10.
Alice sighed, as she waited for someone to answer the phone. Her Mom was still at work, and Chad had gone to the shops since he had decided to cook dinner for them all that night. The next day, Thursday, was his last full day there before he went back home.
"Hello?" An elderly lady finally answered, a little breathless.
"Uh.hi.." Alice said, wishing she had rehearsed what she was planning on saying. ".Um is this.do you have a daughter called Alicia?"
The lady was silent a moment. "Who is this?" She asked.
"My name is..the thing is, I know this might sound stupid to you. But I need to know some things about your daughter and her marriage. Mark is getting married to my Mom, but I just get this idea there is something strange about him?" Alice said flustered.
"We always thought Mark was a nice enough young man." The lady said.
"Oh." Alice said.
"However after the birth of their son-and I know I probably shouldn't be telling you personal things like this, but I think if Mark is going to become part of your family you deserve to know-things changed. Mark became more controlling. She couldn't even go and have lunch with friends without him demanding to know where she was and who she was with. When James started going to pre-school she wanted to go back to work part time, but Mark refused to let her! Things got worse and worse-he began to abuse her mentally and physically and she told me that she wanted a divorce. When she told Mark this he vowed to change, and when she still insisted on a separation he refused point blank. It was only a week or so after this that she disappeared! Since she had only really discussed the abuse and the idea of a divorce with me nobody else knew about it, and they all assumed that they'd had a happy marriage, and thought badly of Alicia for leaving Mark and especially James. But like I told the police Alicia would never, ever have just left and not spoken to James since. Something happened to her!"
Alice felt her breath catch in her throat, and managed to ask "Do you mean that Mark did something?"
"Not necessarily, no. She may well have left, perhaps intending to come back soon, and something happened to her then." The lady replied. "But my daughter and I were very, very close and there is no way that if she were still alive she would not have contacted me. No way."
Alice hung up from the conversation feeling strange. The lady had not said that Mark was responsible for any wrongdoing, but Alice still felt that there was something strange happening. She dialed the first Simmons in town, however when she asked whether they had a daughter named Katy they said no, so she tried the second ones. This time a girl probably about Alice's age answered and when Alice asked whether or not they were the family who had a child named Katy who was killed the girl said they were.
"I know this unusual, but I understand Katy babysat." Alice said.
"She did. She babysat for two families." The girl replied.
"Right, someone named Wyatt?" Alice asked.
"Yes, a Mark Wyatt, and she babysat for his son James. She said James was a real cutie!" The girl replied.
"See the thing is I babysit for James also, and my Mom is engaged to Mark," Alice explained. "And I can't shake the feeling I get that there is something strange about him!"
The girl hesitated and then sighed. "I only met Mark once-I'm Katy's younger sister by the way, although we were only a year apart so we were pretty close- but you're right. I thought there was something strange about him. I said as much to Katy, but she laughed it off. 'He's nice enough!' she insisted. I told her I thought he had a strange look in his eyes, and she laughed at that too. 'You always had too much imagination!' she told me. I don't know about that. She was always too trusting though. When we were in grade school a man offered her a lift home, and she thought it was nice and took the lift and he almost sexually assaulted her. Of course not everyone knows about that-it's not the thing you want to talk about! You'd think that would have changed her mind, but it didn't really, at least not much! My parents often worried about her. See Katy was so sweet and trusting, but the thing is, she was not all that bright. And it made it worse because we worried about her more. Even though I was the younger sister sometimes I felt like I was the elder one!" She laughed.
"So she never said anything strange about Mark?" Alice asked, a little disappointed.
"Well there was once, just before she died, and she was due to babysit for James, and she said to me something along the lines of I don't want to do this. I asked her why not, but she didn't tell me, but there was something in her expression which made me think she was scared. And then she dies! The police were adamant that it was because she was hitchhiking, but I don't buy that. The one exception to Katy's trustingness was that she wouldn't get in a car with a stranger. Not after the assault. She'd speak to people in the shops, and she'd believe and trust people, but she never, ever would have gotten in the car with a strange man!" Katy's sister insisted this adamantly.
