Janice Johnson - Yesterday's Gone

It already is.

The Lawsons were both staring at her in alarm, and she wondered what she’d given away.

“Um, have you told anyone else about me?”

“Yes, of course. I called your grandma and grandpa Peters, and your grandma Lawson.” Karen looked momentarily sad. “Your grandfather Lawson died two years ago of a stroke. I wish he could have lived to see this day. And, well, I called my sister, and Kirk’s brother, and some friends. I’m sure Eve has told people. She was so excited.”

Sure she was.

But what boggled Bailey’s mind was the number of people who already knew.

“You don’t think any of them would have called a reporter, do you?” she asked anxiously.

“I can’t imagine,” Karen exclaimed, looking shocked. “Why would they?”

“Because my reappearance is news? Big news, and they might enjoy the attention?”

“But that’s...that’s...” She stopped, either unable to describe what that was or because understanding was finally dawning. “You’ve surely told people, too,” she said at last.

Bailey shook her head. “Nobody.”

“Not even friends?”

“No. I...wasn’t sure I believed it.”

“That you’re our Hope.”

“Yes.”

“Do you now?” Kirk asked, eyes keen on her face.

Bailey tried to smile. “It’s hard not to. I mean, look at us.”

He glanced at Karen’s face and back to Bailey. “Nobody could mistake you two for anything but mother and daughter.”

“There’s the birthmark, too.”

He nodded, as if feeling a weight settling onto him. “Your smile. We’ll have to show you pictures.”

“I’d like that,” she lied.

“You think we’ll need to have the press conference right away,” Karen said suddenly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t use my head. I don’t believe anybody close to us would go to the press, but everyone I called has probably told everyone they’ve talked to since. I should have kept it quiet until you were ready.”

Bailey couldn’t help making a face. “Are you ever ready for something like this?”

“No. Oh, my. A press conference. Everyone will be staring at us .” She sounded appalled. “What should we wear ?”

Bailey laughed, the familiar, feminine wail providing comic relief. “I have absolutely no idea. I’ve seen this kind of press conference on TV without ever paying the slightest attention to what people were wearing. I’m not sure anybody cares.”

Her mother’s back straightened. “ I care.”

“So do I,” Bailey admitted, then thought— wait. Did I just think of her as my mother ?

Yes.

“I suppose we should talk to Seth—I mean, Detective Chandler. He said he’d arrange everything.”

“Should we call him?” Karen sounded dithery.

“I agreed to meet him later today,” Bailey said. “I’ll call you after I do, okay? Um, I should get your phone number.”

Adding so many new numbers to her contacts list made this all seem real.

Jarred, she thought, Another new reality.

She added the Lawsons’ home phone, Kirk’s cell phone, and Eve’s cell phone.

“She doesn’t have a home phone,” Karen said, sounding mildly disapproving.

“I don’t, either. Most people our age don’t.”

Her phone rang, startling her. Seth. She answered. “Is something wrong?”

“Not wrong.” He hesitated. “I just had an inquiry from a journalist at our local paper asking if there was any truth to the rumor that Hope Lawson had been found alive and well.”

Bailey closed her eyes. “We were just talking about that. Karen called everyone in the family as well as some friends. And of course they may have spread the word, too.”

“Cat’s out of the bag. I think we need to accelerate our timing. I’ve talked to the sheriff and our PR people. We want to do it this afternoon.”

He gave her details. There was apparently a small auditorium of sorts in the new public safety building that held the courthouse as well as the Stimson city police department. The sheriff’s department was borrowing it. Someone was already calling news outlets.

“I think we’ll have a full house, Bailey.”

“Oh, God.”

“It might be good if we can get Eve there, too. Otherwise, someone will think to corner her later for a quote. Best to get it over with in one gulp.”

She pictured herself slithering down some monster’s maw. Lovely thought.

“Um... Karen wants to know what we should wear.”

There was a prolonged moment of silence. “Something nice?” He sounded out of his element. “No big prints or gaudy colors. Probably not too dressy.”

“No sequins. Check.”

“Business casual.”

“Gotcha.” Sort of. Even as her heart raced, she mentally sorted through the clothes she’d brought with her.

“After you change, I think you’re going to want to check out of the Quality Inn. If you feel ready to stay with the Lawsons—”

“No,” she said too quickly.

Another silence. “All right.” He said it so gently. “We’ll talk about it when I see you. Lunch?”

She glanced guiltily at her plate. She really hadn’t done justice to this breakfast, and Karen must have worked so hard on it.

Pathetic though it was, she’d have begged if she’d had to. She swallowed. “Yes, please.”

“I’ll get takeout. We can park somewhere.”

“That...sounds good.” Her gaze slid sideways again to the amount of food left on her plate. Maybe by then she’d have conquered this roiling in her belly and be hungry.

Letting him go, she then had to detail the plans to the Lawsons, watching Karen’s eyes widen again.

“Eve? Oh, my.”

“I hope this isn’t a problem for her, given her job. She’ll suffer from some reflected notoriety.”

“Oh, my.”

Which pretty well said it all.

* * *

SETH STEPPED BACK into the small staging room where all four Lawsons huddled like a herd of deer unsure which way to leap. Kirk looked his usual stoic self, if uncomfortable in a white shirt and tie, Karen excited and terrified all at once, Bailey resigned and Eve... He couldn’t quite tell.

He’d call her tonight. Or even take her aside after the circus was over, if he had a chance.

“We’re set up,” he told them. “There are a lot of cameras out there. Ignore them. Look people in the eyes when you talk. Along with reporters, we have some curiosity seekers.” His mouth quirked. “I saw the Stimson police chief himself standing at the back.”

Over lunch, eaten at a relatively deserted riverside park, Bailey had finally thought to ask why a detective with the county sheriff’s department was investigating, given that the Lawsons lived in Stimson. The high school, she’d learned, was outside city limits. Since that’s where the crime had occurred, the original and any continuing investigation had been the responsibility of the sheriff’s department.

The sheriff himself had shaken all their hands and been briefed to do the initial talking. Usually detectives stayed in the background, but under the circumstances he’d warned Seth to expect to have to answer questions.

“All right,” he said quietly. “Let’s do this.”

He ushered them all onto the stage. Flashes momentarily blinded him. He blinked as they continued. The forest of big-ass cameras was intimidating as hell. He’d ended up by design with a hand on Bailey’s back. He felt her stiffen, but a sidelong glance reassured him that she and Eve looked remarkably poised. The parents...well, everyone would expect out-of-control emotions.

An experienced, folksy speaker, Sheriff Jaccard had his audience bespelled from the moment he began.