“Will they tell us if we ask?” Mary Bliss asked.
“Probably not. Privacy is a big issue these days. The companies guard that information like it was Fort Knox.”
“But we know who she’s calling,” Mary Bliss said, feeling more hopeful. “I can just call them back and ask them to call me. Right?”
“You can ask, but that doesn’t mean they’ll do it,” Matt said. “Also, this log only lists the last ten calls received or dialed. If Erin was upset, and calling the same numbers, this might only reflect a day or so of phone calls.”
“Can we get all the phone records?” Mary Bliss asked.
“It’s tricky,” Matt admitted. “Legally, you need a subpoena. And that takes time.” He took a deep breath. “I think maybe you should file a missing persons report. With the police. It’s been twenty-four hours, she’s a minor. They have resources to look for her that we don’t.”
Mary Bliss chewed her thumbnail. She looked over at Matt.
“I can’t call the police,” she said, her voice low. “What if Erin’s just hiding out with a friend I haven’t thought of? If I call in the police, she’d never forgive me. Anyway, I can’t really call the police, after what happened with Parker, can I?”
He winced. “Good point.”
“Isn’t there another way to find out more about this phone?” she asked.
“I could call in a favor,” he said slowly. “I know a guy. He used to work at AirOne when I was with the GBI. He left there a few months ago, but maybe he could pull some strings for me.”
“Can you call him?” Mary Bliss asked. “I hate to ask, but I have to.”
“I’ll have to track him down,” Matt said. “It’s Sunday. He’s a big golfer. No telling where he is this time of day.”
“We’ve got to find her,” Mary Bliss said. “We’ve got to.”
67
Katharine came over at six, with a casserole and a copy of a Meg Ryan movie Mary Bliss had never seen.
“Matt called,” she said, putting her arms around Mary Bliss. “He didn’t think you should be alone.”
“I shouldn’t,” Mary Bliss agreed. She held up her right hand. She had methodically yanked off every one of the acrylic nails.
Katharine put the casserole in the microwave. “Have you called all her friends?”
Mary Bliss nodded. “Jessica’s the only one who’s in town. I called her mother a little while ago and explained the situation. She had a talk with Jessica, who then called me back. The child swears she has no idea who Erin was sleeping with. All she knows is that Erin has been really secretive about it, and that she was crying when she went over there Saturday night.”
“Her best friend doesn’t know who her boyfriend is?” Katharine sounded skeptical.
“Erin’s like that,” Mary Bliss said. “Buttoned up. She takes after Parker that way. She has friends, but she never lets them get too close.”
“What about Josh?” Katharine asked.
“Nobody’s home,” Mary Bliss said. “I think Nancye must have the kids today. I saw Randy this morning when I went over there to look for Erin, but he left shortly after that, and he hasn’t been back since.”
“You’re positive Josh isn’t the boyfriend?” Katharine asked.
“That’s what he says,” Mary Bliss said. “And Meemaw swears Josh wasn’t the name Erin mentioned to her. She says it’s something from the Bible.”
“Aaron? David? Esau? Jacob? Abraham? Simon? Did she specify whether it was New or Old Testament?”
“She can’t remember,” Mary Bliss said. “She can remember her winning hand from a bridge tournament six years ago, but she can’t remember the name of the boy her granddaughter is sleeping with.”
The microwave beeped and Katharine lifted the steaming casserole out with pot holders. She spooned the chicken and rice mixture onto a plate and set it down in front of Mary Bliss. “Eat,” she said.
Mary Bliss shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Just a little,” Katharine said. She picked up the fork, loaded it with food, and did a little loop-de-loop with it, making whooshing airplane noises. “Come on,” she coaxed. “Open the hangar.”
Mary Bliss took a bite to appease her friend, then another bite, because she couldn’t think of anything else to do. Little by little, Katharine spoon-fed her almost a cup of chicken and rice.
“Good girl,” Katharine said approvingly. “You’re a member of the clean-plate club. You get a prize.”
She went to the wicker basket she’d brought over and picked up a prescription pill bottle. She shook a white capsule out into her palm and offered it to Mary Bliss.
