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“Yes. As soon as we have anything to tell you,” Henry said, knowing they’d be the last people he’d contact.
“That was uncomfortable,” the officer said, going to his squad car.
“Yeah, awful. Alan owes me big-time.”
***
Organic Bonanza was the lead store in a shopping plaza in the middle of town. It shared the space with a Chinese restaurant, a beach rental company, a dentist, and a gym. When Lisa went into the store, her mind was numb, even though, thankfully, she hadn’t killed Lily. After having to act normal in front of Ryan and Laura, she wasn’t sure she had what it took to be stoic and lie constantly. Soon she’d have to talk to the police. It had been easy when she was questioned about the baby’s skeleton. It had happened a long time ago.
But this was fresh. She’d stick to the story that the last time she’d seen Lily was the afternoon she’d come to the house. She wasn’t going to ask Ryan to lie; he was too fragile. Laura had said she wasn’t going to repeat that she and Will had seen Lisa on the beach with Lily. No one else had seen them. No one else knew. There was no trail of text messages or phone calls, no emails.
Pushing the cart up and down the aisles, Lisa tried to focus on the task at hand, feeding her husband dinner. He was so easy to please that she’d gotten lazy, letting him eat what the nanny fixed for the children every night. Now his blood pressure was getting higher, and she blamed herself and the rich, fatty food Daniela prepared.
“Look who’s here!”
Lisa came out of her fog to see her mother, Pam, fresh from the gym.
“You put me to shame, Mother,” she said, reaching for a box of pasta.
“Don’t be silly. You have a family to take care of; you don’t need the gym.” She sidled up to her daughter. “You heard, correct? Are you upset?”
Laura had mentioned to Pam that she’d seen Lisa on the beach with Lily late at night, and Pam had already confronted Lisa about it.
“What do you think, Mother?” Lisa asked. “It’s not something we should talk about, ever.”
“I’m not sure I understand what’s going on with you, sweetheart. First the baby skeleton, and now this. It’s worrisome.”
“The two things are unrelated,” Lisa said, adding a jar of tomato marinara to her cart. “Why are you here, anyway? Don’t you pay someone to do the mundane chores of life?”
“I do, but since I was at the gym, I wanted to see if I could get inspired. Food is so secondary when you get old. Who wants to eat a meal alone?”
“You’re not old, and you’re rarely alone,” Lisa said. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get home before the nanny shows up.”
“I’m sorry I upset you,” Pam said, moving by Lisa’s cart.
“I know. You just can’t help yourself.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. And we were doing so well. I enjoyed our time together this morning.”
“I know. I’m sorry, too, Mother.”
“I’ll see you at the beach,” Pam said.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“When you see Ryan, don’t talk to him about Lily.”
“I won’t. Don’t worry about that.”
“I’m not worried, Mother. I wanted to remind you.”
“No need,” she said, winking.
Lisa shook her head, exasperated. Her mother could be clueless.
She rushed through the rest of her shopping, adding a package of lean ground beef next to the jar of marinara and a fresh baguette to make garlic bread, the fixings for an antipasto salad. It was one of Ryan’s favorite meals, and she’d make it healthy. Stopping by the wine section, she chose a bottle of red wine. For dessert, fresh fruit.
