My shudder was almost audible. Dead air, loud as an explosion in its suddenness, filled the station. We couldn’t have it; one of us had to say something. I fought to speak, but I couldn’t find my own words with the caller’s voice echoing in my brain.
‘You’re going to have to prove that one, friend,’ Farley said, bailing me out again. The shine on his forehead made it look as if his skin were melting. ‘Right now, an associate of ours is traveling to Tucson, to meet with Kit’s birth mother.’
‘What are you talking about? I just told you what happened to Kendra’s daughter.’
‘We’ll have to find out for ourselves,’ Farley said. ‘In the meantime, our colleague is on her way there right now.’
‘That’s right,’ I managed to add. Then I flashed Farley a look that I hoped conveyed my gratitude. It wasn’t just the ratings now. He was trying to protect me from this troublemaker. I thought what Farley said would shut him up. I hoped it would.
‘You can tell that associate, colleague, or whatever you call her to head on down to the newspaper in Phoenix and do some checking,’ he said. ‘The kidnapping was pretty big news over here. But this wasn’t any newborn they took. The girl was almost three months old when it happened. And it was Kendra’s fault, too.’
Almost three months old. Kendra’s fault. My dream of finding my mother began to dissolve. ‘Why are you calling?’ I said, angry enough to shake off my fear now.
‘Just trying to help, ma’am. Just trying to help.’
‘If you’re really trying to help, give us your name,’ Farley demanded and wiped a handkerchief across his face. ‘I mean it, man. Tell us who you are and what you know.’
‘Check those old newspapers, and you’ll find out.’ And then the connection was broken.
I looked at Farley and pointed at the lights. He shook his head and faced the mic. ‘That’s it for today, folks. We end today with a caller too cowardly to give his name claiming Kit’s biological mother had a child who was kidnapped. We have our own Tamera Flowers heading for Arizona as we speak. Most of all, we have callers from all over the country willing to share their stories with us and with our listeners. You keep calling, and we’ll keep sharing. Thanks for being here with me, Gnarly Farley, and Perp Talk founder, my partner, Kit Doyle. Tune in tomorrow to hear more about Kit’s search for her biological mom, and to share your own stories of adoption and reunion.’
We exited to the sounds of Paul Simon’s ‘Mother and Child Reunion’.
I winced. ‘Tell me you didn’t pick that music, Farley.’
‘I think Scott did,’ he said.
‘Subtle.’
‘As a sledgehammer.’ He couldn’t resist adding, ‘I heard that Simon named the song after a chicken-and-egg dish he’d seen on the menu of a Chinese restaurant.’
‘Well, Scott will be having second thoughts now that Carla has told him we need to drop my search for Kendra on the air.’ I leaned back in my chair, as if the breath had been knocked out of me. Farley had saved the show. He had saved me.
‘Thanks,’ I said, ‘for everything.’
‘No problem, partner.’ The tone of his voice told me all I needed to know.
‘Tell me that last caller was a nut. Tell me he made up everything he just said.’
He shoved the hair from his forehead. ‘He might be a nut,’ he said, ‘but I don’t think he was lying. He might just believe he’s telling the truth.’
We walked out together. I wanted to ask him, ask someone, if what the caller said could mean that Kendra Trafton wasn’t my mother, because I’d already engaged in numerous fantasies where she wasn’t. I had already checked all the newspapers. There were no stories of kidnapping that I could see. I needed to go back, check more, and maybe spend a little more money on the online investigators. Or maybe I should give up the hopeless online search and hire a real flesh-and-blood investigator.
‘Don’t look so lost.’ Farley nudged me with an elbow. ‘Even if he’s right about Kendra’s daughter being kidnapped, that doesn’t mean you aren’t her daughter.’
‘But it does complicate things. You know what, though? Mick has to know how old I was when they adopted me.’
‘We’re going to have to ask Tamera to check out the newspaper files,’ Farley said.
‘I hate to tell her. She wanted to make this happen for me because she couldn’t make it happen for herself.’
We stood in the parking lot together. He kind of choked on his voice for a moment, but then he bounced back, all Farley blond with attitude. ‘Let’s get something to eat. Then you call your dad and Tamera.’
