Helpless

Chapter 45

Tom went out to get the mail a few hours before nightfall. He sifted through a stack of bills on his walk back up the driveway (those would have to wait), saw a promotional flyer from the Plenty Market (he’d canceled his customer loyalty card), and noticed one surprising item in the mix. It was a letter, addressed to him, from Adriana Boyd.

With his back against the kitchen counter, Tom opened the letter using a butter knife. Inside, he found a slender, hand-bordered card, monogrammed with Adriana’s name. Her handwritten note, written in purple pen and elegantly scripted, wasn’t dated.

Tom reread Adriana’s card before slipping it back in its envelope. He tucked the card and envelope inside the kitchen junk drawer, buried underneath a couple rolls of Scotch tape, pens, pencils, an address book, and one partially used disposable camera.

The phone rang. He answered it and smiled before the caller could finish her greeting.

“Hi, Dad,” Jill said. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m over at Lindsey’s house. We’re studying for a chem test tomorrow.”

“Hey!” Tom said. “I was just about to text you, but it’s a lot nicer hearing your voice.”

The conversation that followed wasn’t anything more extraordinary than a parent and child playing catch-up: “How are you? What’s new at school? What have you been up to?” After about ten minutes of back-and-forth chitchat, Tom got the sense his daughter wanted to end the call. It was just one of the many ways that he’d come to know Jill’s personality better.

“I hope you’ve been eating well,” Jill said to him.

“Hey, who’s the parent here?” Tom replied. “Anyway, I’m eating fine.”

“Dad, you can’t cook.”

“I’m not that bad.”

“Whatever. I should probably get back to studying with Lindsey.”

Tom glanced over at the kitchen table, where he’d been doing some studying of his own. On that table were six large legal tomes, each splayed open, plus a bunch of printed-out documents and spiral-bound notebooks filled with Tom’s research on child pornography and legal defenses. He’d drawn only one conclusion based on the cases he’d studied: Marvin really had his work cut out for him.

“I’m so glad you and Lindsey have reconciled,” said Tom.

“Me too,” Jill said.

“You know you can come home anytime,” Tom said to her. “You don’t have to stay at the Kalinowskis’ if you don’t want to.”

Jill went quiet, and Tom allowed her to process without interruption.

“Maybe I will,” she eventually said.

“Your room is waiting.”

“Okay. Well, I really should keep cramming… unless you happen to know anything about the photoelectric effect.”

“Does it have anything to do with taking pictures?”

“Good night, Dad,” Jill said with a groan.

“Good night.”

Tom set the cordless phone back in its cradle. He hadn’t made it back over to the kitchen table when the phone rang again. Tom answered it on the second ring, assuming it was Jill calling him back.

“Whatcha forget?” he asked.

“Nothing,” a man said in a raspy, monotonous tone. Tom’s pulse kicked up a notch or two.

“Who is this?” asked Tom.

“You don’t know my voice, but I’m pretty sure you’d recognize my face.”

Tom’s muscles tightened like a coil spring poised to unleash. He gripped the edge of the kitchen counter hard enough to make his fingers hurt.

“Lange? Is that you?”

“The one and only. We need to talk.”

“I’d say. Come on over. I’ll make us some tea.”

Lange laughed lightly into the phone. “Can’t do that, compadre,” he said.

“Well then, why don’t you start by telling me why you broke into Kelly’s house?”

“You think you know what’s happening here, Tom, but I’m calling to tell you that you’re wrong. I’m not the enemy. Not even close.”

“Funny, my friends don’t spy on me from the woods.”

“It wasn’t me who broke into Kelly’s house,” Lange said. “And I’m not the one who chased her into the woods and down that ravine, either. But I know who did, why they did it, and why you’re being set up to look like a kiddie porn collector.”

Tom took a sharp breath, then let it out slowly. “Who is setting me up, Lange?” he asked. “What does this have to do with what happened to Kelly?”

“I can’t tell you that over the phone, Tom. When you see what I have to show you, then you’ll understand. And it’s not what you think. You don’t have the slightest clue why they think you’re so dangerous.”

“Who is ‘they’?” Tom shouted into the phone.

“Meet me at Johnny Rockets in one hour,” Lange said. “And come alone, or this time I’ll vanish for good.”

“Why should I trust you?”

Tom thought he heard Lange sigh into the phone. “I know you’ve been looking for me,” Lange said. “You. Roland. That nosy attorney of yours. I stayed hidden because I was afraid of getting caught.”

“Why show yourself now?”

“Because you need to see what I have,” Lange said. “And I need you to protect me from them.”