Protector - Laurel Dewey [74]
Jane started to turn away when she spied what looked like a plastic baggie protruding from a dark corner of the top shelf. She strained to make it out but between the lighting and various bottles, it was impossible. The front door was locked but Jane knew the key couldn’t be far away. As a teenager, she learned to first skim her hand across the top edge of any liquor cabinet. That was the first place where parents stashed keys. No luck with this cabinet, however. The second most popular place to hide the key was underneath the unit, secured with a piece of tape. Jane knelt down. Without her realizing it, Emily quietly awoke just as Jane was probing underneath the cabinet. Emily didn’t move a muscle. As Jane got up empty-handed, Emily quickly shut her eyes, pretending to be asleep.
“Shit,” Jane whispered to herself. “Where are you?” Jane wedged her hand across the rear left side of the cabinet and ran her fingers up and down the cabinet. Emily opened her eyes and took in the scene. Jane switched to the right side of the unit and continued to search. Suddenly, her hand hit a taped protrusion. Jane peeled the tape off of the object and pulled a key from behind the cabinet. She gently unlocked the door and slid her hand across the top shelf of the cabinet toward the suspicious protrusion. She grasped it awkwardly and began pulling on it. From Emily’s perspective, Jane’s actions took on a dubious appearance. Jane continued to tug on the plastic baggie until it gave way and she was able to remove it. What looked from the outside as a hidden baggie of contraband turned out to be a three by five inch size card inside the plastic baggie that outlined Five Handy Tips to Preserve the Fine Wood Finish on Your New Wood Cabinet . “Oh, for God’s sake,” Jane whispered to herself.
Emily continued to observe the scene, still unsure what to think. Jane replaced the plastic baggie, locked the cabinet and secured the key back into its taped spot. Emily decided it was time to “wake up” and let out a fake yawn. Jane turned around just as Emily opened her eyes.
“Hi,” Emily said.
“Hi,” Jane replied. The two stared at each other amidst an awkward silence. “What are you doing?” Emily asked with care.
“Just looking around.”
“Oh.” Emily was not convinced.
“You awake?”
“Yes.”
“I need to ask you a question.” Jane sat on the couch as Emily worked her way up. “I know you’re a very observant kid. This is going to sound odd, but did you ever catch your dad or your mother sniffing something up their nose?”
“Sniffing . . . Like smelling, you mean?” Emily said, not quite grasping the idea.
“No . . . like snorting. Maybe off a plate or the top of their hand?”
“You mean cocaine?”
Jane stopped for a second. “Yeah . . . You know what that is?”
“Sure. I’ve seen it.”
“Where?”
“On TV.”
“TV? What kind of shows did your folks let you watch?” Jane said, a slight indignant tone creeping into her voice.
“I’ve seen Cops a bunch of times. People are always getting in trouble for having cocaine on that show. But they’re always from Florida and California.”
“Is that right? No one from Denver, Colorado?”
“No. They only showed the cops in Denver a couple times and that was just all about people getting drunk and driving their cars into trees and one park bench.”
“I see. So, the only place you’ve ever seen cocaine is on Cops?”
“Yeah. But only when they’re in Florida and California.”
“Right. Denver just has the drunks. Okay.” Jane stood up, rifling through her jacket in search of a cigarette.
“Are you gonna ask me if my dad was a drunk?”
Jane lit her cigarette. “No.”
“Oh.” Emily glanced at the liquor cabinet, then back to Jane. “’Cause if you were going to ask me that, I’d say yes.”
“That’s not important to