Her Something Impetuous

by Hunt Harris, Kim

  “I have to go, Denise. Call me if you hear anything.” She put the phone down. “I didn’t use any of your vanilla. I had the exact same kind in my cabinet, so I used that.” You old bat.

  Midge looked at her as if she’d just caught her using generic cling wrap. “Really? Because I bought mine from a market in Cuidad Juarez. I’d like to see your bottle.”

  “I used the last of it,” Karen lied. “Threw the bottle out.”

  “I don’t mind if you pull it out of the waste basket, just so I can see.”

  “The dumpster truck came this morning,” Karen said. “But if it’s really important to you I can call the landfill and find out where that truck was dumped.”

  Midge folded her arms across her chest. “Karen, I realize this is all a big joke to you. You’ve made no secret about how you feel regarding our Box Lunch tradition. But I would think you could at least have a little respect for all the hard work I went to, to make sure you had everything you needed to make this endeavor a success –”

  “For crying out loud.” Will stepped into the room and picked up the plate of muffins. “Can you really be so obtuse that you don’t understand the woman’s child is missing? Take your sun-kissed muffins and go.” He dumped the plate into the container, smashed the lid down on it and handed the whole thing to Midge.

  She stood frozen, her mouth open.

  “What?” Will asked. “Yes, there’s a strange man in Karen Way’s kitchen at ten o’clock in the morning. Looks like he might have spent the night. Be sure to run home and call all your friends. Tell them we found something more exciting to do in the kitchen than chop almonds into one-eighth inch pieces.”

  Midge blinked and stammered.

  “You should try it yourself sometime,” Will said. “It might do you some good.” He picked Midge’s keys off the counter and handed them to her, then pointed toward the front door. “Go.”

  Midge went. When she got to the door she stopped and called back over her shoulder. “I’ll see you at the country club tomorrow morning at eleven, Karen.”

  Will frowned when Midge closed the front door, then turned slowly back to Karen. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t take her attitude when you’re dealing with this thing with Cait. If you give me Midge’s number I’ll call her in a little while and straighten things out. You don’t need to deal with your reputation being –”

  “Will. My daughter is missing. My reputation is the least of my concerns right now. Thank you for getting rid of her.”

  He shrugged. “Sure. No problem.”

  He reached behind her and poured a cup of coffee, slipping it into her hand.

  “God. Thanks.” It was hot enough to burn her tongue. She sipped it anyway, as if raising a blister would restore her world to normal.

  “Listen,” she said to Will. “I'm sorry, but I’m going to have to put everything on hold till I find Cait.”

  He just stared at her.

  “I mean, I'm not going to be able to deal with – with –” She waved a hand.

  “Karen.” He cocked his head. “You don't honestly think I'm going to leave you to deal with this alone, do you?”

  Tears built so fast she had no time to defend against them. “I – yes, I did think that.”

  He took her by the arms. “Take a deep breath. It's going to be okay.”

  “Where is Cait?”

  He wrapped his arms around her, and she rested her head against the warmth of his chest.

  “You're going through the same thing thousands of parents go through every day. She's probably just hiding out at another friend's house, waiting to see how much trouble she can cause.”

  “Probably. Probably.” Anything less than a hundred percent probability wasn’t good enough for her right now.

  “What you need to do is think.” He drew away. “Where's a pad of paper?”

  “Umm, the drawer next to the phone.”

  “We'll make a list of all her friends. Everyone she knows. Sit down.”

  She sat, and he was back in a few seconds with a Post-it pad and a pen.

  Karen ran through a mental list of all the girls Cait knew from school, from band, from church, from volleyball. She listed names frantically, her mind spinning.

  “Good, good. We'll take it one step at a time.” He rubbed the back of her neck. “Who is her best friend?”

  “Well, Amanda first. Except she’s not there, and if Amanda knew anything she’d tell Terri. They have that kind of relationship. But after Amanda…” Karen looked at the list of names, unsure of who Cait would say was her friend. A year ago, Karen would have known. Now…oh, she was a horrible mother. Horrible. She didn't even know who her daughter's second best friend was.

