Читать книгу Twenty-Four Shadows - Tanya J. Peterson - Страница 12

Chapter 5

“Let’s go around the block again, Mommy!”

Reese bent down, gently wiggled the Batman ears on Dominic’s little bike helmet, unfastened the buckle, and ruffled his hair. “I don’t think so. Feel your hair.”

Dominic put his hands on his head and broke into a wide grin. “It’s wet!”

Reese laughed. “Yes, it’s wet. It’s hot today. Really hot. A word for that is sweltering.”

“Sweltering?”

“Sweltering. All three of us need to go inside for a while so we don’t overheat. What color are Elise’s cheeks?”

“They’re red.”

“That’s what yours look like, too. Do mine?”

“Your cheeks are red and so is your whole face!” Dominic chortled. “You look like Muck, Mommy!”

Reese laughed again. “Well, then we definitely need to go inside because I don’t want to look like one of Bob the Builder’s trucks when Daddy comes home.”

“Oh! Can we watch Bob the Builder? Please?”

Reese gave a small sigh of relief. She didn’t like to just plunk Dominic down in front of the television, and she had planned to have him play with Legos and let Elise fiddle around with the Duplos Dominic used to use, but the idea of a little TV break in the cool family room sounded quite appealing. Taking care of Elise along with Dominic was fun, but it was exhausting. It had been less than five years since Dominic was this age, yet she had somehow forgotten the rigors of babyhood. “That sounds nice, Tiger. Go pick out a DVD, and I’ll be right in.”

Dominic skipped into the house while Reese unfastened Elise’s straps and hoisted her out of the stroller. Elise smiled broadly, showing off her four little front teeth, and grabbed at Reese’s nose. Reese lifted her up in the air and brought her gently back down to blow on her belly. The baby squealed. “You are such a delightful baby, Elise,” Reese babbled in baby-talk. “The woman who gave birth to you is an idiot. Yes she is. She’s a selfish woman. You’re going to be better off without her.” Elise squealed again, kicked her legs, and bobbed her whole body. Reese hugged her. “Let’s go inside and find Dominic.”

Once Dominic and Elise were situated on a giant patchwork blanket on the family room floor, Dominic happily snacking on apple slices and Elise on Cheerios, Reese ducked into the kitchen to plan dinner. She rummaged through the cupboards and the refrigerator but nothing sounded appealing. She was tired, and she figured that Isaac would be, too. He probably wouldn’t want to cook or grill any more than she did. Plus, whether or not he was tired, he was always a sport. He wasn’t one of those guys that wanted dinner on the table every night just because his wife was at home taking care of the kids. He was always caring and supportive. Still, she made one more attempt to come up with something to make for dinner. Giving up, she wandered back to the family room and flopped down on the couch. “Hey, Dominic.” Her son paused the DVD player and twisted around to look at her.

“Yeah?”

“What do you think of going to the pool to cool off tonight? We can go to Daddy’s favorite hot dog cart first and get ice cream afterward.”

“Yeah!” He scrambled to his feet. “Where are my trunks?”

“Take it easy, Tiger. We can’t go yet. Daddy’s not even home. He should be here in less than an hour, okay?”

Dominic sat back down with a thud. “Okay, but I hope he hurries.”

Reese, too, hoped he hurried. She loved their evenings together. Plus for some reason, Gretchen’s departure made Reese feel that much more connected to her husband. She leaned against the back of the couch and watched the two small people watch Bob the Builder. Dominic sat in rapt attention. She noticed for the first time that he had some of his Bob the Builder trucks with him. Elise was on her back, more interested in her feet than in the construction program. One sock was off, and before she pulled the other all the way off, she held still. Her knees came up toward her belly, and her face turned red. Reese smiled. After a few moments, Elise resumed what she had been doing. Dominic, though, was now interrupted. “Phew! Mommy, Elise pooped. Ick. Why is it so stinky?”

“Yours were that stinky, too, you know. It’s because of what babies eat.”

“It’s yucky.”

