On Tenterhooks (30 page)

“I
—,”
Susan began
.
She looked at Abby, tears welling in her eyes. “I don’t understand
.
This is
from .
.
. Zack
?”

Abby nodded
.
She was weeping silently.

“No, it isn’t,” said Jack, but with little conviction.

“Yes, Dad,” said Abby, putting her hand on his arm
.
“It is
.
Look at it.
”
She pointed to the paper.
“
He called me Gabbsalot
.
When’s the last time you heard that?” 

She turned to Steve,
Veronica
and Martin
.
“That was his nickname for me. He was the only one who ever called me that
.”

Steve looked at Martin
.
“Just like yours,” he said.

“Snugglebug,” whispered Martin, nodding.

“It’s
Zack
,”
said Abby
. “I know it is. He wrote back!
And
I think
that
preacher
you all are seeing h
as been at the center of a nightmare I seem to have every time I try to sleep lately
.
It’s the same thing!
”

Steve saw the tears welling in
the girl’s
eyes.

Susan was openly weeping now
.
“I am sorry,” she struggled. “But I just can’t handle this right now.”  She stood and left the room
, flinging Abby’s note onto the couch
.
Her wails
echoed
down the front hall
as she stumbled
up the stairs
.

“Mom!” Abby cried.

To Steve, Jack looked to be on the edge of tears himself.
He
p
icked up the note to read it again
.
Without looking
up
, he spoke to them.
“I’m afraid I will have to ask you to leave now
.”

“Dad? No!
Don’t you want to know what they know?”

“Mr. Nikko, please,” said Steve
.
“We just want to talk to Abby and see if we can piece this thing together
.
It will only take a few minutes-
.”

“I will only say this politely one more time,” replied Jack, through clenched teeth. “You need to leave,
now
.”

“No. With all due respect, I lost the love of my life. I want to know why. I am here to get some answers. I’ve been chasing those answers across the whole goddamn country and
have
probably lost my job in the process. Those answers led me here, to your daughter, and I want to know what the hell is going on!”

Jack stood up behind the couch. 
“Steve, let’s go,”
Veronica
whispered, clutching his shoulder.

“Come on
,
Steve,” said Martin, standing. “This isn’t going to work.”

Abby sat on the couch with her arms wrapped around her knees, crying freely.

“Thank you for you
r
time,”
Martin
said to Jack and Abby. “
We are
sorry to have upset you.”

Jack nodded silently and gestured to the hallway
.
They filed from the room, Jack and Abby trailing them to the front door. As they left, Martin
paused in the threshold and turned back to Jack.
“We are truly sorry for your loss,” he said. “If you change your mind an
d want to talk, we’ll be at that little hotel right by the airport
, at least for tonight.”

“Thank you,” said Jack. “But we’re done here.”

It was obvious from the sigh behind him that Abby wanted to protest
,
but she held her tongue
.
Jack watched them walk down the driveway and
climb back into the rented SUV
.
He
watched
as they
move
d
out into the street, turn
ed
around in a neighbor
’
s driveway and then disappeared around the corner
.
Then he turned off the porch light,
closed the door and
.
locked and double-checked the deadbolt before going to check on Susan
.
Abby blocked his way up the stairs. He sighed.
“Abby, please, it’s
been a long day.”

“Yes it
has, Dad, for me too!
Why would you do that to them?”

“Bec
ause, Abby,
y
our mother can only handle so much. Losing your brother
has
nearly killed her
.
This .
.
. story, happening,
or whatever you want to call it
hurt her even more
!
And even
if
,
by the remotest
chance, what
they said has any truth to it, do you think it is going to help her? Or you? Or us? Really?”

Abby
waved the note in front of
him, and pled,
“Dad,
t
his note is from him
.
I know it
.
I feel it. And he
’s trying to tell me something, like
he wants me to prepare for something
.
It’s like a code or something, I don’t know
.
But I think those people could help! Don’t you want to know?”

“No, I don’t
,
Honey.
All I want right now is to go
upstairs and
take care of your mother.
”

“Fine,” she said. She moved aside so that he could pass.

“I’ll do it myself then,” she
whispered
.

Chapter
30

On the ride back
to the hotel
,
Veronica
sat
in the back seat, examining her
nails
.
Martin stared out the passenger window
.
Steve drove
toward
the interstate, squinting in the lights of oncoming cars.

Eventually
Veronica
broke the silence.
She leaned forward from the back seat.
“Okay, well,
I suppose that could’ve gone better.”

“Or worse,” said Martin.

“At least we know that Abby got it
,
too,” muttered Steve.

“Yeah,” replied
Veronica
.
“She got it, but how does that help us?”

“I don’t know
.
But
she got it.”

“And more imp
ortant,” said Martin, “
she believes it.”

Steve nodded grudgingly.

“Yeah,” said
Veronica
, “b
ut something tells me that
her dad
is not going let you discuss that or anything else with her.”

Martin grunted in agreement.

“And what about the
preacher
?” asked
Veronica
, abruptly breaking the silence as she leaned forward again. “
In her dreams
,
too
,
and h
e was here
and
he was in New York?”

“Yeah,” said Steve. “I was thinking about that mysel
f. Maybe he isn’t following us or at least not
just
us.”

“You mean like he’s in two places at once?” asked
Veronica
.

“I dunno
.”

“How could he do that?”
Veronica
asked.

“I dunno.
I need some time to put it together, some time to think.”

Veronica
sat
back against the seat
.
Martin yawned and stretched.
“And I
just need a pillow.”

