They spent the day in the park. Although neither of them spoke of it, it was the longest day either of them had ever lived through. Twice they saw the beat-cop and hid in the public toilets until he was gone. This was no time to be caught playing truant and bundled off to school.
At two-thirty, Trent gave Laurie a quarter and walked her to the phone booth on the east side of the park.
‘Do I have to?’ she asked. ‘I hate to scare her, especially after last night.’
‘Do you want her in the house when whatever happens, happens?’ Trent asked. Laurie dropped the quarter into the telephone with no further protest.
It rang so many times that she became sure their mother had gone out. That might be good, but it might also be bad. It was certainly worrisome. If she was out, it was entirely possible that she might come back before —
‘Trent, I don’t think she’s h — ‘
‘Hello?’ Mrs. Evans said in a sleepy voice.
‘Oh, hi, Mom,’ Laurie said. ‘I didn’t think you were there.’
‘I went back to bed,’ she said with an embarrassed little laugh. ‘I can’t seem to get enough sleep, all of a sudden. I suppose if I’m asleep I can’t think about how horrible I was last night — ‘
‘Oh, Mom, you weren’t horrible. When a person faints, it isn’t because she wants to — ‘
‘Laurie, why are you calling? Is everything okay?’
‘Sure, Mom . . . well . . . ‘
Trent poked her in the ribs. Hard.
Laurie, who had been slumping (growing smaller, it almost seemed), straightened up in a hurry. ‘I hurt myself in gym. Just . . . you know, a little. It’s not bad.’
‘What did you do? Jesus, you’re not calling from the hospital, are you?’
‘Gosh, no,’ Laurie said hastily. ‘It’s just a sprained knee. Mrs. Kitt asked if you could come and bring me home early. I don’t know if I can walk on it. It really hurts.’
‘I’ll come right away. Try not to move it at all, honey. You could have torn a ligament. Is the nurse there?’
‘Not right now. Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll be careful.’
‘Will you be in the nurse’s office?’
‘Yes,’ Laurie said. Her face was as red as the side of Brian’s Radio Flyer wagon.
‘I’ll be right there.’
‘Thanks, Mom. Bye.’
She hung up and looked at Trent. She drew in a deep breath and then let it out in a long, trembly sigh.
‘That was fun,’ she said in a voice which was close to tears.
He hugged her tight. ‘You did great,’ he said. ‘Lots better than I could have, Spr — Laurie. I’m not sure she would have believed me.’
‘I wonder if she’ll ever believe me again?’ Laurie asked bitterly.
‘She will,’ Trent said. ‘Come on.’
They went over to the west side of the park, where they could watch Walnut Street. The day had turned cold and dim. Thunderheads were forming overhead, and a chilly wind was blowing.
They waited for five endless minutes and then their mother’s Subaru passed them, heading rapidly toward Greendowne Middle School, where Trent and Laurie went . . . where we go when we’re not playing hookey, that is, Laurie thought.
‘She’s really humming,’ Trent said. ‘I hope she doesn’t get into an accident, or something.’
‘Too late to worry about that now. Come on.’ Laurie had Trent’s hand and was pulling him back to the telephone kiosk again. ‘You get to call Lew, you lucky devil.’
He put in another quarter and punched the number of the History Department office, referring to a card he had taken from his wallet. He had barely slept a wink the night before, but now that things were set in motion, he found himself cool and calm . . . so cool, in fact, that he was almost refrigerated. He glanced at his watch. Quarter to three. Less than an hour to go. Thunder rumbled faintly in the west.
‘History Department,’ a woman’s voice said.
‘Hi. This is Trent Bradbury. I need to speak with my stepfather, Lewis Evans, please.’
‘Professor Evans is in class,’ the secretary said, ‘but he’ll be out at — ‘
‘I know, he’s got Modern British History until three-thirty. But you better get him, just the same. It’s an emergency. It concerns his wife.’ A pointed, calculated pause, and then he added:
‘My mom.’
