Susan Pfeffer - Shade of the Moon

The only other people involved were the baby’s biological parents.

I knew the baby’s father for a number of years and arranged for his wife to be my domestic. When I realized their baby had been taken from them without their consent, I came up with a plan to return the baby to them. I told them what to say to the Stocktons, and I arranged for them to have a car to leave Sexton with their baby.

No one else knew of the plan.

Jon put the note back on the desk and left the room. He’d decide what to do about Lisa some other time. He had to make sure Ruby was gone. He didn’t think Lisa would’ve killed her, but he needed to be certain. There was a chance Ruby was hiding in the house somewhere.

Besides, looking for Ruby distracted him. And he needed the distraction.

He went through the entire house, opening closets and cupboards and small spaces Ruby couldn’t possibly have crawled into. He checked the garage, went back and searched the house all over again. Then he gritted his teeth and returned to Lisa’s bedroom. Ruby wasn’t under the bed or in the closet or anywhere else. She’d probably heard the shot, saw Lisa’s body, and run.

But wherever she ran to, it wasn’t to the authorities. Lisa had been undisturbed since her death Tuesday morning. Maybe even Monday. There were ways to test how long a person had been dead, but he was no expert. Dead was dead.

He went to his bedroom and sat on the bed. He could leave, he thought, walk to the greenhouses in the morning and grab a lift with a trucker. He could make his way to Matt’s, slowly, cautiously. Someone would have to tell Gabe his mother was dead. Jon had told Miranda about Mom, after all. By now he was a pro.

The problem was Ruby. If Jon could be sure she’d truly gotten out, then he could leave, too. But how could Ruby have managed that? Even if she’d gone back to White Birch, to her family, she’d be picked up by a guard and punished for running away. And if she were still in Sexton, the same thing would happen.

She couldn’t have been caught yet because she would have told the police about Lisa. But she would be caught. It was inevitable. And once she was, the police might decide she was responsible for everything. Notes could be destroyed. Suicides could be called murders. Why would a claver have helped a pair of no-good grubs? Ruby must have been in on it, helped grab the baby, then killed Lisa and run away.

She was Jon’s responsibility. In some ways, she was Jon’s friend.

He would have to tell someone about Lisa. He would have to stick around, hoping no one suspected him, until Ruby was found. And once she was, he’d have to protect her. If he survived all that, and he wasn’t sure he would, he could leave Sexton.

But he couldn’t protect Ruby unless he protected himself first.

He walked back to Lisa’s room and stared at her. She was trying to protect everybody. If Ruby had stayed in the house and called the authorities, she might have been fine. If he hadn’t come home, he’d be fine. Everybody would be fine. But he’d come home and Ruby had run, and decisions had to be made.

He went downstairs and found the address book. It was nine thirty. Too late to call people, but he didn’t have a choice.

The first call Jon made was to Dr. Goldman. It was nice to pretend he could be kept out of things, but that option no longer existed.

“I apologize for calling so late,” Jon said, “but there’s something I have to tell you.”

“Is it Sarah?” Dr. Goldman asked. “Have you heard something from Alex? Is Sarah all right?”

“She’s fine,” Jon said. “It’s Lisa. She killed herself.”

“Are you sure?” Dr. Goldman asked.

“Yes sir,” Jon said. “She shot herself. I came home and found her.”

“Oh, Jon,” Dr. Goldman said. “I’m so sorry. Does Gabe know?”

“He’s not here,” Jon said. “He’s with Miranda.” He paused, trying to decide what he had to tell Sarah’s father, what he could avoid telling him.

“Dr. Goldman, Sarah’s fine,” he began. “But she’s with Alex and Miranda and Gabe and the baby. Miranda’s baby was alive, and we found her and got her back to them.”

“Sarah did that?” Dr. Goldman asked.

“We all did,” Jon said. “Lisa, too. Lisa left a note saying she was completely responsible, her and Alex and Miranda. She says she knew Alex, but she didn’t say anything about Miranda being family.”

“You’re going to have to call the authorities,” Dr. Goldman said. “I would do it for you, but I think it would be better if you make the call.”

“Yes sir,” Jon said. “I’ll make that call right now.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Dr. Goldman said.

“No,” Jon said. “Thank you, but I’m better off if you stay away. Sarah’s better off, too. If I need you, I’ll call.”

“I don’t like leaving you alone,” Dr. Goldman said.

“I don’t like being alone,” Jon replied. “But it’s better if I am. I’ll tell them I called you. Don’t lie about that. Just about Miranda.”

“I’m here if you need me,” Dr. Goldman said. “And, Jon? Your mother would have been proud of your helping Alex and Miranda. Very proud. Don’t ever forget that.”

“I won’t,” Jon said. “Thank you.”

Alex had told him he had special obligations. Mom would expect him to protect the people who hadn’t been given the same chances he had. Miranda, Alex, Ruby.

Well, he was a claver and a soccer star, and that used to count for something. Jon made his next phone call.

“I’d like to speak to Mr. Hughes,” he told the domestic who answered the phone. “This is Jon Evans. I was a friend of Tyler’s.”

Jon waited nervously until Mr. Hughes came to the phone.

“Yes, Jon,” he said. “What is it?”

“I’m sorry to call so late, sir,” Jon said. “And I’m sorry I never had a chance to tell you how bad I felt about Tyler.”

“You weren’t at his funeral,” Mr. Hughes said. “A lot of people noticed that.”

“My mother died,” Jon said. “In the riots. I’m really sorry, Mr. Hughes, but I couldn’t handle it. Tyler, I mean. Tyler’s funeral.”

“I didn’t know,” Mr. Hughes said. “I’m sorry, Jon. These are terrible times.”

“Yes sir,” Jon said. “Mr. Hughes, my stepmother killed herself. I’m here, at our home, and I just found her. I called Sarah’s father, Dr. Goldman, and he told me to call the authorities. I’m sorry, sir. I thought you’d know who to call.”

“Are you sure it’s suicide?” Mr. Hughes asked. “Where are your grubs?”

“We only have one,” Jon said. “I don’t know where she is. But Lisa, my stepmother, left a note. It’s something about this other grub we had. I don’t know what it means.”

“Give me your address,” Mr. Hughes said. “I’ll call the police and tell them to come. I’ll come, too. You were one of Tyler’s closest friends, Jon. If you’re in trouble, he’d want me to help.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jon said. “That means a lot.”

“Keep calm,” Mr. Hughes said. “This is a terrible tragedy, but you’re a strong young man, and I know you’ll get through it.”

Jon thanked him again and hung up. He didn’t feel like a strong young man. He felt like a weakling, a liar. But then again, he’d been a weakling and a liar for years now. He knew how to be a weakling and a liar, and he knew how to survive.

For the moment that would have to be enough.

He told the same story to everyone—Mr. Hughes, the police, Luke, Luke’s father, Ryan, Reverend Minter, the people Lisa worked with, the people at her funeral. Each time he told it, he knew he was lying, but with each time it sounded more and more like the truth, even to him. He grew comfortable with the lies, more comfortable than he’d ever felt lying about Julie.