by Jan Burke
“Could one of them be from Luke Serre?”
“He disappeared two years ago, at the age of three. If he lost one of his front teeth then, it would most likely have occurred through trauma. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. Some children lose their baby teeth by natural means as early as five — so if he is alive, it is possible, yes, that out of all the children on Earth, he is one of the two who once owned these teeth. But it seems unlikely to me that two years after he went missing, five-year-old Luke would take his tooth and another child’s tooth, then make a trek some distance behind the fences surrounding the Sheffield Estate, to the place where his father’s dismembered remains were buried, and leave those teeth in that place before hiking out again.”
“I see what you mean. Until recently, the only person who knew where the remains were buried was Gerry Serre’s killer, and the killer really would have no reason to take them there, either.”
“I agree. Not impossible, but unlikely.”
“Any chance of finding out who those teeth belonged to?”
“I don’t know if they’ll be able to run DNA on them or not. I strongly suspect Sheila got these teeth from a dentist.”
“Why would a dentist give them to her?”
“Training.”
“You mean for dogs?”
“Yes. Teeth are among the least objectionable materials to train with. Cadaver dog and search dog trainers often have a network of doctors, dentists, pathologists, and others who understand that the handlers need human biological materials for training purposes. It’s completely understandable, but not always done on a strictly legal basis, so most SAR dog owners would prefer not to talk to anyone about what’s in their freezers.”
“Remind me to be careful about what I defrost out of yours.”
He laughed. “You mean dinner at your place isn’t potluck tonight?”
“No, strictly our treat.”
NOT long after we hung up, the security desk downstairs contacted me. I had a visitor: Ben’s now ex-girlfriend, Anna
Stover.
CHAPTER 22
Tuesday, April 25
11:05 A.M.
HOME OF GRAYDON FLETCHER
GENIE wasn’t sure why the thought surprised her, but it did: Grandfather’s house was made for children. All the other times she had been here, she had been so happy to see her cousins and to play with them, she never noticed how different his house was from that of most grown-ups.
Now, as she walked with Carrie down a pathway through the children’s garden, she thought about all the ways in which Grandfather’s house was unlike any other she had ever visited, even big houses. Most of the houses she had visited belonged to other members of their family, and they were houses with big yards and any number of rooms given over to the children of the house — the Fletcher family believed strongly in home schooling, so if you weren’t lucky enough to go to Fletcher Academy, your house probably had a playroom and a room that was used as a schoolroom. But none of the homes of her dozens of cousins were as close to being a children’s castle as was Grandfather’s house.
The big house had multiple playrooms, each filled with toys, games, and puzzles in seemingly endless supply. If there was an emphasis on educational toys, no one minded much. There were dolls and stuffed animals and toy soldiers to play with, too.
In the art room, you could work with clay, Play-Doh, papier-mâché, or finger paints — that was Genie’s favorite room. It even had digital cameras and a scanner and a computer that you could use to change the photos into funny pictures.
Carrie liked the music rooms. One music room was for playing music, the other for listening. The listening room was filled with beanbag chairs, and if you wanted to just sit quietly and listen through headphones, you could do so. You didn’t have to listen to the same music everyone else was listening to — you could choose your own. It was also a nice place to take a nap.
You could always go into one of the spare bedrooms, of course — some rooms were for girls and some rooms were for boys. Genie didn’t like them so much if she was really tired, because the girls were always gossiping and giggling and keeping her awake. Sometimes, though, overnight parties were held here for groups of girl cousins near the same age — she didn’t mind staying up all night then! The only bad part was coming home and answering all of Mom’s questions. Mom didn’t like them to go to slumber parties. Or be away from her much for any reason.
When Mom acted like that, it just made Genie feel restless. She had even thought of running away, someday. But then she thought of not being with Carrie and the boys — as well as practical matters, like who would hire a kid to do work — and she would give up on the idea. At least for the time being.
Still, she thought that if she learned more about computers, she might be able to do it one day. People couldn’t tell how old you are on the computer. She knew this because of something her dad had said about weird men who posed as children on the Internet, men who then stole children and did terrible things to them. Genie believed him, but she also figured that if a man could pretend to be a kid, a kid could pretend to be an adult. It might work.
Her dad helped other people in the family with their computer problems, so people expected his kids to know about them, but this was not the case. They weren’t allowed to use computers very often. There was a great computer room here. The computers at Grandfather’s house weren’t hooked up to the Internet, but there were hundreds of games and a huge amount of learning software on them. Most of her cousins were allowed to get on the Internet when they were at their own houses, at least sometimes. The fact that she and her siblings were not allowed on it at all frustrated Genie. She tried to learn what she could about it from her cousins, but one day Mom overheard her talking about it and she got in trouble. Dad said they would learn about it when they were a little older.
