Safe Keeping

by Barbara Taylor Sissel

  When she paused and looked back at him, he shook his head. “I only mean you shouldn’t worry.”

  “You shouldn’t, either,” she said. “We’ll get through this somehow.”

  “Yeah.” He turned from her. “Even the shit in your life’s got to come to an end at some point, doesn’t it?”

  19

  IT WAS NEAR one o’clock and Lissa waswalking through the front door of her parents’ house when Evan called her to say the judge had granted bail for Tucker.

  “Thank God.” She walked down the front hall to the kitchen. The note she had left was still on the counter. Crumpling it, she crossed to the sink and looked out the window at the workshop. Were her parents still in there? What was going on with them? There was a knot in her stomach like fear, but maybe it was the baby. Lissa put her hand there. How big would it be? she wondered. How many cells high and wide? She opened the trash can and dropped the unread note inside it; she returned the keys to her daddy’s truck to the hook beside the back door.

  “Lissa? Are you there?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry. Mom and Dad are— How much was bail?”

  “A hundred and twenty-five thousand, but I only had to write a check for ten percent. Mickey says it would have been worse if the state had any forensic evidence. Also, it turns out the judge knows your mom’s family. Evidently the Winter name still carries a lot of weight in this town.”

  “For some people, I guess. I don’t know how much longer that’ll hold up, though. What did Mickey say about what Mom did, paying off Revel? Please tell me she won’t be in trouble.”

  “He’s working on that and trying to find out about Coe’s status with the cops. He said he might issue a preemptive order to get Tucker’s cell phone records himself, especially since Tuck says they’ll back up his alibi, show he was in Austin.”

  “The police may already have his phone.”

  “Revel turned it in?”

  “Not exactly, but really, I don’t know,” Lissa added quickly. She bit her lip, unsure whether to bring up her meeting with Sonny. Evan would be angry, angrier than he already was, that she’d broken her promise not to involve herself. But not telling him meant she couldn’t mention sighting the Camry, either, and he should know that, shouldn’t he? She touched her temple, confused and still shaken. She was plagued by the sense that they were at risk, that Revel, or whoever it was driving the Camry, and the police posed a danger to them. But what if she was only being overly dramatic? Is that what Evan would say?

  She spoke before he could. “How can the phone tell them anything about his location?”

  “It records information the same way as a GPS. It’s not as accurate, but I think it would be good enough to back up Tuck’s alibi.”

  “Oh, Evan, that would be fantastic. It would be over then, right?”

  “It would be strong circumstantial evidence, yeah, but I wouldn’t break out the champagne just yet. Tucker is still in some serious shit here.”

  Lissa sobered, feeling afraid again. “How is he? Did you ask him about Darren assaulting Miranda? Does he still have the photos?”

  “He doesn’t have the phone he took them with anymore. He said when the cops tried to follow up with her at the time, she wouldn’t cooperate.”

  “Why?”

  “He thinks she was scared. But you know this is really not a concern. Like your dad said, he’s not charged with Miranda’s murder.”

  Yet.

  The word hung between them.

  “Anyway, he’s not too coherent right now. He’s really wrecked, Liss. He looks like hell.”

  “Poor guy. God, Ev, what’re we going to do? What’s going to happen now?”

  “A trial, it looks like. The judge set a date in June, unless something comes along to prevent it.”

  Like the cell phone records tracking Tucker’s trip that night to Austin, Lissa thought, or what Sonny said, a witness who knew the truth, or even better, a confession from the real killer.

  “I’ve got to go,” Evan said. “Tucker and Mickey just came out of the courthouse.”

  “I love you, Evan. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “See you in a few,” he said, and then he was gone.

  She stayed at the window, feeling Evan’s unhappiness with her, but how could he think they could deal with a pregnancy now? She could barely imagine how they would survive the rest of the afternoon. By June, she would be, what, four months along? Five? And starting to get big. She needed to be working, pulling her weight. If money had been tight before they put up Tucker’s bail, it would be even worse now. And his bail was only the beginning. It was going to take all of them working, and even then, they’d be lucky if the business survived.

