Table For Five

He caught hold of her wrist and gently took the Windex bottle away from her. “Tell you what, Lily,” he said. “Let’s both go talk to Cameron.”

His touch drew a quick, shocked gasp from Lily. She pulled away and cradled her wrist in her other hand.

“All right,” she said, ducking her head. To her dismay, a hot blush crept up into her cheeks. How stupid was that? He’d barely touched her, and she was acting like a complete Sabine.

She told herself to get a grip, but the fact was, good-looking men intimidated her. She was always convinced they were making fun of her. It was ridiculous, at her age, to feel that way, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. No wonder she preferred third-graders.

The phone rang. Sean snatched it up, spoke briefly to the caller and then hung up. “They found Crystal’s car. Dead in the school parking lot. What do you make of that?”

“It means they’re probably together.”

“At least we have something to tell Cameron.”

They found Cameron with a biology book open on the desk in front of him, but he was staring at the clock rather than studying.

“Hey, sport.” Sean went over to the desk and leaned against the edge of it.

Lily had to admit he seemed relaxed and natural around Cameron. Like her, he was being careful not to appear frantic.

“Got a minute?” Sean asked his nephew.

“Who was on the phone? What’s going on?”

“Well, for one thing, your mom’s car has a dead battery and she left it in the parking lot of Charlie’s school. So now we’re guessing your dad gave her a ride.”

“A ride to where? Chicago? They’ve been gone for hours.”

“We don’t know where they are yet, but we’re going to find out. The police are going to drop by and get some more information from us.”

“When? When are the police coming?”

“They said they’d send someone right away,” Lily said.

“What’s that mean, right away?”

Sean looked over at Lily. “I swear, you two…soon, okay? And I’m sure they’re going to want to talk to you.”

“I can’t tell them anything,” Cameron said, closing the textbook with an angry thud. “All I know is my loser mother didn’t show—”

“Cameron,” Lily broke in. “Watch what you say about your mother.” She bit her tongue to keep from taking the thought further. She was thinking of how guilty he’d feel if he found out something terrible had happened.

“I can say what I want,” he retorted.

“Don’t snap at her,” Sean warned.

“I wasn’t snapping.”

“Yes, you were. And you’re still doing it.”

The doorbell rang and the three of them froze. Then, as one, they broke for the stairs and hurried to answer the door.

chapter 11

Friday

10:00 p.m.

This sucks hind tit, thought Cameron, eyeing the cops sitting at the kitchen table. Having two parents missing was actually worse than having them both in your face.

There was a guy and a woman. The guy looked young and kind of geeky, taking notes on some sort of Blackberry device. The woman was older, with a calm demeanor and the no-nonsense air of a math teacher.

Uncle Sean was jumpy but gave them straightforward answers to their questions. Unfortunately, he was clueless. He’d known Cameron’s dad longer than anybody, but didn’t have the first idea of where he might have gone. Lily was trying to act brave, but Cameron could tell she was freaking. Behind her thick-lensed glasses, her eyes seemed too bright, as though she had a fever. She’d bitten off the fingernails of one hand and would probably start on the other when no one was looking.

As for Cameron, he was pretty ticked off by the whole situation. It was probably nothing, just a stupid mix-up. It wouldn’t be the first time his parents caused some big idiotic mess, getting everyone all freaked for nothing. They’d been doing it for years. Just because they were divorced didn’t mean they’d stop.

“So they left the school at three-forty-five,” said Officer Vessey, the guy with the Blackberry.

Lily nodded, her brown ponytail bouncing like a cheerleader’s. “Yes. I went to the faculty lounge to talk with my school principal, and I looked at the clock that hangs over the coffeemaker. It was three-forty-five.”

“Do either Mr. Holloway or his ex-wife suffer from any incapacitating medical condition?”

Everyone looked blank. Officer Franklin said, “Sometimes that accounts for a disappearance.”

“They’re both fine,” Cameron said, and it came out sounding belligerent. Too bad, he thought.

Sean said, “You already have that information.”

“Miss Robinson, did you see them leave together?” asked Officer Franklin, unfazed.

Lily took a sip of her herbal tea. Mom always kept a box of assorted weird tea on hand for her. Lily was a health nut, and chamomile tea was probably the strongest thing she ever put into her body. No wonder she bit off all her fingernails.

“They left my classroom together,” Lily said. “They walked out of the building at the same time. I didn’t actually see them get into Derek’s car together.”

“Would it have surprised you, seeing them drive off together?”

Lily didn’t like the question. Cameron could tell by the way she shifted in her seat.

“I suppose. But maybe not. They both take very laudable interest in their children. Now that we know Crystal’s car had a dead battery, we know why they drove off in the SUV. It makes perfect sense.”

“And what was their state of mind? Can you describe that to us?”

Lily flicked a quick glance at Cameron. He put on a bored expression, like he didn’t give a crap.

“Well, as I said before, it wasn’t a happy meeting. Their daughter Charlene has been struggling in school.”

Like that was a surprise, thought Cameron.

“Were they contentious at the meeting?”