On Tenterhooks (26 page)

For someone used to troubleshooting amongst the
systematic rules
of technology, the nature of
this
quest
was unhinging.

How far can I take this?

Two days into the search
,
and he was already bickering with his companions
.
Preacher or no
preacher
, the three of
them were in this together. I
f they didn’t stand together, none of them might ever get any resolution
.
And to Steve,
resolution
was
all that mattered
.

He looked across the aisle
,
wondering if he need
ed to apologize to
Veronica
.
S
he was already deep into an article, so he
left
it alone
.

Chapter
2
9

The threesome
nervously
scanned the
gate area
when they deplaned
in San Antonio
, but there was no sig
n of the
preacher
. Despite the long flight, they had agreed
to head directly to A
bby’
s house
,
in case the
preacher happened to be
following them
on the next flight
.
Veronica
and M
artin collected
their
bags at the carousel
,
while S
teve rented a
car
.

When they walked out of the airport
, Martin assumed the role of rear guard
,
and every few minutes he’d pause a
nd scan the area behind them
.
There was s
till no sign of the
preacher
.
As they reached
the rental vehicle parking lot
,
Veronica
caught up to Steve.

“So,
a
ny progress on what you’re going to say when we get there?”

Steve scanned the vehicles, looking for the red SUV he had selected back at the rental desk
.
He spotted it near the end of their current row and beckoned
his traveling companions
on.

“There it is,
t
h
e red one at the end of the row,” he said, pointing ahead. “
No, not really. I guess we’ll try to fill them in with as much as we know and hope they don’t toss us out or call the cops.”

He
popped the lock on the rear hatch
,
lifted it open
and
put his
bag
and
Veronica
’s in the back
.
When
Martin
caught
a few minutes later,
Steve took his bag
and hoisted it into the back
as well
.

“Thank you
,
sir,” said Martin. “No sign of any company back there.”

“Good,” said Steve, heaving the hatch closed
. “
Okay, I’ll drive. One of you want to take care of the GPS
?”
he asked
.

“I can do it,” said Martin. “I’ve got one back home
.
Don’t use it much to get around
Suffolk
.
When you grow up in a place, you learn your way around
.
My daughter got it for me two Christmases ago
,
so that I’d be sure to have directions to come visit her at college
, although she was only about
45
minutes away
.” 

There was an awkward
pause
,
as Martin
trailed
off into silence and memories.

“Okay,” said Steve,
“Martin, take sh
otgun and plug in
the
address.”

He handed Martin the paper with Abby’s home address on it. Martin nodded
,
and they climbed in
.
Steve started the engine
,
and they slowly moved out of the parking lot
, following
the airport exit
signs and
the commands issued by the GPS
.

“There’s the hotel that the rent-a-car clerk mentioned
,”
Steve gestured out the side window. “A good place to stay if we don’t leave tonight.”

The GPS route took
the
m across the north side of the c
ity onto I-35
,
and the
n
northeast
toward
New Braunfels.

“When we get there, we’ve got to remember that they are still grieving, just like we are,” said Martin. “It hasn’t been that long since their son died. And think about how defensive you were at the beginning of this
.
We’ll need to tread lightly
.
They’ve lost a son,
and
we want to get close to their daughter
. We
need to be careful.”

“So how do we do it?” asked Steve. “We’ve been going round and round since we got on the damn plane this morning trying to rehearse this! I’ve still got nothing good to go on.”

“Let’s try this,” said
Veronica
. “
In
advertising
,
when you are trying to come up with a marketing campaign
, the first step is to
identify what it is
you
ultimately
want.
Once we do that, it may be much easier to work backward to get us a solid first step.”

“Okay,” said Steve. Martin nodded.

“
Right
,” said
Veronica
,
“
so w
hat is it that we want from them?”

“We want to talk to Abigail,” said Steve.

“We want to talk to her. Okay
.
But do we want to talk to just her or
to
her parents too?”

“You mean ultimately?” asked Martin.

“Yeah. As in, if things
go
completely our way, what do we want out of it?”