For the first time in a long time, I wanted to go out with him the way I used to. But I couldn’t get the caller’s raspy voice out of my mind.
‘Mick’s with a client.’ I fumbled in my bag for my phone.
‘I’ll call her.’ Farley punched numbers into his phone, and I could hear the musical tones, even from where I stood. I waited, but then there was nothing. Just flat dead air.
‘She’s not answering,’ he said.
‘So I hear.’
‘Maybe she’s driving,’ he said. ‘Or out of range.’
‘Yeah, maybe.’ As we walked to his car, I tried to remember another time I’d called Tamera and not been able to reach her. I couldn’t. The woman’s life was attached to her phone. He opened the car door and waited for me to climb in. Instead, I stood there and said, ‘I don’t like it, Farley.’
For a moment, I thought he was going to argue with me, maybe tell me I was overreacting. Instead, he shook his head in a way that conveyed both helplessness and something else I couldn’t read.
‘Neither do I,’ he said. ‘I’m going to try to find a number for that lawyer in Phoenix.’
TWENTY-TWO
From the outside, the hotel looked south-western, but on the inside, it just looked old. The blush of pink on the taupe wall was like a cosmetic that failed to disguise its age. Sheets of clear plastic covered the stairs. Tamera Flowers, their contact person from the California radio station, had found the hotel on the Internet. Rena hoped the woman wasn’t too disappointed. Maybe the rooms in the newer construction, past the glass door and the swimming pool, were better.
‘Are you nervous?’ she asked Kendra as they approached the front desk.
‘No,’ she said. ‘Not after everything I’ve been through. This could be a wild goose chase, remember. I just want to hear what this Tamera lady has to say.’
‘Is she bringing photos?’ Rena asked.
‘I think so. And a finder’s fee for Leighton. He’s already turned it down, of course. They’re insisting, and he says if push comes to shove, he’ll ask them to donate it to one of his causes.’
‘That sounds like him,’ Rena said. And then, quickly, ‘I’m glad you’re not scared.’
‘I’m not anything,’ Kendra replied. ‘That’s the best way. Just go into it expecting whatever and know it will work out, one way or the other.’
‘I could never be as calm as you.’
‘Sure you could. You could be anything you want to be.’
‘Debby Lynn says we’re all just exactly the same as we were in high school.’
Kendra’s head whipped around. ‘When did you start listening to her?’
‘I’m not saying I listened to her, but she and Leighton are in some kind of war about Bryn. Debby Lynn stole that gazing globe you gave me right from under my nose. My sage wand too.’
‘She didn’t.’
‘Swear to God.’ They both laughed. ‘I’m going to make her give them back, though.’
‘Good luck with that. I already ordered another Buddha. What do you suppose she does with all that stuff? Does she even know she takes it?’
‘She knows, all right,’ Rena said. ‘The woman’s mean, but not crazy. Being one doesn’t mean you’re automatically the other.’
‘I know.’ Kendra squeezed her arm. ‘And you aren’t either one.’
The desk clerk drifted over towar
d them. She reminded Rena of Bryn – not her appearance as much as her age and attitude.
‘Could you call Tamera J. Flowers’ room?’ Kendra asked, her professional tone masking her feelings. If she didn’t know better, Rena thought, she’d think this was strictly business for Kendra.
The clerk looked at the computer in front of her and typed in a couple of keys. ‘Flowers, I remember the name,’ she said. ‘Tamera Flowers. She left about an hour ago. Are you with Mr Coulter’s office?’ The expression on her face said if they weren’t with Leighton’s office, all bets were off.
‘Yes,’ they said, almost in unison.
‘All right, then,’ she replied, without looking up long enough to even pretend to check them out. ‘Ms Flowers left you a message. She said to tell you she’s on her way to Saguaro Park, as per your instructions, and she’ll see you there in about twenty minutes. She’ll be driving a black SUV.’
‘Thanks,’ Kendra said. Her voice sounded shaky now, and Rena noticed her nails digging into the counter. ‘When did she leave that message?’
