Page 113 of A River of Crows

Caroline couldn’t just sit in the car and wait. She got out and paced in front of the store, smoking in the cool night air. She saw the pay phone, and it hit her. Libby and Vince had probably overslept. Or maybe their car wouldn’t start, and they had no way to reach her. She just needed to call and tell them she wouldn’t mind driving all the way to Baton Rouge if she needed to.

Caroline put in her change, dialed the Turners’ number, and listened to the phone ring and ring. At first, she thought she must have misdialed. Why else had their machine not picked up? On the second try, by the twentieth ring, every muscle in Caroline’s body went limp.

“Who are you trying to call?” Sloan was suddenly standing right beside her. How long had she been there?

“It’s a misunderstanding. It will be okay. We’ll be on the road soon,” she said to herself.

“It’s cold, Mom. Come to the car and wait. I got a Lunchable. We can split it.”

“I could call the police,” Caroline said, but what would she say? That the people she used to help her fake her son’s death had kidnapped him? “No, no, I can’t.”

Sloan put her arm around Caroline. “Come on. Let’s get you in the car and warmed up. We’ll call again in fifteen minutes.”

And Caroline called back every fifteen minutes on the dot. She used every nickel, dime, and quarter she had in her wallet, then tore apart her car to find more. But they never answered, and their car never pulled up beside hers. Adrenaline rushed through Caroline’s body. How could they? She picked up a bag of ice and slammed it down onto the concrete.

Even if they’d had car troubles on the way, that didn’t explain the removal of their answering machine. Libby had been acting so weird and distant. She hardly ever let Caroline talk to Ridge.

Caroline grabbed a clump of her hair and pulled. They’d taken her boy. Libby was barren. She’d pretended to be her friend when all she wanted was a child, Caroline’s child.

“I can’t believe this happened. How could it happen?” Caroline’s chest ached. Was she hyperventilating or having a heart attack? She recognized she was losing control but wasn’t sure how to rein her emotions back in.

“I don’t know, but it’s almost morning.” Sloan spoke in a gentle tone that Caroline had never known her sharp-tongued daughter to have. “We can figure this out later, but let’s go home, please.”

Caroline started to cry. She didn’t want to go home, but maybe a message was waiting on her machine. Better yet, maybe Ridge was waiting there for her. “Yes. I guess there’s nothing we can do but go home.”

Ridge wasn’t at home. There was no message on the machine. “Go to bed,” she told Sloan. “Sleep in. If you wake up and I’m gone, it’s because I have business in Tyler later today. Call Doreen if you need anything.”

“Are you sure you’re okay, Mom?” Sloan asked.

“Yes. Now go to bed. Forget any of this happened.”

As soon as Sloan climbed into bed, Caroline called Libby’s number again and was met with a message that the number had been disconnected. What is going on? She didn’t know their address, so she dug through an enormous stack of mail, praying she hadn’t thrown away the envelope from the birthday card Libby had sent her.

She tossed bill after bill on the floor until she got to the lavender envelope. Yes, this was it! “Thank you, God, thank you, God,” she said aloud.

Lavender envelope in hand, Caroline walked right back out the door and drove to Louisiana.

It was nearly noon by the time Caroline made it to the Turners. She held on to the tiniest bit of hope until she spotted the house.

The house was large and red-bricked with a green manicured lawn. Libby’s signature rose bushes bloomed right behind a shiny black “For Sale” sign.

Caroline got out of the car and ran toward the neighbor’s house. A woman with a baby on her hip answered the door. “Can I help you?”

Caroline tried to steady her voice, but she couldn’t hide her breathlessness. “Vince and Libby Turner? Did they live next door?”

“Yes,” the woman said, locking the screen door.

“Any idea where they moved?”

“No, sorry. We weren’t very close.” She attempted to close the door, but Caroline spoke again. “Was there anyone else they were close to?”

The woman bit her lip. “I never saw anyone over. Check with LSU. He worked there.”

Yes. LSU. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “Can I borrow your phone to . . .” before she finished, the woman slammed the door. Bitch.

Luckily the man across the street was kinder. He didn’t know where they'd moved, but Vince had mentioned they weren’t fond of the area and had been applying for other jobs, so it didn’t surprise him to see the sign yesterday morning. Yesterday morning. They must have left right after Caroline had talked to Libby to solidify their plans for that night. How could they?

The old man let her use his phone, where she called LSU and spoke to the department head, who had no idea where Vince had moved to.