Alice felt sick. So if Katy hadn't been murdered whilst hitchhiking what had happened to her? And for that matter, was it related to the disappearance of Alicia? The sound of a car in the driveway brought her back to her senses. It was Chad returning home from the shops.
"Thanks for all your help!" Alice said.
When Chad came in she was still sitting by the silent phone. He glanced at her.
"What's up? You look kind of pale." He said.
"Pale? No, I'm not. I'm fine. Is Cloe coming over for dinner also?" Alice asked. She knew that Chad and Cloe had spent close to an hour on the phone that afternoon when school had finished.
"No. I like her and all, but there isn't really much point her coming over is there?" Chad replied, with a sigh. "I mean, I'll be going back home and all soon, so it's not like anything can happen."
"Haven't you heard of long distance relationships?" Alice asked.
Chad raised an eyebrow. "The other day you were annoyed about the idea of us, and now you're a cupid. What gives?"
Alice shrugged. "I just want you to be happy. And of course I want Cloe to be happy too."
Chad shrugged, and began to prepare dinner. "We are happy. We both know this is for the best."
"Fair enough. Do you need any help?" Alice offered.
"No, I've got it all under control. Go and be a nutcase or something." Chad replied.
"You'll see very soon I'm not a nutcase!" Alice snapped.
Chad frowned. "What have you been doing now?" He demanded.
"Nothing!" Alice insisted, but he didn't have a chance to question her any further as their Mom returned then.
"Oh by the way Alice, Mark wants to know whether you can babysit tomorrow evening? He said he has something special on. He didn't say what, he said something about it being a surprise, but he needs someone to look after James." Alice's Mom asked.
Alice hesitated. She didn't really want to, but her Mom was looking at her expectantly, and she looked so happy, and Alice nodded. "Sure." She muttered.
Alice sighed, as she waited for someone to answer the phone. Her Mom was still at work, and Chad had gone to the shops since he had decided to cook dinner for them all that night. The next day, Thursday, was his last full day there before he went back home.
"Hello?" An elderly lady finally answered, a little breathless.
"Uh.hi.." Alice said, wishing she had rehearsed what she was planning on saying. ".Um is this.do you have a daughter called Alicia?"
The lady was silent a moment. "Who is this?" She asked.
"My name is..the thing is, I know this might sound stupid to you. But I need to know some things about your daughter and her marriage. Mark is getting married to my Mom, but I just get this idea there is something strange about him?" Alice said flustered.
"We always thought Mark was a nice enough young man." The lady said.
"Oh." Alice said.
"However after the birth of their son-and I know I probably shouldn't be telling you personal things like this, but I think if Mark is going to become part of your family you deserve to know-things changed. Mark became more controlling. She couldn't even go and have lunch with friends without him demanding to know where she was and who she was with. When James started going to pre-school she wanted to go back to work part time, but Mark refused to let her! Things got worse and worse-he began to abuse her mentally and physically and she told me that she wanted a divorce. When she told Mark this he vowed to change, and when she still insisted on a separation he refused point blank. It was only a week or so after this that she disappeared! Since she had only really discussed the abuse and the idea of a divorce with me nobody else knew about it, and they all assumed that they'd had a happy marriage, and thought badly of Alicia for leaving Mark and especially James. But like I told the police Alicia would never, ever have just left and not spoken to James since. Something happened to her!"
Alice felt her breath catch in her throat, and managed to ask "Do you mean that Mark did something?"
"Not necessarily, no. She may well have left, perhaps intending to come back soon, and something happened to her then." The lady replied. "But my daughter and I were very, very close and there is no way that if she were still alive she would not have contacted me. No way."
