Firestone

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  “Now you!” Katy said.

  They went through the designer dresses until Katy picked a particularly gaudy, bright-pink dress for Jill to wear. Jill was afraid it wouldn’t fit, but Katy didn’t care about zipping the dress.

  “You look very pretty, Mommy,” Katy said. “Let’s find a hat.”

  Jill followed Katy to the hat stands.

  “This one! This one!” Katy picked up a cowboy hat. “It’s like my horsey hat!”

  Jill picked it up and stuck it on her head. Katy tipped her head back and laughed.

  “Why did you ask about Auntie Heather?” Jill asked.

  “’Cuz we need to go,” Katy said. “Let’s do make-up!”

  “What?” Jill asked.

  “Make up?” Katy’s dark eyes blinked at her. “We have to have make up!”

  “No, I mean why do we have to go over to Auntie Heather’s?” Jill asked.

  “Oh.” Katy shrugged. “I don’ know.”

  Jill gaped at her daughter. Katy smiled.

  “I’ll do your make up,” Katy said.

  “Wait,” Jill said. “Tell me now.”

  Katy blinked at Jill.

  “Now,” Jill said.

  “’Member when you had to go away to get Keenan?” Katy asked.

  Jill nodded.

  “It’s like that,” Katy said.

  “What do you mean?” Jill asked.

  “I don’ know.” Katy shook her head. “I would tell you if I did, Mommy. Promise.”

  Jill thought about her experiences with knowing to see if she could use them to better understand.

  “Tell me what you see,” Jill said.

  “I see Auntie Heather,” Katy said. “She’s yelling. Bad. Crying. But stuck. Someplace bad.”

  “When?” Jill asked.

  “I think that happened before,” Katy said.

  “But it’s going to happen again?” Jill asked.

  Katy nodded.

  “When?” Jill asked.

  Katy shrugged.

  “Tonight?” Jill asked.

  “I don’ know,” Katy said. “I’m not s’posed to know.”

  “What does that mean?” Jill asked.

  “Um . . .” Katy broke away from Jill.

  She ran around in circles for a while. She moved her hands like she was shooting arrows, and then she fell down to the ground as if she’d been stuck with an arrow.

  “Like that,” Katy said.

  “Heather’s going to be stuck with an arrow?” Jill asked.

  “No,” Katy said. “Her mommy was stuck with an arrow.”

  “Oh?” Jill asked.

  Jill had no idea what Katy was talking about.

  “Her mommy needs your help,” Katy said.

  “My help?” Jill pressed her hand into her chest.

  “Cuddles.” Katy nodded.

  “Uh . . .” Jill said.

  “And Auntie Sandy too,” Katy said.

  Jill watched her daughter closely. Katy was looking off into the distance.

  “And me too, of course,” Katy said.

  “And not Paddie?” Jill asked.

  “Oh, Paddie?” Katy asked. “That’s a really good idea. Let’s get Paddie.”

  With that, Katy started to leave the room. Jill grabbed her. She wrangled the priceless designer dress off her daughter and took off the one she was wearing. She noticed that some of Katy’s makeup had gotten on the dress. She set the dress aside in the “to be cleaned” pile. She was hanging up her dress when she heard a car door slam. Looking out the window, she saw that Katy was waiting for her in the car. Jill grabbed her purse and then ran to the car.

  “Can we get ice cream after we get Paddie?” Katy asked.

  “What about Auntie Heather and being locked away and her mommy shot with arrows and . . .” Jill started. A little out of breath from the dress-wrangling and purse-getting, Jill swallowed. “What about cuddles?”

  “Oh,” Katy said. “Right. I keep forgetting.”

  “Why is that?” Jill started the car.

  “I’m not supposed to know,” Katy said. “It’s like a big shhh is wrapped around the whole thing.”

  “Is that why Auntie Heather is in danger?” Jill asked.

  “Yeah, Auntie Heather is in danger.” Katy nodded.

  They drove down a few blocks toward Paddie’s house.

  “We’ll get Paddie,” Katy said. “And then go to Auntie Heather’s house and then get ice cream.”

  “What about Auntie Sandy?” Jill asked.