Steve nodded in silence
.
Long moments passed
.
Steve exited the highway and took the street leading to the hotel.

“Personally,” said
Veronica
,
“I just want a
glass of chardonnay
.”

The next morning, the
threesome settled at a table in the middle of the small dining area off the hotel’s lobby
, where
the breakfast crowd was in full swing
.

“Are you freakin’ nuts
,
Steve?”
Veronica
’s
voice carried loudly across the quiet breakfast buffet at the hotel
, garnering
several disapproving looks from
roomful
of road warriors, account representatives and mid-level business
execs
,
who peered up from their
smartphones
, coffee and toasted bagels.
Veronica
stared back
until
each one of them
looked away
. She turned back to Steve and Martin.

“Seriously Steve?” she continued, in a lower tone
.
“Staking out her school? That’s the plan?”

“Look,
I
didn’t say it was a good plan
,
just a plan.”

“Well
,
it sucks
.
”

“Yeah, thanks
Veronica
.
Very helpful.”

“Well
,
Jesus
Christ, S
teve!
Have you
even
been
to a school lately? It isn’t like it used to be. They are locked down
now; they have metal detectors and
security guards!”

“She’s right, Steve,” said Martin. “
When
Maggie
was in
high school, they had
a police officer assigned to each
school
.
And
that
was in small town Virginia. No telling what
they have here. This is Texas. T
hey go big on everything.”

“I understand that, b
ut
we’ve
got to talk to her
.
I think she can help us. I want to know what she knows about this
.
Maybe with all of us on it
, we can try to figure out a next step
. As it stands right now, I’ve hit a dead
end
.
I
don’
t
know what
to do
next.”

Martin shook his head
.
“Al
l I can say
i
s that where
I come from, toast, fruit and
some dry cereal do not a breakfast make
.
This chef should be ashamed.”

“Okay then,” said Steve
,
“we’ve got to find a way to get to her
.
We just need to talk to her, find out what she knows
,
and hopefully make some more sense out of it.

“How?” said
Veronica
.

“I don’t know yet,” said Steve. “Like I said, I haven’t figured that part out.

Martin smiled, staring over Steve’s shoulder.
“You may not have to,” he said, waving.

Steve and
Veronica
turned
.
Abby stood at the edge of the café
, wearing
oversize
d
aviator sunglasses and
a
crocheted black
beret
into which she
had
stuffed her
long blonde
hair
.
Over her shoulder was a
bulging
backpack that looked
it would be
more at home on the Appalachian Trail than
in
the halls of a high school
.
She spotted Martin waving, smiled and waved back.

As she
wove through the tables to reach them
,
Martin jumped
up, borrowed a chair from a nearby table,
and pulled it up for her.

“Thanks!” she said, smiling cheerfully
.
She took a seat.
 
“Hey guys
!
Oh, coffee
. Sweet
!
Can I get one of those? How’s it going?
”

“Uh, fine,” said Steve.

“What are you doing here?” asked
Veronica
, smiling at her.

“Well,
it’s like this
.
I tried to talk to my parents last night, well, my
d
ad
anyway
, about what was going on
.
It’s not that he doesn’t believe
you
, but he is kinda focused on my mom right now, y
’
know?”

She grabbed a banana
off
Martin’s
plate
.
“D
’
you mind?
I’m starved
.
I was worried I’d miss
you
so
I skipped
breakfast to get here.
”

“
Please help yourself
,” said
Martin
.
“In fact, I am finding this excuse for breakfast to be an insult to my culinary skills
.
I’ve half a mind to get back in that kitchen and show them how’s it’s done.”

“Mart
in,” said
Veronica
.
“Take a chill
.
It’s breakfast
.
It’s a
hotel
, not
a five-star resort
.
It’s free
.
Deal with it
.”

“Just
you
wait
,
young lady,” he said, motioning
at
Veronica
with his fork
.
“I hope to get a chance to show
you
what a breakfast can and should be.”

Steve
interrupted the bantering
. “Abby, we’re glad you’re here
.”

“
T
hanks,” replied Abby, peeling the banana.
“So anyway, yeah, my
d
ad
—
i
t was pretty clear that he’s not going to
have any part of this right now
.
Wouldn’t you say?”

He
r
mouth full of banana, she
continued without waiting for an answer
,
“
And my
m
om, well, you guys saw how my
m
om is. There is
no way
I was going to get to talk to
you
about this again, and I wasn’t
going
to give up on something so important.”

“Do they know you’re here?” asked Martin.

“Here, with
you
?” asked Abby incredulously
.
“Uh, negatory. Look
. . .
”

She put the half-eaten b
anana back on
Martin’s
plate.

“Okay, I’d like to get started out on the right note
.
I am 18,
a legal adult
.
And with all due respect, I am not interested in being treated
as
anything less than a
n
equal
,
if we are going to fig
ure this thing out.
I made my decision
.
I will deal with my parents.
Are
you all
okay with that?  Cause if not, just tell me now
,
and I’ll get on with figuring
out what gives
all by myself.”

Steve and Martin stared in silence, unsure of how to respond
.
Veronica
laughed
aloud
.

“Now this kid is gonna be fun!” she said to Mart
in and Steve
.
“Sorry, not kid. W
ill young lady do?”

Abby nodded.
“That’d be fine. In fact, I don’t care if you call me kid
—
s’long as you don’t
treat me like one.”

Steve and Martin looked at each other.

“Okay,” said Steve, “s
ounds fair enough to me.”