Page 22 of The Note

“And you shouldn’t diet. It’s stupid. Especially for you.”

“I don’t know how you managed to make thatsound like a compliment, but thank you.” She tore open the snack bag and offered him first dibs, which he declined.

“You working with the Explorers again this summer?” he asked.

“Yup,” she said, her eyes briefly closing with pleasure as she chewed her tart candy. “They’re good kids. And it’s easy OT.”

They’d had three dates before Debra asked Carter if kids were in his future. He answered honestly, and that was that. He handed her a copy of the David Smith flyer. “You’ve seen these around town yet?”

“No, but I heard Kelly say something about finding her future husband on a missing poster. Now I see why.”

“Think you can send some of your kids out to follow his steps? I’m getting a list of all of his credit card charges. Sounds like he was making the rounds to the usual hotspots. Maybe someone noticed an argument or something? I can walk the kids through what to look for, the questions to ask or whatever. Just need you to tee me up for that.”

“Sure. I’ll round them up now. You hook up anyone for the smash-and-grab yet?”

“Nope. Still working it.”

“Damn if part of me isn’t sort of rooting for them. They took twelve-thousand-dollar handbags, Carter. Twelve thousand dollars. For a handbag. Think about that.”

She held out her candy bag again, and this time he extended his palm to accept the offer.

“You trying to make me hate people even more than I already do? Let me try to think about this missing dude instead.”

14

Oh, Kelsey,” Lauren said, pushing the cinnamon roll plate away as she stepped back from the kitchen island. “What did you do? What did you go and do?”

“It was just a joke.”

“A joke?” Lauren was glaring at Kelsey as if she had kicked a kitten.

“I mean, we all cracked up when you wrote it. You said yourself you’d do anything to make someone laugh.”

“Oh, don’t you even think about putting this on me,” Lauren said. “I wrote that for two setsof eyes only—yours and May’s. You told us you were going to put them in a scrapbook. Were you lying?”

Kelsey raised her palms in the air. “No, I swear. I promise. It was spur-of-the-moment after you guys left for the bookstore. I walked out and their car was still there. Imagine coming back to your car and finding a note like that. They deserved it after the stunt they pulled.”

Lauren rubbed her temples. “Jesus, they may not have even seen us waiting.”

“You guys said she was gloating with a big smirk on her face.”

“I only said that because May did.”

May was replaying the moment in her head. Is it possible she had jumped to conclusions again? “Now I’m not sure …”

“Well, you sounded sure at the time. I thought it would be funny and a little bit of karmic justice.”

“If it was so damn hilarious to wonder what would happen when they got back to the car, how come you didn’t tell us?” Lauren’s voice was ice-cold.

Kelsey was blinking back tears. “Lauren, I’m sorry. It was a stupid, impulsive thing, and I was in my cups.”

“No, no, no. Don’t blame it on drinking. You’re the one who swore up and down you were fine to drive. You didn’t tell us because you knew we’d bepissed. You walk around practically disguised to avoid being recognized, but then you do something stupid like that.”

May had been silent, relieved on some level to have Lauren’s ire aimed at Kelsey instead of her. But the full import of Kelsey’s admission was sinking in. May had learned years ago how an anonymous note could spiral into unintended consequences. They had to do something.

“Don’t you see, now we really do have to call the police. We can’t just do nothing.” May’s tone was more scolding than she had intended. “Think about it, Kelsey. You said it was fun to wonder what would happen when they found the note. What exactly were you imagining?” When she did not respond, May answered her own question. “The whole reason the note was perfect was because it sounded so authoritative. Not only is he cheating, but healways does.The voice of someone who knows with certainty. How could he just explain that away? It was sure to start an argument. We have to tell the police.”

“We don’t know that for certain,” Lauren said, slapping her palms against the countertop. “If they did see us, they probably figured out right away it was us trying to fuck with them.”

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