Authors: Karin Salvalaggio
Someone bangs on his front door and he sits perfectly still, hoping they’ll give up like the others have. He hears a key turning in the lock and staggers to his feet. He grips the side of the sink and waits.
Macy’s voice fills the house. “Don’t shoot. I have pizza.”
The front door shuts and Jared waits for his dogs to start barking but nothing happens. He yells through the half-open door. “Who gave you keys to my house?”
Macy’s face appears right in front of him. “They were exactly where I hid them four years ago.”
Jared draws the door shut. “Where’s that?”
“I’m not telling. They might come in handy again.”
“I’m just getting in the shower,” he says, pulling off his sweatshirt and throwing it into the laundry bin. He rubs his beard and decides not to shave. “What day is it, anyway?”
“It’s Saturday, the third of December. Time to face the world.”
Jared comes in the living room and the television is still tuned in to the local news. Macy has her feet propped up on the coffee table and a box of pizza sits on her lap. It’s already half finished. The dogs are lying next to her on the floor, seemingly unfazed by her presence.
“Hey, are you going to save me some?”
“This one is mine. Yours is on the kitchen counter.”
Jared doesn’t say much while he’s eating so Macy does most of the talking, filling him in on everything he’s missed in the two days he’s been in bed. He points to a photo of Grace, which once again fills the television screen.
“It’s her birthday today.”
“Whose?”
“Grace’s. I told her I’d get her a cake.”
“You hardly know her.”
“I thought it would make her happy.”
“You’ve not changed at all, have you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You have this need to make everyone around you feel loved even if you don’t have the feelings to back it up.” Macy closes the empty pizza box and puts it aside. “When we were together you were so affectionate and caring. You’d listen. You’d hold my hand. I thought I’d woken up in an alternative universe.”
“And why was that a problem?”
“It was a problem because your heart wasn’t really in it. Every time I left your house it felt like I slipped off a cliff or something. I wouldn’t get a phone call for weeks and then you’d be asking to see me and telling me how much you were missing me.”
“You never said anything.”
“Actually, I did, but it kept happening so I gave up. I either had to accept it or go nuts.” She wipes her mouth with a paper towel and takes a sip of her drink.
“I’m sorry.”
“Do you remember when we split up?”
“It wasn’t my finest hour.”
“You went all textbook asshole on me. It was like nothing intimate had ever passed between us. You arranged to meet at a busy restaurant in Helena. You chose a table right in the middle of the room. You actually moved the chairs so there was a safe distance between us.”
“You had a gun in your purse.”
“You were right to be cautious.”
“You must have known what was coming.”
“Of course I knew. You’d been AWOL for nearly a month.”
“I was such an asshole.”
“I’m not going to say otherwise.”
“But you should have said something then.”
“Oh, come on. You weren’t even brave enough to dump me. I had to prompt you. Besides, I was so angry I could barely speak.”
“Now’s your chance.”
“It’s too late.”
“It’s never too late.”
She raises her voice. “What do you think I was doing when you weren’t around?”
“To tell you the truth, I didn’t give it much thought.”
“Well,” she says, narrowing her eyes, “I was fine. I saw other guys. I kept busy. Do you remember that law enforcement convention I went to in Vegas?”
Jared nods.
“I almost got married that week.”
“What?”
“You know you’re going to blow it with Lexxie, don’t you?”
“You almost married someone else while we were dating?”
“Do you think she’s sitting around waiting while you’re out with Hayley?”
Jared can’t believe what he’s hearing. “Lexxie isn’t anything like you.”
“You keep telling yourself that.”
“Please don’t tell me you just came here to harass me?”
Macy struggles to get up from the sofa. “I came because it’s time for you to get your ass out of bed.”
Jared waves a piece of pizza in the air between them. “Admit it. You still love me.”
She laughs and tells him he wishes that were true, but seconds later her smile is gone. “When are you seeing Grace?”
“After what you’ve told me, maybe I shouldn’t.”
“She needs someone she can trust. She may confide in you.”
“You think she knows more than she’s letting on.”
“I’m not sure, but something is going on.”
“Why isn’t she saying anything?”
“I think she’s scared.” When Macy glances up at the television, pictures of the four dead girls fill the screen. “And I don’t think this is the first time Grace has come across these guys.”