“Don’t worry. You can breathe easy. I’m going to change her now.” Laughing, Reese scooped up Elise to take her into her bedroom. Just as she was fastening the fresh diaper, the doorbell rang. Elise on one hip, she made her way to the front of the house to answer the door. She swung open the door and stepped aside. “Hi, Max! We need to get you a key so you can just come in. How was your day?”

Max stood silently for a moment. As he reached out for his daughter, he nodded. “It was okay. Thanks for asking. How did Elise do? Were you and Dominic okay with her being here?” He sighed.

Reese studied him. His shoulders slumped and his eyes had lost their sparkle. He looked heartbroken; he probably was. She stood on her tiptoes and leaned in so she could plant a kiss on Max’s cheek. “It was a great day. She was happy and we were happy. Don’t worry about that, okay?” Max gave her a half-smile and nodded. Reese asked, “Hey, do you have food around the house for dinner? Isaac, Dominic, and I are going to go to the hot dog cart by the library and then to the pool. Wanna come?”

Max put his hand on her shoulder. “I appreciate that, Reese. And I’d like to do stuff like that with you guys, but not tonight and definitely not all the time. I’m not going to impose on your family.”

“Max, you’re not imposing. You are family.”

“I know. And thank you. Really. Tonight I kinda just want to stay home. I’m not really feeling up to anything else right now.”

Reese stepped in and hugged him tight. “Call if you decide you want company, okay?”

“Of course. Enjoy your evening. It sounds fun for you all.”

After Max stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind him, Reese muttered a strong curse at Gretchen. She headed back to the family room to wait with Dominic for Isaac.

Over an hour later, she was still waiting. Dominic wasn’t the only one who had grown impatient. It wasn’t like Isaac to be so late getting home, especially not without the courtesy of a phone call. Did he have something work-related tonight that he had forgotten to mention? Again, unlike him but also not an impossibility given his spotty memory. Dominic broke into her thoughts. “Mommy! When’s Daddy going to come home? I’m starving!” He hugged his belly with his arms and hunched forward dramatically. Despite her irritation, she couldn’t help but smile.

“Wow. You look like you are dying of hunger.”

Dominic, still hunched over, looked up and nodded. “I am!”

“Let’s do this. I’ll make up some mac and cheese. By the time it’s done and we’ve eaten, I’m sure Daddy will be home and then we can go to the pool.”

“What about the hot dog cart?”

“Sweetie, if we wait for that it will get too late to go swimming. I’d rather eat something here so we can get to the pool. What about you?”

Dominic hesitated. “Yeah, okay,” he relented.

Reese kissed the top of his head. “Terrific. Want to help me make dinner?”

“Yes!”

Occupied with directing and supervising her son through those tasks that were safe for him, Reese could only devote a little bit of her thoughts to Isaac’s tardiness. By the time the simple meal was prepared and eaten, she was back in full stew mode. No Isaac. No phone call. Her earlier annoyance had escalated into anger, and she was tired of waiting for him. She had promised her son a trip to the pool, and she wasn’t going to make him sit around at home waiting for his father to grace them with his presence.

On the off chance she might reach him, she called his cell phone but went straight to voicemail. At the prompting beep, she said curtly, “Isaac, Dominic and I are going to the pool. There’s food around the kitchen for you if you’re hungry. See you later.” Good enough. Why say more than necessary when he wasn’t thoughtful enough to call at all?

At the pool, Reese was able to forget about Isaac’s absence and focus on having fun with her little boy. The cool water was refreshing, the colorful play equipment with its squirting water and dumping buckets was a blast for Dominic, and despite the crowd, the two of them had fun. It was when she returned to a home that looked dark from the street and pulled into a garage empty of cars that her sense of relaxation and fun disappeared, to be replaced not by anger but by fear.

From the backseat, Dominic piped up. “Hey, Daddy’s not home. Where is he?”

Reese swallowed. That she didn’t have an answer induced even more anxiety deep within. “I think he must have had to work late, sweetie. Remember that the summertime is his busiest time of year.”

