A/N – This chapter has been an incredibly long time coming, so first I'll thank any and every one who is still reading this story. I've been sorely tempted many times to just delete it rather than leave it out here unfinished. Keep your fingers crossed that Vampira has come home for the winter.
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Lex Talionis – Chapter 7
As it turned out, the weather didn't delay their arrival in State College. It was a five-car pile-up on Route 80 that stopped traffic dead and trapped them on the highway between exits. With thick woods on either side, there wasn't even the chance to drive cross country to the nearest road – although Bobby suspected Eames was sorely tempted by the narrow break in trees about ten feet ahead of them.
After half an hour of no movement, they both pulled out their cell phones and began calling to shuffle their afternoon interviews. Eames seemed particularly frustrated by the fact that, try as she might, she could not re-schedule Jennifer Woodson for another time that day. Their interview with Lisa's friend and former college roommate would have to take place the next morning. It seemed those hotel reservations would come in handy after all.
During the phone calls, they had managed to crawl three car lengths before the police once again stopped all movement. The narrow break in trees was now behind them and Eames gave it a final, longing look before giving in to the inevitable. She put the car in park and turned off the engine while they waited. In the interest of peace and tranquility, they passed the time by listening to music, commenting on the threatening weather, or talking about work – meticulously avoiding any personal topics lest they lead to that one personal topic that was currently off limits.
Almost three hours later than planned, they arrived at the home of Maureen Hahn. Bobby and Alex reluctantly left the warmth of the SUV and stood in a biting wind on the sidewalk, frowning at the small structure crouched between two larger brick homes. If not for the eighties-era gray aluminum siding and burgundy fake shutters, Bobby wouldn't have recognized the place. When they were here last spring, the beds flanking either side of the front walk had been filled with newly planted pansies and fresh mulch. The rose bushes were neatly shaped and laden with buds on the verge of bloom. On the porch, a jumbled collection of mismatched wicker furniture and brightly painted side tables had somehow worked together to offer the promise of a comfortable refuge from the hot sun in the coming summer months.
But the bitter cold gray of November could only partially explain the distinct air of neglect now shrouding the house. Fallen leaves that should have been raked weeks ago lay wet and smothering on the lawn. The overgrown roses were tipped with frozen remnants of dead flowers and their branches created a bramble that threatened to overtake the walkway. The spring wreath that had been so bright and cheerful on the front door was still hanging, but half of its yellow and pink flowers were missing. Those that remained were bleak and dirty like everything else on the porch.
After a quick but meaningful glance at him, Eames walked to the front door and he followed. Seconds after he rang the doorbell, Maureen Hahn answered wearing jeans and a fluffy sweater, with neatly styled hair and carefully applied makeup. Her appearance contrasted so sharply with the caretaking of her home that Bobby wondered if he had jumped to conclusions by thinking that Maureen was not coping well with the disappearance of her only child. But his suspicions were re-confirmed when she greeted him and shook his hand. Her breath had the distinct aroma of someone who had already consumed several alcoholic drinks, even though it was barely three o'clock in the afternoon. And he noticed the dark smudges beneath the concealer under her eyes and the boniness of her slender hand.
"Thank you for seeing us, Mrs. Hahn," Eames said after they settled themselves on the couch across from Maureen's chair.
"When you first called, I had hoped…" her voice broke and her already rheumy eyes teared up.
"Well, we do have some encouraging news. There's a witness who says she's seen Lisa…" Eames hedged around the truth. "In New York."
Maureen visibly started and frowned. "Really? New York?" She looked away to a picture of Lisa standing on an end table and pressed thin, trembling fingers to her lips. "So that's where she is," she murmured.
Bobby glanced at Eames and saw in her eyes the same combination of confusion and irritation that he felt. "Uh… what do you mean?"
"Have you heard from Lisa?" Eames asked.
It was Maureen's turn to look confused. "No…"
"It's just that…" Bobby hesitated. "You don't seem… surprised o-or relieved that she's alive."
"Has she done this before? Disappeared for months?" Eames pressed further.
"She doesn't dis-…" Maureen stumbled then continued. "She usually… She keeps in touch."
"But not this time?" Maureen shook her head at Eames' question. "So you've known. She's done this before, and you've known that she was out there somewhere."
"Lisa…" she looked anxiously from Bobby to Eames, as if trying to decide who would best understand. Her gaze landed on Bobby. "Lisa has always been reclusive. It's as if she's in her own world sometimes. She withdraws from people… from everything."
"What do you mean 'withdraws'?" he prodded.
"Like when she was a girl. Sometimes she would spend days in her room. If it wasn't summer, I would have to force her to go to school, and then she would just go back in there at night."
Bobby was about to press further, but Maureen continued on her own.
"And she had imaginary friends. I didn't think too much of it at first, but it started to get weird, ya know? I mean, there were times she talked to them more than she would talk to me."
He nodded in understanding. "What did her doctors say?"
"Doctors?"
"Yes. Doctors. Was she ever diagnosed as… autistic or, ah… depressed?"
