Deliver Her: A Novel by Patricia Perry Donovan

Author:Patricia Perry Donovan [Donovan, Patricia Perry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503934511
Published: 2016-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

MEG

Jack flung open the basement door. “Mom. Phone. Should I answer?”

“Leave it, bud. I’m coming.” Even taking the steps two at a time, Meg still missed the call. Relieved to see the New Hampshire area code, she dropped into a kitchen chair to call Carl back.

“Swiftriver Gorge. Iris speaking.”

Was the transporter calling from his hotel? Confused, Meg asked for Carl Alden.

“He’s right here. Just a moment.” The phone changed hands against a jumble of background voices. As the wait dragged on, Meg wondered idly if the driver booked two rooms or one, trying to picture Carl and the mousy woman together. None of her business, she decided. Finally, she heard a man clear his throat.

“Mrs. Carmody.” At Carl’s defeated tone, Meg’s instincts soared to high alert.

“Carl? What’s wrong? Where’s Alex?”

“I have some bad news.” A pause, followed by a ragged breath. “There’s been an accident.”

Please no. Not again. Not Alex. Meg gripped the back of the chair. “Is Alex hurt?”

“We hit a detour. Some bad weather in the mountains. Something I didn’t foresee.”

Didn’t foresee? In her living room yesterday, he had laid out his meticulous plan. “My daughter, Carl. Tell me what happened to Alex.”

His breathing grew more labored. “Alex is missing, Mrs. Carmody. She . . . walked away.”

“What do you mean, ‘walked away’? As in, ‘walked away without a scratch’?” Jumping up from the chair, Meg grabbed a sponge from the sink and swabbed Jack’s place at the table. I will wipe this table exactly the way I do every night, and he will tell me everything is fine. That Alex is fine.

“Mommy, what happened?” Jack in the doorway.

“Nothing, bud. Go watch TV. Mommy needs some privacy for a bit.” Dropping the sponge, Meg shut herself into the powder room and took a deep breath. “Carl, just tell me about Alex.”

“She walked away from the accident scene. Which we’re taking as a good sign.”

“A good sign?” Meg sat on the toilet lid and doubled over, the bathroom floor’s black-and-white mosaic blurring as Carl described the impact, the skid, the car careening down the hill, his coming to and realizing Alex was gone. My baby is missing. I sent my baby off with strangers, and now she’s gone.

Jack banged on the door. “Mommy, you’re scaring me. Is Alex OK?” She couldn’t hear Carl over Jack’s cries.

“Hold on. It’s my son.” She got up and stuck her head out the door, forcing her mouth into a smile. “Honey, Alex is fine. Mommy just really, really needs you to go watch TV. I’ll get you in a sec, OK?”

“Why are you yelling? I want Daddy.” Jack rubbed his eyes.

“He’ll be home soon. Go, Jack.” Shutting the door again, she asked Carl what time they crashed.

“Around four.”

She checked her phone screen. It was now six twenty. Alex had been wandering alone in the mountains for more than two hours—not in the warm outfit Meg set out for her but in clothes of her own choosing. Shuddering, Meg envisioned her daughter crawling along the icy road in flimsy leggings and a T-shirt, sleet seeping through thin soles.

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