  “She’s already on her way there,” Katy said. Jill’s phone rang. “That’s Auntie Tanesha.”

  “Hello?” Jill asked.

  “Jill!” Tanesha said.

  “Don’t forget to tell her Paddie’s coming too!” Katy yelled from the back seat.

  Jill looked into the rearview mirror. Katy still wore the bright blue eye shadow that matched her dress-up dress. Katy gave her a bright smile.

  “What’s going on?” Jill asked into the phone.

  “You need to get here,” Tanesha said. “Pronto.”

  “When you call Paddie’s mom, tell her we need Paddie’s sword,” Katy said.

  Jill looked up at Katy in the rearview mirror. Katy smiled.

  “We’re on our way,” Jill said to Tanesha.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Monday evening — 7:35 p.m.

  “Is something wrong?” Seth asked Sandy.

  They were sitting in his downstairs piano room trying to decipher Andy’s symphony. Seth was sitting at the piano, and Sandy was standing near the marble fireplace. Sandy had just gotten off the phone with Tanesha.

  “You don’t look great,” Seth said.

  Sandy looked at him and nodded.

  “Can I help?” Seth asked.

  “Have you ever heard of someone called Psyche?” Sandy asked.

  “Sure,” Seth said.

  “She has a daughter named . . .” Sandy started.

  “Hedone,” Seth said.

  “Right. Heather told Jill, and Jill . . .” Sandy shook her head to keep from repeating the long string of who-told-who. “Anyway, Tanesha says that Heather’s mother is Psyche, and Abi — you know the fairy — she said Heather is Hedone.”

  Seth nodded.

  “You knew that?” Sandy asked.

  “No.” Seth shook his head. “It’s just weird enough to be something that involves Heather’s mother.”

  “What do you mean?” Sandy asked.

  “Uh . . .” Seth shifted uncomfortably. He looked down at the piano in front of him. His fingers moved across the keys. “What do you think of the piece so far?”

  “We’ve only played a few lines.” Sandy shrugged. “And you’re not so sly. What did you mean about Heather’s mother?”

  “Uh . . .” Seth said again.

  “Seth.” Sandy scowled at him.

  He made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a sigh. She kept scowling at him.

  “Fine,” Seth said. He let out a puff of breath and then began speaking quickly. “When Mitch and I found you, we looked into everyone who knew you. Some of it was because the captain was on our ass about you.”

  “Me?” Sandy asked.

  “He wanted us to ‘bring in the witness,’” Seth said. “We didn’t want to do that. Plus, Mitch met Patty and . . . all of that.”

  Seth turned back to the piano and played the line of the symphony they’d decoded.

  “What do you think about . . .?” he started.

  “I think you’re not very funny,” Sandy said. “What’s this with Heather and her mother?”

  “Uh . . .” Seth looked back at the piano. “You don’t want to . . .?”

  “You’re acting like a child,” Sandy said.

  “I know,” Seth said. “Is it working?”

  “No,” Sandy said.

  “So we looked into Jill and found General Hargreaves,” Seth said. “I’d worked with him to find Saul and the other MIAs, so that wasn’t a big deal. He told me
the standard story. You know, ‘Jill’s mother and father were killed in Costa Rica’ and whatever else. I knew he was lying, but he’s a general. They’re usually lying about something. And Tanesha . . . Well, I’d known Yvonne and Rodney because I knew Alvin.”

  “And Heather?” Sandy asked.

  “That’s the question, isn’t it?” Seth asked.

  “What’s the question?” Sandy asked. “What are you talking about?”

  “Sorry,” Seth said, and sighed. “We found a references for an A. Fontaine — Alma, Allison, Alete — and her daughter, Heather, of course, and — Hazel, Harriet, Helen.”

  “How many did you find?” Sandy asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Seth said. “I was a little drunk and high then.”

  “More than a little,” Sandy sniffed.

  “Yes,” Seth said. “Plus, Mitch looked into Heather. He confronted Heather’s mother. She told him something that convinced him everything was on the up-and-up. I don’t know what.”

  “So why are you so . . . weird about this?” Sandy asked.