It didn’t make any sense to her. Dad made some of his money by working on the Internet. Genie once got into a lot of trouble by trying to sneak onto his work computer in his office. She had guessed two of his passwords, but not the one that made the browser work. Somehow Dad was able to figure out that she was the one who had used it. Probably because none of the other kids would have dared to try it.
Maybe she would go up to the computer room while they were here, but she would probably spend most of her time outside. There was a swimming pool and a fully equipped playground at Grandfather’s house. No one fussed at you here if you got dirt or grass stains on your clothes, or spilled something on your T-shirt. This house always had spare clothes you could change into while yours were cleaned or mended. And if you were the one who needed mending, you would be all right, too — many of the staff had first-aid training. Besides, Uncle Roger and Aunt Susan were doctors and they lived in the house next door. If they weren’t home, you could get help at the office of their pediatrics practice, which was less than a mile away.
The staff members weren’t strangers. Some of Grandfather’s adopted children still lived with him, helping him with his businesses and the school, or helping him with the house and property itself. Other aunts and uncles lived in nearby houses.
Fletcher children and grandchildren lived in other parts of the country and in Europe, Dad had once told Genie, but he also said that most of them liked to be close to home. The uncles Genie knew best were the ones who were closest to her dad, Roy Fletcher.
One was Uncle Giles, who was Dad’s oldest brother — Dad let Uncle Giles boss him around. He seemed very ordinary, but when he told people what to do, they always did it. Genie wasn’t immune to this herself. Mom sometimes tried to argue with him, but she never won.
Her dad was also close to Uncle Dexter, who was a lawyer. He was kind of quiet. Everyone in the family talked about how good-looking he was, but Genie couldn’t see it. His wife, Aunt Maggie, was very beautiful, but she didn’t seem to care about Uncle Dex or what he did. She always seemed bored, and was one of only a small number of the older women who didn’t see
m interested in him. Genie thought that he was interesting, but not in the way that most of the aunts did.
To Genie, who could admit to herself that she was a little bit of a spy when it came to the adults in her life, Uncle Dex’s effect on the older women was fascinating and worthy of study. Whenever he came into a room, some of the aunts blushed. Eventually, most of them found a way to stand near Uncle Dex for at least a few minutes. They touched him — put a hand on his arm or shoulder, things like that — more often than they touched the other men in the family. He would look at whoever was talking to him as if they were telling him a valuable secret. He listened to them and said nice things to them. He had a smile — even Genie liked his smile — that made other people smile back at him. He might joke a little with the women, but he never did anything to make the uncles mad at him. Uncle Dex always seemed able to be cautious without letting other people realize he was being cautious.
Mom dressed up a little more when she knew Uncle Dex was coming over. Genie noticed that Uncle Dex was careful to stay near Dad when Mom was around, never came over when Dad wasn’t home, and still managed to compliment Mom and make her smile.
Uncle Nelson was the other uncle who visited them sometimes. He was usually too busy to spend much time with them, and seemed uncomfortable around children, but he always made a point of asking Genie how she was doing and if she was happy. He was married, too, but Genie had never met his wife. Mom said he’d married someone who didn’t like being around all the Fletchers, especially at big family gatherings. Genie couldn’t understand that.
Naturally, not everyone was close to every other member of the family, but Grandfather had worked hard to make sure that family was the most important thing in his children’s lives. Genie always felt loved and safe here. That wasn’t just because there was always someone keeping an eye on the children, or lots of adults to embrace you and ask you how you were doing. Here, just like at the academy, there were cameras and security people. Most of the latter were Fletchers, too.
This day was an especially quiet one, even though there were a great many family members present. The grown-ups, especially Grandfather, had required their attention when they first arrived. Grandfather had been so sad. Some of the oldest cousins took Troy and Aaron to play in another room, while Grandfather spent time telling the older children (the ones who were nine and older, which meant Genie just made the cut) about Sheila, one of their cousins. Grandfather told them about Sheila’s life, how her birth mother had given her to the Fletchers because she knew that Sheila’s father was a man who would never be kind to a baby girl.
A few years ago, Sheila had wanted to find her birth mother, and Grandfather had helped her to do that. He said that he was glad Sheila and her birth mother had time to know each other before Sheila’s birth mother died, but he was even happier that Sheila had moved back here to Las Piernas. He went on to tell them that he didn’t want to frighten them, but he did want them to know that someone had killed her, and he was telling them that because he wanted everyone to be extra alert and not talk to strangers.
The idea of a murder in the family was shocking, kind of thrilling, and scary to Genie all at once. Grandfather didn’t tell them much about the murder. He just said the police were working on it. He ended the way he often ended talks with the whole family, reminding them to love one another, to work as hard as they could to learn, to use what talents they had been given by God, and to help one another.
You couldn’t help feeling sad for Grandfather today.
They all knew that other people wanted to try to hurt Grandfather through his children.
Once, Genie told Carrie that she wanted to run away, and Carrie freaked out. She didn’t tell their parents, but she pleaded with Genie not to leave, and Genie began to see that Carrie needed her. And Carrie told her that she needed to think about not hurting Grandfather, and Genie could see her point.
