Bone Canyon

by Goldberg, Lee

  “You gave Cassie a badge and a gun last year,” Rachel said. “I thought you might be moving on to crime scene investigation.”

  “It’s a treasure-hunting kit,” she said and decided it was better if they never knew that the gift was suggested by a forensic anthropologist at a crime scene.

  Cassidy came bounding down the hall, shrieking, “Auntie Eve!”

  She wrapped herself tightly around Eve, who hugged her back and gave her a kiss.

  “I can’t believe how old you are,” Eve said. “Pretty soon you’ll be driving.”

  “Did you know I’m having two birthdays?” Cassidy said, holding up two fingers.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “One today with you and one tomorrow with my friends at a Chuck E. Cheese,” Cassidy said. “Want to come?”

  Eve would have rather had a colonoscopy. “I wish I could, but it’s for kids only.”

  Rachel held her hand out to Cassidy. “Do you want to help me decorate the cookies?”

  Of course Cassidy did, because she knew it meant eating half of them and licking all the frosting in the bowl. Eve went outside with Kenny, who was firing up the grill for smoked spareribs, and buried the treasure chest in the flower garden behind the garage. She came back just as the doorbell rang and Kenny went to answer it.

  Lisa stepped in, carrying a wrapped birthday present, and kissed her brother. She had curly black hair and was shorter, and plumper, than Eve, thanks to having different fathers, but they both shared their mother’s piercing blue eyes. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought a date.”

  “Of course not,” Kenny said.

  Lisa stepped aside to let her date in. “This is my friend, Mitch Sawyer.”

  He came in wearing a vintage bowling shirt, shorts, and flip-flops, a gym bag slung over his shoulder.

  “Aha!” Eve said, marching into the house, a playful grin on her face. “Now the whole evil plot becomes clear.”

  “There is no plot,” Lisa said. “It’s totally innocent.”

  Kenny looked back and forth between his sisters. “You’ve lost me. What’s going on?”

  Eve pointed to Mitch. “He’s my torturer.”

  “Physical therapist,” Mitch said, then looked at Eve. “I assure you none of this was premeditated.”

  “Notice the choice of words,” Eve said. “He clearly knows he’s talking to a cop.”

  “He really is the best therapist for you and he works in Calabasas,” Lisa said. “Close to your home and office, just like I said.”

  “But you didn’t tell me you were dating.”

  “We aren’t,” she said.

  “I bumped into Lisa at the hospital yesterday,” Mitch said. “When she mentioned the party, and that you’d be here, I sort of invited myself along. I figured it was the only way to be sure I’d see you for another session. I brought my stuff . . .”

  He slipped his gym bag off his shoulder. The truth, Eve assumed, was that Mitch and Lisa were either already romantically involved or he wanted them to be. Or perhaps it was the other way around: Lisa was interested in Mitch and using her sister as an excuse to bring them together. Either way, Eve was being used, which wouldn’t have bothered her if there wasn’t physical therapy involved.

  “Oh joy,” Eve said, and gave her sister a nasty look. “I’m going to get you for this.”

  But before she could, Cassidy came running over, covered in frosting, to give her aunt Lisa a hug and stain her clothes. Thank you, Cassie, I owe you one, Eve thought.

  Mitch ran Eve through her wrist exercises at the outdoor table while Lisa watched him work. Kenny was busy at the grill with his ribs, while Rachel and Cassidy were preparing a salad in the kitchen.

  “I saw on the news that you found another body in the hills,” Mitch said.

  “The fire wiped the hills clean, exposing everything that’s been hidden in the brush and ravines for years,” Eve said, doing curls with only her wrist, the rubber ball in her hand. It might as well have been a fifty-pound barbell. “Cars, furniture, even the wreckage of a small plane from thirty years ago.”

  “Wow,” Lisa said. “It must be hard to figure out what’s happened to those two women when all you’ve got to work with is charred bones.”

  “You’d be surprised what even burned bones can reveal,” Eve said, letting go of the ball, her wrist weak. “I met a guy who can look at a bone fragment and tell you amazing details about the person it came from.”

