Page 115 of Gone Tonight
Her expression shocks me. I take an involuntary step back.
She doesn’t appear the slightest bit angry. Instead, her face is full of barely suppressed mirth.
“Catherine!” She leans her cane against the wall and throws her arms around me, like it has been months since she has seen me instead of just hours.
I’m completely disoriented. My speech is all prepared. I’m ready to grovel, to cry—to do whatever it takes to keep the Campbells from reporting me.
George joins us in the narrow entryway, standing next to the little table with the green bowl holding his car keys.
“Hello, sweetheart.” He hugs me, too.
“You—you wanted to see me?” I stutter. Almost against my will, my eyes are drawn toward the Cadillac keys.
“Come into the living room,” June urges me. “There’s a surprise waiting for you!”
I have no idea what is happening, but I force a smile that feels wooden.
“Close your eyes first,” George commands in a playful tone. “No peeking!”
I obey, and feel June’s cool, bony hand slip into mine. She leads me several steps forward, her cane tapping with each one. I don’t need my vision to tell me where we’re going. I’ve spent so much time here that I know every inch of this place. We’re standing in the opening to the living room. When I open my eyes, I’ll see their beige sofa and two oversized chairs encircling a shiny wooden coffee table.
The Campbells know I’m planning to move to Baltimore. Could this be a going-away party?
The air seems to thicken with an eerie pressure.
“Open your eyes!” June cries.
At first glance, the scene before me is anticlimactic. The only guest is a man quietly sitting on the couch.
For a split second, I’m even more confused than I was when I arrived. I have no idea who this man is, or why the Campbells summoned me.
Then my eyes drift past his deeply muscled arms and overdeveloped shoulders to his face. He’s bald now—he must have shaved his head—and his glasses are gone but I recognize his features.
All the breath rushes out of me, like I’ve taken a punch to the solar plexus.
James stands and walks to my side as a wave of terror engulfs me. This can’t be happening, not here in George and June’s cozy apartment, with the two of them thinking this is a joyful moment.
James stretches his arms out and I flinch, but all he does is trap me in a hug. Being pressed to his chest is like being squeezed against a cement block.
“Call me David.” His whisper snakes into my ear.
June clasps her hands together.
“Can you believe the coincidence?” she says. “George and I were out to dinner tonight, and your cousin came in a minute later and sat at the next table over and we all started chatting. And it turns out he was in town to surprise you!”
I’m dizzy. I’ve stepped into a surreal scene, one James is directing. He has dressed the stage and arranged the players. He’s pretending to be a man who doesn’t exist: my cousin David.
The Campbells believe we’re having a family reunion. Which, of course, we are—but I’m the only one here who knows the truth about my relationship to James.
“How long has it been since you last saw each other?” George asks.
James stares directly at me and I feel the blood drain out of my face. His tone is warm and light. “It seems like forever, but at the same time it feels like I just saw you last night, doesn’t it, Catherine?”
Every word is a needle driving into my skin. James is enjoying this. He’s feasting on my fear.
How did James find the Campbells, or even have any idea of their connection to me?
Then I see the answer as clearly as if I’m reaching into the folder Tin left for me and pulling out the clue James used to track me down: the parking sticker for Sunrise.