The clerk looked down. ‘Just before she left. About an hour ago.’ Then, her face scrunched up, and she gave them the once over for the first time. ‘You do work for Mr Coulter,’ she said. ‘Right?’
Rena nodded. ‘We’re working with him,’ Kendra said. ‘Is there a problem?’
‘Jason,’ she called out to the other desk clerk, who’d just gotten off the phone. ‘It says here that this message for Mr Coulter was already delivered. Is that correct?’
Jason came over, gave them a professional desk-clerk smile, and then looked down at the computer. ‘That’s right,’ he said, tapping the screen. ‘I gave the message to Mr Coulter myself.’
‘On the phone?’ Kendra asked.
‘No, he came here looking for Ms Flowers. I told him where she went.’
‘Hey.’ The girl squinted, as if the sun were in her eyes. ‘If you work for him, why don’t you know that?’
‘With him,’ Kendra said. ‘We work with him.’
‘Terry, you can’t be giving out information to anyone who asks for it,’ he said.
‘I didn’t.’ Her voice rose, and Rena could see they were ready to go at it.
Kendra nudged her. ‘Come on.’
They arrived at Saguaro National Park in fewer than fifteen minutes, give or take. Why here? Rena wondered. The flat land began to slope, and the scrubby Palo Verde trees and saguaro cacti blanketed the brown flannel ground. That’s how this place looked, like something created on fabric.
Some called the saguaro majestic. To Rena, they were defiant, and more so than usual today, as if to say this was the way you had to look and this was the attitude you had to have to survive the desert.
Kendra wasn’t talking. Nervous, Rena guessed. She appeared composed as always and just as grounded, but Kendra could be secretive, and she was keeping what she was really feeling far away from this drive. Please let Kendra find her daughter. She deserved some happiness. That Flowers woman had come, just as she promised. Leighton was probably already with her. For a moment, Rena almost forgot her own problems. Her heart was full of hope for Kendra.
The Rincon Mountains rose ahead of them. But with more than one hundred fifty miles of hiking trails, how were they going to find Leighton and Tamera Flowers?
Then they saw it – a black SUV parked on the right side of the road.
‘There,’ Rena said, but Kendra had already pulled over. Her hands on the wheel looked as if they belonged to a stranger.
They got out of the car and went over to the SUV.
Kendra peered inside, then ran her finger over a transparent decal on the driver’s window. ‘Rental,’ she said.
‘Why here?’ Rena looked around at nothing but sage-colored cactus, the dry, scrubby hills around them. ‘Why set up a meeting out in this place?’ Nothing about this was right. She felt as if they had walked into a trap.
‘I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense.’ Kendra shielded her eyes with her hand and looked up the hill. Only one small structure, some kind of historic stone building – Rena could tell from the plaque beside them – sat on top. It would be a tough climb, but people did it every day, just to look out on these sucked-dry plains the way people in other places gazed out on the ocean. Even the breeze was hot. It would be worse up there. ‘We either go looking,’ Kendra said, her eyes harsh as the sunlight, ‘or we wait down here for her to come back.’
‘Call Leighton,’ Rena said.
‘I tried in the car.’ Kendra reached into her bag and put in his number once more. ‘Nothing. There’s no reception out here.’
‘Then we have to look,’ Rena told her. ‘How do we do it?’
‘You take one side, and I’ll take the other,’ she said. ‘Go as high as you can, no higher, and if you see her before I do, call out.’
‘I don’t like it.’
‘Neither do I. We don’t have to do this.’
‘But she came here to help us, Kendra. We at least have to be sure she’s not out here alone.’ Rena looked at the hill and felt sick. ‘It just doesn’t seem right. If someone’s willing to pay a five thousand dollar fee to find you, I don’t get why she’d make it so difficult for you to find her.’
‘But Leighton knows where she is,’ Kendra said. ‘She might even be with him right now. Maybe they’re in his car looking for us. Only a lizard would climb that hill in this heat.’
She was right about that. ‘Do you have a phone number for her?’ Rena asked.
