Matchbox Girls (7 page)

Marley looked back out the doors. “On the other hand, that’s the same van Lawyer Jeremy was in yesterday. Which makes me quite uninterested in buying any magazine subscriptions, or whatever they’re selling.”

He cleared his throat and said, “I can distract them.”

“How sweet. I’ll just bet you can.”

He frowned at her and shook his head. Then he went outside and spoke to the teenager with the dogs. Marley shifted her weight uncomfortably. She’d believed the teen was just a random observer, just like she’d hoped the tall man was a random observer the day before. Marley wished the girl didn't look so young.

Kari whimpered. “I want Uncle Zach back.”

Lissa took Kari’s hand and stared out the window. “Somebody made him go away.”

Shocked, Kari said, “Nobody could do that.”

“And Marley’s scared of people out there,” Lissa continued, in a dreamy voice.

“What?” said Marley sharply. “No, I’m not. I was just surprised.” Kari glanced up but Lissa didn’t seem to hear her.

Something clunked in the library ventilation system, and Marley could suddenly smell the wildfire as if she were right beside it. Outside, the tall man and the teenager stopped talking and looked around, and the dogs sniffed the wind. The tall man looked at Marley and frowned again, and then nodded to the teen.

The girl slipped the leashes off her three dogs, and then snapped her fingers and ambled in the direction of Marley’s car and the minivan. The dogs raced ahead of her while the dark man followed behind.

Marley crouched down and put an arm around each of the twins. “We’re going to play a game. We have to get to our car and get inside without the people next to the van noticing.”

Lissa looked over at her. “I don’t want to play a game,” she said, her voice flat.

Marley hesitated. Something about Lissa’s voice made her ask, “What do you want to do?”

“Make them go away.”

Kari laughed suddenly. “Look at the doggies!” At the same time, there was a chorus of barking.

Two of the dogs had scrambled onto the roofs of both the sedan and the minivan, and were barking hysterically down at the college students. The third dog was growling at Lawyer Jeremy himself as he stepped out of the car, while the teenage girl pulled vainly on its collar. The tall man was waving his hands in the air dramatically. Somebody shouted.

“Come on!” said Marley. She picked up Lissa around the middle and kicked the door open. She almost started to run, but then she remembered that running attracted attention. So she walked. Briskly. Lissa hung from her arm, a sulky dead weight, while Kari trotted beside her. The chaos around the vehicles attracted a flock of crows that circled only a few feet above, adding to the assault of sound. The noise seemed to be seriously hampering the college student trying to use a cellphone. A few yards from her car, one of them turned.

“Hey—” he began, and the brown dog on top of the minivan landed on top of him, growling.

Marley froze for a moment, the real cries of fear triggering an instinctive need to help. Then she squeezed her eyes shut, shook her head, and kept moving.

As she unlocked the door and piled the children in, the cries became angry swearing and shrill demands. “What the—get—move—Hey!” She didn’t look over. Instead, she put her seatbelt on and started the car.

Nobody stopped her. Nobody flung themselves in front of her car. Nobody tried to open the door. She wasn’t even sure if anybody noticed.

As she pulled into traffic, she glanced in the rearview mirror. The dark man was walking across the parking lot again, and the teenage girl and her dogs were nowhere to be seen. The college students were all clustered in a tight huddle as Jeremy climbed back into the van.

Marley looked at each of the twins in the mirror. Kari met her eyes and said solemnly, “Bad doggies.”

Lissa, looking out the window, said in a tone of satisfaction, “Yeah!”

-eight-

B
y the time Marley got home, her thoughts on the encounter at the library had become a confused mess of speculated motivations. The tall man had been almost convincing in his desire to help her. But the knowledge he didn’t explain and those dogs that had attacked the college students were both troubling. Was setting your dogs on people the act of a good guy? And the college students hadn’t seemed threatening or thuggish; they’d had the cheerful demeanor of those out to do good and unburdened by moral ambiguity. But they’d had Lawyer Jeremy, and there’d been so many of them.

