Late Last Night (River Bend) (7 page)

She arrived back at school at just before six, to find a bevy of student prom organizers, full of stage fright about the prospect of the long-planned evening failing to achieve the desired success.

“I know for a fact that Neve and her crew are planning to get here late,” she heard one girl say. “What if everyone does that, and we have a half-empty gym for the first two hours? What if no one comes for the buffet, and just shows for the dancing?”

“Miz MacCreadie, have you ever been at a prom here that’s completely bombed?” somebody asked her, and she tried to give an encouraging and upbeat reply, even though her mind and her heart were a thousand miles away.

“We need a greeter,” Principal Earnshaw told her, arriving abruptly at her side and looking both harried and bored, as if he’d been to thirty stressful, unpleasant proms and might fall asleep in the fruit punch if he had to stay long at this one.

Well, he probably
had
been to thirty proms.

“A greeter. You mean out front?” Kate said.

“Yes, the parents like it. Proof that we’re paying the right attention.”

“You want me to—?”

“Yes, please,” he said, before she even finished, and she liked the idea of being out on the front steps in the fresh air of this mild evening, until she remembered that Harrison would be pulling up here soon, delivering Andy and his friends.

Unless he’d stayed in Helena, because of his ex. Because the abrupt end to his date with Kate the other night had left him horny or hungry or lonely or all three, and he’d gone to Helena the next day and called her to say he was in town and they’d met up and who knew what had happened next?

He’d taken the property off the market.

That was fact, not just her feverish, emotional imagination.

Her heart gave an uncomfortable lurch.

Promptly at six-thirty, the first cars began to arrive. Just ordinary ones, mostly. Marietta High didn’t run to the streams of rented limos Kate gathered were a feature of prom night at the more sophisticated high schools in the wealthy suburbs of big cities.

But there were a few stand-outs. One couple had painted an ancient Chevy in bright silver and gold for the occasion, and had stuck tiny mirror fragments all over it. There was a pickup truck, too, with its entire bed heaped in tinsel, and more tinsel snaking up the radio antenna and in through the windows.

Then she saw two vintage cars coming down the street. They were both from the
nineteen fifties, both lovingly maintained, impeccably finished and gleaming. They turned into the entrance at the front of the school and cruised to a slow halt right at the steps just yards from where Kate was standing. There were a couple of parents nearby, poised to take photos of their kids’ arrival, and she heard their impressed exclamations.

“Those are beautiful!”

“Wow, who is inside?”

A man got out of the first car and Kate recognized Andy Pearce’s dad, Doug.

Harrison’s brother.

Older than Harrison, he was dressed fifties style to match the car, with slicked back hair full of shiny cream and wearing a white shirt, black tie, black pants and a plaid jacket in blues, blacks and greens that was so dazzling it almost hurt the eyes.

He came around to open the door like a chauffeur, and Kate was still thinking in a blank panic that this meant Harrison must be driving the second car, when she saw him. He was dressed fifties style, also, although his grey checked jacket was more subdued and his product-filled hair a little tousled. It had grown since March when it had been so short.

He opened the passenger door, then leaned against the gleaming car, looked across and smiled his slow, open smile at her as if there was nothing wrong at all, no dramatic reunion scene with his ex
, Christie in Helena yesterday, no about-face in his future plans.

Or maybe he made a habit of this kind of thing. Hopping back and forth from one woman to another. How would she know?

She didn’t know what to think, and didn’t want him to think she was this…
easy
, if you were keeping to the fifties theme.

This needy.

This deep in, so soon.

She smiled back, but made it brief and small, then shot her gaze quickly to the kids instead. Ruth Wilson climbed out, and then her date Sam Stenhouse. Ruth’s parents were waiting with their camera, so the two of them posed and smiled. Ruth had the kind of face that looked so sweet and pretty when she smiled, but petulant and sour when she didn’t, and more than once Kate had longed to tell her, “Brighten up! Life’s not so bad!”

Next came another pair, neither of whom was in Kate’s classes so she couldn’t remember their names today, not when she could still see Harrison from the corner of her eye, and knew he was planning to come speak to her.

