Projection (26 page)

“Hey,” she said. Rob looked away from the screen and grinned at her without missing a note. His grin reminded her of the old days when the two of them had been inseparable. He used to take her out for ice cream after school, and he’d work with her on her bike riding or teach her how to throw a football like a guy. He was the only one in those first few months after the accident who could make her laugh. She realized that she hadn’t seen his grin in a long time. She missed it.

Jessica watched as Rob played out the last few notes of the song, holding the final one for a good ten seconds as he raised the neck of the guitar above his shoulder. The audience in the video game roared their approval.

YOU ROCK!
appeared on the screen.

“Damn right I do!” he shouted back at the TV.

“You’re in a good mood,” she observed. “What’s the occasion?”

There was the grin again. “Things are looking up for me, Jess.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Oh, yeah? Why’s that? Did something happen?”

Rob shrugged. “No, nothing happened. It’s just a feeling.”

Just a feeling
, she repeated to herself. She hated those words. “Okay, well, it’s nice to see you happy again. It’s been a while.”

“Yeah, it has. Listen, Jess, I know I’ve been kind of a bear since you came back, and I’m sorry about that. I just … I’ve been really unhappy, and I didn’t … I didn’t mean to, you know, to take it out on you.” He looked down at the floor, as if there he might find the words he was fumbling for. “I just … I want you know that you mean a lot to me. More than a lot. I mean …” He looked back up at her now. “I’m just really glad you came into my life, and I want you to know that.”

Jessica furrowed her forehead. “Are you leaving or something?”

“What? No. I told you, I’m not leaving her.”

“You did?” This was news to her. Rob’s plan had always been to save up enough money of his own to leave Michelle. He’d called Jessica at boarding school at least a dozen times to lament the fact that it was taking him so long. “When did you say that?” she asked.

He gave her an exasperated look. “That night we played Halo, remember? After Nick and Connor and Ariel left. We had a whole discussion about it. I swear, sometimes you act like you have amnesia or something.”

Ah
. That was why she didn’t remember. He’d said it to Ariel the night they projected. But Ariel never mentioned that she’d had a heart to heart with Rob. Jessica wondered what else they’d talked about. Here was one more reason never, ever to project again: too many secrets.

“No, sorry. I just … So you’re really not leaving?”

“I’m really not leaving, Jess. What made you say that, anyway?”

“I don’t know. What you said to me sounded a lot like a goodbye speech. Like, either you’re leaving or you’re dying.”

Rob laughed. “I’m not leaving or dying. Like I told you
before, I’ve just decided that it’s time for me to move on from all of this unhappiness. I’m making changes from within.”

“So you’re only leaving metaphorically, then,” Jessica clarified.

“How come you’re so smart?” he asked, smiling.

“Probably because I’m not related to you,” she dead-panned. At that, Rob grabbed a couch pillow from behind him and threw it at her. Jessica ducked, but it still grazed the top of her head. She reached down to grab it and throw it back at him, but Rob was already in front of her. He snatched it before she had a grasp on it and smacked her in the head with it, laughing. Jessica put one hand up to defend herself and lunged toward the couch, seizing hold of a throw pillow. She fought back, landing a few good whacks to his arm, but mostly she just hit the pillow he was holding. “I have to go,” Jessica finally said, once she stopped laughing and was able to breathe again. “I don’t have time for these childish activities of yours, Rob.”

“Why?” he asked, still panting. “What do you have to do that’s more important than pillow fighting with me?”

Jessica stuck out her tongue at him. “I have to do this stupid research project for the Oculus Society.” The words were out of her mouth before she had a chance to weigh them, and she wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned the project. “It’s just for the archives,” she added, quickly.

Rob raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know that social clubs gave out homework. What’s it on?”

“Oh, you know, the history of the Oculus Society, blah, blah, blah. Ancient Greek guys and stuff.”

He nodded. “Plotinus, eh?”

Jessica cocked her head. “How do you know about Plotinus?”

Rob’s face flushed, and he coughed loudly into his hand twice, and then a third time. “Sorry. My throat’s so dry.”

“How do you know about Plotinus, Rob?” Jessica asked again.