She finally concluded that the whole thing was impossible to sort out based on the available information, and settled for being glad that she’d gotten out of it. She even found a moment to be reassured that Jeremy was relying on college students rather than the police. That was mysterious in and of itself, but supported her belief that whatever Jeremy was up to, it was No Good.

Penny waited outside her door, smiling.

“Penny!” said Marley. “You would not believe the morning I had. There was this guy—”

Penny’s eyebrows went up. “You too?”

Marley remembered Penny’s date with possibly-Lawyer Jeremy. “No, not like that. More like—he said he knew Zachariah, but he was—” She shook her head. “It was complicated. How was your date?” She unlocked the door and gestured for Penny to go inside.

Penny danced through the door and picked up Neath from the back of the couch, twirling her around. “It was lovely. He missed me! Which was more than I expected. We spent hours over wine, just talking.”

“Yeah? What about?” Marley watched the kids settle down to play.

“Oh... stuff. Me, my friends, his friends, the places we went when we were in Rome.” Penny collapsed on the couch into a graceful pile of limbs. “He knows some fascinating people. He said they all really liked me, too.”

Marley always thought that Penny worried a lot more about people liking her than was necessary. But Penny was rarely convinced anyone believed she had intrinsic worth. In high school, her money and busy parents had made her the envy of other students, but Marley had often seen how little there was to envy. “What did you two do in Rome?”

“Oh, we went to clubs. Dancing. A couple of parties.” Penny smiled. “I wasn’t sure if he was actually interested in me or just being nice while killing time. He flirted with me, but... well, he kept introducing me to other people and then leaving me with them for a while.” She considered. “He’s very busy, though. He’s on the board of this private charitable organization. I think they build bridges or something.” She rubbed her left wrist and frowned. “I had the strangest dream last night.”

“So did I,” said Marley. “A fairy doll wanted me to come save his flower kingdom. What was yours about?”

“Light,” Penny said simply. Then she shook her head. “I don’t remember. I don’t even know why I thought of it. Anyhow, I can’t wait for you to meet Jeremy. I'm dying to know what you think of him.”

Marley regarded Penny steadily for a moment. She hoped, oh so desperately, that it was an innocent coincidence. The sick twisting in her stomach believed otherwise. But when was that ever right? She couldn't rely on an anxiety disorder to make decisions for her.

Finally, she sighed. She couldn’t make it better, but she could make it a lot worse by remaining silent.

“It’s funny, because I met a Jeremy White yesterday. A lawyer. He was interested in the disposition of the kids. A common name, I guess.”

Penny’s eyes widened. “Really?” Then she looked away. “My Jeremy didn’t recognize your name when I mentioned you.” She paused. “What did you think of the one you met yesterday?”

“He was...” Marley searched for the right word.

“He was bad,” said Lissa, without looking up from the paper she was coloring on. Marley blinked. When they were quiet, it was so easy to forget the children were there and probably listening. Lissa went on, “So many bad guys.”

“Well, my Jeremy is good. He runs a charity!” Penny said firmly, and then seemed to realize she was talking to a small child. “Lots of people have the same names, after all. There are probably dozens of Jeremy Whites in L.A.” Lissa didn’t respond, and Penny looked up to meet Marley’s eyes. “So how are you doing? How’s work?”

Marley blew out her breath. “Intermittent. Been a bit distracted the last couple of days, but I have to get something out soon. How about you? Did you get any more writing inspiration in Rome?”

Penny blushed. “A little, then I got stuck again. But I was talking to Jeremy last night and he suggested…” She fell silent abruptly. Then she said, “I had some interesting design ideas, too. Of course, it’s Italy—that’s why I went there.”

Gently, Marley asked, “You told him about your writing?” It wasn’t a subject Penny talked about to most people. Throughout high school, Penny had written, Branwyn had illustrated, and Marley had been their sole audience.

Penny shrugged. “I like him, Marley. I want this to work. I... feel like I’m part of something when I’m with him. Part of something, but... special, too.” Penny’s expression turned derisive, one corner of her mouth twisting. “A special snowflake. It’s dumb, I know. But things fall apart enough on their own. So, don’t...” She shook her head and fell silent.

For a long moment, the ghosts of old conversations thronged the air. Marley listened to them.