Ren Fletcher climbed out, and Kate waited for Tully Morgan to climb out next, because she knew the two of them were coming to prom together. She’d had the sneaking suspicion that they really liked each other but were too shy and serious and unsure of themselves to do much about it. Maybe something would happen at prom.

But Tully wasn’t here. The vintage Buick was empty now. There were some exclamations from some of the other kids arriving. “Great cars!” “Wow, you sure nailed the arrival!” For a moment they all grinned, and even Ren looked happy with the attention.

“But where eez Tu-lli?” Ren’s mother said, her strong French accent making her stand out as usual. She had her camera in her hand, but hadn’t taken a picture yet.

“She couldn’t come, just leave it, okay?” Ren muttered. He ducked his head, and his face was flushed. At once he looked miserable and self-conscious and hunted, and Kate knew just how he felt.

“Could not come?” Pascale Fletcher was saying.

“Something came up. It’s fine. It’s okay.” Kate could almost see him thinking,
Didja have to say something, Mom? You couldn’t just talk about the cars?

Ruth twisted around and gave him a soulful look. She was hanging on Sam Stenhouse’s arm, but not paying him any attention and Sam tripped a little because she was looking the wrong way and their feet collided. Ren pushed past them and hurried into school, leaving his mother with almost no photos and an anxious look on her face.

Harrison stood straight again, no longer leaning on the car, and came up to Kate. “Hi.” One word, confident and intimate, and she didn’t know whether to trust it at all.

“Hi.” She knew she was being cold by comparison, but she felt too raw to let everything show, especially here in front of the kids she taught every day.

You’ve taken your property off the market, and you’re acting like this is still Wednesday night and you’ve brought me to a melted mess on the ground, but it’s not Wednesday any more.

“Busy?”

“Yes. Sorry.” Let him think this was the reason. They couldn’t talk now, not in any meaningful way. Some of the kids were beginning to look curiously at the two of them, standing here. And if they couldn’t talk, then she couldn’t give him her heart, the way she wanted to. Giving him her heart might be a huge disaster, anyhow.

There was a beat of silence, then he said, “Better leave you alone, then.”

“I—I think so.”

“Later. I’ll call tomorrow.”

“That would be good.”

“But not too early, because I’m guessing you’re going to have a late night.”

“I expect so. Official finish time is eleven, but I’ll be helping clear up. It’ll probably be midnight before I get out of here.”

“Definitely won’t call too early, then. Lots to talk about, though.”

You’ve taken your property off the market.

“Yes.” She smiled at him, and realized too late that she’d closed her eyes at the same time, making it the blankest, most distancing smile possible. Or maybe the most bruised, vulnerable smile, if he read her too clearly.

Pull back, Kate. Have some dignity and self-respect.

The little chill in the air between them deepened enough for him to feel it, now, and to be in no doubt. She saw him frown. “Boy, I really wish we could talk now.”

“So do I, but we can’t.” There were three cars lined up, waiting to let out their passengers. Kate hadn’t seen Neve and Gemma or their dates yet, so maybe the earlier prediction was correct—they were deliberately planning a late, eye-catching arrival.

She went lower down the steps, focusing on the kids and their parents, making a comment about how fabulous everyone looked, and how well they’d responded to the “Shine on!” theme.

Harrison took himself back to the classic Buick, and she couldn’t stop herself from taking a look. He’d put his hand absent-mindedly into the cream-filled 1950s hair and made it greasy. She saw him fumble in a pocket for a handkerchief to wipe with, and then he turned in her direction again and their gazes locked for about the space of a heartbeat.

He looked so good.

And worried.

And what did
that
mean?

Chapter Seven

It was a long evening for Kate.

Too much faked smiling, too much straining to hear above the music. Ruth Wilson and Sam Stenhouse seemed to be having a fight. Ruth spent most of the night draped over Ren Fletcher instead. Kate thought Ren still minded about Tully’s absence, but she hadn’t heard anything about the reason for it. If anyone knew, they weren’t saying it very loud.

Neve Shepherd and her friends arrived when supper had been cleared away and the dancing had begun, and they made sure that their entrance was loud, eye-catching and bold. Neve looked amazing, her bare skin flawless, her blue eyes made smoky around the edges by makeup that could have been applied by a professional. Her bold pink bow of a mouth matched the pink of her dress. She was laughing and vibrant and knew she was the center of attention, along with the Sheenan twins and Gemma Clayton and Lorelai Grey.