  “Amazing details, huh?” Lisa shot a smile at Mitch, who smiled back.

  “What?” Eve said.

  “You like him,” Lisa said.

  “He’s very good at his job,” Eve said.

  Lisa’s smile got bigger. “What else is he good at?”

  Eve didn’t like where this conversation was going, especially not in front of her physical therapist. That was when the front door burst open and Jen Ronin blew in, carrying two identical bags from Sephora. Jen was on her third set of breast implants (these were, in Jen’s own words, “downsized”), her face had been stretched tight enough for Ringo Starr to play “Here Comes the Sun” on her cheeks, her hair was colored black, and her eyebrows had been plucked into an expression of permanent bemusement by a Vulcan stylist. She wore a colorful Chico’s three-quarter-sleeve blouse that looked like it had been worn by a painter at work, and a pair of pink Lululemon capris that showed off her butt-lift and excellent legs.

  Kenny set down his BBQ tongs and glanced at Eve. “This is fashionably late.”

  “No, it’s just late,” Eve said. “Like always.”

  “Where is the birthday girl!” Jen declared.

  Cassidy came running out of the kitchen and hugged her grandmother. Jen handed her one of the Sephora bags. “Happy birthday, this is for you.”

  “What is it?” Cassidy asked as Eve, Lisa, Kenny, and Rachel gathered around.

  “Concealer. Foundation. Blush. Mascara. Eye shadow. Lipstick. Eyeliner. Nail polish and sticky boobs,” Jen said.

  “Sticky boobs?” Cassidy asked, confused.

  “She’s five, Jen,” Rachel said. “She doesn’t have boobs.”

  “Now she can pretend that she does,” Jen said, then smiled at Cassidy. “You’re going to get a big-girl makeover.”

  “I am a big girl now!” Cassidy said.

  “Yes, you are,” Jen said and handed the other Sephora bag to Eve. “I got the same present for you.”

  “It’s not my birthday,” Eve said.

  “I saw you on TV. You need a big-girl makeover, too.”

  “Nothing for me, Mom?” Lisa asked.

  “You’re perfect as you are,” Jen said and spotted Mitch. “Well, hello. Who is this?”

  “Mitch Sawyer,” he said.

  “Eve’s physical therapist,” Lisa said.

  Jen nodded in approval. “It’s about time she got some physical therapy.”

  “It’s for my wrist,” Eve said. “And he came with Lisa, not me.”

  “Actually, I’m just leaving,” Mitch said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “It was a pleasure meeting you all.” He looked at Eve. “See you on Tuesday.”

  As Mitch went out, he had to squeeze past a woman coming in. She was black, in her thirties, wearing a blouse and slacks, as if she were heading to a boardroom rather than a five-year-old’s birthday party.

  “I also brought a guest,” Jen said. “This is my friend Simone Harper.”

  “It’s wonderful to finally meet you,” Simone said, a slight Southern twang to her voice. “I’ve heard so much about y’all from Jen.”

  Eve smelled a setup. “How do you and Mom know each other?”

  “Actually, your father introduced us,” Simone said. “Vince and I worked together on Hollywood & the Vine.”

  Eve felt her anger rising. “You’re a TV writer.”

  “Oh, she’s much more than that,” Jen said. “She’s the creator of Playing Doctor.”

  Eve knew the show. It was a big hit about a headstrong woman,
Tessa Goode, who took over her father’s medical practice in a remote corner of Alaska after he died . . . even though she wasn’t actually a trained, licensed doctor. Tessa learned everything she knew about medicine by growing up at his side. But without her, there would be no health care for the townspeople. So the town helped Dr. Goode maintain the charade because they trusted her and needed her.

  “She wanted to get a feel for our family and bring that reality to your show,” Jen said.

  “You have a show?” Lisa asked.

  “No, I don’t,” Eve said. She was getting very, very tired of this.

  “You do if you want,” Jen said.

  “Half-woman, half-plant, all cop,” Kenny said, doing the announcer voice from the opening of Hollywood & the Vine. “That could be you.”

