Steplings: A Novel

Chapter 4

Lily freshened up for the interview-dean blouse, new lipstick , lobes sporting showy gold earrings with ruby stones he hadn't seen before. "You might want to shave and put on slacks and a nice shirt." "'. "Why?" " If they issue an Amber Alert, the press will want to talk to " "At four o'clock in the morning?" "They won't want to lose any time." Having obviously lost the argument when the kids hadn't come home, he was forced to concede to Lily's plan. But holding a press conference in his living room at dawn? \'(louldn't happen. Amber Alerts were for when somebody sees a guy wrestle a screaming kid into a car and speed off, for when a child disappears with no explanation and foul play is suspected , for when one divorced parent kidnaps a child to circumvent unwanted custody arrangements (and even then, doesn't the kid have to be in danger?). As for that possibility, Lily's ex had more legal custody than he used-he had custody in the bank, a big custody savings account, he was filthy rich with custody-and so far as Burl could tell, Venkat "Vinnie " Patel was your typical head-in-the-clouds professor, a fellow who'd coax a wasp out a window rather than whack it with a magazine. The problem with their marriage was not 6' that he might beat or otherwise abuse her; it was that he hardly knew she existed. "Tell you what," said Burl. " If it comes to that, you can be our 'family spokesperson.'" She caught the sarcasm. Fists on hips. "What would you recommend? They've been gone since early evening, Burl! It's 3:30! They haven't called in to say they had car trouble or that they're at somebody's house." "All right, all right." He left her in the living room pacing and massaging her cell phone in her fist as if it were a piece of CPR equipment attached wirelessly to her daughter's failing heart. Burl trudged into the kitchen and inventoried the refrigerator, thinking he might be hungry. He panned the cartons of leftovers (realizing as he did that one or both of the kids had put away the food from dinner), without arousing any appetite, so he realized his foraging was a response to that strangely paradoxical combination of boredom and anxiety. Like when a blizzard has delayed your flight and you have to spend hours standing at the terminal window watching your aircraft take successive showers of ethylene glycol. He shut the refrigerator door, ransacked the utility drawer for a pack of cards, sat at the breakfast table and dealt Solitaire . Hands on autopilot, he was whisked by the magic carpet of worry to the challenges of the mystery. All this time he'd figured they were larking about, but Jason did have terrible judgment; Lily was dead-on about that. Burl had thought his bad judgment might've consisted of this: Jason's upset and feels he has to get out of the house, he calls a pal, pal comes by, Emily insists on going or Jason knows not to leave her here alone, they leave, go to somebody's house or a park or a subdivision under construction, meet other kids, drink some beer, smoke marijuana (yes, his judgment is terrible), and Emily hangs about like a mascot, and the party goes later and later, the pal leaves without them, Jason crashes on somebody's floor, and Emily does too. It's a tale of woe a parent with a wholly irresponsible teenager can tell the cops, all right, but not the narrative for a milk carton. 62 Burl hadn't spun out that story to Lily because he hated to admit that Jason would subject her daughter to such a scenario . But that explanation was crumbling apart as well. He wondered now about other possibilities. He abandoned his game and strode to the living room. "You think it's possible she went to Austin to be with Vinnie ?" " How would she get there?" "Jason might find a way. It's where Lisa is, you know." Lily frowned in concentration. Burl was puzzled that she didn't leap to this possibility and take the obvious action. "You could call him." Lily nodded. The thought flashed through Burl's mind that Lily was awfully keen on the...