“Yeah, alone
,
I guess,” said Steve.

“Okay, good,” said
Veronica
. “So we want her alone with us
.
And we want her to let down her guard and trust us enough to tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
And, we don’t even know if she has any idea what’s going on.
”

“Yeah,” said Steve.

“Wow, guys,” said
Veronica
, sighing
.
“This is a tall order.”

“True,” agree
d
Martin. “However, it was only about
24
hours ago that you thought we were a couple of escapees from the local loony bin.”

Veronica
smiled
,
“Oh, I still think that, but I am starting to feel more and more like I belong there with you
.
”

“I am thinking we just have to roll with it,” Steve said. “I have never been much of a gambler, but I feel like we’re in a spot now where we need to let it ride, at least until we can get something solid to stand on.”

Martin was impressed. “Well, well, well. Will wonders ever cease, Mr. Skeptic?” he asked.

“I don’t know
,
Mr. True Faith,”
Steve
replied in kind
,
“
but
I’ve already seen and heard enough to make me think we’re in for a few more
revelations
before all is said and done.”

Martin smiled and clasped Steve’s shoulder.

“Okay!” said
Veronica
. “So it’s settled then
.
We go in with the goal in mind and a plan to have no plan!  I love it!”

They took a few turns off the interstate and arrived at the neighborhood of Santo
Karma
.
Thirty minutes after leaving the airport, Steve pulled the truck up in front of a
stucco
,
two-story
home wi
th an immaculately
-
trimmed lawn. C
urved edging and
smooth
green hedges
flowed
around the corners of the house
.
The address stenciled on the mailbox confirmed
the GPS’ announcement
that they had arrived at their destination
.
The
open
garage
housed a silver
minivan
. In the driveway
were
a
black pick-up
truck
and a
purple
compact with
a
Southwestern Texas Tech
decal
adorn
ing
t
he back window
.

“Well
,
folks,” said Steve, “t
his is it.
Any last minute suggestions?”

“
Sure!
Don’t suck,” said
Veronica
, patting him on the shoulder.

“Nice.”

Steve cut the ignition and surveyed the neighborhood around them
.
The sun was setting behind the houses across the street from the Nikko
’
s. Through the truck’s open windows, they heard the distant sound of a lawn mower
.
Three houses down, children were playing in a sprinkler on the front lawn
.
Across the street, an elderly couple
walked a tiny black, white and brown fuzzball
of a dog
.
They held hands and chatted as they passed. Steve was reassured to see that so much was still normal, even if he didn’t fall in step with it right now
.

It was as if he
were
back in grade school
.
He was at the end of a diving board high above the water
.
Below him, parents sunbathed, reading their magazines and paperbacks
.
Lifeguards watched over everyone, securely scanning the water below from their elevated perches. Laughter, splashing, shouts of “Marco” and “Polo” rang in his ears
.
From down there, the board had not looked this high
.
The pool was safe
.
The steps leading up to this platform were safe. But here, the end of the board, was not safe
.
It was too high and too far out of his control.

From the pool, his closest friends called to him, encouraging him to jump
.
But from the line at the base of the platform came a steadily rising tide of shouts.

Hurry up, chickenbreath!

Your momma’s calling you home!

Put on your big girl pants and jump, man!

He relived those horrible minutes now
.
He stood on a tiny little bit of chaos, surrounded by infinite normalness. Eventually, he’d made that jump
—
a splash, a laugh, and an on-with-life whoop when he reached the surface
.
Same thing here, except he was jumping for two, maybe soon to be three
,
other people as well
.
Then again, nobody was forcing them to be here
.
They’d go with him or they’d climb back down the ladder and take the easy way out
.
He opted for the jump
.
It would get him to the “whatever it might be” much faster
.

“Let’s do it.”

He opened the door and stepped into the cooling San Antonio evening.
Veronica
and Martin followed him up the stone driveway, past the manicured lawn, across the curved pathway and up to the front door.
Steve rang the doorbell and stepped back to join the others.