  “The last time Allison Fontaine and her daughter Helen lived in Denver, Helen had a child,” Seth nodded.

  “With whom?” Sandy asked. “Just say it.”

  “With Sam Lipson’s father, Roger,” Seth said. “Helen and Allison Fontaine disappeared and left Helen’s son at the hospital.”

  “You think Blane is Heather’s son,” Sandy said.

  Chapter Three Hundred and One

  Moving pieces

  Seth nodded.

  “Well, that’s weird,” Sandy said. “You know that Heather’s pregnant right now.”

  Seth nodded.

  “With Blane’s child,” Sandy said.

  Seth nodded.

  “Did you know that they ran both Blane’s and Heather’s DNA?” Sandy asked.

  Seth nodded.

  “You think Alma fucked with the DNA,” Sandy said.

  Seth nodded. Sandy grimaced.

  “I have always disliked that woman,” Sandy said. “God, poor Heather.”

  Sandy stared off into space for a moment, and then her eyes turned to Seth.

  “Well, it doesn’t matter now,” Sandy said.

  “Why?”

  “Tanesha asked if we could come over to Heather’s house,” Sandy said.

  “It’s probably time for a break,” Seth said. “I’ll keep working and you can . . .”

  “Oh, you’re going with me,” Sandy said.

  Seth winced, and Sandy nodded.

  “Now,” Sandy said.

  Seth sighed and followed her out of the room. For the first time in recent memory, Sandy took the elevator, and Seth followed. The elevator started moving, and Sandy turned to Seth.

  “No one knows this,” Sandy said in a low tone. “But Heather’s had her and Blane’s and the baby’s DNA tested.”

  “And?”

  “Blane is not her son,” Sandy said. “Not related to her at all.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Ava took the sample and tested it herself.” Sandy nodded.

  “When?”

  “When you were sick,” Sandy said. “You paid for it.”

  “That was nice of me,” Seth said.

  “I knew you’d want to pay,” Sandy said.

  “I do . . . did,” Seth said. “Why did Heather do it?”

  “Heather thought her mother was too involved in the DNA testing,” Sandy said. “The woman who collected the DNA is a friend of her mother’s. Everyone at the testing place knew her mother. From the bank — at least that’s what they said. Then all that stuff happened with Katy and Jill. It kind of reeks of Heather’s mom. Plus, don’t you think it’s weird that we never found a match?”

  Seth turned to look at Sandy.

  “It’s not unusual,” Seth said.

  “We tested thousands of people,” Sandy said. “From all over the world. Blane has saved Alex’s life many times, and he helps her team all the time. She took it upon herself to get everyone she knows tested. She even ran it through some military database.”

  “That’s a lot of people,” Seth said.

  The elevator stopped at the first floor.

  “And?” Seth asked.

  “Roger Lipson was Blane’s father,” Sandy said.

  “And the mother?”

  “Big mystery,” Sandy said.

  “They look alike,” Seth said. “Blane and Jacob. Wouldn’t it be someone close to Celia?”

  Sandy shrugged.

  “Didn’t match anyone,” Sandy said. “Remember no one knows. I only know because you paid through me.”

  Seth nodded. The elevator opened and they left for Heather’s mother’s house.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Monday evening — 8:05 p.m.

  “I haven’t heard from Heather,” Blane said to Jacob.

  Jacob looked up from his cards.

  “You’d tell me if something was wrong, wouldn’t you?” Blane asked Jacob.

  “If I knew,” Jacob said.

  “And now?” Blane asked.

  Jacob looked out across the room for a moment.

  “What?” Blane asked.

  “There’s a weird . . . cloud around your mother-in-law’s home,” Jacob said.

  “Of bitterness,” Blane snorted.

  Jacob scowled.

  “Now you’re making me nervous,” Blane said.

  “It’s just that . . .” Jacob nodded. “Uh . . .”

  “What?” Blane asked. “Tell me.”

  “It’s weird,” Jacob said.

  “What’s not weird?” Blane asked. “I’m in the hospital. That’s weird. You’re not cheating at solitaire . . .”

  “That’s weird,” they said in unison and laughed.

  “So what is it?” Blane asked.