She looked at her own anxieties and demanded of them:
What do you want me to do? I can’t make her do anything. All I can do is be here afterwards.
And then, taking into account current events, added,
Possibly metaphorically speaking, writing letters from Cellblock 2-A.

Her misgivings had no words of their own in reply, so she said to Penny, “All right. I won’t.” And from somewhere inside, she found a smile to share with Penny. Penny returned a little smile of her own.

Kari appeared at Marley’s elbow, holding her fairy doll and a container of dental floss. “Put this on her,” she ordered, and thrust the dental floss at Marley. “She’s naughty. She keeps trying to run away. She needs a leash.”

Marley blinked at Kari, and then down at the dental floss. But Penny spoke before she could. “That’s not a good leash. But I know what to get.” She disappeared into Branwyn’s room and reappeared holding a spool of white ribbon and a pair of scissors.

“Put it ’round her neck.” Kari gave the doll a kiss. “You can’t trust fairies. They’re fun but trouble.” She sounded like she was quoting something she’d heard somewhere.

“Please, I object to strangled fairies,” Marley said. “Put it around her waist instead.”

“Leashes go ’round the neck. Like the doggies.”

Penny shifted her gaze between Marley and Kari. “It’s called a harness if it goes around the body. They even make harnesses for little kids.” She tied the ribbon in a cross over the doll’s torso, then snipped off a long tail.

Kari looked dubious, but she took the doll back. After inspecting it, she wandered off to bother her sister, dragging the doll behind her.

Penny’s faint smile had real pleasure behind it now. “What else can I do to help?”

Marley looked around. The mess in the apartment seemed to reflect the disorganization in her head. There were plenty of things that needed doing, but—

“I know!” Penny announced. “How about I take the girls out to lunch and give you an hour or two to work? You said you had to get something done.”

That was a good idea.

No. No, it wasn’t. No sooner had Marley considered the idea than a wave of nausea and panic swept over her. It was the same as the day before, when the lawyer had tried to take them away.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” said Penny sharply. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

With an effort, Marley dropped her gaze to the carpet and breathed carefully, waiting for the internal visions of misery and doom to fade away. It was the screams heard by her mind’s ear that faded last. Her own screams.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “Panic attack.” She looked up in time to see Penny’s face change, the warmth shuttered away.

“You don’t trust me.”

The sick feeling didn’t fade, though. “That’s not it. I don’t want—it seems like—” Marley fumbled for an explanation. She had to find an explanation because she couldn't let Penny take the kids away from her.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Penny. She stood up and grabbed her purse. “I should go, anyhow. I just remembered I have something to do myself. It was good chatting with you.”

She stalked to the door while Marley sat curled in on herself on the couch, wretched with confusion. Penny yanked the door open, then turned to Marley, doubt playing across her face. She almost spoke. Then she stepped outside, and there was nothing but the door.

Kari reappeared next to Marley. “Uncle says at least angels are honest. If you can get them to talk to you. Will you put a leash on Lissa’s fairy too?”

-nine-

T
he apartment was stifling. Marley tried to think about Zachariah. She examined the ciphered book fragment again, watching the way the patterns seemed to waver and move when she stared at them for too long. She threw herself from couch to computer chair to dining room table, but all she could do was rehash the conversation with Penny in her head.

At last, after peanut butter sandwiches and medication, she decided to go out again. She considered the possibility of the Interns of Evil reappearing, and realized part of her hoped they would. She wanted somebody associated with all this
this
-ness to yell at.

Marley scolded herself and found Branwyn’s extra can of pepper spray. The anti-anxiety medication made her reckless sometimes, especially when she upped her dosage like she had just now. She forced herself to consider the idea of taking her car to a different park. After a careful, thirty-second examination of her choices, she concluded that if she wanted to be stealthy, leaving the car where it was, taking the back exit from her building, and walking to the local park was the best option.

The back door of her apartment complex led to the laundry room and the dumpsters. It was always smelly, but today the whiff of smoke in the air overwhelmed the other odors. A firefighting helicopter flew by, tilted like a swollen mosquito, and she tracked its progress toward the mountainside until it faded into the haze.