“Yeah. He gets to work with a baseball team!”

“He sure does. Now we need to get you ready for bed. I’m going to give you a quick bath to rinse the chlorine off, then we’ll read a story and it’s off to sleepy land.” She hoped she sounded cheery enough for Dominic’s sake. Mercifully, he was wiped out from the hot summer day and the time in the water, so he didn’t seem to notice that she was distracted. She sped through the routine of bathing him, helping him with his pajamas, and tucking him into bed. She began to read in the most flat, unenthusiastic, and hurried manner ever. Whether it was her son’s exhaustion or her own poor reading, she didn’t care; she was simply relieved that Dominic fell asleep. She shut the book, hustled out of the room, and was calling Isaac before she reached the kitchen, where she began to pace.

When she again was directed to voicemail, her anxiety skyrocketed. “Hey Isaac, it’s me. It’s getting late, and I’m worried about what’s going on since I haven’t heard from you. Give me a call, okay? Love you.” She hung up and instantly dialed another number. When he answered on the second ring, she practically shouted, “Max! Have you heard from Isaac? He’s not here and he hasn’t called. Usually if he’s going to be late, he calls, but he hasn’t. I don’t know where he is. Please tell me you’ve heard from him!” The phone slipped out of her sweaty hand, but she lurched over and grabbed it before it hit the ground.

“Reese, slow down. What’s going on?”

Reese took a deep breath and paused to gather herself.

“Reese? What’s wrong?”

“Sorry, Max. Isaac hasn’t come home and he hasn’t called and I have no idea where he is. I was hoping you knew something.” She heard herself talking fast again. She wanted to stay calm, but the panic inside was making it difficult. It made bile rise up her throat, which seemed to push her words out faster.

“Okay. Hold on. I’m on my way over.” Reese heard the click before she had a chance to respond. Less than three minutes later, Max was at the front door, Elise flopped against his shoulder sound asleep.

“Reese, what happened?”

She shook her head rapidly. “I don’t know. I’m probably being silly, but he’s not here and something feels wrong.”

Max stepped fully inside. The movement drew Reese’s attention to the sleeping baby. “She looks sweet, and she’s comfortable on you, Max. But neither one of you is going to stay comfortable. Let’s put her in the den. Last night Isaac set up Dominic’s old crib so she could nap during the day.”

“Seriously? He did?” Reese nodded. Max swallowed. “You guys are great, you know that?”

“Isaac is great, Max, and that’s why I’m so worried!”

After gently lowering Elise into the crib and ensuring that she remained comfortably asleep, Max straightened and turned to face Reese. He inclined his head toward the door. “C’mon. Let’s go sit down.”

They walked to the family room in silence. Max sat. Reese sat. Reese sprang back up and began to pace. “Max, I’ve been racking my brain all evening. I can’t come up with even a tiny explanation for why he hasn’t come home. At first I thought he was just working late and being inconsiderate in not calling, but now I’m not so sure. It’s far too late,” she looked at her watch and inhaled sharply; “It’s after ten thirty! How did that happen? Max, this isn’t like Isaac at all!” She wrapped her arms tightly around her waist and looked at Max. Max stood, and in two long strides was across the room and had Reese in his arms. Unable to speak, Reese held him in return.

Max eventually broke the silence. “I don’t know what to say, Reese,” he whispered. “Gretchen and Isaac both? Why? I know that Gretchen won’t be coming back, but God, Reese, I hope Isaac does.”

Reese’s blood ran cold. She pulled back and looked at him, eyes open so wide she could feel air drying her eyeballs. “Do you think he might not?”

“No! No, of course not. I’m so sorry, Reese. I didn’t mean it that way. I think I’m just staying stupid things because I’m overwhelmed by Gretchen’s sudden departure. And now Isaac hasn’t come home. But we don’t know what’s going on, so we can’t panic yet, okay? I’m sorry.”