Being a Fletcher wasn’t so bad, after all. People took care of you. If she wanted to go to a good college, and showed that she meant it by studying hard, the Fletchers would help her get into that college. When she decided what she wanted to be when she grew up, Fletchers would help her then, too. When she had children, and her cousins had children, they would all help those children to be happy and healthy and successful. Fletchers helped one another.
Most people outside the family admired the Fletchers, but some people were jealous, of course. They would say that love, learning, and money made a difference. In her lessons at home, Mom and Dad made sure that Genie already knew these facts by heart: If you were wealthy, no matter how much you gave to charities or your community, no matter how much good you did, there would always be a few people who thought you owed them what you had earned. Or they would believe you would not miss what they stole from you. A very few wanted to hurt Fletcher children just because they were Fletchers. That was why you could not talk to strangers. That was why the family had to have security people.
Genie wondered if the person who killed Cousin Sheila had done it because she was a Fletcher. When she asked Mom about it, she got a lecture about not asking prying questions. But then she asked Dad about it, and he said, “Probably.” He was upset, but he hugged her and told her not to be afraid, that he would always keep her safe.
Being kept safe was one of the reasons you were home-schooled or schooled at the academy and could not go to a public school. Public school was a place where you didn’t learn as much, anyway — something Genie was sure was true from the rare occasions when she encountered other children her age and tried to converse with them. Most ended up calling her names that meant she was smarter than they were, and although she could never understand why that should be considered an insult to her, it definitely felt like one. It was so much easier to be around other Fletcher children. They had better manners, too.
Not all of the Fletcher children were supersmart, of course, but they all got the best education possible, and the family always tried to help its children discover what they were good at and make the most of their talents. From what Grandfather had said that morning, Genie got the impression that Sheila wasn’t one of the supersmart ones.
Grandfather told them that he didn’t expect them to be sad about Sheila if they did not know her, but he hoped they would say a little prayer for her before they went to bed tonight. He believed she was in heaven because she had spent the last two years of her life learning how to find lost children with special dogs, which was a good use of her talents.
After that, the children were told they could have the day off from classes and that they should just spend time with their brothers, sisters, and cousins, and enjoy being a family.
Mom stopped them before they left the room, probably to ask them where they would be, but Uncle Giles saw her do this and quickly came up to her. “Victoria, I believe Roy is looking for you.” She looked as if she might say she would be there in a few minutes, but he shepherded the girls along with him, saying over his shoulder, “Go to your husband. We will keep an eye on the girls. I promise. Your children are not in any danger here.”
When they were outside, Carrie said, “Thank you, Uncle Giles.”
“For what? Rescuing you from your mother?” he asked, then laughed when both girls blushed. “It was my pleasure, Carrie. Now, you and Genie enjoy your day.”
When he had walked back into the house, Carrie said, “Mom’s going to be mad.”
“Yes,” Genie said. “So we might as well have fun, because she’s going to be mad, anyway.” Genie thought Carrie worried too much about Mom getting mad. Then again, Genie got into trouble more often than her older sister.
CARRIE and Genie had played with their cousins for a time, then wandered off together toward the children’s garden.
They said they wanted to see how their little vegetable patches were doing. No one questioned this — the girls did this every time they came here. One of the cousins mentioned that it would be muddy, then smiled and said, “But that will make
it easier to pull weeds!”
Genie wondered why she couldn’t be like that, what Dad called “good natured.” But there was something restless in her, and she decided she just never would be someone other girls called “sweet,” not even as sweet as Carrie.
It was muddy, but there were boards and stepping-stones to help them navigate their way. The rain had made the garden very green this year, Genie thought. For a time they pulled weeds, although not many had been allowed to grow up among the carrots and beans and tomatoes. Then they went into the greenhouse, where they could deliver the weeds for composting and wash the worst of the mud off their hands.
Edith, one of their favorite aunts, was there. She greeted the girls cheerily, always pleased to see two of her protégées. Edith had found her talent here. She loved the garden, and loved to teach children about plants and their care, so she happily set them up with jars and pots and young plants that needed to be moved into bigger containers. April was a busy time for Edith, and before long, she wandered away from them to work on projects of her own.
Genie gathered the jars to her side of the table they worked at.
“I wonder why you do that,” Carrie said.
“What?”
“Pick the jars. You leave me all the pots.”
Genie blushed.
“I don’t mind,” Carrie said quickly. “I just wondered.”
Genie checked to see that Edith was not nearby, then said in a low voice, “I like the name.”
“Jar?”
Genie shook her head. “Mason. That name has… some connection to me.”
Carrie looked puzzled. She signed, Freemasons? Stonecutters?
After a moment, Genie signed, I knew someone named Mason.
Last name?
She shook her head. No, first name.
From the past? Carrie signed back. Before? No need to explain before what.