  Lissa turned from the window. She put her fingertips to her temples. Daddy was going to have a fit.

  The phone rang, the landline, the sound falling down the stairs.

  Lissa’s mother came through the back door. “Reporters?” she asked.

  “It hasn’t stopped. I’m not answering.”

  “No, I wouldn’t,” her mother said. “Have you heard anything?”

  Lissa repeated the gist of Evan’s phone call, and then, because she couldn’t hold it in any longer, she confessed she’d gone to meet with Sonny Cade.

  “You don’t sound as if you trust him,” her mother said when Lissa finished giving her the details.

  “I have a weird sense about all of it, Momma, even Detective Garza. It’s as if we’re being watched or something.” Lissa went on, describing how she and Evan felt they’d been followed last night. She said, “I’m not sure it was the same driver, but I’m pretty sure the same car followed me from Sonny’s office.”

  “I think I’ve seen it, too, yesterday.”

  “You’re kidding.” Lissa kept her mother’s gaze. “Did you see who was driving?”

  “No, it passed by in the alley, twice. I didn’t really register— It was a woman, I think.”

  “Revel? Could it have been Revel?”

  “Oh, I hope not, Lissa. It worries me so much that she confronted you. Now if she’s following you— Why would she do that?”

  “I don’t know. The whole thing is scary. You have to be careful, Momma.”

  “It’s not me I’m concerned about. It’s you.”

  “I thought of telling the police, but I don’t want them to know about our connection to Revel. Who knows what they’d make of it.”

  “Maybe the best thing would be to tell Mickey.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Lissa said.

  “And Evan. You have to tell Evan, too. It’s no good keeping secrets in a marriage, Lissa.” Her mother traced her eyebrows with her fingertips. Her hands were shaking, and there was something working in her eyes, a kind of fervency. She was still so disheveled, in her ratty sweater.

  Lissa resisted the urge to go to her and straighten her out.

  “We should make sandwiches.” She went to the pantry. “There’s all that leftover chicken.”

  “I’ll get it,” Lissa said.

  “It’s the blue platter.” Her mother got out the bread.

  “Is Daddy coming in?” Lissa set the platter on the counter and returned to the refrigerator for lettuce, tomato and condiments.

  “In a while,” her mother said. “I think he needs a bit of time to get himself together.”

  “He’s not okay, is he?”

  “Not so much at the moment, but he will be,” her mother answered.

  A kind of apprehension crossed her expression that made Lissa ask, “What is it?”

  “He knows about Revel. Everything. All of it, and he’s upset, mainly because I involved Joe Merchant, I think.”

  “I knew it. Joe did help you get Tucker out of jail
last fall. Why are you so secretive about him, Mom? I can tell he means something to you.”

  A flush warmed her mother’s face; she ducked her head.

  “Mom?”

  “No, Lissa, honey, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to talk about Joe right now. Okay? Can we drop it?”

  “Is he an old boyfriend or—or—” But now her mind stumbled at the idea of her mother having an affair.

  “Lissa, please?” she begged. “If your dad should walk in, I don’t want him overhearing. He’s had enough, okay?”

  Chastened, Lissa picked up the knife and went to work on the chicken, feeling unsettled. If it was an old love, why was it still such a sore spot?

  Lissa would have asked, if the sound of the back door opening hadn’t distracted her, if she hadn’t caught sight of Tucker walking in.

  His eyes teared when she met his gaze. He looked from Lissa to their mother. “I’m so sorry,” he said.

  And they went to him and folded him into their embrace, and for a long moment, he leaned into them. Lissa had the sense that he would fall without their support. She had the feeling that she and her mother were all the defense, all he had in the world. She felt her mother’s anguish and knew she was crying.

  The three of them broke apart clumsily.

  Her mother went to find a tissue.

  Lissa looked around Tucker at Evan, where he stood apart, leaning against the counter. She didn’t hold his gaze more than an instant, couldn’t read his expression.