Reese nodded. She pulled away and resumed pacing. “You’re right. It’s too early to panic. And it’s late. We both need sleep. Go home and go to bed. I’ll do the same.” When Max looked at her skeptically, she folded her arms across her chest and used her firm expression, the one that she usually reserved for Dominic. “I’m serious. We both need sleep so we can deal with whatever tomorrow brings. Hopefully when you drop Elise off, Isaac will be here to greet you. And if not, we’ll deal with it then.” She approached Max and gave him a final hug. “Thank you for coming. I needed this. Now get out of here!”

“Well, I see where I stand.” Max’s smile told Reese that he was okay with her kicking him out.

“You’ll be standing in my kitchen before long. So let’s call it a night.”

After calling it a night, Reese proceeded to toss and turn in bed and pace between her room and the front window, looking for Isaac’s returning car. The minutes ticked slowly, agonizingly by, yet too soon she had to prepare for the day and head to the kitchen, ready for everyone else. Ready, that is, for everyone but her husband, who had yet to come home. “Where are you, Isaac?” she muttered as she stared absentmindedly out the kitchen window into the empty backyard.

When she heard the knock at the door, she knew it was Max, but she found her heart pounding with the hope that it was somehow Isaac. She jogged to the front door and, expectant yet hesitant, threw it open. Crestfallen that it was not her husband, she covered her face with her hands and muttered, “Morning, Max.”

“Oh, Reese.” Max’s voice sounded more disheartened than it had in the last two days, and that was saying a lot. “No Isaac?” She shook her head slowly, and Max reached out with one arm and pulled her close. “I’m sorry.”

Reese grunted. “I don’t know how to feel, Max. I’m worried sick, and I’m totally pissed off. Should I be afraid? Sad? Anxious? Angry? None of the above? All of the above?” She pulled away from Max so she could look directly at him.

“Yes.”

“What?”

“The answer is yes. To everything. You have no idea what’s going on, so every single one of those emotions makes sense.” Max adjusted Elise on his hip and kissed her chubby cheek. “You know what? I should stay home from work today. I don’t think you need to deal with a baby today. I can take Dominic off your hands, too.”

“Max, that’s kind of you to offer, but I need the distractions today. Please. I want to keep things normal for Dominic, too.”

As if on cue, Dominic trotted down the hall. “Good morning, Mommy. Good morning, Uncle Max. Mommy, where’s Daddy?”

Reese shot a look at Max before turning her attention to her son. “Oh. Um, Daddy left for work already, Tiger. He had to go in early.”

“Oh. Okay.” He skipped back toward the kitchen, singing as he went.

Reese blew out a breath of air. “Oh, man. I do need to keep things normal, so let me take Elise and get the morning going. I just hope Isaac returns today.”

For the second time in two days, Reese found herself relying on the dreaded television for a distraction. Dominic certainly didn’t seem to mind when, after breakfast, she popped in the movie Cars, and Reese absolutely wanted him to be otherwise occupied when she made the phone call she was about to make.

Once the kiddos were content with their attention on things other than her, Reese rushed to the kitchen, dialed the number to Isaac’s office faster than she’d ever dialed a number before, and paced as she waited for the receptionist to answer. She chewed her thumbnail. When the call went through, Reese tried to sound nonchalant when she spoke, “Good morning. May I speak to Isaac Bittman, please?”

“I’m sorry. Mr. Bittman is no longer with us.”

“Um, what?”

“Mr. Bittman is no longer here, ma’am.”

Reese furrowed her eyebrows. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. May I speak to Aubrey Watson, please?”

“Of course. May I ask who’s calling?”

“Yes. This is Reese Bittman. Isaac’s wife.” Her voice sounded much more hostile than she had intended it to be. While she was on hold, she barely heard the aggravating baseball stadium music. She instead heard her own heart beating wildly in her head. Did Isaac really no longer work for the Conifers? Since when? And why? She needed to get to the bottom of this, yet she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answers. Had he, just like Gretchen, quit his job and taken off for a new life? Oh my God, did they take off together? She was overcome by a strong sensation of vertigo. Just as she was lowering herself into a chair, Aubrey Watson came on the line.

“Hello, Reese. I understand you called looking for Isaac.”

