The Night Strangers - Chris Bohjalian [146]
“She still has the captain. At the moment, he is neither dead nor committed.”
“No. But I think you’re correct: We do it tonight and we do it without Reseda. I don’t think we have a choice, as much as I wish the captain were out of the picture. Tell me, have you decided which girl?”
“Absolutely. We should use—”
“No, don’t tell me! Surprise me!” he said, an almost childlike giddiness in his voice. “It will be more interesting that way. It will be more interesting for all of us.” He looked at his watch and realized he would be late for a real estate closing if he didn’t leave soon. “Anise, I need to skedaddle. And I meant what I said: Don’t fret. We’ll iron out the details this afternoon, but go ahead and start preparing for the ceremony tonight.” Then he placed the phone back in the cradle, kissed Clary on the cheek, and strolled out to the car. He noticed the line of frost on the grass had moved a few inches while he was inside and smiled up at the spring sun. He really wondered how anyone couldn’t be happy just to be alive.
Chapter Eighteen
Emily thought Jocelyn Francoeur was more polite than she needed to be—and, perhaps, more polite than she had to be, given the circumstances. Although the idea initially had made Jocelyn uncomfortable, in the end she hadn’t prohibited Emily from bringing her girls over to the Francoeurs’ modest ranch that afternoon after school with the small birthday present they had picked out for Molly. The last time Emily had seen Jocelyn, Chip’s arms and shirt were awash in blood and Molly was sobbing. This was not precisely the way any mother wanted a playdate to end.
Still, it was almost as if the woman’s original rage toward the Lintons had been replaced by wariness and unease. Jocelyn seemed more frightened than angered by the idea that the Lintons were in her home; it seemed to Emily that the woman had only agreed to see them because she thought not seeing them would be worse.
Yet the purpose of the visit, in Emily’s mind, was simply to apologize once again as a family and to bring by the birthday present. She presumed that Molly was having a party on Saturday and her children weren’t invited, which was fine, but she still wanted to do all that she could to make sure the twins were invited to any party Molly had next year.
Now the five of them—two mothers and three daughters—were sitting awkwardly but politely in the living room. Emily sensed that Jocelyn was eyeing the twins and her a little guardedly and hadn’t said very much. Really, no one had said much but Emily, as she struggled to find things to talk about (which shouldn’t have been hard with three girls roughly the same age) and topics they might discuss. “Well, this is the main reason we came,” Emily said brightly, after she had run out of things to say. She smiled as broadly as she could and watched as Hallie handed Molly a small box wrapped in silver paper. “It’s a birthday present from all of us.”
The girl looked at her mother, and Jocelyn seemed to be thinking about whether she wanted her daughter to have it. Again, there was that ripple of anxiety on the woman’s broad face. Then, much to Emily’s embarrassment for her own children—Hallie, especially, who had offered the present—Jocelyn took the box from Molly and held it for a moment. She seemed to be weighing it, trying to decide what might be inside. The box was not quite the length of a pack of playing cards and half an inch deeper. She didn’t actually sniff it, but Emily could tell that she was inhaling the air around it to see if whatever was inside had an aroma.
“Not a plant,” she said to Jocelyn, hoping to reassure her. “Nothing herbal. I promise.”
Emily saw a small swell of dread pass over the woman’s face, but Emily had only meant to be glib—not terrifying. Quickly she added, “They’re earrings. That’s all.” She turned to Molly and her girls and added, “Sorry. I guess I just ruined the surprise.”
Jocelyn handed her daughter the