Plausibility (14 page)

“Reese! Answer the door,” Elizabeth Rimmer called to her daughter as she stirred the pasta sauce. She didn’t answer.

Liz grumbled at the loud music spilling downstairs as she walked to the front door. She opened it puzzled when she saw the two black suited men standing on her doorstep.

“Can I help you?” she asked, drying her hands on the dish towel.

“Are you Elizabeth Rimmer?”

“Yes,” she cautiously spoke, wondering why the government vehicle was parked in her driveway.

They both flashed badges. “I’m Lieutenant Carter, and this is my partner Wayne Slater.”

“What can I do for you?”
she asked with an inquiring expression.

“Can we come in Ms. Rimmer?”

“Um, can I ask what this is about?”

“It’s about your daughter.”

Elizabeth turned and looked upstairs toward the music and her daughter’s room. “My daughter? You do realize she is only 15, right?”

“Not that daughter, Ms. Rimmer. This is about Shelby
.”

Oh, God. She was always afraid of this day. She had always known she would be. Where did they find her? She was silently praying that they hadn’t dug her little body up in the backyard or under the concrete of some pervert
’s basement. Should they bury her remains? She already had a plot with her name on the stone. They buried a small white casket with tiny pink roses filled with her favorite things two years after she was taken.

“Ms. Rimmer?” the sophisticated looking man called, breaking her from her psychotic episode.

“Uh?”

“May we come in?”

“Sure,” she replied, waving the dishtowel toward the sofa.

Both men sat on the couch while she sat across from them. She wished they would just tell her and stop dallying around about it. Or was she the one doing that?

“We’ve found your daughter, Ms. Rimmer.”

“Okay
, did you find whoever took her too?” That was the important question. She didn’t need to hear about how they found her. She couldn’t handle the news about how they found her wrapped naked in a trash bag. The sudden chills up her back caused her to quiver, thinking about it.

“Yes
, he was shot and killed yesterday.”

She gasped. They really did find him? She wasn’t expecting to feel the emotions flood through her the way
that they were. It had been so many years. Shelby would have turned 17, a couple of weeks ago.

“Where is her body?” She felt the tears burn as she tried to keep them intact.

“Ms. Rimmer, Shelby is alive. She will be on a plane coming home to you, tomorrow.”

Elizabeth dropped back in the chair. She was going to faint. What did he say?

The lieutenant took his phone from his pocket. He opened up his text messages and retrieved the one from Agent Strokes.

“Ms. Rimmer?” he spoke, handing her his phone.
“The agent in charge of Shelby took this picture of her just this morning.”

Liz sat up and took the phone. “Oh God,” she said
, covering her mouth as the floodgates holding the tears broke. She couldn’t breathe. She sucked in air that wasn’t there.

Both the
agents had seen some pretty shocked faces during their careers, but this was different. They exchanged a worried look while Liz tried to catch her breath.

“Ms. Rimmer?” the agent spoke, coming to her side.

She coughed and wheezed as she pulled in every breath she could pull. “My…wheeze…cough….wheeze….my purse,” she pointed to the purse hanging on the hook behind the door.

He grabbed her purse and she rummaged through it, finally finding her life line. She took a long draw on the inhaler, slowed her breathing and did it again.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized as her breathing regulated. She wanted to ask if this was for real. She didn’t have to. She knew the picture she was holding in her hand was her daughter. Without a doubt, she knew that it was Shelby.

“Did he hurt her?”
she asked the dreaded question that had haunted her for years.

“No, ma’am.
Shelby has had a good life with him. He treated her well.”

“Why did he do this?”
she asked, still looking at the photo in awe.

“I really can’t answer that Ms. Rimmer. Agent Strokes is coming with her. Do you have room for a stowaway?”

“I could make room, sure, but I’m not sure how I feel about some strange man staying in my house.”

He smiled. “Agent Strokes is Sarah Strokes. It seems that Shelby has taken up with her
, she won’t talk to anyone but her.” She would talk. From what he heard she told them to fuck off just fine. He wasn’t going to relay that. “Agent Strokes knows more about it than I do. I’m sure she’ll be able to answer more of your questions.”

“Did somebody die?”

“Reese, go back upstairs, please. I’ll explain in little bit,” Liz said, turning to her daughter standing at the bottom of the stairs with a worried look.

“Why?”

“Reese!” Liz scolded.

Reese unwillingly walked back upstairs.

“She looks a lot like Shelby,” Agent Carter acknowledged.

“Oh my God.
Is this for real? Is this really happening?” Liz asked in panic mode. She felt the wheeze in her chest and slowed her breathing.

“Your daughter will be home with you tomorrow
, I assure you, it’s real.”

“I have to call her dad. I have to get her room ready. My parents, I’ve got to call them.” She was panicking again.

“There is one more thing that you should probably prepare yourself for, Ms. Rimmer,” Agent Carter explained. He seemed to be the one to do all the talking. The other one just sat there. She wondered if he was his boss. And then wondered why she was even thinking about that. Because she was freaking out, that’s why. She didn’t know what to think. Why did he keep calling her Ms. Rimmer? Breathe Liz, Breathe.

She didn’t reply. She could only stare at him with wide eyes. Breathe in. Breathe out.

“Once the press gets wind of this, they will be on your doorstep. I’m sure of it. Is there somewhere you can go if it gets too bad? It’ll die down. It always does, but I’m sure they’re going to want to talk to you.”

“This is the last week of school, well I have next week
, but we have a summer house that we go to. We could go there.”

