Page 92 of The Newcomer
Merwin stuck his face in Oscar’s. “Quack!” he quacked.
“Merwin…” Ava sounded a warning.
Oscar took a step backward, but Merwin kept advancing, flapping his arms like a deranged duck. “Quack! Quack! Quack!”
The shorter man made a fist and reared back, ready to land a punch.
“Nooo!” Maya screamed. “No hitting!” She clamped her hands over her ears and buried her face between Letty’s knees.
Ava sprang into action. She spritzed Oscar in the face with a stream of sunscreen, then turned and aimed a spray at Merwin.
“Owww!” Oscar howled, clutching his hands to his eyes.
“I’m blind!” Merwin cried, staggering backward.
“You’ll both live,” Ava said, handing them each a tissue. “Now let’s settle this once and for all. Oscar, that alleged bunion of yours didn’t keep you from playing shuffleboard for two hours yesterday. And anyway, you don’t buy a handicapped sticker at the flea market. Merwin, that handicapped space is reserved for loading and unloading only. Says so right on the sign. It’s not your personal space. So after Oscar moves his car, you can pull up in your van and unload Trudi and your groceries. And then you move your car into the space in the parking lot that’s marked with your unit number. Understand?”
Oscar mopped at his face with the tissue and blinked rapidly. “My eyes! I think you burned my corneas.”
“Tell it to Dr. Jerry,” Ava snapped. She pointed at Maya, who was sobbing in Letty’s arms. “Look how you’ve upset this little girl. Now both of you need to quit your bickering and get out of my office before I evict your bony old asses. We’re trying to run a motel in here.”
“Oh,” Merwin said, properly chastised. “Well, I didn’t mean to upset the kid. It’s just that…”
“Out!” Ava bellowed.
“Shhh,ladybug,” Letty said softly, rubbing Maya’s back. “They weren’t really fighting. They were just mad and talking too loud.”
Maya lifted her tear-streaked face. “I don’t like fighting and hitting. It’s not nice. Mommy and Daddy had a big fight.”
Letty and Ava exchanged shocked glances. Had Maya actually witnessed a physical altercation between Tanya and Evan? She’d been plagued by that question since the day she’d discovered her sister’s body and looked up to find Maya crying at the top of the staircase. Her fears had only grown since watching the painfully hostile handoff captured on the nanny-cam video she’d watched just the night before. Up until now, she hadn’t had the heart to question the traumatized child about what she had or hadn’t seen.
“Mommy and Daddy weren’t mad at you, sweetie. They were probably just upset,” Letty said. “Whatever they said, I’m sure they didn’t mean it.”
“That’s right, Maya,” Ava said, her voice low and soothing. “Sometimes grown-ups say things they don’t mean. Like Mr. Oscar and Mr. Merwin. They’re really friends, but they both got upset today and said things they shouldn’t have. But they’re sorry now. And I promise, I won’t let them fight again.”
“No hitting,” Maya said, rubbing her face against Letty’s shoulder. “I don’t like hitting.”
Letty took a deep breath. “Maya, did you ever see Daddy hit Mommy?”
The child lifted her face, still damp with tears and snot. She nodded. “Hitting is not nice. It’s very, very bad.”
VikkiHill was in her motel room, typing up her field notes, such as they were, when her phone rang.UNKNOWN CALLER.
She tappedACCEPT.
His voice was muted by the background noise of street traffic, but she knew instantly that the caller was Wingfield. She tapped the record icon on the phone.
“Hey, Vikki,” he said casually. “I’ve been trying to call you for two days. Where you been?”
“I didn’t have any messages or missed calls on my phone. Doesn’t sound like you were trying very hard, Evan. What’s up?”
“Just responding to your last text. Where’d you say you are now?”
“I didn’t say. Because you don’t really want to know. But I did manage to locate your missing friend, just in case you’re still interested,” Agent Hill said.
“Yeah. Huh. That is interesting. Well, what did you have in mind?”
“Are you still playing games?” Vikki said, making her annoyance clear. “Like I told you, I found a guy who can take care of things. He checks out. But he doesn’t work for free, and neither do I.”