  “There’s a man . . .” Jacob said. “He’s looking, looking, looking, everywhere, and every time.”

  Jacob nodded.

  “And Heather’s mother . . .” Jacob swallowed hard. “Whenever he gets close, she disappears.”

  “Disappears?” Blane put his hand over his heart. “With my Heather?”

  Jacob nodded. Blane blanched white.

  “But . . .” Jacob said.

  “But?” Blane asked. “Come on, Jake, I’m freaking out here.”

  “She can’t do it this time,” Jacob said.

  “Why?” Blane asked. “You have no idea how incredibly selfish this woman is. Heather’s entire life has revolved around her mother’s whims and moods. All she talks about is how wounded and injured she is, so much so that she never sees the evil she perpetrates on everyone around her. Heather barely lets her touch Mack.”

  Jacob shook his head.

  “She can’t do it this time,” Jacob said.

  “Why?” Blane asked. “Who’s going to stop her?”

  “That’s what’s so weird,” Jacob said.

  “Who’s going to stop her?” Blane asked. “You?”

  Jacob shook his head.

  “Who?” Blane asked. “Jake! You have to tell me.”

  “Paddie Hargreaves,” Jacob said. “Paddie will refuse her mother passage.”

  “What?”

  “The man will be here soon,” Jacob said.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Monday evening — 8:15 p.m.

  Jill trotted up to the door of Heather’s mother’s house to get there before Katy and Paddie. Heather’s mother had never been very kind to children. In fact, Heather’s mother wasn’t very fond of Katy. If Jacob had been home, Jill would have left Katy with him.

  Reaching the door, she smiled at her own lie. She could have left Katy with Delphie or MJ and Honey. She put on her brightest smile and knocked on the door.

  Alma Fontaine opened the door. She looked at Jill and put a plastic smile on her face.

  “Jillian, how are you?” Heather’s mother asked. “Did you come for the party?”

  “Yes, sorry we’re late,” Jill said.

  Katy and Paddie
had reached the door by then, and Jill put her arms on the kids’ shoulders.

  “Katy, you remember Auntie Heather’s mother,” Jill said.

  “Mrs. Fontaine,” Katy said in her sweetest voice.

  “Fairy-child,” Alma said under her breath.

  “Excuse me?” Jill asked.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you look so much like your father?” Alma asked.

  “No,” Jill said. “Never.”

  Alma scowled at Jill. She glanced at Paddie, and he gave her a sweet smile. Alma took note of his white-blonde hair, pirate costume, and the plain wooden toy sword in Paddie’s belt before stepping back from the door.

  “Please come in,” Alma said. “We have quite a party. The girls are playing Twister.”

  Katy gave Alma a sweet smile before she and Paddie ran into the house.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Fontaine,” Jill said.

  “Cut the crap,” Alma said. “There’s no reason for you to always be of good cheer.”

  Jill put her hand on Alma’s forearm.

  “Are you all right?” Jill asked.

  The woman looked Jill in the eyes. Jill reached inside Heather’s mother and found only a shell of a person. Deep inside, all of her beauty and grace were sound asleep.

  “Can you wake up?” Jill asked out loud.

  Like the flicker of a curtain, Jill saw the young woman who was Alma open her eyes. The flash of the young woman who might be appeared and disappeared in an instant.

  “Leave me alone.” Alma’s voice was harsh.

  A pulse of anger and hatred from Alma nearly knocked Jill off her feet.

  “Hi there,” Seth said in a loud voice.

  Alma looked up at Seth, and Jill let go of Alma’s arm. Jill stumbled into Sandy, who propped her up.

  “More guests!” Alma’s sickeningly sweet voice returned. “Detective O’Malley and dear Sandy! Please come in!”

  Jill and Sandy made it across the threshold while Alma was focused on Seth. Jill felt a wave of Alma’s wrath rise up to greet Seth. Just as she was about to say something horrible, Heather called her mother from inside the house. Alma scowled at Seth and went inside.

  “She’s really horrifying,” Seth said in a low tone.

  Jill and Sandy nodded.

  “She hates you,” Sandy said.

  “Any ideas why?” Seth asked. He looked at Sandy and then at Jill.