“Ta-da!” she said gaily. “The grand prize.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a chill pill,” Katharine said. “My doctor gave them to me when Charlie first left. It’s just to take the edge off. It won’t make you woozy or anything.”
“I don’t think so,” Mary Bliss said. “I need to be alert. I can’t be doped up looking for my daughter. But thanks anyway.”
Katharine frowned but put the pill back in the bottle. “Let me ask you something,” she said. “Just what do you plan to do next?”
“Find my kid,” Mary Bliss said. “Bring her back here. Love her, take care of her. Fix her.”
Katharine gave her a long, level look. “What if she really is pregnant? What if she doesn’t want to come back? What if she doesn’t want to be fixed?”
“That won’t happen,” Mary Bliss said. “I won’t let it.”
They watched the Meg Ryan movie in the den, and Mary Bliss kept the phone in her lap the whole time, waiting for it to ring.
At ten they heard a knock at the back door. Mary Bliss flew to open it.
Matt came in, holding a flat manila envelope.
“What took so long? Did you get it?” Mary Bliss asked, clutching his arm. “The phone records? Did he get them for you?”
“Yeah,” Matt said. “It took some doing. I had to meet him at the Krispy Kreme out in East Cobb, and drink coffee and talk over old times. I owe favors to three guys I’ve never even met, but I got ’em. I made some phone calls and found out some stuff too. That’s what took so long.”
Katharine came in from the den. “Tell,” she said, hoisting herself up and sitting cross-legged on the kitchen counter.
Matt slid three sheets of computer printouts from the envelope. “The phone is billed to Isaac Brownlee,” he said, looking straight at Mary Bliss.
“Erin’s soccer coach?” Mary Bliss said immediately. “Oh my God. Isaac. Right out of the Bible.” Her face went pale.
“Her soccer coach?” Katharine said. “Why would he buy a cell phone for Erin?”
“I can’t believe it,” Mary Bliss moaned.
Matt showed them the printouts. “These are the call records for that phone—incoming and outgoing. Dozens of calls—lots of them late-night calls, to and from Isaac Brownlee. He has his own cell phone too, but my guy wouldn’t pull those records. Doesn’t matter anyway, we’ve got what we need with this.”
Mary Bliss’s face crumpled. She started to cry. “Her soccer coach? He’s the boyfriend? It can’t be. He must be close to thirty years old.”
“He’s thirty-two,” Matt said grimly. “Married, no kids. I’ve checked him out. Isaac Brownlee is a real piece of work.”
“Oh God,” Mary Bliss moaned. “You’re positive, then? He’s the one? They’ve been…together?”
“Those other phone numbers, the ones we found on Erin’s call list, one was Brownlee’s cell phone, the other was his home phone. I imagine the woman’s voice on the answering machine is Mrs. Brownlee,” Matt said. “Erin was also calling him at school.”
“He’s her coach,” Mary Bliss said weakly. “Erin’s the starting goalie on the team. She was calling him about soccer.”
“Why would he buy her a cell phone and get her to keep it a secret?” Matt said, his voice gentle but insistent. “Think about it. It’s the perfec
t setup. And it’s not the first time he’s done something like this.”
“What do you mean?” Mary Bliss asked.
“I told you I did some checking,” Matt said. “Isaac Brownlee used to teach science at a public high school in Dayton, Ohio. He was terminated two years ago. They have strict personnel confidentiality rules, but I went back to the office and ran a computer search of back issues of the Dayton Daily News. They did a big story about a popular male high school teacher there who left the school under a cloud after accusations were made about ‘improper behavior with female students.’ The newspaper story didn’t mention the teacher’s name because no criminal charges were ever filed. I called the reporter. She hemmed and hawed and wouldn’t volunteer any names, but when I mentioned Isaac Brownlee, she let me know I was right on target.”
Mary Bliss’s hands were shaking uncontrollably. “Oh God. Soccer camp. Erin told me it was a special soccer camp for goalies. That’s why none of the other girls were going. Coach picked her up himself. It was down in Jekyll Island. Four days they were gone. Back in June. Right after Parker left. I was so distracted, so upset. It never dawned on me that something was wrong.”