“That’s right.”

“I’m deeply sorry. Apparently he hasn’t told you yet. We had to let him go yesterday. He no longer works for this company.”

Reese’s heart, just moments ago beating so wildly, felt like it completely stopped. Isaac was fired yesterday? Why? And did he think he couldn’t come home because of it?

“Reese?”

Reese cleared her throat. She didn’t know how long she had been sitting here silent, leaving Aubrey Watson hanging on the other side of the line. Screw Aubrey Watson. Frankly, Reese didn’t give a hill of beans if Aubrey Watson sat there all day. She did need to know something, though, so she cleared her throat again and asked, “May I ask why you fired him?”

“I’m sorry, Reese. We don’t disclose that information.”

“But he’s my husband.” There wasn’t a part of her that wasn’t tense with apprehension, and, as if of their own volition, her hands and fingers were opening and closing and picking at the bottom of her shirt. She had a very fleeting image of her mother on the phone when Reese was young; her mom constantly pulled and stretched and twisted the phone cord around her wrist. Reese would love to have a phone cord right now. That, or her mother to talk to, but she knew all too well that that would only end in disaster. It was probably for the best that her parents lived on the other side of the planet.

“Yes. I understand that he’s your husband. And it’s our policy not to disclose such information. If you’d like to know, the person to ask is Isaac. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m about to enter a meeting.”

Reese heard the click, but she made no move to hang up the phone. “I can’t ask Isaac,” she whispered to the empty kitchen, “because he hasn’t come home.” Everything blurred. To avoid being busted by her son, she dashed into the bathroom, locked the door, yanked a towel off the rod, buried her face in it, and sobbed. What was happening? Isaac fired? Why? Had he done something horrible, or was he downsized? And why didn’t he come home after it happened? Did he think she would be mad at him? Certainly he knew her better than that. Or did he? And did she know him? Maybe not as well as she thought she did.

She pressed the towel hard into her face in an attempt to stop the tears and rein in her thoughts. This was getting her nowhere. At the moment, she had a five-year-old boy and a nine-month-old girl to care for. She allowed herself a few moments to center herself, and then she emerged from the bathroom to check on the kids with false confidence and enthusiasm.

All day she felt as though she was merely going through the motions. Her thoughts and emotions were nowhere near Dominic and Elise, and those thoughts and emotions ricocheted wildly in her mind and in her heart, zinging like a pinball and lighting up the bells of worry and anger and confusion and hurt and love and hate, again and again ad nauseam. She didn’t want the high score in this twisted pinball game. When Max came to pick up Elise at the end of the day and offered to stay, she was both too numb and too upset to take him up on his offer. Besides, while the majority of her being was focused on Isaac at the moment, she was still very much aware of and in love with her son, and he needed her undivided attention, especially now.

Later that night, as she read Dominic a story and tucked him tightly into his cozy little bed, her heart ached for him and the fact that his beloved daddy had disappeared. When, in a voice already fading into slumber, he asked, “Mommy, where’s Daddy, and when is he coming home?” Reese had to struggle to stay steady. As horrible as it felt to lie to her innocent son, the idea of telling him the truth felt even worse. She was relieved, in an agonized sort of way, when he accepted her story that Daddy was on a business trip for the team and didn’t know how long he had to be gone but he loved his Tiger very much and couldn’t wait to come home. Then she tiptoed out of his room, rushed to her own, dove under the covers without bothering to shed her clothes, and cried herself to sleep.

She woke up to the worst headache of her entire life. As she groaned and rolled onto her back, she brought her fingers to her head and massaged her temples. Eyes closed, she muttered, “God, Isaac, how do you deal with your headaches? I think I’m going to die, and I don’t even want to get up. I see why you need to sleep them off.” The response, nothing but silence, screamed loudly in the room. She twisted over and, with a grunt of frustration, punched Isaac’s pillow. It was cool from lack of use. She picked it up and flung it at the wall. The muted thud as it hit was nothing like the champagne-bubble-like sounds of morning she was used to. She covered her face with her hands and moaned. “Oh, Isaac! Where the hell are you?”