He shrugged. “They gave out that award at your eighth grade graduation, remember? The Plotinus Award. Gretchen won it, and her mom presented it to her.” He shook his head, sadly. “It’s so weird, I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast this morning, but I remember every detail of that day. I think it’s, like, post-traumatic stress disorder or something. Like, because I was there when she was killed, I can remember everything that happened. Is it like that for you?”

“No,” Jessica answered. She tried to adjust the levels of suspicion and mere curiosity in her tone of voice, just like how she adjusted the treble and bass on the car stereo. “But how did you know that Plotinus was an ancient Greek guy? I mean, how did you know that Plotinus wasn’t a city or something?”

Rob gave her a look like she was being weird. “I don’t know.” He seemed to be thinking for a moment. “Oh, wait, I think it said it in the graduation program. It kind of, like, explained who Plotinus was in the description of the award.”

Of course it did.

Jessica exhaled, rebuking herself for letting Ariel get to her. Her eyes wandered to his hands. They were small and delicate, with long, thin fingers: artist’s hands. How many hours, she reminded herself, had those hands spent coloring with her, or making Play-Doh animals with her, or playing video games with her? It simply wasn’t possible that those same hands could have strangled another human being—let alone her best friend’s mother. Jessica realized now that she’d misjudged Ariel completely. She’d just been lonely, and she’d let her loneliness
get in the way of common sense. The two of them were never meant to be friends. As far as Jessica was concerned, Ariel could go to hell.

Jasper Carey was having
a party that night; his parents were out of town, and he’d been talking a big game about how it was going to be a rager that would make Nick’s Labor Day party seem like something for little kids. Jessica was looking forward to it. There hadn’t been a big party to go to in a while, and frankly, she was looking forward to getting drunk. Whatever Ariel might think about Rob supplying alcohol to their guy friends, Jessica was grateful for it. After all, without Rob, parties like this would be nearly impossible to pull off.

Jessica checked her watch.

Rob had left over an hour ago—to go run an errand, he’d said, with a wink—and she was all alone in the house. It had been nearly four hours since Michelle had gone to get fitted for her bulletproof vest, and Jessica was beginning to get anxious. Michelle had promised that she could use the car tonight in exchange for having driven her to work earlier in the day, and she was supposed to pick up Connor in less than an hour. She wondered if they were skinning actual dragons while Michelle waited.

Jessica had just finished blow drying her hair when she heard Michelle come in through the garage door.
Finally
.

She listened to Michelle’s footsteps as she walked into the kitchen to put down her stuff, and waited for the sound of the refrigerator door opening. Michelle never ate during the day—too busy, she claimed—so she was always famished at night. During the week, when she came home after doing the eleven o’clock news, the first thing she always did was open the refrigerator and inhale whatever leftovers she could find.
She didn’t even heat them up or anything. Just stood in front of the open fridge and ate the food cold with her fingers. It was gross, really.

But tonight the refrigerator door didn’t open. Instead, Jessica heard the sound of Michelle’s footsteps stomping toward her bedroom door.

The contents of Jessica’s stomach began to swirl, like leaves blown about by a strong gust of wind. She could sense the anger in those footsteps, and she knew, instinctively, that it was directed toward her.
She must know that I was snooping in her office
, Jessica thought.
She must know that I read through that file
.

Jessica braced herself as her door opened without even the customary warning knock.
Uh-oh
. But Michelle didn’t yell or scream or anything. She just walked in and sat down on the edge of the bed. Her face was red.

“The bastard’s leaving me,” she announced.

Jessica drew in a sharp breath of air. The room felt as if had been turned upside down. “What? He’s not leaving you. He just told me tonight that he’s happier than he’s ever been.” But Michelle shook her head.

“He’s lying.” She unzipped the black, patent leather briefcase she’d been holding and removed a plain manila folder. Jessica recognized it immediately. She couldn’t image what in that file suggested that Rob might be leaving her. As she well knew, there was hardly anything on Rob at all. But Michelle turned to the page listing Rob’s assets and held it out for Jessica to see.

She peered at the spreadsheet as if she’d never laid eyes on it before. “I don’t understand,” she finally admitted. “How do bank accounts and some credit cards prove that he’s leaving you?”

