Blood Wounds (3 page)

I underlined "Call Faye" three times and tried to figure out who Budge was. I didn't think it was any of Faye's exes or if it was, why Faye would think Mom would have heard from him.

I knew I wasn't going to like the fourth message. But I played it anyway.

"Terri, look, I've gotta talk to you. The news about Budge, it sounds really bad, and not hearing from you has got me worried. Call me the second you get in. I need to hear that you're all right. As soon as you get this message, call. I'm starting to go crazy."

I called Mom's cell. I got her voice mail.

"Mom, something's going on with Faye," I said. "Someone named Budge is in trouble, and there's an Amber Alert for a twin, and I have no idea what she's talking about. But call her, okay, and then call me?"

I hung up, and almost without thinking, I called her again. "Call me first," I said. "I'm home. Call here."

I realized then that I was shaking, like Faye's craziness had infected me. Someone I'd never heard of thousands of miles away was in some unknown trouble, and all I felt was terror.

I called Jack. He answered on the first ring.

"Jack, I'm scared," I said. "Something horrible has happened and I can't find Mom and I don't know what's going on."

"Where are you?" he asked. "Willa, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I said. "It's Faye. She called Mom four times to tell her something bad's happened to someone named Budge. I don't understand any of it, but there's an Amber Alert for a twin and I guess this Budge person's involved, and Faye's really scared for Mom. I called Mom twice now, but she didn't pick up her cell, so I'm scared too." Just telling Jack all that made me feel better, made me feel foolish.

Jack said the right things. Jack always said the right things. "I need you to do two things," he said. "First, look on the chart and see where Terri is scheduled to be."

The chart was right in front of me. "Alyssa has practice from two to four," I said.

"All right," Jack said. "I'll call the club. It could be Terri turned off her cell. Now I need you to give me Faye's phone number."

"She's at work," I said. "Let me get her work number and her cell number."

"Do that," Jack said. "I'll call and find out what's going on."

I dug through the address book until I found both numbers. "Do you understand any of this?" I asked Jack, after I read him the numbers. "Do you know who Budge is?"

"No," Jack said. "Look, I'll find out from Faye what's going on, and I'll track Terri down, and then I'll get back to you. Meanwhile, try to get your homework done and don't worry. All right?"

"All right," I said. I hung up the phone and stood frozen with indecision. I knew I couldn't concentrate on homework or dusting. I wanted desperately to go to the basement, hide in my little corner, cut deep and hard before the pressure inside me exploded. But there's no phone in the basement and I didn't dare miss another call.

It's been less than a week,
I told myself.
I can't cut anyway.

I decided to pour myself a drink of water. I took a glass out from the cabinet, but my hands were shaking so hard, I dropped it. The glass shattered into a hundred pieces. I picked up the largest of the shards, and I can't be sure, but I think it was an accident when it cut into my palm. I was bleeding pretty hard, and the pain was intense, and that helped me focus. I went to the bathroom, cleaned the cut and bandaged it, then went to the kitchen and swept up the broken glass. When we'd first moved in together, Brooke went through a stage where she dropped things. She broke glasses and coffee cups and Mom's favorite vase. Alyssa never broke anything. I guess I fell somewhere between the two.

I had just finished throwing out the broken glass when the phone rang. I dropped the dustbin and ran to answer it.

"Sweetie, I don't want you to worry," Jack said. "I can't track your mother down, but that doesn't mean anything."

"Did you speak to Faye?" I asked. "What's going on?"

"I just got off the phone with her," Jack said.

The doorbell rang. "There's someone here," I said, not giving Jack a chance to say anything more. "Hold on."

I could hear him calling my name, but it didn't matter. I ran to the front door and opened it.

There were two police officers standing there, a man and a woman. They showed me their badges and their identification. "I'm Officer Schultz, and this is Officer Rivera," the man said. "May we come in?"

I thought,
There's been an accident. Mom's dead.

Things started swirling around, and one of the cops caught me before I fell to the floor.

"Here, sit down," he said. "Put your head between your knees. That's right. Rivera, get her some water."