  “Yes, it could,” Simone said to Eve. “Unless you take charge of your story.”

  How many times had Eve heard that line this week? It was like everybody had teamed up to work on her, hammering the same points over and over.

  “She’s right,” Jen said. “And she’s got three Emmys, a Peabody, a Humanitas, and a WGA award to prove it.”

  Simone smiled. “Your mom left out my thirty-two patches and forty-three badges I earned in Girl Scouts.”

  Eve turned to Simone. “Could I have a word with you out front?”

  The two women went outside, Eve closing the door behind them. She walked Simone to the sidewalk. “Mom made a mistake bringing you here.”

  “I thought I might be crossing a line, and I apologize if I’ve offended you, but it was a risk I was willing to take,” Simone said. “That’s how passionate I am about your show.”

  “There is no show,” Eve stated, hoping it would finally stick.

  “There will be, Eve, and I think I am the best person to write it . . . because I understand your character.”

  “We just met,” Eve said. “You don’t know me at all.”

  “I’d like to,” Simone said, undeterred. “That’s why I’ve been talking to your parents.”

  “They don’t know me, either.”

  “So tell me who you are,” Simone said.

  “I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen.”

  Simone gave her an appraising, appreciative look. “I see a lot of Dr. Goode in you.”

  “I’m not pretending to be a cop. I am one.”

  “But you have so many of her qualities. You’re stubborn, daring, and determined to do whatever it takes to get the job done, even if you aren’t entirely sure you know what you are doing. You fought hard to get where you are, but you’re not sure you deserve it, even if you’ve already proven yourself with a big success. That’s all me, too,” Simone said. “I can do your story justice. Ultimately, isn’t that what you want?”

  “I’m interested in an entirely different kind of justice and it has nothing to do with me or some TV show,” Eve said.

  “You can have both,” Simone said. “Your story will be told, Eve, and I am the best person to tell it. I’m glad I finally met you. I hope we can talk again.”

  Simone smiled and went to the Porsche Cayenne parked behind her mom’s red Miata convertible. Eve went back inside and was immediately confronted by her mother.

  “That was the rudest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Jen said. “Now Simone is going to think you’re a racist.”

  “What?” Eve was used to her mom’s irrational outbursts, but this one took her by surprise. “Why?”

  “You just threw a black woman out of the house.”

  “I didn’t throw anybody out.”

  “She’s not here, is she?” Jen said.

  “Don’t make this about me. You used Cassie’s birthday as an excuse to ambush me with a writer I didn’t want to meet. That’s what was rude.”

  Jen smirked. “But it’s okay for your sister to bring a physical therapist you didn’t want to see.”

  Eve shot an angry glance at Lisa. “I’m not wild about that, either.”

  “Wait,” Lisa said, looking at Jen. “How did you know Eve was avoiding her physical therapy?”

  “Because I know my children,” Jen said.

  “Enough,” Rachel said, coming out of the kitchen and facing Eve, Jen, and Lisa. “This is Cassie’s birthday, remember? Are you here for her? Or is it all about Eve?”

  Eve felt unfairly targeted, since she had nothing to do with Mitch or Simone being brought over. But she took ownership of the situation anyway.

  “I’m sorry,” Eve said. “You’re absolutely right.”

  So they spent the next hour eating ribs, and chips, and cake, and cookies, and completely ignoring the salad. Then Cassidy opened her presents. Eve spent a half hour helping her find and dig up the treasure. Cassidy couldn’t believe there was treasure in her own backyard and insisted on wearing most of the jewelry she discovered. Finally, the women spent another hour or so letting Jen put makeup on their faces. Cassidy absolutely loved the big-girl experience and the big-girl look.

  Eve wanted to wipe the makeup off her face the instant her mom was done, despite the oohs and aahs she got from everyone. But she’d wait until she got home out of consideration to the others. It was true, Eve did look great with the makeup, and she knew it, but it made her very uncomfortable. It felt like she was wearing a mask and yet, at the same time, asking to be noticed.

  “This is how you should look every day,” Jen said. “Take a picture so you won’t forget.”

  “We aren’t allowed to wear this much makeup at work.”