Katharine clamped her own hands over Mary Bliss’s. “Stop that. You’re not to blame. That bastard took advantage of Erin. Of both of you. It’s not your fault. It’s not Erin’s.” She looked at Matt. “Where is this bastard Brownlee? Do you think Erin’s with him?”
Matt shrugged. “No way to tell. I checked Brownlee’s house. There are a couple of days’ worth of newspapers in his driveway, and a stack of mail in his mailbox. It looks like he’s been out of town, at least two days.”
“Maybe Erin went to meet him somewhere?” Mary Bliss asked.
“I called the principal at Fair Oaks Academy,” Matt said.
“You called Anne Harris? What did she say?”
“According to her, Brownlee went to Panama City, Florida, on Thursday, for a long weekend.”
“You didn’t tell her about Erin, did you?” Mary Bliss asked.
“No. I just said I was a soccer coach from Alabama and I wanted to talk to him about a tournament coming up. She says she doesn’t know where he’s staying.”
“Do you think Erin is with Isaac Brownlee?” Mary Bliss asked.
“Maybe,” Matt said. “It’s a possibility. But there’s another possibility too. I checked the phone company records on that number I thought was a South Florida listing. I was right. It’s a public phone booth. In Key West.”
“We don’t know anybody in Key West,” Mary Bliss said automatically. She looked over at Katharine. “Do we?”
“Maybe you do,” Hayslip countered. “Parker.”
“No,” Mary Bliss said quickly. “It can’t be Parker.”
“I think it is,” Matt said. “Erin made the call to that number. It’s a phone booth on Duval Street. I think Parker is somewhere down in the Keys. Somehow, Erin found that out and tried to call him.”
“It couldn’t be,” Mary Bliss said. “She would have told me.”
“No. You said it yourself,” Katharine reminded her. “Erin’s all buttoned up. She keeps secrets. Just like Parker.”
“The call was only a few seconds long. It never connected,” Matt said. “Maybe that’s where Erin’s gone. Her lover has left town. As far as she’s concerned, there’s nobody left to turn to. Nobody but Daddy.”
68
“What now?” Katharine asked.
“That depends on Mary Bliss,” Matt said. “I think she should bring in the police. They can do more than we can. You’ve got Erin’s license plate number—they can put out an alert on that. They can try to find Brownlee down in Panama City.”
“No,” Mary Bliss said adamantly. “No police. Erin’s not a criminal. She’s already in trouble. She’d be terrified if the cops stopped her. There’s no telling what she’d do.”
Mary Bliss walked quickly to the living room and looked out the window. Randy Bowden’s car was in the driveway. It was past eleven, but there were still lights on.
“I’m going over to the Bowdens’ to talk to Josh,” Mary Bliss called over her shoulder. She was out the door and across the street before her own front door had closed.
She walked around to the back of the house and knocked on the kitchen door. She could see Josh through the glass. He was standing with his back to the counter, eating a huge slab of pizza. She rapped sharply on the glass.
“Josh! I need to talk to you.”
He rolled his eyes, put down the pizza, and let her in.
“What’s up, Mrs. Mac?” he asked.
“You know what’s up. Erin’s run away. I found her cell phone. The one Coach Brownlee gave her. I know all about them, Josh. Is that where she’s gone? Is she with Coach Brownlee?”
Josh squirmed and looked around the room. Just then, Randy walked in.
“I thought I heard voices,” he said. “Did you find Erin?”
“No,” Mary Bliss said. “I was just asking Josh to be straight and tell me what he knows.”
“He told you everything he knows this morning,” Randy said, sounding annoyed. “Didn’t you, Josh?”
Josh squirmed again. He picked at the cheese topping on the pizza.
“Didn’t you, son?” Randy repeated, his voice stern.
“Is she pregnant?” Mary Bliss asked.
Josh blushed. “She thought she might be. But it was a false alarm.” He still wouldn’t meet her eye.
Randy clapped a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Josh! What the hell are you talking about? Who got Erin pregnant? Was it you?”