There was a long pause, and Trent felt a moment of faint alarm. It was as if she were thinking of refusing or dismissing him, emergency or no emergency, and that was most definitely not in the plan.
‘He’s in Oglethorpe, right next door,’ she said finally. ‘I’ll get him myself. I’ll have him call home as soon as — ‘
‘No, I have to hold on,’ Trent said.
‘But — ‘
‘Please, will you just stop goofing with me and go get him?’ he asked, allowing a ragged, harried note into his voice. It wasn’t hard.
‘All right,’ the secretary said. It was impossible to tell if she was more disgruntled or worried.
‘If you could tell me the nature of the — ‘
‘No,’ Trent said.
There was an offended sniff, and then he was on hold.
‘Well?’ Laurie asked. She was dancing from foot to foot like someone who needs to go to the bathroom.
‘I’m on hold. They’re getting him.’
‘What if he doesn’t come?’
Trent shrugged. ‘Then we’re sunk. But he’ll come. You wait and see.’ He wished he could be as confident as he sounded, but he did still believe this would work. It had to work.
‘We left it until awful late.’
Trent nodded. They had left it until awful late, and Laurie knew why. The study door was solid oak, plenty strong, but neither of them knew anything about the lock. Trent wanted to make sure Lew had only the shortest time possible to test it.
‘What if he sees Brian and Lissie on the corner when he comes home?’
‘If he gets as hot under the collar as I think he will, he wouldn’t notice them if they were on stilts and wearing Day-Glo duncecaps,’ Trent said.
‘Why doesn’t he answer the darn phone?’ Laurie asked, looking at her watch.
‘He will,’ Trent said, and then their stepfather did.
‘Hello?’
‘It’s Trent, Lew. Mom’s in your study. Her headache must have come back, because she fainted. I can’t wake her up. You better come home right away.’
Trent was not surprised at his stepfather’s first stated object of concern — it was, in fact, an integral part of his plan — but it still made him so angry his fingers turned white on the telephone.
‘My study? My study? What the hell was she doing in there?’
In spite of his anger, Trent’s voice came out calmly. ‘Cleaning, I think.’ And then tossed the ultimate bait to a man who cared a great deal more for work than wife: ‘There are papers all over the floor.’
‘I’ll be right there,’ Lew rapped, and then added: ‘If there are any windows open in there, shut them, for God’s sake. There’s a storm coming.’ He hung up without saying goodbye.
‘Well?’ Laurie asked as Trent hung up.
‘He’s on his way,’ Trent said, and laughed grimly. ‘The son of a bitch was so stirred up he didn’t even ask what I was doing home from school. Come on.’
They ran back to the intersection of Maple and Walnut. The sky had grown very dark now, and the sound of thunder had become almost constant. As they reached the blue U.S. mailbox on the corner, the streetlights along Maple Street began to come on two by two, marching away from them up the hill.
Lissa and Brian hadn’t arrived yet.
‘I want to come with you, Trent,’ Laurie said, but her face proclaimed her a liar. It was very pale, and her eyes were too large, swimming with unshed tears.
‘No way,’ Trent said. ‘Wait here for Brian and Lissa.’
At their names, Laurie turned and looked down Walnut Street. She saw two kids coming, hurrying along with lunchboxes bouncing in their hands. Although they were too far away to make out faces, she was pretty sure it was them, and she told Trent.
‘Good. The three of you go behind Mrs. Redland’s hedge there and wait for Lew to pass. Then you can come up the street, but don’t go in the house and don’t let them, either. Wait for me outside.’
‘I’m afraid, Trent.’ The tears had begun to spill down her cheeks now.
‘Me too, Sprat,’ he said, and kissed her swiftly on the forehead. ‘But it’ll all be over soon.’
Before she could say anything else, Trent went running up the street toward the Bradburys’
house on Maple Street. He glanced at his watch as he ran. It was twelve past three.