PART 3

He was the Colonel. They had once joked about it, about his demeanor, the way he talked like he knew the right answer to everything, the way he didn't like being called "grandpa". And they had all laughed at his exploits, at the way he would intimidate Lucy's date or just show up all of a sudden and start telling everyone what to do.

It was easy to do, when he wasn't there.

But now he was here, and one by one they all began to realize that they were going to be questioned.

Simon sat now, in his room, facing him, feeling the man's gaze bore into him.

"How are things, son?"

"They're all right."

"What happened with Lucy?"

Simon shrugged. Maybe if he just pretended not to know anything then the Colonel would leave.

"What was that, son?"

"I don't know."

"You must know something. You live here."

"I don't get told much. I wasn't here when she left. Talk to Mary."

"Right now I'm talking to you. What did you see? This is important, son."

Slowly, it all came out. This was the Colonel and you couldn't lie to him. The garage apartment, the stupid "Survivor" game, the night Lucy had spent alone in the back yard because Mom had told them all not to talk to her. And there was his guilt, too. He had gone along with throwing her out of the garage apartment. He had gone along with a lot of things. And as Simon found himself answering the Colonel's questions, he remembered that his father had told him to act like a man. Was he?

He asked a single question when the interrogation was over.

"When Grandma Ruth went through menopause, was she like Mom?"

* * *

She knew him, she supposed, better than any of the rest of them. She had lived with him and Ruth and George, had seen how George watched him and how George liked to act like he really knew what was going on. And she had gotten used to the Colonel, had gotten used to having a man tell her what to do, had gotten used to the direction he gave her.

Then he had told her to leave, had told her that it was time to get her own life in order. She knew he wanted her to marry Wilson, knew that he had liked Wilson, and she wondered what he thought of her now. A grown woman, living at home with her parents, unable to hold a job or even find a husband.

I can't do anything right.

And now the Colonel was here. Mary knew better than to try and stop him from interrogating her. It had been inevitable; she was the one who had let Lucy go.

"What did she tell you?" the Colonel asked now.

"She said the family was dying."

"Dying? Isn't that just a bit melodramatic?"

"It's what she said."

"And you didn't stop her?"

Mary shook her head. The Colonel watched her closely for a few minutes.

"And she didn't tell you where she was going?"

"No."

It went on then, detail after detail. And he watched her as she spoke, like he was a man trying to solve a puzzle, like she was a clue. There were no secrets from the Colonel, not for her. She had learned that right away in Buffalo; privacy was a privilege, earned through good behavior. He gave orders, and you obeyed.

Just like Grandma Ruth did.

* * *

The Colonel came to her last. Ruthie knew he would, since she was the youngest, but she found herself looking forward to his knock on her door. Her door! Didn't that sound wonderful?

When at last it came she admitted him with a smile. She liked her grandfather; this one at least. The other was strange and it could be hard to tell what he was going to do But the Colonel was good to her.

And Ruthie knew, too, that there was a lot of potential with the Colonel. She had always noticed the way her father acted when he came to visit, how Dad would be just a bit more tense, a bit uncertain, when the Colonel was here. And Mom too would be different, deferring to the older man even though you could tell she didn't want to. And now, with Lucy gone and Mom making it clear that no one was to discuss her, there was a lot more that a carefully placed word or idea could do.

He sat, smiled back at her.

"How are you doing, Ruthie?"

"I'm all right."

"Do you miss your sister?"

She lied. "Yeah, sometimes."

"Was there anything she told you, anything she said, that might give us an idea where she went?"

Ruthie shook her head. "We were having some fun in the garage apartment. It was a game. I told the others that Mom was going to be mad, but they didn't listen. Matt and Simon and I apologized, but I guess Lucy didn't want to."

He nodded. "She should have."

The words came easily to Ruthie now.

"Are you going to find her?"

"I'm going to try."

"Mom and Dad called the police, but they haven't found anything yet. Now we never talk about her anymore. I wonder if they don't care about her now."

The Colonel nodded again.

"We're going to find her," he said then. "I'm glad you called me, Ruthie. It was the right thing to do. I'll talk to your father and we'll find her."

Ruthie smiled. This was all going so wonderfully. Mary was already the bad daughter, and when they brought Lucy home she would be a bad one too. The fun from watching their pain would last for years.

The Colonel smiled back at her.