Parting Shot

Nine Cal

“Call Jeremy,” I said, not addressing anyone in particular.

“I would do it,” Gloria said, “but someone took my phone.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake,” Bob said, and dug into his pocket for her cell and handed it to her.

Gloria called up her son’s number and tapped the screen. She put the phone to her ear and waited.

“He’s not answering,” she said.

“Have you got that app that shows where his phone is?” I asked.

She shook her head.

She went to put the phone back in her pocket, but Bob held out his hand. “Gloria.”

She gave him a look of exasperation and slapped the phone into his palm. Then she looked my way and said, “I wouldn’t be too worried. Jeremy does this sometimes.”

“Takes off?” I said.

She nodded. “He needs to get a little air, decompress, deal with the stress. When you consider what he’s been through, can you blame him?”

I said, “Isn’t it part of Jeremy’s probation deal that he be supervised at all times? Wasn’t he spared prison because you committed to always knowing his whereabouts?”

“He’s been given some leeway in that regard,” Bob offered. “Because of the threats. We cleared it before we came up from Albany.”

“But even if you were allowed to bring Jeremy to Promise Falls, aren’t you supposed to keep close tabs on him?”

“For God’s sake,” Gloria said. “He’s a teenager. You do the best you can, but sometimes he slips away. But he always comes back.”

“Tell me you don’t give him the keys to the car.”

“I’m not an idiot,” she said.

“Gloria,” Bob said, “if the boy gets caught out on his own, they’re going to throw him in jail.”

“The more immediate concern,” I said, “is his safety. Someone just tossed a rock through the window, and Jeremy’s not here. We need to find him.”

Gloria suddenly put her hand to her mouth. “Oh God,” she said. “Please just make it all stop.”

I pushed open the screen and walked out into Madeline Plimpton’s perfectly groomed backyard. “Jeremy!” I shouted. “Jeremy!”

Gloria followed me out and shouted his name as well.

The property backed onto forest. Jeremy could easily have vanished into it. Or he might be hoofing it into downtown Promise Falls. Suddenly I wondered if he’d played us, and was actually back inside the house.

“Ms. Plimpton,” I said, “check around upstairs, in case he’s still here.”

She vanished. We could hear her shouting the boy’s name throughout her home.

I walked down to the edge of the property and scanned the woods. Somehow, I didn’t see Jeremy wanting to commune with nature. Gloria was ten feet behind me, calling for her son.

“Jeremy! This isn’t funny!”

“Where might he go?” I asked her, not wanting to raise the possibility that he might have left the property against his will.

She raised her hands helplessly. “I swear, I don’t know. Probably someplace where there was something to do. A mall or a McDonald’s or something like that. Do you think something’s happened to him?” A look of panic was creeping into her face.

“There’s no reason to think that,” I said. “It’s probably like you said. He just needed to get away from the rest of us for a while.” I lightly put a hand on each shoulder. “I’m sure we’ll find him.”

I turned and started walking back to the house as Ms. Plimpton emerged, shaking her head. The boy was not in the house.

“Stay here,” I told all of them. “I’ll drive around, see if I can find him.” I already had Ms. Plimpton’s home number in my phone, and could call if I had any news.

I walked through the house and out the front. Ms. Plimpton, looking at the damage, said, “I’m going to call the police.”

“Up to you,” I said. “But it’ll be a circus around here in no time if you do.”

I left her considering that as I got behind the wheel of my Accord. When I got to the end of the street I had the option of going left or right. Left took me into more suburbs, but right would lead me to the downtown district. It would take someone the better part of twenty minutes to get there on foot, but this was also a bus route.

I went right.

It hadn’t been ten minutes since I’d seen Jeremy on the porch, so he couldn’t have gotten that far. I drove slowly, casting my eyes from one side of the road to the other. He might be staying off the sidewalk to lessen the chance of being spotted.

When I got to a cross street, I went right again. Soon I’d be reaching some strip malls and fast-food joints. I got stopped at a light and was strumming my fingers on top of the steering wheel when a faded red Miata convertible screamed through the intersection, top down.

“Son of a bitch,” I said.

In the driver’s seat was a young woman with long blonde hair. Next to her, waving his arms in the air above the windshield, was Jeremy Pilford.