Michelle’s finger shook as she pointed to the line that listed their joint account. “I never added him to this account,” she said. Her voice sounded careful, measured, as if she was taking pains to stay in control of it. “Joint bank accounts need to have signatures from both parties, but I never signed anything.” She removed another paper from her briefcase, a fax from the Delphi Bank and Trust.

Jessica’s eyes flashed over the paper: an agreement authorizing Rob as a signatory to the account, signed by Michelle. She started to feel sick. “I called the bank right away, and they sent this over to me,” Michelle went on. She looked Jessica in the eye. “He forged my name, Jess. On my own bank account. The account into which all of my paychecks are deposited.” Now her voice began to tremble. “And the worst part is, he’s been stealing money from me. He’s been making withdrawals for two years and transferring them into his own account. He knows that I always forget to balance my checkbook, so he’s been withdrawing money every day in small increments, knowing full well that I’d never notice.”

Jessica lifted her hand to her mouth. “Are you absolutely sure?”

Michelle nodded. “Positive.”

“How much did he take?”

Michelle pushed her lips together so that they disappeared completely. “Almost twenty thousand dollars.”

Jessica didn’t know what to say. Her first instinct was to defend Rob, but she couldn’t think of any actual defense. “Could there be another explanation?”

Michelle rolled her eyes. “I know he walks on water as far as you’re concerned, but you need to wake up, Jessica. There’s no other explanation. It’s no secret that he’s not happy with our relationship. I just …” Michelle’s eyes were
tearing up, and she took a moment to compose herself. “I just never thought he’d
steal
from me, you know? I thought he respected me more than that.”

“You cheated on him,” Jessica blurted out, angrily. “Maybe he thought the same thing about you.”

Without warning, Michelle began to sob. She buried her face in her hands. After a moment, she stood up and yanked the briefcase off the bed. “I don’t know why I thought that you might have some sympathy for me,” she choked out. “You always take his side over mine. You and your amazing Uncle Rob. Let’s see if you ever hear from him again, once he’s gone.” She slammed the door shut behind her.

In the darkest corner of her heart, Jessica knew that she was right.

Rob was going to leave, and he wasn’t taking Jessica with him or even telling her where he was going. That speech tonight
had
been a goodbye.

Jessica jumped up from her bed and ran out into the hallway. Michelle was standing against the wall, sobbing, her shoulders heaving. She’d never seen Michelle so vulnerable before. Suddenly, her perspective seemed to shift, as if she were looking at an optical illusion. Only, instead of seeing a vase where a woman’s profile had been, she could see life from Michelle’s point of view instead of her own. Married to a guy who wouldn’t grow up, burdened with the child of her dead sister. Supporting them both all by herself. It was a lot to deal with. Jessica didn’t know if she would have handled it all any better.

“I’m sorry,” Jessica said softly. “I’m so sorry.” She reached out to pat Michelle consolingly on the arm, but before she could, Michelle stepped into the open space and collapsed against Jessica, burying her face in her niece’s shoulder. It was
such a strange feeling that it took Jessica a moment to respond. Finally, she patted Michelle on the back. “Come on,” she said, leading her back toward her room. “Let’s go talk.”

After a half hour
of calling Rob every name under the sun—threatening to kill him, or at the very least to cut off various parts of his anatomy, raging about what a mistake it had been to marry him in the first place—Michelle finally seemed spent.

“So what are you going to do?” Jessica asked from the edge of her bed, once she felt it was safe enough to speak again. Michelle fell into Jessica’s desk chair.

“I don’t know.” Her voice was hoarse. Her mascara had run. “I want to throw him out of the house, but I also want my money back, and I need to file a formal complaint with the bank before they’ll begin an inquiry.”

“Then you shouldn’t say anything,” Jessica recommended. “Not yet. If he thinks you’re on to him he’ll take off and you’ll never see your money again. You have to just act normal for a few days.”

Michelle nodded. “I know.” Her face began to turn red again. “I pulled up his credit card information online … He’s so stupid, he uses the same login and password for everything. Do you know what he’s been buying?”