The Last Good Girl (11 page)

“I'll do my best.”

“In my experience, you're gifted at charming Bolden men.”

She laughed. They fitted themselves into each other and he kissed her forehead. She heard Cooper's breath return to the deep, steady rhythm of sleep. She didn't follow him there quickly. Her thoughts kept circling around the missing girl, and all the places she might be: ditch, dumpster, cornfield, frat house. She looked around at the details of the bedroom, as if she'd never seen them before. She and Cooper had been comfortably sharing a bed for a few months. But right now, as she lay with her hand on his chest, she was very aware that she was in the arms of a man who wasn't Jack.

A
nna had first visited Cooper's family farm for his eighth birthday party. She remembered her mother driving her down the Bolden driveway in their Ford minivan, looking at the sprawling acres of soybeans and corn, the big red barn and white clapboard farmhouse. It looked so different from the grid of ramblers where her family lived. Anna didn't remember much about that long-ago birthday party, except that they'd all gone to the barn and jumped from the hayloft into a pile of hay beneath. There was some fabulous cake made from scratch, not bought at the A&P. And a feeling of warmth from his mother.

Eight-year-old Anna hadn't realized what a golden era that was for her family. Her father still had his job at the auto factory and only drank a few beers a night. He'd only hurt their mother two or three times, few enough that they could write the incidents off as anomalies rather than a pattern. After the bank foreclosed on their house—after their father lost his job, his sobriety, and the last shreds of his self-control—Anna would look back on the time she was eight as a sort of magical “before.”

Riding up the long driveway on Cooper's big black motorcycle, Anna felt the full stretch of the twenty years that had passed. In the interim, her father had inflicted his final, cataclysmic beating; her mother finally left him; he moved out of state. Anna had gone to law school and then to her dream job in D.C., prosecuting sex crimes and domestic violence. Cooper had gone to fight in Afghanistan and come home minus a leg. Jody had stayed in Michigan to work on the GM assembly line and had just become a mother herself. They were the adults now, running the world, making the choices that would eventually shape their own children's lives.

Anna sat behind Cooper and held tight to his waist as he steered his motorcycle up the dirt drive. The bitter March wind whipped past her helmet, snaking down onto her neck. It was too cold to ride a motorcycle, but that didn't stop Cooper. Since the blast in Afghanistan, he hated confined spaces, especially cars. His big white dog, Sparky, was a service animal, specially trained to help Cooper manage his PTSD. Cooper was one of the most cheerful people Anna had ever met—except when he was having a PTSD reaction, in which case she never knew what to expect. Once, he threw her to the floor at the sound of a car backfiring. He was constantly on high alert, looking for danger, ready to jump into code red at any moment. That might not be a bad way to live in Detroit—but Anna hoped he'd feel more relaxed on his family farm.

Most things from your childhood look smaller when you visit as an adult, but the Bolden family farmhouse actually looked bigger. Anna supposed it was because she'd lived in D.C. for years, getting used to the confined spaces and shrunken square footage of apartments there. The Boldens' farmhouse looked positively palatial. It was surrounded by a white picket fence, acres of sleeping fields, and a white winter sky.

As Cooper shut off the motorcycle, Anna took a deep breath. She hadn't visited since they started their relationship. Seeing parents was such a big step, signified so much, she hadn't wanted to imbue their “fling” with such magnitude. Now she felt sorry that she was coming here for the first time as part of an investigation.

“Don't worry,” Cooper said, sensing her unease. “They already love you.”

Anna doubted that was true—they hadn't even met her as an adult—but she smiled at Cooper and took a deep breath.

Inside, the house was warm and bright, filled with the scent of bacon and cinnamon. Cooper helped Anna peel off her layers of outer gear and hang them in the front closet. He held her hand and led her through the house to the sound of laughter. The kitchen had yellow gingham curtains, a farmhouse sink, and copper Jell-O molds on the walls. Cooper's mom stood by the stove, using a spatula to conduct a symphony of bacon, eggs, and French toast. Two of his brothers were vying for space at the sink to wash their hands. They all looked up.

“Cooper!” His mom set down her spatula and bustled over with a smile. She had silver hair tied in a thick ponytail, a white apron over a blue skirt, and impressively muscular calves. She took him into her arms and held him tight, as if he were still a boy and not a grown man a foot taller than her.