As soon as the light changed, I made an immediate left, cutting off a pickup coming my way and earning myself a horn honk and an upraised middle finger. I could see the Miata about a hundred yards ahead. There were two cars between us, and that was fine. I didn’t want to be spotted. I didn’t want to initiate a chase. If the girl tried to lose me, someone could end up dead.

At least she was showing enough good sense not to drive like a maniac. She was sticking to the limit, and she needed both hands to drive. One was on the wheel, the other working the gearshift. When she changed lanes, she signalled. It was her passenger who was displaying some recklessness, continuing to wave his hands in the air, pushing himself up, his butt nearly to the headrest, poking his head above the glass.

The car moved back into the curb lane, hit the blinker, and turned in to a hamburger place. Not one of the major chains, but an independent joint called Green & Farb Burgers and Fries, named, so went the tale, after the two men who founded the place in the fifties. The locals called it Grease & Fat, which might have sounded like a negative, but sometimes that was exactly what you wanted.

By the time I reached it, they’d found a parking spot around the back of the building and were inside. I parked my Honda across the rear end of the Miata, blocking it in. It was one of the first ones, from the early nineties. The folded-down roof was faded and torn in places. I was betting the plastic rear window, once the roof was up, would be yellowed and nearly impossible to see through.

I phoned Ms. Plimpton’s house. She answered on the first ring.

“Yes?”

“You can stand down.”

I heard wrestling over the handset, and then Gloria came on. “Jeremy?”

“It’s Cal. I found him. I’ll bring him home shortly.”

“Where is he? What did he—”

“I’ll be back soon.”

I slipped my cell back into my jacket, got out of the car, locked it, and went into the restaurant. It wasn’t busy, and Jeremy and the girl were standing by the counter. It looked as though they’d already ordered. I hung back, out of sight behind a pillar, and waited until they had their food and were seated.

At that point, I went to the counter and watched as someone loaded up a wire basket with frozen fries, then lowered them into the fryer. The grease sizzled and spat. I asked the young guy at the cash for a coffee.

Jeremy and the girl were sitting on opposite sides of a table for four, leaning in close to one another, giggling and laughing.

I ambled over to their table and casually dropped into the chair beside Jeremy. They’d ordered burgers and shakes and were sharing a large order of fries. A cell phone was sitting on the table right in front of Jeremy.

“Oh, shit,” Jeremy said. “You.”

“Who’s this?” the girl asked. She looked about the same age as Jeremy.

I smiled at her. “I’m Cal Weaver.” I offered my hand. The girl, caught off guard, raised ketchup-smeared fingers. “That’s okay.” I said. “How’s it going, Jeremy?”

“How’d you find me?” he asked.

“Honestly?” I said. “Dumb luck. Who’s your friend?”

“This is Charlene,” he said, rolling his eyes and slowly shaking his head.

“Who is this guy?” his girlfriend asked.

“This is my new bodyguard,” he said dismissively.

“What’s your last name, Charlene?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Wilson.”

Jeremy said, “I’ve known Charlene since like third grade.”

“The Miata yours, or your parents’?” I asked her.

Her tongue moved around in her mouth. “It was my mom’s but she gave it to me when she got a new one.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this a school day? Do your parents know you’re here instead of in class in Albany?”

“School’s over for today,” Charlene said.

She had me there.

“So, you two going steady?” I asked, reaching for one of their fries and popping it into my mouth.

Jeremy rolled his eyes again. “God, what century are you from?”

I smiled. “That’s what we called it back when we went to sock hops.”

Jeremy blinked, as though I’d just spoken to him in Swahili.

Charlene jumped in. “We’ve been friends forever,” she said. “Like Jeremy said, since we were just kids. I’m like the only friend he’s got left. All these people who said they were his friend, once everything happened, they all abandoned him. It’s like they didn’t even know him any more. But not me.”

“Yeah,” Jeremy said. “It’s true.”

“So I came up to see him. Is that a crime?”

“It’s not like she’s on probation,” Jeremy said. “Look, she’ll bring me back to Madeline’s house in ten minutes.”

