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“No, we can’t. It’s Masha’s family.” Josh stepped between Lulu and Nikolai. He wanted peace. Enough was enough. He wanted calm. He was glad to be home. It had been a long trip, sneaking out of Wellborn Ranch, the long hike through the snow in socks. He almost froze his fucking feet off. Then the drive home. It was stressful.
“Stop. Lulu. He’s Masha’s family. It’s no big deal. He’s cool. He is. Masha is cool. Trust me. She is. She’s the one who protected me. From the time I was little. Like eighth grade.” His eyes were fighting to stay open wide. “They’re, like, family now.”
“So what?” said Lulu. “Your mother was family.”
“We wouldn’t be here without Masha.”
“Are you sure?”
“Trust me. Put the gun down.” Josh turned to Nikolai. “Right? We’re friends? Everyone chill?”
The doctor watched this and wanted to cry.
Her son was as high as she’d ever seen him. He slurred his words and nodded off as he tried to find words. She was surprised he was upright, still standing. The therapist had told them over and over that when Josh was this high, he was no longer the son they knew. He was, instead, the manifestation of whatever cocktail of drugs he had taken, possessed by heroin, meth, Oxy, weed, or crack cocaine. Whatever he had sniffed, shot up, or swallowed.
“I don’t see how this works with a narc,” Lulu said. “We can’t have a witness.”
“We can’t have noise,” Josh said. “We’ll wake up his mom. Let’s just clean up and stick with the plan.” Josh turned to Nikolai. “You and your mom and Masha can stay—if you keep this all on the down-low. Stay out back. It’s fine with us. We can all live together. Nothing, nothing… has to change. Just my mom. She had to go.”
“What if he calls the police?” Lulu said.
“He won’t. He’s cool. Right?”
Nikolai nodded. “We… we can’t call police. We don’t have papers. The police will deport us.”
“What? You’re Mexican? You don’t look Mexican,” Lulu said.
“Russian,” said Nikolai, and suddenly Amory yelled from the stairs.
“Josh! Josh!” She was running down fast. Josh and Lulu turned their heads as Amory ran in, breathless and scared. “She’s gone! She’s gone!”
“Who?” said Josh.
“Somebody stole your mother from us!”
“What? What?”
“Somebody stole your mother’s body!”
CHAPTER 34
SOMEONE STOLE HER dead body?
The doctor almost laughed when she heard this. How stupid could this girl Amory be? Did she really think someone picked up the doctor’s body, dragged it off, and carried it out?
Josh went bug-eyed and followed Amory out of the kitchen. They headed upstairs to check out the bathroom, to solve the case of the missing dead mother. The doctor realized that as soon as they flipped on the lights, they’d find her trail of bloody prints.
She turned on her heel and headed for the basement door. She’d go through the bushes, climb the fence into the actors’ garden, go to their house, and call 911.
Bandit stopped barking and whimpered as she approached the basement door.
“Shush,” she whispered. Bandit fell silent as she wrapped her hand around the knob. Bandit was huge. The dog and the doctor weighed the same. “Quiet,” she said softly again, “we’re okay,” trying to convince him that they were safe. She turned the knob, cracked the door, and Bandit pushed his nose through and pawed.
“No,” the doctor whispered. “Stay.”
She wedged her bloody hip through the doorframe, and Bandit, like a good dog, backed downstairs, but only a step. He squirmed and jerked his body in protest, ready to run, ready to pounce. The doctor knew this. He knew this. Only the door was in his way. Bandit barked.
“Back,” she whispered, pulling the door closed behind her. “Back, back.” But he bent his head, trying to nose her aside. “No, no,” she whispered, but Bandit writhed and slithered past. “No!” He nudged the door and bolted through, scampering to the left and down the hall, scenting the air, teeth bared and barking.