Rivera ran in the direction of the kitchen. I heard her pouring water into a glass. Within seconds, she was in the living room, helping me hold my head up while I took some sips.

"Are you all right?" she asked me. She must have noticed my bandaged palm. "Are you cut bad?"

"No," I said. "It was an accident." I swallowed hard, waiting to hear about another accident, a worse accident.

"We're looking for Terri McDougal," Officer Schultz said. "Are you her daughter?" He looked down at his clipboard. "Willa Coffey?"

"Yes," I said. "Why are you looking for her? Is she all right?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Officer Rivera said. "When did you hear from her last?"

"This morning," I said. "Before school. My stepfather's trying to find her too." I remembered Jack was on the phone. "Oh," I said. "We were talking when you came. I'd better let him know you're here." I got up a little faster than I should have, and things got dizzy again.

"I'll talk to him," Officer Schultz said. He walked to the kitchen, and I could hear him saying something to Jack, then hanging up.

"Your sister is at her tennis lesson," he said, as he joined us in the living room. "Your mother dropped her off and said she'd be back around four o'clock to pick her up. No one knows where she went from there." He looked at his watch. "It's three thirty now," he said. "If she isn't there in half an hour, we'll start looking for her. Meantime, we'll keep you company."

"I don't understand any of this," I said. "Mom got some messages from her friend Faye about an Amber Alert and someone named Budge being in trouble. But why are you here?"

"A woman called our precinct and said she was worried that a man named Dwayne Coffey might be trying to get to your mother," Officer Rivera replied. "There's an APB out for him, so we took the call seriously."

"Dwayne Coffey is my father," I said. "Faye must have called. Look, if you don't mind, I'm going to call her."

"That's a good idea," Officer Schultz said. "We'll wait here."

I went to the kitchen, found Faye's cell number, and called. "Terri, is that you?" she asked, before I even could say hello.

"It's Willa," I said. "Faye, what's going on? There are two police officers here, and they said there's an APB for Dwayne Coffey. Only they won't tell me why. Who's Budge? What does the Amber Alert have to do with us?"

"Oh, sweetie, Budge is your daddy," Faye said. "That's his old nickname. When I couldn't get through to your momma, I called the police."

"But why would my father be trying to get here?" I asked. "Mom and I haven't seen him since we left Texas."

I could hear Faye inhale sharply. "Look, sweetie, I'm not the person to tell you," she said. "That's for your momma to do. Just have her call me as soon as you hear from her, so I can stop worrying, all right?"

"Faye!" I said, but she'd hung up. I called Jack, but I got his voice mail. There was no point leaving a message, so I hung up and went back to the living room.

"Budge is Dwayne Coffey's nickname," I said to the officers, who were still sitting there. "An APB means the police are looking for him, right? Did he kidnap someone? Is that why there's an Amber Alert?"

"Why don't we start with you first," Officer Schultz said. "When was the last time you heard from your father?"

"I never hear from him," I said. "He and my mother got divorced when I was little. Mom and Jack got married when I was five, and as far as I'm concerned, he's my father, not some guy I hardly remember. So you can tell me whatever you want about Dwayne Coffey, because he means nothing to me. Who did he kidnap? Who are the twins?"

The officers exchanged glances.

"We don't know much more than you do," Officer Rivera said. "There was a domestic disturbance at his house. Coffey and one of his daughters are missing."

I was a lot more shocked to hear my father had other daughters than I was to learn there'd been a domestic disturbance at his house. Mom never talked about what went on in Texas, but there had to be a reason why she'd run off with me.

"How many daughters does he have?" I asked. "Besides me, I mean."

They looked at each other again. "There were three little girls," Officer Schultz said.

"Were?" I repeated. "What do you mean there
were
three little girls? What kind of domestic disturbance was there?"

"Maybe we should wait until your mother gets home," Officer Rivera said.

The telephone rang. I jumped out of my chair and ran to the kitchen to answer it.

"Willa, it's Brooke. Daddy and I are on our way to the club," she said. "We're all right and Alyssa is too, and if Terri doesn't show up when she's supposed to, the police will start looking for her. Wait a second." I could hear her and Jack whispering, and then Brooke got back on. "Daddy wants to know if the cops are still there."