“Hey, Ma.” Cooper handed his mother a bouquet of flowers he'd gotten at the farmers' market the day before. Anna watched approvingly. Her great-aunt used to say:
If you want to see how a man will treat you, look at how he treats his mother and sisters.

“Thanks, dear.” Cooper's mom turned to her. “And you must be Anna. I know not just because Cooper talks about you all the time. You look just like you did when you were eight—only taller.”

“Hi, Mrs. Bolden.” Anna reached out for a handshake, but Cooper's mom laughed and pulled her into a hug.

“Please, call me Susie. I'm so happy you're here.”

Anna gave her a box of Krispy Kremes.

“Oh, my favorite. Come sit, sit, have some coffee.” Susie bundled them to the table. “Have one of these delicious doughnuts.”

“We can't stay for breakfast, Ma. I'm just hoping to say hi to Wyatt, then we have to run. We'll come back another day for the full Sunday-breakfast-and-church routine.”

“Now, now, there's always time for breakfast. Plus, Wyatt's not even here yet.” Susie reached to smooth a cowlick in Cooper's hair; Cooper grinned and ducked, the instinctual move of every boy who's ever had a cowlick. Anna understood his mother's need to fuss over Cooper. She understood his need to refuse to be fussed over.

His dad and two younger brothers came over to say hello. Anna remembered Bryce and Zane as dark-haired munchkins a few grades younger than her in elementary school; now they were as tall and broad as Cooper, with the same lean, muscular frame draped in denim and flannel. They still worked on the family farm. Cooper's dad was a big, quiet man with wind-browned skin and lines radiating from his eyes like sunbeams.

Anna helped set the table and chatted with the family about the farm. The whole time, Susie kept cooking and glancing at her watch. When the eggs were done, Susie called everyone to sit. “Wyatt knows when breakfast is served,” she said. “We're not going to let the food get cold waiting for him.”

Anna realized why Susie had been glancing at her watch. She wondered if Wyatt was going to blow her off. Meanwhile, she ate one of the best breakfasts of her life. The men were mostly quiet, scarfing down their food, but Susie was animated and talkative. “This is my favorite part of the week,” she told Anna. “Surrounded by all my boys. And now you! It's wonderful.”

“These eggs are great,” Anna said.

“Laid this morning,” Susie said.

She asked Anna about her life and plans.

“Well, I live in D.C. and my job is there too,” Anna explained. “I was just here in Michigan to help my sister. And now, I guess, I should be gearing up to go back. But my office hasn't insisted yet, and I've been doing my work remotely, keeping my head down and hoping no one will notice for a while. Until yesterday, it was working.”

“I hope you make it work as long as possible. I haven't seen Cooper this happy since he left for the army.”

“Mom.” Zane elbowed Susie. “You're embarrassing him.”

“Well, so what.” Susie swatted in Cooper's general direction. “She should know.”

Cooper refilled Anna's coffee and said, “She does.”

Anna smiled at him. “I did know. But it's nice to hear from his mom. Thanks, Susie.”

“Thank
you
.” His mother beamed. “Nothing makes a mother happier than seeing her child happy.”

Anna blushed and looked down at her plate. She appreciated the vote of confidence, but felt the pressure of not just Cooper's happiness but his mom's too. She wasn't supposed to be his happily ever after. She was just supposed to be a friend with benefits. That was not something she wanted to mention to his mom.

In the pause, she heard the sound of the front door opening, and footsteps coming into the house. Susie exclaimed, “Wyatt!” She got up and met her youngest son in the kitchen doorway with a hug. “Look at you! So handsome.”

Anna glanced over at the young man, whom she'd last seen kneeling under a Ping-Pong table. Wyatt was ten years younger than Cooper, but he was obviously a Bolden, with the family's signature dark hair, tall height, and crooked smile. What separated Cooper and Wyatt now were wardrobe and attitude. Wyatt wore khakis, boat shoes, and a polo shirt that looked like a foreign costume in the farm kitchen. But the biggest difference was in their eyes. While Cooper's were clear and honest, Wyatt's were guarded and wary, shifting away from Anna's gaze to look anywhere else.