Jared closes his eyes. “Sometimes I think I should call up my parents once a day and thank them for giving me a happy childhood.”
“I know what you mean.” Macy picks up her phone and reads a text message. “They’ve found where Leanne has been living for the past few years. Do you feel like going on a road trip up to Canada tomorrow morning?”
“Where in Canada?”
“Some place called Finley.”
“It’s just over the border. I’ve seen the exit signs but I’ve never stopped there.”
“So what do you think? I could use the company and it would be good for you to get out of here.”
“They’ve given me three weeks off work so I’ve got nothing better to do.”
“If I had three weeks off, I wouldn’t stop at Finley. I’d keep driving.”
* * *
The Sugar Plum Fairies is the only bakery in Old Town. Inside, everything from the trim, to the picture frames, to the delicate writing on the name tags is pink. The three women who’ve run the place since it opened more than a dozen years earlier are as round as they are tall. Their well-pressed aprons and white uniforms are filled to bursting. Hairnets stretch tight over strawberry-blond hair that is scraped back into buns. They all wear white shoes with thick soles. They all have cherubic cheeks and eyes of cornflower blue. Except for their ages and names they could be triplets. How this could be so is a mystery because the three women aren’t even related.
Jared enters the bakery and the Sugar Plum Fairies approach the counter like they’re approaching the bench in a court of law.
“Oh, Jared,” says Beth, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel draped from the tie of her apron. “We heard what happened. It must have been awful.”
“Awful,” echoes Lynn.
“You poor thing,” adds Jessica.
Beth lowers her voice. “We were just talking about it.”
Lynn leans in. “It’s all anyone is talking about.”
“That and what happened to Leanne Adams.” Jessica shivers, rubbing away the goose bumps on her arms along with the baking flour.
Beth raises her voice. “After watching the news we’re afraid to go out. They’re saying her killer is wanted for sex trafficking.”
Lynn frowns. “The world today.”
“It’s a scary place,” finishes Jessica.
Silence follows. Jared peers over them into the kitchen. The rows of cupcakes laid out on a metal slab catch his eye.
Beth hands Jared one of the cupcakes and changes the subject. “How’s your mother?”
Feeling on safer ground, Jared thanks her before dropping his gaze to the display case. Behind glass, ready-made cakes are lined up in neat rows. “She’s fine, but my dad is kind of bored. Misses his workshop.”
Beth laughs and the other women laugh with her. “More like he misses his buddies at Murphy’s Tavern.”
At the thought of his father, Jared manages a fleeting smile. “I imagine you’re right.”
The least gossipy of the three shuffles up closer to the counter. Lynn has been a friend of Jared’s mom since time began. “What can we do for you today?”
“I need to buy a birthday cake.”
“Boy or girl,” chimes in Jessica, the baby of the bakers. She’s returned to her stool next to a metal table full of cupcakes. She’s got flour on her cheeks and a cone of pink icing in her hands. It comes out in a pink swirl onto one cupcake after another. Her face in a concentrated twist, she dips up and down like a well-oiled machine.
Jared feels his cheeks redden. He knows what’s coming. “Girl.”
“Girl,” they all sing in unison.
“Is it for Lexxie?” asks Jessica, looking to her friends. “I didn’t know it was her birthday.”
“It isn’t.”
“So, it’s for someone else,” says Beth, winking at the others. “Sounds complicated.”
“Let Jared be,” interrupts Lynn.
Jared grows more uncomfortable. “She’s just a friend.”
Beth looks disappointed and Jessica goes back to decorating her cupcakes.
Lynn gestures toward what’s on offer. “Had you ordered ahead we’d have more of a choice but as it is, this is all that’s left to take away. Does she like chocolate?”
“No idea. She’s a bit quirky. Always dressing in old-fashioned clothes.”
Beth cocks her head to the side. “You’re not sweet on Grace Adams?”
Jessica’s ears prick up. She messes up the cupcake she’s working on. “Did you say Grace Adams?”
Lynn speaks in a low voice even though there are no other customers in the shop. “The cake is for Grace Adams?”
Jared loses patience. “Yeah, is that a problem?”
The women fall silent. Somewhere in the back a timer goes off and Jessica hurries away toward the ovens. “Don’t you dare say anything else until I get back.”