When Max arrived for his morning drop-off, Reese looked more presentable on the outside than she felt on the inside. She thought she could fool Max, but unfortunately he saw right through her. After setting Elise down on the blanket already waiting with toys, he stood and said, “That bad, huh?”

She nodded. “I thought I did a good job of covering it up.”

“You did. If anyone else were to see you right now, they wouldn’t have a clue.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t see that I was a mess, either.”

Max shrugged. “You don’t look like a mess, Reese. It’s just that when I look at you, I see the same thing I see when I look in the mirror.”

“Oh, Max.” It was when they embraced that she realized that he was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. She pulled back. “Casual Thursday at work today?”

He smiled. “No. I took today and tomorrow off. I’ve got tons of vacation time built up because Gretchen never wanted to take time off or go on a vacation.” He looked down and slowly shook his head. “I guess I should have seen the signs, huh?” He looked back up at Reese. “Anyway, I’m not just dumping my baby on you and fleeing the scene. I hope you haven’t fed Dominic yet because I’m taking him to Waffle Weirdos for breakfast. It’ll give you some space to think and maybe discover a clue as to Isaac’s whereabouts.”

Reese opened her mouth to protest, but on their way out the words contorted themselves into a consent. “Thanks, Max. I think I’d like that.”

Dominic went beyond liking the idea. He went wild, and he was outside standing by Max’s car before Reese could give him his sandals. Max laughed. “Here, give them to me. We’ll see you later.” He hesitated and seemed to be considering something. Then he leaned down, kissed Reese on the head, and walked out, baby in one hand and sandals in the other.

The instant the door shut, Reese’s emotions returned with a vengeance. Yes, the possibility existed that Isaac had pulled a Gretchen, but it seemed so remote. She just couldn’t let herself believe that, at least not yet. Max’s comment about seeing signs had made her realize something. Yes, there were multiple signs, indicators that in hindsight seemed so glaringly obvious, that Gretchen was unhappy with motherhood, marriage in general, and Max in particular. But Isaac didn’t display any of those signs. He had those episodes, but that wasn’t the same thing at all. They involved strange, out-of-character behavior that he claimed not to remember, but even those didn’t smack of marital discontent. Okay, Sunday night in the garage was extreme and had the potential to be problematic, but it was an isolated event. But what was up with it? Was there a connection between that and his disappearance?

Disappearance. The word hit her as hard as Dominic hit his baseball off his tee. What if, somehow, foul play was involved in this? As outlandish as that seemed, it actually made more sense than the idea of him intentionally leaving her. She felt sick. She had to sit down with her head in her hands while the wave of nausea passed. She sat up straight. Why was she just sitting here? Time was ticking. She hadn’t seen him since Tuesday, when he was fired. Two whole days had gone by. What if he needed help? What was the threshold for the police having a good chance of finding a victim? Twelve hours? Twenty-four, maybe? It didn’t matter because Isaac was at forty-eight.

She grabbed the phone and called the police. Her shaking fingers couldn’t handle more than the three short numbers of 9-1-1. After explaining the nature of her call to the dispatcher, she was irritated to learn that this type of call wasn’t an “emergency,” and she had to dial the police main number, which the dispatcher gave her. “Not an emergency, my ass,” Reese muttered as she labored to dial the longer number. Her irritation grew as she had to be transferred to a different department. After they took their sweet time coming to the phone, Reese’s anger had risen to meet her panic. In this agitated state, she launched into her plea for help.

“Wait. Ma’am, please slow down. I need you to tell me the story slowly enough that I can understand the details.”

She took a deep breath and tried again. At the end of her description, the detective calmly informed her, “Mrs. Bittman, I’m very sorry, but I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do at the moment.”

“What? Why not?”

“Do you know how many calls like this we get in a month? It’s like this. Your husband is an adult. He has both the power and the right to go anywhere he wants to. You said he was fired from his job. Maybe he’s just on a bender.”

