Chapter 19

As I watched Jack drive away, I wished there was something I could have done to make him feel useful. I don't have any brothers or sisters, but I knew how much they cared for each other. June had commented on our mating rituals; I knew that Jack and Mary had their own set of brother-sister dances. That whole thing in the kitchen the other day, when she was trying to make it sound like it the the most natural thing in the world to walk in on us without knocking and then making comments while I was sucking him off came straight out of the sibling rivalry handbook.

But there was no doubt of his love for her. Watching him suffer when she wouldn't let him near her right after the rape was one of the most painful things I've ever experienced. His plan of throwing a puppy in her lap and walking out the door is one of the most unique solutions to a problem I've ever heard of. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to work here.

Mary needed to know where Charlie was, and she wouldn't be satisfied until she did. Once we discovered that, we'd know what was next, including whether there was still anything to worry about.

Yesterday, when I heard that Charlie hadn't called to say why he didn't show up, I had some slight hope that everything was all right and somehow he'd forgotten. Not anymore; it had gone on too long. Charlie doesn't pull stuff like that, anyway. He's considerate in the extreme, to the point of being almost anal about it. He and I have never been romantic but we've been really good friends almost since the day we met. I always get some present from him whenever there's the slightest excuse. Christmas and my birthday, for sure, but he also gives me something on Valentine's Day, St. Pat's; he even gave me a chocolate turkey last Thanksgiving. I got a card from him a year after I was bumped from the middle of fifth grade into the middle of sixth. He's missed coming over to the house on two Sundays after saying he would be there and both times he called and apologized profusely. He also apologized again the next day when we went to school. He had a damn good reason for not calling, I knew that for certain. We just needed to find out what it was.

Mary was afraid of what she was going to find out, but she was more afraid of not knowing. If she went on much longer without getting an answer, I could see her getting hysterical. I don't know why, but I wasn't afraid for Charlie. I felt some concern but I had the idea that he was physically OK. I might have been able to communicate that to Jack but I didn't think I could with Mary. Oh, she'd accept that I felt that way but would become obsessive, trying to find out what it was that made me believe that. Telling her how I felt with nothing to back it up wouldn't help anything.

She had gotten out of her chair and was standing at the side of Daddy's desk when I went back into his office, as if her being closer would have some effect on the outcome of the phone calls he was making. I went up to her and put my arm on her shoulder. She glanced at me and gave me a halfhearted smile, then turned right back to Daddy as if she might miss something by looking somewhere else. I squeezed her shoulder, then sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

Daddy had been on the phone when I walked in and hung it up.

"God damn 'Napoleon'."

Mary looked confused, pleading with me for an answer with her eyes.

I looked at Daddy. "Someone with their own little kingdom?"

"Bitch. I called Johnson over at Presbyterian Hospital and he had his damned secretary transfer me down to Admissions and the bitch wouldn't answer my questions. And then she wouldn't even make a call to his office to verify who I was. Fuckin' bitch hung up on me. I had to call Johnson back and have his secretary get us all on the line so he could chew her out. And then he goes crawling to her, telling her how she's doing such a good job and how he would appreciate it if she would make an exception this one time and look at her goddam computer."

I looked over at Mary and she looked like she was about to lose it. I reached over and put my hand on hers.

Daddy looked to see what I was looking at. "Oh, shit. I'm sorry, Mary. It's not you, it's these stupid by-the-book incompetents who set up their own little bureaucracies and won't listen to anything different."

"Daddy doesn't like anyone who won't bow down to him."

"She didn't have to bow down to me. She just had to give me fuckin' information I needed without giving me a bunch of shit. She can take that damned book and stick it up her... "

"Did you find anything out, Daddy?"

He took a deep breath. "No." He turned back to Mary. "I'm sorry, Sweetie. I've called every major hospital within a hundred miles from here and a lot of the smaller ones. I don't know where Charles is but I can tell you none of them were admitted anywhere around here in the past few days. I've asked everyone to call me back if they find out anything, but I don't think they're going to." He put his big hand on top of hers when she gasped. "Find anything. I know they'd call me if they did. Honey, I called them all after Wanda came back from their house last night and they were already on the lookout for Charlie and his family. I don't think there's going to be anything for them to find. When did you first call over there, Mary?"

"Yesterday, about 1:30."

He looked at his watch. "Well, that's almost 20 hours ago. If they were going to the hospital, they'd be there by now. And if they were in an accident or something, I know they would have been found. I don't think you're going to find that this has anything to do with accident or sickness or anything like that. There are too many people in this part of the state; there's no place they could be in trouble without somebody running across them."

"I guess. But where can they be?"

I reached over to her. "Mary. When's the last time you talked to your mom?"

"Just before we left. She was getting ready to leave for work."

"Well, maybe he tried to call you at home and couldn't reach you."

Her eyes got wide as she started to panic.

"Sshhh. It's OK. We'll just go over there and see. You know he would have left a message if he called. Daddy, can you give us a ride?"

"Sure, Princess."