Beth wipes her hands on a towel. “Don’t mean to pry but why are you buying a cake for Grace Adams?”
“Look, it ain’t no big deal. I don’t know her too well but the poor girl seems a bit friendless. I thought it would be a nice gesture.”
Lynn taps the glass. “You know what her momma was like.”
“That’s hardly Grace’s fault.”
Beth purses her lips. “That’s true enough, but in my experience the apple never falls far from the tree.”
Jared wants to argue, but a part of him is remembering how Grace looked lying nearly naked out in the snow. “She’s just a sick kid.”
Jessica pipes up. “But she is pretty, isn’t she?” She carries in a baking tray and joins the others at the counter. She looks as plump and warm as the buns she’s taken out of the oven. “Not pretty in the conventional sense though. She’s got that look about her like you see in those high-fashion magazines, and then there’s those old clothes she wears.”
Lynn picks at a loose thread on her name tag. “Vintage is what they call it nowadays. Back when I was young we just called it hand-me-downs. I swear to God I thought I saw her wearing my momma’s old coat. You know the gray one with pale blue buttons?”
The girls nod.
“She was wearing it at church.”
“Well, Grace is petite just like your momma was,” says Jessica.
“Nothing like her mother, Leanne,” adds Beth.
“Not a breath of Leanne in her.” Lynn looks up at Jared. “You might not remember her but Leanne was a big woman.”
At the moment Jared can only picture the emaciated woman he’d almost stumbled over in the woods, but Lynn, Beth, and Jessica have other memories.
Jessica cups her hands out far in front of her breasts. “She was huge.”
Beth slaps her friend’s hands down. “Stop being crude.”
“I was just saying.”
Lynn lowers her voice. “You know she and Toby Larson had an affair. It upset Pamela something fierce. It’s not very Christian of me but it was nice seeing Pamela taken down a peg or two.”
Jessica giggles. “Amen to that.”
Beth leans in and speaks in a hushed voice. “You know, when people first heard it was Leanne that was murdered, rumors started flying. People were saying that maybe Pamela did it, but it’s not really her style. I don’t see her getting her hands dirty.”
Lynn’s voice is cutting. “You’re right, Pamela would have paid to have someone do it for her.”
* * *
Jared parks his pickup truck in front of Grace’s apartment building. There’s a patrol car stationed outside. He waves at the officer through the open window. He and Ted Bishop went to high school together.
“How’s it going?” asks Jared.
Ted tilts his head in the direction of a low wall separating the parking lot from the gray snarl of traffic moving along the road. Like a tightrope walker Grace balances along the top of the wall with her arms spread wide. In her red coat, hat, and scarf she could be an exotic bird.
Ted points at Grace. “That is one weird chick.”
“Been here all day?”
“Nah, just a few hours. How you holding up?”
“Better than Colin. Any word?”
“He’s awake and talking, thank God.” Ted slams the steering wheel with the flat of his hand. “Whoever was on dispatch should be fired. Colin had no business walking in on a domestic on his own. They still haven’t figured out who called an ambulance instead of backup.”
“Don’t worry, they will.”
Ted leans out the window farther. “Are you going to be here long? I’d kill for a coffee. I’ll be gone ten minutes, tops.”
“Sure thing, but it’s your balls on the line if Macy shows up.”
“I still need them so you’d best keep a close eye on that girl.”
Grace skates across the icy parking lot in her snow boots, only stopping when she notices Jared’s truck. She puts a hand to her eyes, blocking what’s left of the day’s sun. Her face is slow to smile.
“Hey, Grace,” he says, leaning out the window, a half-smoked cigarette hanging from his lips. He feels a degree of warmth that surprises him. “Look at you. You seem all grown up today.”
She glides across the final few feet. “Eighteen at last.”
Breathless and blushing right outside his window, she plucks his cigarette from his lips, taking a quick puff before passing it back. The movement is so intimate he can only stare.
She looks him full in the face. “My aunt doesn’t know I smoke sometimes.”
Remembering Carson’s warning, Jared feels his skin thicken. His life is complicated enough without getting involved with a girl like Grace. And then just as quickly Grace giggles and she’s a child again. He unwinds his heart a little, reminding himself that this is a girl who needs a friend.