“That’s gonna be hard,” I said. “I’ve got Charlene’s car blocked in.”

Jeremy wilted. “Come on, man. I just wanted to get out.”

“Like the other time?”

“Huh?”

“Your mom says you’ve slipped out before since you got to her aunt’s place.”

He took a bite of his burger, looked at Charlene, as though trying to pretend I wasn’t there.

“Where’d you go?” I asked.

Chewing.

“What I’m wondering is whether you were seen. Charlene here isn’t the only one who knows you’re staying in Promise Falls. Your entire fan base seems to have figured it out. You just missed all the fun at the house.”

He stopped chewing and looked at me. “What?”

I told him about the brick through the window. He closed his eyes briefly, something that might actually have been a wince of guilt or regret.

“Is everyone okay?” he asked. “Is Madeline okay?”

“Yeah. So where else have you gone since you got to Promise Falls?”

He gave me a no-big-deal shrug. “Just around.”

“Anyone recognize you?”

He looked out the window.

“Jeremy?”

“Some guys. I was walking by some assholes, one grabbed my arm, said I was the Big Baby.”

“Did things get out of hand?”

He shook his head. “That was it.”

“Did they follow you?”

He thought a moment. “I don’t know.”

I reached for another fry. I didn’t see any reason why these two shouldn’t finish their burgers. It’d give me time to drink my coffee.

“For someone who’s supposed to be on Jeremy’s side,” Charlene said, “you sure seem to be picking on him.”

“That so?” I said.

“All of this has been so unfair,” she said. “Everyone thinks he’s this awful kid, but he’s not.”

“I don’t think I said he was.” I was curious that she had decided to speak up. “I just want him to be safe.”

“Yeah, right,” she said with an eye roll. “Everyone judges. The thing is, that girl was way drunker than Jeremy and probably fell right in front of the car. Wouldn’t have mattered if Jeremy was totally sober, he’d still have hit her.”

Jeremy’s entire body seemed to flinch as I gave the girl my full attention. “You were there?”

She shook her head quickly. “No. I mean, yes, I was at the party, but I wasn’t there when it happened. But everyone knew she liked to drink. I’m just saying, that’s probably what happened.”

Jeremy, looking uncomfortable as he took his burger in both hands, said, “It’s okay, Charlene.”

“No, it’s not,” she said. “The whole world’s been so hard on you and you don’t deserve it.”

Jeremy shrugged. “What are ya gonna do?” he said, and took a bite. “It’s done.”

“That part, maybe,” I said. “But you’re still dealing with the fallout. Which is why you, and your mother, need to be a lot more circumspect.”

“A lot more what?” Jeremy said, the words coming out garbled between bits of meat and bun.

“Careful,” Charlene told him.

I reached for the phone on the table in front of Jeremy.

“Hey!” he said, spewing a shred of lettuce.

I lit up the screen and saw an exchange of texts between Jeremy and Charlene, including instructions on where to pick him up once he’d slipped out of Ms. Plimpton’s house.

I turned the phone toward him. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

“Give that back,” he said, putting down the burger and holding out his hand.

“You and your mom really love your phones.”

“She’s way worse than I am. She’s always texting with Bob.”

“You don’t like him?” I asked, keeping the phone out of his reach.

“He’s her knight in shining armor,” Jeremy said. “Her chance at the life to which she has always wanted to be accustomed.”

I kept glancing at Charlene, who looked increasingly annoyed with me.

“I should get back,” she said. She balled up the wrapper her burger had come in, took a last sip of her shake. “Will you move your car?” She paused, then added, “Please?”

“Sure.”

“My phone?” Jeremy said.

“Not to worry,” I said, raising my hand. “It’s safe with me.”

We all stood. I put my coffee cup on the plastic tray. When Jeremy made no move to gather up his trash and clear the table, Charlene did it.

As the three of us were walking out, I briefly unnerved the kid taking the orders by slipping behind the counter.

“Mister?” he said.

“Just one sec.”

I held Jeremy’s phone an inch over the fryer, then dropped it carefully into the sizzling oil so as not to make a splash.

“What the fuck?” said Jeremy.

I slipped a ten to the kid on the till. “For your trouble. You might have to throw out that batch of fries.”