was full of white foam from which the handle of a frying pan stuck out.
”I was putting away the dishes,” Lorraine said. ”Gary says the dishwasher has to be turned on every night before I go to bed whether its full or not. Its a bother, but it makes Gary happy so I do it.”
The dog crouched in front of its water bowl and drank with enthusiasm. Contented, it lifted its head and yawned. Water and drool dripped from the big jaws.
”Never mind him, Mrs. Smith. Rex isnt nearly as tough as he looks.”
”I guessed that already. He obviously can smell my dog, Sylvester, and thus knows Im a dog friend.”
Lorraine opened and closed cupboard doors before saying, ”I dont think we have any tea, Mrs. Smith, sorry.”
”Not a problem. I had coffee with my daughter earlier. You know my daughter?”
Lorraine leaned against the counter and studied the floor. It wasnt so clean you might want to eat off it, but neither was it providing a breeding ground for toxic mould. ”Constable Smith, right?”
”Yes.” Uninvited, Lucky took a seat at the kitchen table. ”Word around town is that your parents left once Gary came back. If youd like some support, Lorraine, Id like to give it.”
”No thanks.” Lorraine watched the dog make circles on the floor before finding a spot to settle. ”Im good.”
”Glad to hear it. My daughter tells me youve made friends with some young people here for a skiing vacation.”
Lorraine lifted her eyes. They were very wet. ”Thats right. Im sure she told you what happened to...to...my...to Jason.” She dropped into a chair and her shoulders shook and the tears began to fall.
Lucky stretched her arm across the small table. She rubbed the back of Lorraines hand with hers until the sobs subsided.
”No one cares. No one. Jason loved me, he really loved me. That rich b.i.t.c.h of a sister of his sticks her nose in the air as if Ive brought in a bad smell, and his father has me thrown out of a restaurant, and his friends laugh when they pa.s.s me in the street. He loved me, but no one understands. He was sharing a house near the university, and I couldnt move in there, so he was going to move out of the house and get us an apartment. It would be easy for me to find a job and Id support us while he finished med school.”
Luckys heart almost cracked in two. Better for Lorraine to think that after Jasons death his cold-hearted family shunned her than to be abandoned in Trafalgar, waiting for word as days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Which would have happened had Jason lived and gone back to Toronto, laughing all the way at how easy it had been to capture the heart, and the body, of a small-town girl. Whenever he bothered to think of her.
”Forget his family,” she said. ”Let them take Jason home. Only you know theyre not taking the truth of his life with him.” Wasnt that a mouthful of trash?
”Youre right, Mrs. Smith. His family would have fought us all the way, wouldnt they, once Jason and I were properly engaged. I was afraid theyd disinherit him, but Jason said not to worry because he had an inheritance from an aunt that would be enough to at least get us settled into our own apartment. And then I could work and hed stop taking vacations and finish his studies as fast as possible.”
Lorraine pulled a tissue, heavily worn with use, out of her pocket and blew her nose. Lucky fished in her bag and found a small package. She pushed it across the table. Lorraine took one and held it to her eyes. ”Jasons friends are bad enough, but that Wendy, shes the worst. I know about her. Things Jason told me. She cant afford all the stuff she wants, but she keeps buying them anyway. His dad used to pay her bills, but her mom told him she had to start standing on her own. Once Jason graduated and became a doctor, Id be able to have nice stuff too, like Wendy has.” She touched the gold hoop in her right ear.
”Never mind that, Lorraine. Stuff isnt worth all that much, you know.”
”Yeah, right. Tell it to people like Alan and Sophie and Jeremy. The only nice one of all of them is Rob. Have you met Rob?”
”Yes, I have.”
”I like Rob. Kathy Carmines got the hots for him. Its positively pathetic.”