“He doesn’t drink like that,” she replied.

“Maybe he does now. Or maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he just took a little trip. Maybe he didn’t want you to know the truth about what happened. Or…by any chance, is he mentally ill?”

“What? No! And what the hell does that have to do with Isaac’s disappearance?”

“It was just another theory. I was thinking of statistics. But it really doesn’t matter. We could speculate all day, but I don’t have time for that. No matter the reason, your husband is an adult and as such there’s really not much we can do.”

“Are you kidding me? What the hell kind of help is this, Detective?” She spit out the last word as if it were bitter poison.

“It’s the only type of help we can give you at the moment, Mrs. Bittman. If you find evidence that foul play has been involved, feel free to call us back, but until then, there’s nothing we can do.”

The police wouldn’t help her? They wouldn’t help Isaac, who might be in trouble? She thought that that was what the police were for. Now what was she supposed to do? She pressed her hands against the sides of her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She needed to drown out her thoughts and burn some of the energy she could feel building in all of the little muscles and nerves in her body. She stomped out of the kitchen, down the hall, yanked the vacuum out of the closet, and began to suck up all of the fuzz and specks and particles that peppered the carpets. She finished the floors, fastened the attachments, and began to clean the furniture. Thanks to the noisy machine, which was only mildly successful in muffling her screaming thoughts, she didn’t hear the door open and close. She caught a flash of movement in the backyard, turned off the vacuum, and rushed to the window to investigate. Just as she saw Dominic hop on his swing, she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She yelped and spun around to come face to face with Max.

Max cringed. “Whoops. Sorry, Reese. I didn’t intend to startle you.”

“It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re not an intruder. Apparently I’d be screwed, then, because the police aren’t any help to anybody.”

He raised his eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

Reese filled him in, concluding by snapping, “And I know I don’t have ‘evidence,’” she made air quotes and adopted a rather mocking tone as she said the word, “but I’d think they could at least try something. What if someone hurt him, Max?” She paused. She stared at Max’s face. His mouth was open and his eyes had grown wide. “What is it?” she asked.

“I totally forgot.” He put his hand to his forehead and rubbed his eyebrows with his thumb and forefinger. “How could I forget about this? Maybe the police are right. Maybe this isn’t foul play.”

“Okay. Then what?”

“What if he’s just with his band, Reese? Have you called any of them yet?”

It took several long seconds before Reese could find her voice to ask, “What on earth are you talking about, Max? Isaac isn’t in a band.”

Max took a few steps back and stuck his hands in his pockets. “You mean you don’t know?”

“Know what?”

“About his band.”

Reese crossed her arms across her chest. “No, I don’t. Can you maybe enlighten me?”

Max filled her in about the people he met after he and Isaac played tennis on Monday. He tried to think of the name of the band. “They called themselves, what was it? It was different. Oh yeah! Your Grandma’s ’Hose. I remember because the name is kinda funny. Your Grandma’s ’Hose, as in pantyhose, but it’s funny because it also sounds like—”

“Max!” Reese shouted. When she saw the stunned look on Max’s face, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Max,” she tried again, “I’m sorry for shouting. I just don’t care about the name of this band that Isaac is supposedly a member of.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense. Isaac isn’t musical. He’s not in a band. Wouldn’t you think I would know it if my husband was a trumpet player in a band?” She could hear the stress in her voice, but at the moment she had no ability to control it. “None of this makes any sense. None of it!” She threw her arms up in frustration as she began to pace. “He’s been fired. He’s gone. He’s supposedly in some band. All weekend he acted more strangely than usual.” She stopped pacing and spun to face Max. She knew that he didn’t know the answer, but still, she beseeched anyway, “What’s going on?”