  Sure you do. She stood and searched the counter until she saw the card Pam had sent. “Pam. Pam is her best friend and always has been.”

  She sagged against the counter, reading Pam’s note now, not caring that she was invading anyone’s privacy. “I wish you were here, too. Too bad we weren’t born twins so we could go to college at the same time.” She scanned down to the part she remembered from the other day. “…or take the bus. It comes from Piedmont every day.”

  She looked at Will. “Call the bus station and see when the bus goes to Roosevelt.”

  They found out there were three busses from Piedmont to Roosevelt on Friday, but couldn’t learn whether or not Cait was on any of them. “I need a subpoena for that,” the lady on the phone said.

  Karen hung up and called Pam. Someone else answered, giggled and said Pam was…indisposed.

  “I hate this,” Karen said when she hung up. “Did I mention that I hate this?”

  She called the dorm and Pam’s roommate said she wasn’t there. Hadn’t been there all night.

  “All night? Where did she go?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know,” the roommate said tightly. “Probably spent the night with one of her new…friends.”

  Karen hung up and looked at the card again. “My roommate Brittney –” Brittney was underlined three times. “…is a total bitch.”

  “Do you have her dorm’s Resident Advisor’s number?” Will asked.

  “Good idea.” She rummaged through the drawer and called Julie, the senior who lived in Pam’s dorm and kept watch over the younger girls.

  She woke the RA up and asked about Pam. The girl was barely coherent. Karen paced and tried to discern if anyone had seen Cait or Pam. After ten minutes and three back and forth phone calls, she was able to determine that Pam had been seen the night before at a keg party, dancing on a table.

  Karen sank into a chair. “My Pam, who had to be forced to go to her senior prom because she’s so shy, was at a keg party. Dancing on a table.”

  She dropped her forehead on the table and let it bounce. “My kids are heading to hell in a handbasket and I’m two hours away.”

  Will knelt in front of her. “Look, you’re only two hours away. Why don’t we go up there?”

  “To Roosevelt?”

  “Sure. Terri and her kids are working on her friends, Michael is dealing with the police. In two hours you could be face to face with at least one of your daughters. Maybe both of them. Do you really think Cait would have gone there?”

  Karen chewed her lip. “In my gut, I know that’s what she would do. She wanted to get away, she wanted some place to run. Pam is the first place she’d think to go.”

  “Then get your keys and let’s go.”

  “You want to go with me?” Please please please. She did not want to be alone with her thoughts for two hours.

  “Of course.” He was already to the garage door. “You don’t need to be alone right now.”

  “Pull over. Let me drive.”

  Karen looked over at Will. “Why?”

  “Because that's the third time you've crossed over the double line and to be honest I'm not that confident in the airbag system to keep pushing my luck.”

  “Sorry. My mind isn't really on the road.”

&nbs
p; “Neither are your eyes, and I'd feel a lot better if you had at least one hand on the wheel at all times. Let me drive and you can concentrate on the phone.”

  She pulled over and let him drive. After dialing Pam's number again, she called Terri. “Anything?”

  “Sorry, sweetie. Amanda said there was a rumor that she had gotten on a bus, but no one knew where.”

  “Roosevelt. I’m sure it’s Roosevelt. If that witch at the bus station had a heart she could have found out for me. I'm going to call our police department and see if they'll call the Roosevelt department.”

  “Good idea. Maybe they can work together.”

  “Call me if you hear anything.”

  “Okay, you do the same.”

  Karen hung up and dug in her purse for her address book. “I don't know who Michael talked to at the police station, but I have a friend who works at the academy and she might be able to track it down.”

  She found Colleen's home number. “It's Karen. Listen, Cait has run away. Michael called and reported it this morning, and I want to talk to whoever he dealt with.”