Wyatt shook her hand while looking at something over her shoulder. He slipped past her and took his seat at the table. “Hey, guys,” he murmured as he piled his plate with cold eggs and bacon.

“You're late,” his father said.

“Sorry.” Wyatt took a bite of bacon.

“It's disrespectful to your mother.”

“Oh, Craig, it's fine,” Susie said. “Just be glad Wyatt comes home some Sundays at all. He's busy studying, pledging. How is that going, honey?”

Wyatt shrugged. “Okay.”

“When does it end?”

“This is Hell Week. I shouldn't even be here. I'm supposed to be at the house. But everyone is even more hungover than I am, so I'm hoping they won't notice. At the end of Hell Week, they'll decide if I'm in.”

“I'm so glad this will end soon. It's been hard on you.”

Bryce and Zane stood and cleared their plates. “You wanna give us a hand with the bales when you finish?” Bryce asked Wyatt.

Wyatt shook his head and took a slice of French toast. “Not dressed for it.”

“Okay, Princess.” Zane gave his brother a cupped-hand Miss America wave.

Wyatt smiled. “Fuck off.”

“Language!” said Susie.

After Wyatt was finished, Anna and Cooper helped clear the table. Then Cooper said, “Can I have a sec with you, Wyatt?”

Wyatt shrugged, which seemed to be his default gesture, and followed Cooper into a sunroom with a long view of snowy fields. Anna came in and closed the door. Wyatt leaned against a sideboard and waited.

Cooper said, “I need your help. Actually, Anna does. She's a prosecutor, and she's looking into the disappearance of Emily Shapiro. She thinks Beta Psi might be involved in some way. She's hoping you can show her around.”

Wyatt nodded and glanced Anna's way. “I saw Anna last night. She can talk to the leadership if she wants to stop by the house again.”

“The leadership won't let me in,” Anna said. “And I don't have enough evidence for a warrant. But if I were an invited guest, I could take a look around without one. Any member can invite me in.”

Wyatt shook his head. “There's no way. I'm just a pledge. I can't do that.”

“You have full authority under the law,” Anna said.

“This has got nothing to do with the law,” Wyatt said. “The brothers would not approve.”

“You realize,” Cooper said slowly, “they're not really your ‘brothers.' ”

“Not yet,” Wyatt said. “But after Hell Week they will be.”

“You just met them.”

“They'll be on my side the rest of my life. They'll be my business partners, my network, the guys who'll stand up for me at my wedding.”

“You have three brothers. Me, Zane, and Bryce,” Cooper said. “You need to rethink your priorities.”

“I have,” Wyatt said. “I don't want your life, tilling through biohazard in the middle of Detroit. I don't want Dad's life, toiling away in the dirt. I want out, and Beta Psi is the way.”

“There's a missing girl,” Cooper said, his voice rising. “You're going to have to live with what you do now for the rest of your life. Every morning you wake up. Every night you try to go to sleep.”

“I'm not a bad guy. But I'm no superhero, either.” Wyatt shrugged. “I didn't sign up to be the breaker of cases. I'm not willing to lose my leg for my country. Or for anything, frankly. There's a federal investigator on it.” He pointed to Anna. “Let her do her job. I've got nothing to do with this. Don't try to make me the middleman.”

“I'm asking you to be a human being.”

Anna saw the fury in Cooper's eyes. She put her hand on his arm and spoke quietly to Wyatt.

“You don't need to be a hero,” she said. “Maybe you could just slip me into the house and show me around for a few minutes? Quietly. What I'd like to see are the rooms below the Crypt. The Underground?”

“Ha.” He laughed in her face. “You think you can just slip in without anyone noticing? There's like forty guys living there. Plus, there's no way you can get into the Underground.”

“Why not?”

“I haven't even been there. Pledges aren't allowed.”

“How come?”

“That's where all the secret stuff is, I guess.”

“Do you know what kind of secret stuff?”

“It wouldn't be much of a secret then, would it?”

“Look, Wyatt,” she said. “I don't want to hurt your chances with the house. I can see it means a lot to you. But a girl's life might be at stake. Is there any way you can take me around? I can come any time of day, whatever will work for you.”