Neve’s date, Jay Brown, was content to keep a lower profile. He shone in Neve’s reflected light, rather than light of his own. Garth Newell, too, seemed untouched by the atmosphere, and even Gemma seemed to be putting on a show mainly to please Neve, playing courtier to her queen. Neve hadn’t been chosen as official prom queen, but she and Jay out-shone the actual royal prom couple so much that it was almost embarrassing.

Kate thought that they were all thinking more about the after-party than the prom itself. They left fifteen minutes early, and the night limped to a close. She felt angry on behalf of the hard-working committee who’d worked so hard to organize it. There was no reason why the gym should feel empty and dull after Neve and her crowd had left. There were still plenty of people here, the music was playing, people were hugging and laughing, or hugging and crying, saying they’d never forget tonight.

And yet it
was
emptier and duller. Neve was like that, a star, a magnet, and Kate honestly didn’t know if it came from hours of secret and deliberate effort, or if she was just born that way.

“Well, I guess it went off okay,” one of the committee girls said as they gym began to empty at eleven.

“It was great!” someone answered her.

“You did a wonderful job!”

“Neve’s a bitch. You know she timed everything deliberately.” Then the girl sighed. “Let’s get all this tinsel and fabric down, or all the after-parties will get going without us.”

“I’ll help,” Kate said, and this meant that, as predicted, she was there until midnight.

Her feet throbbed as she began the drive home. The roads were almost empty, but she watched the speedometer needle carefully, then thought of Harrison and felt her stomach drop.

He’s taken his house off the market.

Two cars passed her, going way too fast. She couldn’t place the first vehicle, a nice-looking car, dark red and nearly new, but she recognized Garth Newell’s fifteen-year-old Chevy. It had a broken and very noisy tailpipe, and one unmistakable white door on the driver’s side while the rest of the vehicle was green. Was that Gemma’s silhouette in the front passenger seat beside him? Did her parents know where she was headed, this late?

Out to the Sheenan ranch, Kate assumed.

But apparently there had been a change of plan. Garth’s car and the other one both braked sharply, right in front of her, and turned left without indicating, headed along the side-road that led to River Bend Park. Kate had to swerve to the right to miss Garth’s rear tailfin. Why had they passed her when they were turning off so soon? Idiots!

Irritated, tired and edgy, she drove on, but the incident nagged at her. She hadn’t recognized that first car. Beyond Neve’s orbit, Gemma was actually quite a nice girl, or would be when she grew up a little. What was she doing with Garth, going down to the river at this time of night?

Not your business, Kate. She’s eighteen.

But she couldn’t let it go. She slowed and turned around, then took the side-road herself. The park was less than half a mile from the highway. It wouldn’t take long to park in the small adjacent lot and satisfy herself that this was only kids having fun, not some terrible scenario that she’d never forgive herself if she ignored. Over on the river beach, they wouldn’t even know she was there, forty yards away in the dark. She’d be just another pickup parked in the shadows. She’d be gone again in two minutes if everything looked fine.

It was a full-on party, she soon discovered. Six or eight cars parked so that she had to nose in at the very end of the lot, partly screened by a young cottonwood tree. There were cars down on the sand, too, in violation of several statutes, she was sure. Already a litter of empty bottles around the place, and plenty of full ones.

Garth and Judd Newell were taking more cartons of beer and liquor out of the trunk of the old Chevy that she’d nearly hit, and it must have been Judd driving the other car, the dark red one, because he went to it and took something from the glove compartment.

There was something covert and businesslike about his movements and she was sure he was dealing drugs right now. It was weed or pills or cocaine he was grabbing from the car. If she’d had a camera with her, she could get photographic proof, but she didn’t. Still, she was an eye witness. The school needed to take action on this. She’d told herself that it wasn’t her problem, but it was, even if Principal Earnshaw was too focused on his retirement to care.

Meanwhile, music blared from another vehicle. There was a blazing fire lit in a ring of stones on the sand, headlights from one of the cars shining onto the area and kids dancing and drinking and making out. She recognized Ren Fletcher and Ruth Wilson locked in each other’s arms, and was surprised. This wasn’t their usual style, was it? If it had been Tully Morgan in Ren’s arms, she would have thought it was cute, young love in bloom.