‘Sure do.’ Kendra dug it out and dialed as they stood there in the sun. They’d put on their good clothes, Rena realized as she looked at Kendra’s turquoise sundress and jewelry to match, and then at her own green top, as if she was on her way to church. Their good clothes, as if doing so would put them in better favor, find them a happy ending to their story. Kendra’s face didn’t look happy, though. ‘No answer,’ she said. ‘Not even voicemail.’
‘So, what do we do?’ They were this close to possible news of Kendra’s daughter, and now they’d hit a dead end. Rena had one foot in hell and the other in purgatory. That’s what her dad would’ve said, and she hoped that wasn’t blaspheming to think so.
‘Back to our original plan,’ Kendra said, not looking any better. ‘I’ll keep trying Leighton on my phone. Let’s just look around a little.’
‘Are you sure?’ As Kendra bolted up the hill, Rena walked around the bottom of it: brown and green, mostly brown, mostly dirt, mostly dead. This Flowers lady would be just fine. She was probably signing papers for Kendra’s daughter right now. This would turn out to be a day of miracles. They’d all be happy. It could still work out.
A noise stopped her. A softer version of the nail gun. Rena froze. Something was there in one of those green clumps. A snake. Oh, yes. It was the sound of a rattler. She wanted to run, but she didn’t dare. It’s as frightened as you are, Kendra would say. Just pretend you don’t see it. She couldn’t see it either. All she could do was just stare in the direction of the sound.
She reminded herself that snakes moved slowly unless they were striking. Yes, unless. She pretended to be part of the environment, a tree, a flower, and wait until the snake moved on. Another rattle. She forced herself to stand still. Slowly, she turned toward the bush where she suspected the snake hid. She couldn’t get a glimpse of him, though. Something else shown through the brush, something sparkly. God, it looked like a bracelet, a fancy woman’s bracelet. But what was it attached to? She moved closer and saw it then, a long arm partially covered by dirt.
‘Kendra,’ she screamed, before she could think better of it. ‘Kendra, come quick.’
A living whip lashed out and struck her. A snake, with four rattles, slapped against her like a wet rope, its fang puncturing the flesh of her foot.
She screamed again and fell to her knees, inches away from the lifeless arm, the bracelet. A woman, she could see that now. It was a woman, her bright-blue dress torn, her face nothing but blood. ‘
Kendra, help.’
‘I’m coming. Where are you? What’s wrong?’
Her voice sounded muffled, far away. Rena had to do something, had to get someone out there. Most of all, she had to get out of here before the snake struck again. She tried to lift herself, but the throbbing hole in her foot was draining her energy. Her arms collapsed, and her head struck the ground, face first.
‘No!’ She spit out dirt and fought to stay conscious.
‘Rena, my god.’ Kendra. Finally, she was here. Rena tried to warn her about the snake, but her voice came out a sputter. She couldn’t hold on any longer. She drifted away, toward the horrible noise echoing in her head, the rattler again. Or was it the nail gun? Or both?
TWENTY-THREE
Farley didn’t think I should fly to Arizona. Too much of a long shot, he said. Too many loose ends still unresolved. I should wait until I knew more, wait until I was sure I wouldn’t be hurt. Farley was all about waiting, and as much as I appreciated his concern, I knew I need to be in the one place where I might actually find my mother.
We debated the issue on the way to a late breakfast as I sent yet another text to Mick. I needed to know how old I’d been when he and Elaine adopted me, and I couldn’t blame his silence on his commitment to his job.
The top was down, and the breeze, relatively unpolluted at this hour, ruffled Farley’s hair and made him look far more mellow than he was.
‘What good will your going out there do if we can’t get in touch with Tamera?’ he asked.
‘Maybe it won’t matter, but I just want to be there,’ I said. ‘If only to see what’s going on.’
‘At least wait until you hear back from Leighton Coulter, would you?’ His voice rose above the wind with a certainty that reminded me of the way he had confronted the caller who claimed that Kendra’s daughter had been kidnapped.
‘That’s another reason I want to go,’ I told him. ‘I want to see what I can find out at the local newspaper about the kidnapping.’
‘You can do that right here,’ he said as he pulled into the restaurant parking lot.
If Anything Should Happen Page 14