  Her mother offered the sandwiches.

  “I don’t think I can eat, Mom,” Tucker said. “I just want a shower and to go to bed, if it’s okay. I’m so damn tired, I can’t think.”

  She cupped his face, took him into her arms again, murmuring.

  “Tucker?” Lissa said. “Do you think it’s possible you might have left your phone in Galveston? Were you on the beach? Could you have dropped it in the water?”

  “Was it found?”

  Lissa didn’t look at her mother. “I was just wondering.”

  “I guess anything’s possible,” he said, coming to hug her. “I’ve got to crash.” He left the kitchen, and they watched him go.

  Upstairs, the phone rang.

  And rang.

  Lissa went to the window over the kitchen sink. She guessed her dad was still in the workshop. A piece of the alley on either side of it was visible, and she half expected to catch a glimpse of the Camry passing by, Revel at the wheel. She thought again of what Revel said, her line about how this had started—with those two losers. What did that mean? Where was Tucker’s cell phone? Did Revel have it? Or was Sonny telling the truth when he said it was at the crime lab? And who was following them? Who owned the Camry? Evan had seen a man at the wheel, but it had been dark. He could have been mistaken. Lissa and her mom had seen it in daylight, and on both occasions, a woman was driving. Lissa was convinced she wasn’t wrong in guessing it was Revel. Who else had a reason to follow them?

  Behind her, Evan and her mother were talking about the media. “Reporters have been calling all morning,” her mother said.

  “There’s a news van out front,” Evan said. “I don’t know what station, whether it’s local or Houston. We came down the alley. I guess they don’t have that figured out yet.”

  “They will sooner or later.” Lissa turned from the window.

  Evan said he was going out to the site. “I guess I’ll swing back by and pick you up later?”

  “No, I’m coming with you,” Lissa said. “You’ll be okay, Momma, won’t you?”

  “Of course, honey. I know you both have to work. Lord knows we’re going to need the money.”

  “You’ll call if anything happens?” Lissa kept her mother’s gaze.

  “Go on. Don’t worry. Get some rest, if you can. You have to take care of yourself now.”

  “You told her?” Evan asked.

  Lissa didn’t understand him at first. Then she remembered she was pregnant. Pregnant! she thought, and it shocked her all over again. “I didn’t think you’d mind. You don’t, do you?”

  He looked disconcerted, as if he didn’t know what he thought.

  “Whatever you decide, Evan, whatever you need, I’m here for both of you,” her mother said.

  Lissa kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Momma.”

  Evan gave her mother a hug, but he didn’t speak until he and Lissa got into the truck, and then he asked if she was riding with him, out to the site.

  She said no. “Would you mind dropping me off at home? I want my own truck, then if Mom or Tucker need me, I can drive myself there.” And she left it at that, because he would argue if she told him her intention was to go into Houston, find Revel and somehow make her talk. Evan would say, again, she should leave Tucker’s defense to the professionals, but Lissa had no faith in the effort they’d made on his behalf so far.

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Evan said, and she was relieved.

  “I may run by the grocery store before I come out to the site.” Lissa invented a bit more fiction, buying herself extra time if she needed it. “I have to pick up some things for dinner.”

  Evan pulled into their driveway, and she got out.

  “I was surprised that you talked to your mom about the baby when we haven’t really discussed it ourselves yet.” His voice caught her before she could close the door.

  “Well, I guess I didn’t think you’d mind. I mean, she is my mom.”

  “But it’s our baby, our decision.”

  “She isn’t going to interfere, Evan.”

  “She’ll support you, Liss. Whatever you decide. It won’t matter how I feel.”

  “Of course it matters! I’m not going to do anything without telling you first.”

  “Anything like an abortion, is that what you mean?”

  “No, Evan. I just said—”

  “Yeah, you’ll consult me first. Thanks a lot for that. It’s a real goddamn comfort to know you’ll give me a heads-up so I can pencil in your appointment to get rid of our kid. But don’t expect a get-well card, okay?”