Prom night, though. It wouldn’t be the first time kids had lost their heads in the atmosphere, done things that seemed out of character.

She saw Neve dancing wildly with a bottle in her hand. She brought it to her lips and took a long swig. She swayed and laughed and her dress clung wetly to her legs. That water must be freezing. The river flowed fast at this time of year, full of snow melt from higher up, but Neve didn’t seem to feel the cold. “I’m so hot!” Kate heard her yell. “God, you guys should do this. Take your shoes off and dance in the water. It feels sooo good. Gemma, come back in the water! Why did you stop dancing?”

But Gemma paid no attention. She stood away from the action, facing the taller male figure right in front of her, whom Kate peered at for a moment before seeing that it was Judd. The two of them looked tense and on edge. Judd seemed to be swearing violently. He called Garth, who left the circle by the fire. Meanwhile Gemma had begun to plead with Judd, and she was in tears. Apparently he didn’t care. He turned away with a gesture of disgust, went and collected his brother and the two of them climbed into the nice-looking dark red Toyota and spun it around on the sand.

Judd was at the wheel. He gunned the car up the shallow, grassed bank and bumped it down the curb that bordered the parking lot, passing just yards from where Kate sat, although she was almost certain he hadn’t seen her here in the dark. He slowed for a moment, opened the door and yelled back at Gemma. “Stupid bitch! Jesus!” then roared out of the lot.

Gemma came after him with her shoes in her hand, stumbling and sobbing, feet dirty and wet and bare, and both car and girl had disappeared behind the screen of trees in seconds. Kate thought there was no hope of Gemma catching up and expected she’d soon come limping back, humiliated.

But what was happening over by the water? Neve was trying to get Jay to come dancing with her in the icy flow. He was already wet to his knees and clearly didn’t want to go any further. She pulled on him and he pulled back and they were arguing, looking like they were about to fall. “Jesus, will you stop this!” Kate heard Jay say.

Neve ignored him and pulled on his shirt again, and this time he lost patience with her and pushed, and she lost her balance and stumbled backward, flailing her arms and screaming as if she’d hurt herself. Then she went beyond the reach of the headlight beam and Kate couldn’t see what had happened, but Jay was yelling her name now. “Neve!” He seemed to be down in the water up to his neck. “Neve!” Had she really gone in that deep? Where was she?

Kate expected to see the hot pink flaming shape of her body emerging back into the light any second. She would be dripping from head to toe and laughing, she would probably jeer at Jay for calling so frantically for her.

But this didn’t happen and the seconds went by, and Kate knew something wasn’t right. It must only have taken her half a minute to reach the group on the sand. Less. But already, by the time she got there, the whole atmosphere had changed.

Jay waded wildly back and forth in the water, calling for Neve but getting no answer. He yelled for someone to move the cars, get the headlights shining on the water. He went down on his hands and knees, which must be hurting him on those rocks. He was feeling for her. Oh shoot, oh hell.

No one had a cellular phone, or CB radio. Some of the kids still seemed to think this was half a joke, a trick from Neve, but it wasn’t, Kate knew. “You need to get out of the water, Jay,” she told him urgently. “You’ll freeze.” He was quaking with cold and his lips were blue. He looked very young and angry and scared. “I’m going for help, okay?”

She ran back to the
truck, the heels of her shoes catching in the sand until she took them off and carried them. She knew the kids would have no idea why she was there or when she’d arrived, but that didn’t matter. In stocking feet, she gunned the pickup along the side-road toward the highway, half-expecting to see Gemma on her way back to the river, but there was no sign of her. She must have been walking too far off the road, or maybe she’d reached the highway already. Lord, she wouldn’t decide to hitch a ride home at this time of night, would she?

Kate turned toward town and halfway there, a highway patrol vehicle went past in the opposite direction, and she screamed the pickup around and followed it, flashing her lights until it stopped. “There’s a girl gone in the river,” she gasped out to the patrol officers, then had to calm down enough to tell the story properly, and they had her get back in the
truck and lead them down there, while they radioed for assistance or searchers, she wasn’t sure.

When they got back to River Bend Park, there was still no sign of Neve.