Vanishing Girls (27 page)

Authors: Katia Lief

BOOK: Vanishing Girls

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“They’re horrible. I don’t care if they’re ‘state of the art’ or whatever other accolades they claim for themselves—no one loves you in those places. No one. You’re alone, warehoused, for the rest of your life.” Her eyes water pitifully and Mac’s whole body responds, melting, and he steadies himself. “How can I provide a normal life for Bobby, and give Ritchie what he needs, at the same time? I can’t live two lives. I need to stay with both of them, make a normal life for Bobby and a special life for Ritchie.”

“That’s a tough one.”

“You bet it is. And it takes a lot of money. And my husband
has
a lot of money.” She holds back her tears as if she has already cried enough. Leaning forward, she says, fiercely, “Godfrey is
extremely
wealthy, partly inherited, partly earned. If he lost half his money, he’d still be filthy rich. I will pay you very well to get me the proof I need to void the pre-nup. Will you do it?”

“Why me?”

“Because no one knows you in our circles.”

A sarcastic snort escapes him. “Sorry. It just sounds—”

“I know how it sounds, and I’m sorry. What I mean is that we live in a certain kind of world, where things are done in a certain way. In my circles we all go to the same places and hire the same people. We eat the same food and vacation in the same hotels. When we go to New York, trust me, we don’t go to Brooklyn.”

“But you did.”

“Exactly.”

“How did you find me?”

“Random Internet search, to be honest. You seem to have the right background—former detective, small business, and you have no sign out front, which is even better.”

“And you didn’t call first because you don’t want to risk Godfrey searching your phone records.”

She smiles, the lines fanning from her eyes again, making her less plastic, more beautiful.

“You could have saved yourself a trip and used a pay phone.”

“Do you know I couldn’t find a single working pay phone in Greenwich, Connecticut?” Her laugh is an intoxicating mixture of airy and bitter and hurt, and suddenly he wants to help her rob her husband blind.

L
ate-morning quiet wraps the brick school building like a blanket. Mac rushes past the church, with its stone Madonna and her blank eyes watching and not watching but still getting under his skin every time he sees her—one of the many prices he pays for his strict Catholic upbringing. As soon as he flings open the door to the attached building, formerly a parochial school now leased to the city for public education, he is hit by the cacophony of little voices that always makes him smile. A boy about seven whizzes by, his sneakers leaving a black scuffmark on the polished linoleum as he takes the corner and bounds up the stairs, a high-pitched “Sorry, Mister,” floating behind him like a sound bubble.

Mac passes through the cafeteria, echoing with pre-lunch silence, its cinderblock walls painted with a series of playful murals, and takes the back staircase down to a series of brightly painted rooms where kindergarten and pre-k are housed. Midway along the hall, he slowly pulls open an apple-green door covered with construction paper leaves, each one bearing a student’s name. He sees Ben’s name on a blue leaf and feels a warm glow of pride ease onto his face.

The principal is speaking in front of a crowd of dressed-up parents arranged on folding chairs. When the classroom door squeals an announcement of Mac’s arrival, heads turn. He waves an apology and catches Karin’s eye, wincing. Her lips gather into a kiss and his smile broadens but then he realizes that she isn’t sending him a welcome kiss, she’s shushing him. The ceremony has already begun.

About the Author

Born in France to American parents, KATIA LIEF moved to the United States as a baby and was raised in Massachusetts and New York. She teaches fiction writing as a part-time faculty member at the New School in Manhattan and lives in Brooklyn with her husband, two children, two cats, and several fish.

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By Katia Lief

Vanishing Girls

Next Time You See Me

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

VANISHING GIRLS
. Copyright © 2012 by Katia Spiegelman Lief. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Epub Edition JULY 2012 ISBN: 9780062091383

Print Edition ISBN: 9780062095046

FIRST EDITION

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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