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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
remove her from my mind.
One day, the new phone book arrived, and I looked up my
own name and counted all the people with the same last
name. Six in the Denver metro area. I looked up Stacey's
name. The phone company had deleted her the year before,
but she'd be pleased to know she was back. I started to close
the book, but something compelled me to look up another
name.
When I saw the letters and corresponding phone number, I
felt as if my heart would explode.
According to the three-digit prefix, she lived in my
neighborhood, tens of miles from where we'd met.
This was too close. How close? Her address was unlisted. I
called information, but they refused to reveal the street. No
one would tell me anything more than, "Withheld at
customer's request."
A wave of panic captured me. Somehow, I'd always
imagined that she'd left Colorado, on to bigger and better
dreams, and the need to know where she lived took over my
life.
life.
Throughout that weekend, I called information, hoping to
catch an operator off-guard. With no success by Monday
morning, I was desperate enough to employ deceit. I called
the customer service department of the phone company and
used her name. I claimed I hadn't received last month's bill
and needed to know the amount I owed. I had the
representative verify my address, and he reeled off numbers
and the name of a street.
Panting, I lowered the phone to the cradle.
She lived six blocks down and two blocks over from the
home I shared with Stacey.
After almost twenty years, how dare she come this close to
me?
"I'll know her if I see her," Alex said after an uncomfortable
pause.
"How?"
"I just will. I'll sense the connection. How could something in a
dream feel so real unless it happened to me? I hear the sound of
water running for a bath. I see slivers of sun on the bed. I just
can't picture her," she said, her frustration seeming to mount.
"It's not Stacey?"
"No. Of that, I'm certain."
"Okay." I made a point of pulling out my notebook and writing in
it, more to demonstrate respect than as a reminder. "Back to
Stacey for a second."
Alex tore her attention away from the window, through which a
maintenance man could be seen mowing the lawn. "Yes?"
maintenance man could be seen mowing the lawn. "Yes?"
"I don't know how to tell you, but "
"Derek's dead. That's why you're here."
"You remembered?"
"No, but Stacey told me on Monday. She wants me to fire you
because of a phone call you made to her. She didn't appreciate
being addressed in a rude manner."
I refrained from rolling my eyes. "When I asked about Derek,
Stacey was cooperative enough to give me his mother's name,
address and phone number but conveniently forgot to tell me that
he died."
Alex looked at me impassively. "Stacey might not have known."
"Derek died almost two years ago, and Stacey attended his
memorial service. The two of you sat in the front row next to
Dianna Wallace, his mother."
"I don't remember."
My tone became more heated. "But you'd think Stacey would,
wouldn't you?"
"Yes, of course," Alex said, seeming jarred. "How did you find
out he died?"
"I met with Dianna on Monday. She told me after I asked if she
could bring Derek to see you when he came home from school."
Alex's face lost all color. "How did she "
"In general, the meeting went well," I said brusquely, leaving out
the part about Dianna's raw-throated cries.
"Did Dianna agree to see me? Will she come by?"
"She hasn't stopped in?" I said before recalling the ban on
visitors.
visitors.
"Not yet."
"Dianna said she'd come. I'm sure she will, but you need to tell
the receptionist at the front desk to let her in."
"Yes. I will. Did Dianna like me? Could you tell?"
"She had nothing but good things to say. You were her rock
after Derek died. You never left her side, often bringing her
meals or staying with her overnight."
"How did he die?"
"On a camping trip."
She froze. "And?"
"You want the details?"
"I need them."
My voice remained even. "Dianna and Derek went on a camping
trip with a group from their church. They were staying in the
mountains outside of Granby."
"Yes . . ."
"Derek waded into a pond on a private golf course near the
campground, probably to retrieve stray golf balls."
She swallowed hard. "Go on."
"A hot wire was strung in the water, from a plug in an outlet to a
log.
"For what purpose?" Alex said mechanically.
"To ward off beavers."
"Derek touched the wire?"
I took a deep breath and nodded. "He became entangled in it.
Other campers heard Derek's screams but couldn't do anything.
Other campers heard Derek's screams but couldn't do anything.
The water made the electrical current stronger. His muscles
contracted, and he couldn't move."
Alex lurched forward, almost hitting her head on her knees,
which she'd bound together with her hands. Reflexively, I
jumped up to assist, but she waved me off. "No one could save
him?"
I backed away, returning to my seat. "They did everything they
could, but they never revived him. Dianna made the decision to
take him off life support."
She straightened up, in jerky motions. "Before I could see him
one last time?"
"Yes."
Her teeth began to chatter. "Dianna didn't call me?"
"No, not until after Derek was pronounced dead."
"I wasn't permitted to visit him at the medical center before he
died?"
"No, you weren't," I said, looking at her closely. "You remember
Derek was transported to a medical center, not a hospital?"
Startled, she replied, "Yes."
"Medical personnel worked on his body for several hours, but it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