  “Oh my gosh, Karen. When did she run away?”

  “Just yesterday, or maybe early this morning. I'm not sure.”

  “Well, the first person I'd ask would be Wayne Hasbert. Even if he wasn’t the one Michael talked to, he'd know what’s going on. I can give you his office number. He always works on Saturdays.”

  Karen scribbled the number in the margin of her address book and thanked Colleen. Getting Wayne Hasbert on the phone proved to be easier said than done, but after being on hold for ten minutes, she finally got to talk to the man himself.

  But he didn't know what Karen was talking about, and after going round and round a few times, it finally dawned on Karen why. “Michael didn't report anything.”

  “No ma'am, I can't find a record of anything being reported. The only missing persons reports we've had in the last week are for a eighty-seven year old woman and a twenty-four year old man.”

  “That – that –” Karen shook her head and covered the phone with her free hand. “Why do all the good curse words also insult his mother too?”

  “How about cocksucker?” Will suggested.

  “Thank you. That cocksucker!”

  “Ma'am, if you'd like to make a report over the phone I can do that, but I will need a picture before we can act on it.”

  Karen gave all the necessary information and promised that Terri would deliver a picture to the department house within the next few hours. She told Hasbert of her hunch that Cait was with Pam, and asked if he could alert the department in Roosevelt.

  “I can do better than that,” Hasbert promised. “My brother-in-law is the chief of the campus police there. I'll send someone to her dorm room within the next fifteen minutes.”

  Karen sagged back in the seat. “Thank you. Thank you,” she breathed.

  She flipped the phone closed and shut her eyes. “Fifteen minutes.”

  “Good. We'll be there in about thirty. So it won't be long now.”

  Karen clutched her stomach and dialed Terri's number again. “Cait has to be there. I can't wait to put my arms around her, and Pam.” She shook her head as she waited for Terri to pick up. “And then I'm going to strangle them both.”

  A campus police officer was parked in the dorm parking lot when Will and Karen pulled up. Julie stood beside his squad car in flannel pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt, her arms wrapped tightly around her waist. She looked scared.

  Karen opened the door before Will came to a stop. “Where's Pam?”

  The officer turned to her. “Are you the girl's mother?”

  “Yes. Both of them. I mean, my older daughter is a student here. I think my younger daughter has run away and may have come here.” She turned to Julie. “Where's Pam?”

  Julie's voice shook. “I haven’t been able to find out, Mrs. Way. No one’s seen her since the party last night.”

  Will looked at Karen. Her face was white and her hands trembled, but she was fighting to stay calm. He put a hand on the small of her back and looked at her. “What are the chances Pam and Cait have gone somewhere together?”

  Karen shook her head. “I don't know. I don't know where they would go, if…” She looked at him, her eyes lost and helpless. “I just don't know anymore.”

  “I’m going talk to some of the other girls in the dorm, Ma’am, maybe some of her classmates,” the police officer said. “We’ll establish the last time she was seen and go from there.”

  “I can't believe they're both missing. It's…weird.”

  “I think it's probably weird enough that we can assume they're together,” Will said.

  “Let's get a description of them so I can turn this in. Then we'll start interviewing the other girls in the dorm.”

  “You okay?” Will leaned over and looked closely at Karen.

  She swallowed and nodded. “They've cooked up something together. I should have realized it from the beginning. They're hiding out somewhere to scare us, to force me and Michael to reconcile or something. Like those little brats in Parent Trap.” She scowled. “I'll kill them. I will kill them and lock them in their rooms and I am never ever letting them out of my sight again.”

  “Why don't you sit here in the officer's car?” Will led her to the car and pushed on her head to make her sit. “I have to hit the bathroom. I'll be right back.”

  He asked the RA about a men's room and headed inside. Indoors was dead calm and quiet. No one was up at the crack of noon. He found a ladies’ room, and correctly assumed the men's would be next door. He was opening the door when he heard the faint but unmistakable sound of retching from the ladies’ room.