"I…" Maureen looked baffled. "I don't know. I never took her to a doctor because of how she acts. It's just how she is." Bobby's expression must have revealed something of his resentment at her indifference to her daughter's possible mental illness because Maureen's tone was suddenly defensive. "Look, Lisa was a hard child to love. She shunned affection and preferred to be left alone."
Frustrated, Bobby dipped his head and scrubbed at the back of his neck with his left hand. How can a mother simply accept this behavior in her daughter? Here's just another example of someone who should never have had a child.
"Mrs. Hahn," Eames spoke up and Bobby glanced at her in time to catch the concern in her eyes before she turned away from him. "The last time we were here, you said you still had a lot of Lisa's things in a guest room." Maureen nodded. "Can we see it?"
The small bedroom at the top of the stairs was tidy but dusty – obviously not used for a long time. It was impersonally decorated except for the bookcase on the far wall, which held all manner of books, high school awards, and odds and ends of childhood treasures. Eames walked across the room to look out the window while Bobby headed straight for the bookcase. Clasping his hands behind his back, he leaned in to examine the myriad collection of books, ranging from children's stories and romance novels, to biographies and college textbooks. A particular series of books on one shelf caught his eye and he picked up a few of them and began leafing through the pages.
"It's starting to snow," he heard Eames murmur and Maureen joined her at the window.
"Your daughter…" Bobby looked up from the books he held. "She went to Kutztown and studied computer science, is that right?" Maureen nodded. "Did she go to another school? To study theology?" He held up one of the open books. "All these books…"
"No. She read those on her own."
"Really?" his voice held surprise and a tinge of admiration. "Hinduism… Buddhism… Ethnic faiths…" He was flipping through the books in his hands and scanning titles of those still on the shelf. "The full range of Abrahamic religions… When did her interest start?"
"Um, college," she replied vaguely.
Bobby raised his brow in question and waited for a more complete answer.
Maureen seemed a little irritated by his persistence. "I don't know. Maybe her sophomore or junior year."
He nodded. "When she was twenty, or… twenty-one…" Bobby fanned the pages of the two books he held. "She made notes. In the margins of these books. Like here… Theravada Buddhism in Modern Nepal," Bobby began to read aloud from Lisa's neat, compact cursive. "'Path of moderation away from the extremes of sensual indulgence…,' 'Approaching antithetical claims about reality…' And here, in The Truth of Tao… 'Ethics emphasizing compassion, moderation, and humility…,' ' The link between people and nature lessens the need for rules and order.'"
Bobby closed the books and studied Maureen Hahn. She seemed unphased by what he just read. "What do you think, Mrs. Hahn? Does that sound like Lisa? Like things she thinks about?"
Maureen crossed her arms in front of her and shrugged. "I don't know what any of that means."
"Mmm," Bobby gave a noncommittal response and put the books back on the shelf. "Well… she was obviously searching for something. Something… she could relate to." Another thought occurred to him. "You said that Lisa wasn't seeing anyone at the time she disappeared. But did she ever have a boyfriend? O-or a… a girlfriend for that matter."
"No!" she answered vehemently but must have realized how defensive it sounded because she continued more calmly. "I mean… she's dated, certainly. Men," she said pointedly. "But never anyone serious. And never for more than a few months."
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"Bobby, I have to confess…I didn't understand any of what Lisa wrote in her books either."
Half an hour later, he and Eames were back out in the biting cold walking to the SUV which was now covered with a light dusting of snow. The flurries had stopped, but the sky was more threatening than ever.
"Well… that's just it," he said while pulling his hat down over his ears. "The notes were all confusion. Judging by some of the dates, the books were read at different times… and the notes written over a span of years. But the confusion… that stayed the same."
Eames stopped short and grabbed his arm. He looked at her but she was staring at a spot down the street and he turned to see what had caught her attention. There on the street corner, watching them from behind a telephone pole was Lisa Hahn. As soon as she realized she had been spotted, she turned and ran up the cross street, quickly blocked from their view by the house on the corner.
"Lisa!" Bobby called out and started running after her. He heard the car keys jangling in Eames' hand and figured she was headed for the SUV. "Lisa!"
He reached the corner and jogged a few steps in her same direction, but there was no sign of Lisa – only the sound of a car speeding off somewhere up the street. Bobby sucked cold air into his lungs as the black SUV pulled up next to him.
"Did you see where she went?" Eames called out of the open window.
"No. She was already gone… I heard a car."
"Did you see the plates?"
"No," he grunted in frustration as he climbed into the car. "I couldn't even tell you which way she turned up there."
Eames put the car in park and rolled up the windows. "So. Was Maureen lying to us the whole time? Lisa has been coming home to see her?"
Bobby rubbed two fingers along his lower lip as he thought about it. "She'd have to be a hell of an actor," he decided. "I don't think she was lying."
"Me either."
"I also don't think Lisa was here to see her mother," he shifted in his seat and turned to his partner. "I think she followed us from New York."
TBC…A/N – Credit to my usual source for Bobby's gobbledygook … Wikipedia. Also, a huge "thank you" to Merel (who I remember from SMK fandom!) for an awesomely motivating review at a time when I really needed it!