“That might be perfect.”

Both agents stood. “Here’s my card. If there is anything you need, you let me know.”

“I will. Thank you so much,” Liz said
, standing. She hugged the man. What the hell did she do that for? She was having a meltdown. She couldn’t do this alone.

“May I have my
phone back?” the agent who had just gotten hugged asked.

“Oh
, sorry. Could you send that picture to my phone?”

He smiled. “Yes
, what’s your number?”

<>

Liz closed the door behind the two men, the two men who had just tilted her whole world. She wondered if Shelby would remember her at all. How much does a three year old remember? Could she remember when she was three? She lived by the lake where their cabin was. No, she didn’t remember that. She just knew it to be fact. She needed to call Manny. She needed to go tell Reese.

“Mom?”
Reese said from the stairs with a puzzled look. That snapped Liz out of her internal rant for the time being

“Reese, sit down. I need to talk to you about something.”

“You’re the one that looks like you need to sit down. What’s going on?”

Liz took another short puff from her inhaler. Why was she having such hard time breathing? That was the third dose in twenty minutes.

Liz pulled the ottoman over and sat in front of Reese. She held her phone up, showing Reese the photo of her big sister. “Reese, do you have any idea who this is?”

“Um, no
, should I?”

“This is Shelby. This is your sister, Reese.”

“What do you mean?” Reese asked. She may need that inhaler. She couldn’t breathe all of a sudden either.

“She was found yesterday. She is coming home tomorrow.”

Reese had the exact same reaction as her mother. She plopped back in the chair. Was this real? “I think this is some sort of sick joke. I don’t think this is real.”

“It’s real Reese. She’s coming home. Oh, my God. She’s coming home,” she stated again as it kept hitting her over and over. “We have to get her room ready.”

“What room?”

“We’ll put her in grandma and grandpa’s room
, that’s a nice room for her, isn’t it? You have your old black comforter with the red lips. We’ll put that on there. She’ll like that. Wont she?” She wasn’t really asking. She was just trying to make sense of the craziness. It was crazy. This doesn’t happen. “No, no, we’ll wait and let her pick out her own things. We’ll take her shopping, Reese.”

“Mom, you’re freaking me out here,” Reese assured her, watching her mother as she rattled on an
d on.

“I have to call your dad.”

“Something’s burning?” Reese decided, smelling something scorched.

“Shit, my spaghetti sauce,” Liz said, running to the kitchen. Yup, it was burnt. The whole kitchen filled with smoke, setting off the first smoke alarm and then the other four. Liz removed the smoking pan and opened the back door. She turned the exhaust fan on and waved the dishtowel over the alarm until it stopped. Of course
, the smoke had to set off the asthma again.

“What if
she doesn’t like me?” Reese asked from the door.

Liz smiled a motherly warm smile. “Who wouldn’t love you? I’m sure she will adore you. We are going to have to be extra nice to her, Reese. This is going to be quite an adjustment for her.”

“It’s going to be quite an adjustment for all of us,” Reese assured her. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it. I mean, she was happy that they found her and glad that she was okay, she just didn’t know how she felt about it yet. She was going to have a sister, and not one that she had grown up with. This one was seventeen, and she was just all of a sudden coming home.

“Yes, it is. Go finish your homework. I have to call your dad.”

“I wasn’t doing my homework. I was downloading music.”

“Well, stop downloading music and do your homework.”

“I’m hungry.”

Oh, yeah. She still needed to feed her. “Order a pizza.”

Liz sunk to the chair at the kitchen table. Where was her inhaler? She was going to need it…again. She dialed her ex-husband’s cell number. He didn’t answer. She looked at the clock. It was after five. He was probably out of the office by now. No, no, he was probably right there at his desk where he would be until nine or ten o’clock. She dialed his office and his secretary answered.

“Rimmer and Moore Links.
This is Karen, how I may I help you?”

“Hi, Karen.
It’s Liz. Is Emmanuel still there?”

“Yes, but I’m not supposed to interrupt him unless it’s emergency. They have a big account due in a couple of days. How are you?”

“I’m well, but this is an emergency.”

“Oh
no, is Reese okay?”

“Reese is fine. Could you please just connect me to him?” She didn’t mean to be rude or short with Karen. She had always liked her. She just didn’t want to small talk with her. She needed to talk to her ex.

“Hey, Liz. Can you give me like twenty minutes and I’ll call you back?” Emmanuel asked, looking at his watch. He was just about finished for the night. He just needed to go through the presentation one more time.

“Yeah, sure, Manny.
You go take care of your WORK. This is something that can wait around for you to finish.” Always the same ole’ Manny, work first, and family later.

“Can you give me five minutes?” he asked his partner. “Okay, okay, Elizabeth. What is it that is so important that I can’t finish this advertising deal that will ensure you get a check next month?” He asked as soon as his partner closed the door.

Really? He was going to do this now? Why the hell was her asthma acting up so much tonight? She shook the little container and inhaled once again.

“I wish you were here, Manny. I hate telling you this over the phone.”

That piqued his interest. “What Liz? Is Reese okay?”

“Reese is fine. It’s our other daughter that has me so distraught.”

“Shelby? What do you mean?”

“Shelby is coming home tomorrow, Manny. She was found yesterday.”

“You mean they are sending her remains home?”

“No, Manny.
I mean, she is coming home, alive and well.”

“Liz
, I think someone is playing some sort of sick joke on you. This isn’t possible.”

“I thought the same thing. I have a picture of her on my phone. It’s no doubt her, Manny.”