  “There’s a rule against detectives looking gorgeous?”

  “Yes,” Eve said.

  Her mother stroked Eve’s hair and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You’re not fooling anybody. Beauty isn’t a weakness or a disguise, honey. It’s a strength. You should start using it, too.”

  It was early evening. Jen had headed back to Ventura and Rachel was giving Cassidy a bath before bed. Eve, Lisa, and Kenny were sitting around the table outside, eating what was left of the cake and frosting with their hands. These were the moments Eve truly loved and missed the most, the time alone with her siblings, just being together. That was what their nights were like so often when they were growing up, their mom off spending the night with some guy she met. Now that Eve thought about it, maybe not all her memories of living in this neighborhood were so bad.

  Kenny licked some frosting off his finger. “Why are you fighting so hard against a TV show being made about you?”

  “I don’t want my life turned into entertainment,” Eve said.

  “Those YouTube videos didn’t bother you,” Kenny said. “We must have watched them a hundred times together.”

  “Because that was me, doing my job. This would be fiction.”

  Lisa said, “You don’t think people can tell the difference?”

  “They will if Brie Larson is playing her,” Kenny said.

  “That would be so great,” Lisa said.

  “No it wouldn’t,” Eve said. “I want to be taken seriously as a cop. If there’s a TV show about me, my life won’t be my own anymore. It will be a character I’m supposed to play. People will expect me to be Brie Larson.”

  “That sounds to me like an argument for being involved in the show,” Lisa said.

  Eve shook her head. “If I’m not a part of it, I can disavow it. I can honestly say it’s not me, and has nothing to do with me. My life will be my own.”

  Kenny said, “Like that distinction will matter to anybody.”

  “It will to me.”

  “What a bunch of bullshit,” Lisa said. “This isn’t about you, your image, or your career. It’s all about Mom . . . and Vince.”

  Kenny nodded. “You’re right.”

  Eve felt her anger flash at the mere mention of Vince’s name. “This has nothing to do with them.”

  “Of course it does,” Lisa said. “You’re opposed to the show because Mom and Vince will benefit from your success, and you’ll be damned if you’re going to let them.”
>
  “Why should I?” Eve said. The idea was outrageous. No, it was more than that. It was offensive. “Vince knocked Mom up, abandoned her, and wouldn’t pay a dime of child support . . . but now she’s willing to forget all that if he’ll help her take advantage of me . . . because it’s not enough that she stole my childhood using me as her live-in babysitter, cook, maid, and driver. Is she insane? And what about Vince? He didn’t want to spend a penny supporting me, or a minute seeing me, but now that ascot-wearing shitbag wants to make money off my back. Well, fuck them both.”

  There was a long moment of silence and Eve became aware of her flushed face and the smug expressions on her siblings.

  “I rest my case,” Lisa said.

  “You didn’t make a case.”

  “I didn’t have to,” she said. “You confessed.”

  Kenny laughed and scooped up a gob of frosting with his finger. “Maybe you should be a cop, too.”

  Eve knew Lisa was right but would be damned if she’d admit it. So she stole a bite of cake instead.

  “So what if Mom gets a part and Vince gets to direct?” Lisa said. “How does that hurt you?”

  “It rewards their bad behavior.”

  “You have to let go of the past,” she said.

  “Like I have,” Kenny said. “Instead of resenting Mom for the woman she was, I love her for the great grandmother she is today.”

  She was wonderful with Cassidy, Eve thought. But that was easy for Jen. It came with no responsibility.

  “I have a lot of fun with her now that we’re adults,” Lisa said. “Nobody makes me laugh as much as Mom does.”

  “That’s because she doesn’t want anything from you,” Eve said. “Or tell you how awful you look on TV.”

  “You do look awful on TV,” Kenny said.

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re forgetting the most important thing about Hollywood calling,” he said. “The big money.”

  “I don’t need the money.”

  “So put it all in a college fund for Cassie. We’re working two jobs and barely getting by.”

  “You could pay off my student loans, so I could have something called”—Lisa used air quotes now—“a savings account.”