“Maybe—”

Reese talked over him. “I don’t understand this at all. He was so mad at Gretchen for leaving. And despite his weirdness that night, afterward he was so very loving, and so desperate for our love, too. He said that he wanted us to be together for always and forever. Those were his exact words, Max. The last thing he wanted was for something to happen to us like it did to you, yet two days later he disappeared!” Her voice wavered, and she couldn’t continue. She looked imploringly at Max, as if she could make him wave a magic wand and fix this for her. What she saw was a friend struggling for control. He shifted not quite imperceptibly on his feet. He bit his lower lip, and tears filled his eyes. Almost in slow motion, her hands came to her face and covered her mouth lightly. Words edged past them. “I am so, so sorry.”

She watched Max’s Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed hard. She saw him blink rapidly and shake his head. Finally, he spoke. “You don’t ever need to apologize.” He paused and took a ragged breath. “This whole situation just plain sucks.” When he pressed his hands hard into his eyes and choked on a sob, Reese rushed to him. They clung tightly to each other and, each supported by the other, gave in to every strong emotion that had been building for four long days.

The four long days turned into more. She felt as though she were far out on a stormy ocean, lying face down on a splintered, water-logged raft, gulping and choking on wave after wave of water crashing over her and Dominic. When Max was around, though, he was her mast. He couldn’t calm the storm for any of them, but at least he gave her something to cling to and stay upright. However, when he offered to take more time off work, Reese insisted that he go back on Monday. She was eager to fall back into her daily routine with Dominic and now Elise. They all needed routine, Max included. Yet sticking to routines meant that life marched on relentlessly. Although she managed to act normal and cheerful with Dominic, the storm continued to rage on deep inside of her. She felt chaotic and sick and angry and devastated and worried on the inside. Every single night she left a light on in the den so Isaac could see it from the street and be greeted by its warm glow when he walked through the front door. Every single morning when she switched it off, the click echoed painfully in the empty room.

On Thursday, she was outside in the front yard, playing hopscotch with Dominic while Elise cheered them on from her stroller. Dominic tossed his rock, and it landed on the nine. Nine. Reese mused that it had been nine days since she had last seen her husband. She wanted to snatch up the rock, draw a zero on the hopscotch board, and glue the rock to it for zero days since she last saw him. As she was lost in this thought, she heard tires crunching on pebble-dusted pavement, signaling an approaching vehicle. She ignored it until she realized that it was pulling into her driveway. Isaac! Her stomach lurched and her heart beat wildly. She spun around to face the driveway, but instantly froze. Her heart, continuing its frenzied pounding but now doing so for another reason altogether, dropped into the pit of her stomach when she saw that the vehicle was a police car. The world around her seemed to stop; even the birds had stopped their chirping, squawking, and flapping. Everything was freeze-framed, other than the laborious, mechanical motion of two police officers extracting themselves from their patrol car and beginning to close in on her. With sweaty hands, she rubbed her eyes to clear her vision. These men looked like zombies shuffling stiffly and crookedly toward her, but a part of her mind was still rational and knew they were walking to her like human beings. Dominic’s enthusiastic peal of delight broke her out of her stupefied trance.

“Mommy, look! Police officers!”

“Um, yes, sweetie. I see them.”

The two officers approached her. They stopped. One of them greeted Dominic while the other asked her, “Are you Reese Bittman, Isaac Bittman’s wife?”

She wanted to say, “Yes, I am, and my husband is in the house.” But her mouth had gone dry and she couldn’t get the words out. Instead she simply nodded. When she heard her son’s little voice babbling enthusiastically to the officers, she cleared her throat and attempted to speak. “Dominic, honey, I need to talk to these officers. Boring grown-up stuff. Will you wait for me inside, please?”

“Aw, Mommy!”

“Dominic. Wait inside.” She wasn’t sure how she had sounded when she said this, but it must have been obvious she meant business because Dominic was retreating into the house. Slowly and deliberately, she turned back to the police officers. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was still arid. She just stared at them, wanting them to tell her what this visit was about but somehow not wanting to hear it.

“Mrs. Bittman,” one of them began, “Your husband arrived at Peace General Medical Center in Portland a short while ago.”

“What?” Reese wasn’t sure if that was a shout or a whisper. It felt like both.

“He’s currently being treated, but he’s in critical condition. It’s advisable for you to get there as soon as you can.”