Sue Grafton - S is for Silence

It hadn’t even been a minute. She shifted her hips and he slipped out of her, leaving her goopy and wet.

“What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay. You said you’d pull out!”

“I’m sorry. I meant to, but I couldn’t help myself. Baby, it just felt so good. I went crazy for a minute and the next thing I knew, it just happened.”

“Shit. What time is it? I gotta go.”

“Not yet. It’s not hardly midnight. Don’t leave me. Here, feel this.” He took her hand and pressed it against him.

She’d stayed where she was, half-underneath him, warm only in the places where his body covered hers. The rest of her was cold, her limbs pinned to the blanket by the weight of him. “I have to go in. What if they come home and I’m not there?”

“You can tell ‘em you came out for a breath of air.”

“Let go of me. Please,” she whispered, but he kissed her again, murmuring, “You’re great. You’re amazing. I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said. “Ty, I have to go in.” She twisted out of his grasp and groped along the truck bed until she found her underpants. She pulled them on and then searched for her shorts and T-shirt.

“Look, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, right?”

“Maybe.”

“All day. We’ll, spend the whole day together.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. Meet me out on Porter Road. I’ll borrow my uncle’s truck and we’ll go for a drive. Eight o’clock.”

She could tell her underpants were on wrong-side out. She lifted one hip so she could strip them off. “Damn it! Now I got stuff running down the inside of my leg. Give me a handkerchief or something so I can clean myself off.”

He handed her his T-shirt, which he’d wadded up and tossed aside. She jammed it between her legs and cleaned herself as well as she could. She eased into her underpants again and hooked herself into her bra. She pulled on her T-shirt and shorts and used her fingers to get the snarls out of her hair. Once dressed, she climbed over the tailgate.

Ty said, “Eight o’clock tomorrow morning. You’re not there, I’m knocking on your door and I don’t care who sees.”

She kissed him in haste, told him that she loved him, and then hurried toward the house and let herself in the back door. The screen whined softly. The kitchen light was off, but she could see the luminous hands on the wall clock. 1:15. Violet and Foley usually didn’t get home until after 2:00 so she was fine. Everything was okay. The same table lamp was burning in the darkened living room. The fan rotated at a steady pace, pushing hot air this way and that. Both bedrooms were dark. She paused outside Daisy’s room, listening to the child’s slow, deep, regular breathing. She was fine.

Liza crept into the bathroom. In the glow from the night-light, she pulled down her shorts and checked her underpants. The crotch was wet with semen, stained with blood. She had to talk to Violet. She knew she should have made him use a rubber, but he promised he’d pull out, and now what? Violet would know. Violet knew everything there was to know about sex. Liza returned to the living room, where she lay on the couch, hugging herself. What was done was done. He’d told her he loved her-he’d actually said that to her-and he was the one who brought up the subject of seeing her again, so it wasn’t like she was chasing him or anything like that. Still, she wished she hadn’t done it. She could feel her eyes burn as the tears spilled out. As soon as Violet came in, the two of them would talk and she’d be fine.

I put a call through to Sneaky Pete’s. I could hear the strains of the jukebox in the background and a steady hum of voices. This was Saturday night, but it was only 6:45 and the place wasn’t going to rock until well after 9:00. Tannie answered the phone.

“Hi, Tannie. This is Kinsey. You have a minute?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind the interruptions. I’m tending bar and the gal who’s scheduled to work called in sick an hour ago.”

“I’ll try to be quick. You heard about Violet?”

“I did. What happened to the poor woman? I know she was killed, but nobody’s said how.”

“I haven’t heard a word about the cause of death. I guess we’ll know more after the autopsy’s done.”

“Autopsy? Somebody told me she was just a bunch of bones wrapped up like a mummy so you couldn’t even see her face.”

“Well, that’s not quite true. As I understand it, she was wrapped in a length of fabric, but it was falling apart. That’s hardly mummy-like,” I said.

“Did you get a look at her?”

“Not me, and Daisy didn’t either. Detective Nichols gave her the news, but he didn’t want anyone getting close to the car.”

“How’s she taking it?”

“She’s okay. I don’t think the reality has sunk in.”

“I thought about calling, but I didn’t have the nerve. Maybe tomorrow. So what’s up with you?”

“I’ve been putting together a timeline for that Fourth of July weekend, trying to figure out where everyone was. You went over to the park with your dad?”

“Didn’t we talk about this? I was supposed to go with my brother, but he went off with his friends so Pop ended up taking me himself.”

“Were you there the whole time?”

“I don’t remember for a fact, but I can’t think why not.”

“Here’s why I ask. I managed to track down the woman who lived next door to the Sullivans back then. Anna Ericksen. Do you remember her? She was five at the time.”

“Vaguely.”

“We just had a chat, and according to her recollection, she and her mother ran into you at the park. She says your dad asked if her mother could look after you because he had something to take care of, so you ended up spending the night at her house.”

“Nah, don’t think so. It doesn’t ring a bell. Are you sure she doesn’t have me confused with somebody else?”

“Do you remember bouncing on the bed? She says you bumped into her and she fell and broke her arm.”

Tannie let out a startled laugh. “That was her? Oh my god, I remember the little girl, but I’d forgotten her name. Was that the same Fourth of July? Shit, she had bone sticking through her skin. It was sickening.”

“You have any idea where your Father went that night?”

“Probably the hospital to see Mom. He was there most nights. What’s this about?”

“I’m not sure. It’s really just a gap I was hoping to fill in.”

“I can ask the next time I talk to him and see what he says.”

“Why don’t you hold off and I can talk to him myself. I’m driving up again Monday, probably early afternoon.”

“You’re still working for Daisy? I thought you’d be done.”

“This is what you call mop-up. She paid me in advance and I owe her a day.”

After we hung up, I realized I should have downplayed the subject even more than I had. I didn’t want Jake to know I was pursuing the point. If Tannie mentioned it and he needed to cover his tracks, he’d have time to fabricate an excuse. Maybe he had left Tannie in Mrs. Ericksen’s care so he could visit Mary Hairl. The only time we’d talked, he hadn’t said anything about that. In fact, he’d spoken in such detail about Foley’s behavior at the park that I’d assumed he’d been there. Not to brag, but I myself am really quite skilled at lying and I can tell you how it’s done. Like a magic trick, you distract from the sleight-of-hand by focusing attention on the irrelevant.

I took a moment to call Cheney Phillips and we chatted for a while. I asked about the conference and then filled him in on my discovery. He offered to meet me at Rosie’s so he could buy me a drink, but I was feeling reclusive and thought I better level with him. “Nothing personal, but all I want to do is sleep in my own bed and not talk to a soul. The past four days I haven’t had a minute to myself and it’s driving me nuts.”