Mary, Mary

Chapter 46

I LAY FLAT ON MY BACK on the hotel bed that night, my head spinning in different directions, none of them worth a damn as far as I was concerned.

Mary Smith. Her pathology Inconsistencies. Possible motivation for the murders.

Nothing there so fat Jamilla. Don't go there either. You're not even close to solving that.

My family back in D.C. Was I ever messing that up.

Christine and AlexJunior. Saddest of all.

I was aware that no part of my life was getting the attention it deserved lately Everything was starting to feel like an effort. I had helped other people deal with this kind of depression, just never myself, and it seemed to me that flobody's very good at self- analysis.

True to her word, Monnie Donnelley had already delivered some material on James Truscott. Very simply, he checked out. He was ambitious, could be considered ruthless at times, but he was a respected member of the Fourth Estate. He didn't appear to have any connection to the Mary Smith murders.

I looked at my watch, muttered a curse, then dialed home, hoping to catch Jannie and Damon before they went off to bed.

“Hello, Cross residence. Jannie Cross speaking.”

I found myself smiling. “Is this the hugs-and-kisses store? I'd like to place an order, please.”

“Hi, Daddy I knew you'd call.”

“Am I that predictable? Never mind. You two getting ready for bed, I hope? Ask Damon to get on the other line.”

“I'm already on. I figured it was you, Dad. You are kind of predictable. That's a good thing.”

I caught up with the kids briefly Damon tried to wheedle me into letting him buy a CD with a parental advisory label. No sale there, and still no word from him on the mystery girlfriend. ,Jannie was gearing up for her first science fair and wanted to know if I could hook her friends up to a polygraph. “Sure thing. Right after we hook up you and Damon.”

Then Jannie told me something that bothered me a lot. “That writer was here again. Nana chased him off. She gave him a good tongue-lashing, called him a 'disgrace to his profession.' After I finished with the kids, I talked to Nana, and then I ordered room service, Finally I called Jamilla in San Francisco. I was making the calls in reverse stress order, I knew, leaving the hard ones for last. Of course, there was also the issue of time zones to consider. ”This whole Mary Smith thing has gone national in hurry“ Jamilla said. ”Word up here is the LAPD isn't even close to catching her."

“Let talk about something besides work,” I said. “That okay with you?”

“Actually I have to leave, Alex. I'm meeting a friend just a friend,” she added a little too quickly “Don't worry about it.” But that sounded to me like code for worry about it.

“Sure, go,” I said.

“Talk to you tomorrow?” she asked. “Sorry I have to run. Tomorrow, Alex?”

I promised, and then hung up. Just a friend, I thought. Well, two calls down, one to go.

The really hard one. I picked up the phone again and punched in numbers I knew by heart.

“Hello?”

me. Alex."

Christine paused - another undecipherable response. “Hi,” she finally said.

“Could I talk to Alex?”

“Of course. Hang on, I'll get him. He just finished his dinner. He's in the playroom.”

I heard a rustling and then Christine's muted voice. “It Daddy” The word gave me a strange pang - warm and gretf at the same time.

“Hi, Daddy” A whole lot of mixed feelings intensified at the excited sound of his voice, but mostly, I just missed him like crazy I could see his small face, his smile.

“Hey pup. What's new?”

Like any three-year_old, Little Alex wasn't quite up to speed on the whole phone thing. It was a quick conversation, unfortunately After a particularly long pause, I heard Christine again in the background.

“Say bye-bye.”

“Bye-bye.”

“See you soon,” I told him. “I love you, buddy”

“Love you, Daddy”

Then Little Alex hung up the phone on me. With a dismissive click, I was back in my room, alone with the Mary Smith case, missing all the people I loved more than life itself.

That was the exact thought in my head - but what did it mean?