  She stared at him, astonished. The sting of his words, his ugly tone, were like a slap across her face. “We probably shouldn’t have this discussion now.”

  “You’re right. Somebody’s got to keep the work going, because it’s going to take a shitload of money to get Tucker out of the jam he’s in this time.”

  “That’s exactly my point, Ev. How can we think about having a baby now?”

  He recoiled. “My God! You’re really serious. You really are going to use the trouble Tuck’s in as an excuse to terminate your pregnancy.”

  She opened her mouth, not knowing what her response would be, but he cut her off, saying he didn’t know why he was surprised, repeating what he’d said last night, the accusation that Tucker always came first with her. He shifted his glance and said, “I was stupid for thinking it would be different this time, that once, just once, you might consider putting something else, someone else, first.”

  “That’s unfair, Evan! What’s happening to Tucker isn’t my only concern, and you know it.” She stopped. “We aren’t going to get anywhere this way, Ev.”

  He leveled his glance at her and asked her to close the door.

  “Evan—”

  “Please. I have to go. I need to go.”

  She slammed the door and watched him back out of the driveway. How had this happened? Only days ago she’d been a happily married woman, and if life wasn’t perfect, it was close. Now she and Evan couldn’t speak to each other without fighting, and Tucker was facing a murder charge, maybe two murder charges. But standing here in the icy shade of her incredulity was of as little use as her tears or her remorse. She dug her keys out of her purse, got into her own truck, following in Evan’s wake. What di
d he expect her to do? Abandon Tucker? Leave him to a legal system that seemed hell-bent on convicting him?

  She couldn’t do it; he was her brother. And there was something very wrong with what was happening to him and to her family. They were being blackmailed and threatened, lied to and followed. Reflexively, she checked the rearview, searching for the Camry, almost wishing to see it shadowing her. It would save her the trip into Houston, the hassle of finding Revel. But if it was back there, she couldn’t pick it out of the heavy flow of traffic.

  What am I doing? She was close to the freeway, heading into the far right lane that would take her south into the city, when the question rose in her mind. Somehow her direction didn’t feel right, and she yanked the wheel left now before she could half think about it, and amid the blare of horns and a veritable forest of fingered complaints, she crossed three lanes and entered the northbound interstate feeder, cringing, whispering, “Sorry, so sorry.”

  She was thinking of what Sonny had said, that it would take a witness or a confession to clear Tucker. If that was true, the killer was the best witness, and the very same person who would make the confession.

  And that wasn’t Revel Wiley.

  It was Darren Coe.

  20

  SHE KNEW EXACTLY where she’d find him, given that it was March and the height of the public school baseball season. He’d be at the practice field behind the junior high school, unless the team had a game. Lissa prayed they didn’t, not that she had any idea what she would say. She wanted this over, that was all, the right person punished, and she had little faith in the police effort, centered as it was on Tucker. What did that leave? Who except her?

  She thought of what an unlikely candidate she was to pursue Darren. She thought how she had imagined she would never have to see him again. She wondered if she was thinking clearly, or if she was even a good judge of that. What if the stress and her fear had made her crazy?

  The dark ribbon of asphalt that led to the network of athletic fields was printed with tire-worn images of helmeted warrior mascots carrying lightning bolts. Stenciling them onto the road was a huge project, one the student members of the spirit club undertook before the start of every school year. Lissa remembered the last time she’d done it, her senior year. She and Courtney Coe had come out here together. They’d done everything together then, they’d been like twins, but that had changed after the party in Galveston. Lissa had never told Courtney about it. She’d been too ashamed, too certain she’d brought Darren’s attack on herself. The secret had loomed between them; it had begun the ruin of their friendship. Lissa had known it, but looking back now, she could see telling would have ruined it, too. Courtney would never have believed her, the same as she hadn’t believed Holly. It would be so hard to face it, Lissa thought, something so horrible and twisted that your brother had done, and she was sorry for Courtney suddenly, sorry that it wasn’t only Darren, but his whole family, that would suffer when the truth came out.