"Yes," I said.

I heard Brooke tell Jack that. "He says you should ask them to stay until he gets home," she said. "He'll call as soon as we get to the club, and you shouldn't worry."

"Tell him I'm fine," I said, knowing that was what Jack would want to hear.

"All right," Brooke said. "We'll call in a few minutes."

Talking to Brooke helped calm me down. I walked back to the living room and sat down. "That was my stepsister," I said. "She and Jack are on their way to the tennis club. That's where my other stepsister is. They're going to wait for my mother there."

"Good," Officer Rivera said. "We'll stay here until you hear back from them."

"We were talking about my sisters," I said. It felt so strange, saying "sisters" and not meaning Brooke and Alyssa. "My father has three little girls? But Faye said the Amber Alert was for one of the twins. So there must be another twin and another girl, right? Are they okay? What about their mother? Why are the police looking for my father? Why are you here?"

"The bodies of a woman and two little girls were found at Dwayne Coffey's house," Officer Schultz said. "They were found earlier today. Dwayne Coffey and one of his daughters are missing."

I felt as though the whole house had been picked up by a tornado, that it and everything I'd ever known was twisting out of the solar system.

"We don't know that they're your sisters," Officer Rivera said. "They haven't been identified yet."

"But that's what the police think," I said. "If they're in his house, they're probably his daughters. Only he has three daughters."

"In that house," Officer Schultz said.

"Oh," I said. "He has four daughters, doesn't he? That's why Faye's hysterical. She thinks he's going from house to house, murdering his families. But Mom and I live thousands of miles away. He still lives in Texas, doesn't he?"

"Yes, he does," Officer Schultz said. "But the homicides seem to have happened a couple of days ago. There's no way of knowing where he and the other little girl are at this moment."

"So he could be coming here," I said. "I see."

Of course, I didn't see anything. You can't see anything when you feel like someone is punching you over and over again in the gut.

"It's too early in the investigation to draw conclusions," Officer Rivera said. She leaned over as she spoke and touched me gently on the hand I'd cut. "All that's known for sure is that a woman and two young children were found dead in a house your father lived in. One little girl seems to be missing, and no one knows where your father is. It could be he and the little girl escaped, and he's hiding somewhere until he's sure it's safe."

"Were they shot?" I asked. "The woman and the little girls." My stepmother. My half sisters. "Maybe the woman shot the girls and then shot herself."

"The report says there were a lot of stab wounds," Officer Schultz said. "Mrs. Coffey, if it is Mrs. Coffey, seems to be a victim, not a killer."

"Well, I wouldn't know," I said. "I don't know any of these people. I haven't seen my father since I was four. I don't even think of him as my father. If you'll excuse me, please, I'm not feeling very well."

I felt their eyes on me as I raced to the bathroom to throw up. My palm throbbed. Every cut on my body, even the ones long healed, throbbed.

I love cuts. I love blood. If there had been razorblades in the bathroom, I would have cut every inch of my body.

But there were no razorblades in the bathroom. I splashed cold water on my face and told myself none of this was about me.

There was a knock on the door. "Willa, are you all right?" Officer Rivera asked.

"I'm fine," I said, drying my face with a hand towel and emerging clean and unbloody from the bathroom. Before I had more of a chance to prove how fine I was, the phone rang.

"I'll get it," I said, racing past Officer Rivera so I could get to the phone first.

"Willa?"

"Mom!" I cried. "Mom, are you all right?"

"Honey, I'm fine," she said. "I went to the library and turned my cell off. I'm at the club with Jack and the girls. Jack said Faye was worried about me. Could you call her, let her know I'm all right?"

Mom doesn't know,
I thought.
Jack hasn't told her.

"I'll call Faye," I said. "Will you be home soon?"

"Jack and I are coming straight home," Mom replied. "Brooke's taking my car. She and Alyssa are stopping off at a friend's house."

"Okay," I said. "Great. Come on home. I'll call Faye."

"Thanks, honey," Mom said. "See you in a few minutes."