The Story Sisters

“She said her parents were divorced,” he said accusingly. He had his hands in his pockets. He’d seen Pete come out of the house for the paper and wondered who the hell he was.

“I’m the new guy,” Pete said. He’d told himself to wait and see, not to jump to conclusions because of what had happened to Rebecca, not to try to beat the shit out of this guy, who was younger and stronger—which was not to say Pete couldn’t still inflict some damage.

Lorry looked past him. The house down the lane was dark.

“You’re not going to talk to her mother if that’s what you’re thinking,” Pete told him. “She’s dying.”

They stood there at the corner, gazing at the Weinsteins’ lawn. It really needed to be reseeded. It was such an eyesore the neighbors were thinking of getting together and lodging a complaint.

“Elv needs a lawyer,” Lorry said. “Can you take care of that?”

Pete nodded. He still had friends downtown. He could find out where she was and what she needed.

“Okay. Good. That’s all I needed to know.” Lorry opened the car door, then hesitated. He took a letter from his coat pocket. “Could you give her this?”

“Because you’ll be unavailable?” Protecting your own ass, Pete thought, although he didn’t say it. He didn’t have to.

“Because things are going to be different when she gets out. It’s going to be better.”

“Yeah, well, I doubt that. But I’ll give her the letter.”

Lorry lit a cigarette. His hands were shaky. He hadn’t slept for a while. He saw the stop sign on the corner. It was a long time before she told him; even then she refused to give any details.

“So this is where it happened,” he said thoughtfully. “I’d like to kill that fuck.”

Pete wished he still smoked. He had wanted to punch Lorry, but that feeling had dropped away into something else. He could tell a man torn apart by love when he saw one.

“Who does that kind of thing to a little girl?” Lorry fumed. “He’s considered a model citizen because he was a teacher. She calls him Grimin. If she’d told me his name, he’d be dead by now.”

“I’ll do everything I can for her,” Pete assured him. He kept his thoughts to himself, but his mind started clicking in, the way it always did before he began his research on a particular project.

“Yeah. Well, that’s good.” Lorry slapped Pete on the back. Pete winced and shifted out of reach. “Bad back?” Lorry asked.

“It would be better if you were out of her life,” Pete said. “You know that.”

Pete stood on the corner while Lorry got in his car, made a U-turn, and pulled away. He drove slowly, headlights off, a man used to making a getaway. Pete slipped the letter into the pocket of his bathrobe.

He fixed some strong coffee, then phoned Natalia and asked her to come out to North Point Harbor to stay with Annie. As soon as she arrived, he headed into the city. He’d made a few calls and was able to act as the family’s representative. Rebecca had been in the holding tank several times, so he had that déjà vu feeling checking in, being taken to the visitors’ room. He’d heard that some people had dreams that felt this real, then they woke up in their own beds, safe and sound.

When Elv was led in, her eyes flitted over him. She couldn’t conceal her disappointment. They were left alone for ten minutes. They probably wouldn’t even need that.

“I don’t know you,” she said.

“I’m the guy who’s going to get you a lawyer. All you have to do is trust me.” Pete introduced himself as a good friend of her mother’s.

He was a middle-aged guy. Gray hair, worried face, tall. “She sent you?”

“She’s not well, Elv. She doesn’t know you’re here.” Pete reached into his coat for the letter. “He sent me.”

Elv looked alive for the first time when he handed the letter over. She tore it open, read it, then sat back in her chair, blinking back tears.

“He came to the house?”

Pete nodded.

Elv turned her head. A sob escaped.

“What happened on the corner?” Pete asked.

Elv turned back to him frowning. “Just because you’re helping me, don’t think you know me.”

“Maybe I do,” Pete said.

“You’ll have to trust me on this one.” Elv folded the letter and slipped it into her sleeve. She would read it over again and again until the ink disappeared. “You don’t.”

ON THE DAY of the hearing, Pete claimed a space in the back row of the courtroom. He’d confided in Natalia and she had insisted on attending. A nurse had been hired to spend the morning with Annie. Natalia had taken a taxi downtown to meet Pete. She was flustered. He’d had to help her up the steps to the courthouse.

“I wish I could take her place,” Natalia said. She’d never been to court before and was overdressed. She wore her black Chanel coat, high heels, a pearl necklace. She took a handkerchief from her purse.

Pete patted her arm. He wasn’t sure if she meant Annie or Elv or both.

“She has an excellent lawyer,” he said. “Sam Carlyle.” The DA himself had recommended him. “We’ll hope for the best.”

When the matron walked Elv into the courtroom, Elv noticed Pete in the last row. He was tall and easy to spot. Then she spied her ama. Quickly she turned away, flushed with shame. Elv knew she looked wretched. No wonder her grandmother appeared to be stunned. The detox had been hard. She’d actually wanted to die, but she kept Lorry in her mind, a fierce ray of light, the one thing no one could take away.