Alice hung up from the conversation feeling strange. The lady had not said that Mark was responsible for any wrongdoing, but Alice still felt that there was something strange happening. She dialed the first Simmons in town, however when she asked whether they had a daughter named Katy they said no, so she tried the second ones. This time a girl probably about Alice's age answered and when Alice asked whether or not they were the family who had a child named Katy who was killed the girl said they were.
"I know this unusual, but I understand Katy babysat." Alice said.
"She did. She babysat for two families." The girl replied.
"Right, someone named Wyatt?" Alice asked.
"Yes, a Mark Wyatt, and she babysat for his son James. She said James was a real cutie!" The girl replied.
"See the thing is I babysit for James also, and my Mom is engaged to Mark," Alice explained. "And I can't shake the feeling I get that there is something strange about him!"
The girl hesitated and then sighed. "I only met Mark once-I'm Katy's younger sister by the way, although we were only a year apart so we were pretty close- but you're right. I thought there was something strange about him. I said as much to Katy, but she laughed it off. 'He's nice enough!' she insisted. I told her I thought he had a strange look in his eyes, and she laughed at that too. 'You always had too much imagination!' she told me. I don't know about that. She was always too trusting though. When we were in grade school a man offered her a lift home, and she thought it was nice and took the lift and he almost sexually assaulted her. Of course not everyone knows about that-it's not the thing you want to talk about! You'd think that would have changed her mind, but it didn't really, at least not much! My parents often worried about her. See Katy was so sweet and trusting, but the thing is, she was not all that bright. And it made it worse because we worried about her more. Even though I was the younger sister sometimes I felt like I was the elder one!" She laughed.
"So she never said anything strange about Mark?" Alice asked, a little disappointed.
"Well there was once, just before she died, and she was due to babysit for James, and she said to me something along the lines of I don't want to do this. I asked her why not, but she didn't tell me, but there was something in her expression which made me think she was scared. And then she dies! The police were adamant that it was because she was hitchhiking, but I don't buy that. The one exception to Katy's trustingness was that she wouldn't get in a car with a stranger. Not after the assault. She'd speak to people in the shops, and she'd believe and trust people, but she never, ever would have gotten in the car with a strange man!" Katy's sister insisted this adamantly.
Alice felt sick. So if Katy hadn't been murdered whilst hitchhiking what had happened to her? And for that matter, was it related to the disappearance of Alicia? The sound of a car in the driveway brought her back to her senses. It was Chad returning home from the shops.
"Thanks for all your help!" Alice said.
When Chad came in she was still sitting by the silent phone. He glanced at her.
"What's up? You look kind of pale." He said.
"Pale? No, I'm not. I'm fine. Is Cloe coming over for dinner also?" Alice asked. She knew that Chad and Cloe had spent close to an hour on the phone that afternoon when school had finished.
"No. I like her and all, but there isn't really much point her coming over is there?" Chad replied, with a sigh. "I mean, I'll be going back home and all soon, so it's not like anything can happen."
"Haven't you heard of long distance relationships?" Alice asked.
Chad raised an eyebrow. "The other day you were annoyed about the idea of us, and now you're a cupid. What gives?"
Alice shrugged. "I just want you to be happy. And of course I want Cloe to be happy too."
Chad shrugged, and began to prepare dinner. "We are happy. We both know this is for the best."
"Fair enough. Do you need any help?" Alice offered.
"No, I've got it all under control. Go and be a nutcase or something." Chad replied.
"You'll see very soon I'm not a nutcase!" Alice snapped.
Chad frowned. "What have you been doing now?" He demanded.
"Nothing!" Alice insisted, but he didn't have a chance to question her any further as their Mom returned then.
"Oh by the way Alice, Mark wants to know whether you can babysit tomorrow evening? He said he has something special on. He didn't say what, he said something about it being a surprise, but he needs someone to look after James." Alice's Mom asked.
Alice hesitated. She didn't really want to, but her Mom was looking at her expectantly, and she looked so happy, and Alice nodded. "Sure." She muttered.