  He grimaced, figuring he probably knew the reason whoever was in there was feeling the way she did. He remembered the parties and occasional overindulgences of his college days.

  But as he was washing his hands, the idea occurred to him that if someone were looking for Pam Way, they probably wouldn't look in the community bathroom on the ground floor of the dorm, not if she had her own bathroom just upstairs. He hesitated outside the door before cracking it open.

  More retching. Ugh. Then a very young, very tired, and very impatient voice saying, “Would you just get up? We can make it to your bedroom.”

  “No,” came the hoarse reply. “Tequila.”

  Will felt for the poor girl. She was in for a bad day.

  But he was happy for Karen. Because he would know that disdainful voice anywhere.

  He stuck his head out the front door and waved for Karen. She got out of the car, a question on her face.

  “Okay, you have to promise you're not going to yell,” he said.

  “Is Pam in there?” She pushed past him to the restroom.

  She yelled. Oh boy did she yell. He heard it plainly out in the hall, and figured the rest of the dorm could too. She yelled and Cait wailed and then the other girl started to cry and Will figured what the hell, they needed a rational person in there. So he went in.

  There were only four stalls, and Pam was crumpled on the floor of one, with Karen bending over trying to hug her with one arm and Cait latched onto the other arm like she was drowning.

  Will hung back just outside the stall door.

  “Is she okay?”

  “She's hung over,” Cait said, pulling away from her mother. “And what is your midlife crisis doing here? This is a family matter. My dad should be here, not you.”

  “He's back in Piedmont trying to find you. He's going to be very happy you’re okay.” He touched Karen's shoulder. “Let's get her up to her room.”

  “Can't move. Don't make me move,” Pam groaned.

  “Do you think I should take her to the emergency room? She's very sick.”

  Will gave Pam a sympathetic look. “If it'll make you feel better. But I think a shower and a nap will do her more good.”

  Karen stepped back and snatched paper napkins out of the dispenser by the sink, running water over them. She m
oved back and washed Pam’s face and neck. “I can't believe I'm worried sick about you and you're running around getting drunk. Drunk! Like some – like some –”

  “College kid,” Will said softly. “Come on, Karen. You can deal with all the yelling later. Right now she just needs you to take care of her.”

  Karen sighed and nodded. “You're right.” She turned and looked over her shoulder at Cait, who had huddled against the wall and stood chewing her thumbnail. “What about you? Are you okay?”

  Cait nodded, but blinked rapidly, tears filling her eyes.

  “What the hell are you doing, Cait?” Karen asked, her own eyes filling as well. “You scared me to death. I had no idea where you were, what had happened to you. If you had any concept at all of what could have happened to you –”

  She stopped when Cait launched herself at Karen, throwing her arms around her mother and sobbing loud enough to wake anyone who might have slept through the rest of the noise. Cait held tight to her mother, Karen latched on and they stood in the middle of the room while Will looked on, swallowing the lump in his throat over and over.

  “Okay, here's what we're going to do,” Will said when things had finally settled down. I'm going to tell the cop everyone's safe and accounted for. Then I'll be back to help you upstairs.”

  He trotted to the door and told the cop and the poor RA that the girls were both in the downstairs bathroom, apparently suffering from some kind of stomach bug. The RA looked like she was going to faint.

  When he got back Pam stood at the sink, a little green but alive. Karen had one arm around Pam’s waist and was sponging her forehead. They all appeared to be a little more in control of themselves.

  “Let’s get you up to your room.”

  “Brittney’s there. She’s going to yell.”

  “Then I’ll just yell back, Sweetie,” Karen said calmly. “Come on. We have to get out of here. This is just too depressing.”

  Pam walked like she carried a bomb between her knees. “I see green spots on everything.”

  Karen looked at Will, and he nodded. He slipped one hand around Pam’s shoulders and the other behind her knees, lifting her easily. “Now, don’t throw up on me.”