“No, sir,” Josh said, his face sullen. “It wasn’t me. I told you that.”
“She’s been sleeping with Isaac Brownlee. Her soccer coach up at the high school,” Mary Bliss said. “I imagine Josh was the only one who knew about it.”
“Is that true?” Randy was incredulous.
“Yessir,” Josh said. “I told her it was a bad idea. But she says she’s in love with him, and he’s in love with her. Ha!”
“Where did Erin go when she left last night?” Mary Bliss asked. “She didn’t take the cell phone. She had her car and a little money her grandmother gave her. Have you talked to her at all?”
Josh’s face was getting red. He looked up at Mary Bliss. “You lied to her,” he said, furious. “How could you tell her he was dead? How could you? What the hell kind of bitch are you?”
“Josh!” Randy said.
“Ask her, Dad,” Josh said. “See if she’ll tell the truth now. I bet she won’t. She’s as big a liar as Mom. She told Erin, she told me, she told everybody Mr. Mac was dead. It was all a big, stinking lie.”
“Mary Bliss?” Randy looked from his son to her. “Is he making this up? Is Parker alive? Are you really capable of something like that?”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” Mary Bliss said, a threat implied in her voice. “Josh. Tell me where Erin has gone. I know you know. Is she with Coach Brownlee?”
“That prick?” Josh said, contempt dripping from his voice. “Hell, no. He left town. Erin told him she was late. That she might be pregnant. He didn’t care. He and his wife went down to Panama City. He doesn’t give a shit about Erin.”
“Then where?” Mary Bliss said. “Where did she go?”
“Key West,” he said finally. “To see her dad. She came by here last night. She needed money. I couldn’t leave my brothers alone, so I gave her my ATM card. She took fifty dollars. It’s all I had.”
“Where in Key West?” Mary Bliss asked. “What makes her think Parker is down there?”
“He is,” Josh said. “She talked to him.”
“When? Where is he? Does she know for certain?”
“He’s somewhere in the Keys. He calls her from different phone booths. On her cell phone. She tried calling him back, but he never answered.”
“When did this start?” Mary Bliss demanded. “When did she first hear from Parker?”
“Like, last week,
I think. When she thought she was pregnant. She told her grandmother she was in trouble. I think Mr. Mac calls the old lady sometimes. Erin gave Meemaw her cell phone number, and he called her, like, earlier in the week. But he made her swear not to tell anybody. Especially you.”
“She told you,” Mary Bliss pointed out.
“I’m her best friend,” Josh said. “The only one she trusts.”
“God,” Randy said disgustedly.
Mary Bliss kept on ignoring him. “Does Parker know Erin is coming down there? How does she plan to find him?”
“I told her, it’s a big place down there. You don’t even know where he is. Or if he’ll help you. She didn’t care. She was outta here.”
“She hardly has any money,” Mary Bliss fretted. “Maybe a hundred bucks. That won’t even cover gas and food.”
Josh laughed bitterly. “She’ll be okay. She took your Visa card. Last week. You know, when she thought she was pregnant. I think she was maybe planning this all along. Even before you guys had that fight last night.”
“My Visa? It’s no good,” Mary Bliss cried. “It’s two months in arrears. If she tries to use it, they’ll take it away and cut it up.”
Josh shook his head. “Man. I thought my mom was fucked up.”
“Josh!” Randy warned.
“Has she called you at all?” Mary Bliss asked.
He shook his head. “I was at work all day. Just got home. Anyway, she doesn’t have her cell phone with her, right?”
“That’s right,” Mary Bliss said. She’d made up her mind. “Listen, Josh,” she said. “I know you hate me right now. But I need a favor. For Erin. I’m going after her. Tonight. To Key West. Can you stay over at my house tonight? And bring your cell phone, all right? In case she tries to call you that way. If she calls, try to get her to tell you exactly where she is. Tell her I’m sorry. Really, really sorry. Make sure she stays right where she’s at. Then call me. On her cell phone. I’ll have it with me the whole time. All right? Can you do that?”
Little Bitty Lies Page 36
