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“It’s fucking bullshit.”
Lila’s smile comes to my mind. The slightly sad, slightly lonely, but upbeat and quirky expression she wore when she teased me. She was a good girl. I’m sure she had her problems, but as far as problems go, having an eating disorder is a) not her fault, and b) a hell of a lot better than a lot of other things. She didn’t deserve to be thrown out like trash, and the people responsible don’t deserve to get away with it.
Settle down, kid. You don’t know that Clara and Julian are responsible.
I don’t, but Vivian seems to think so, and so does Mrs. Winslow. I know that Clara is a liar because of her little spiel about the pool party that never happened. I know that things were rocky in the Kensington house because of the spat she and Julian have had.
It’s not a lot, but it’s enough to raise my suspicions. At the very least, the cops need to do a little more digging before they just throw the case away.
I sigh. Shitty as it is, it really isn’t my problem. I need to let this go.
Except that’s what they did with Annie, and now my family’s a broken mess, me included.
I park in front of the Kensington home and take several deep breaths to try to calm myself. I close my eyes, but when I do that, I see Lila’s body face down in the pool, so I open them again and stare out the window.
Finally, I decide that putting it off isn’t going to help anything. I get out of the van and head to the front door.
I hope desperately that they won’t be home and I can use that as an excuse not to clean their pool again. A horrible thought occurs to me that I don’t know what I’ll find in the pool. I didn’t get close to Lila’s body. As soon as I saw her, I just ran out of there. I could walk in and see blood or vomit or—
The door opens, and Clara is there. Here eyes are wide and wild, and her pupils are as big around as a Coke can, pun absolutely intended.
She grins at me, revealing rows of teeth that are far too white to be natural, especially in the mouth of a long-term drug user. “Hi! Nick, right?”
“Nate. It’s…” I almost say it’s good to see you, but that would be a lie, and anyway, I don’t know if it’s what a grieving mother would want to hear. Assuming she is grieving.
“Clara,” she says, mistaking my hesitation. “Come on in.”
I blink. “Oh, um, that’s okay. I—”
“Oh, nonsense. Just me here today. Julian’s off somewhere being a superman or some bullshit!” She laughs briefly, nervously and walks inside, gesturing for me to follow. “Come on! I won’t bite.”
I bring the cleaning equipment with me, hoping to preempt any conversation and get straight to work. Just to make it clear I’m on a schedule, I say, “If you don’t mind, ma’am, I’m going to get started. I have a lot of houses to get to today, and I want to make sure I have enough time to clean things to your satisfaction.”
“Of course, of course. We can talk while you work.”
My heart begins to pound. Talk? About what?
“Here.” She throws open a sliding glass door and moans luxuriously as she steps outside. “Oh God, it’s a beautiful day. I’m going to sunbathe.”
She pulls her shorts down, and I start to shout a protest when I see that underneath her shorts and shirt she’s wearing a black one-piece swimsuit that looks flattering on her but also almost modest. I release a sigh of relief and say, “If you’d like, ma’am, I can come back at another rtime.”
“No, no! Please, make yourself at home!”
She’s giddy. I wouldn’t say she’s happy, per se, but she’s definitely not grieving. Coke wouldn’t do that. Coke makes people intense, it doesn’t make them giddy. Maybe she’s on ecstasy.
Or maybe she’s happy that her daughter is dead.
I set my equipment down and try not to look at the pool. Unfortunately, it’s pretty damned hard to clean a pool without looking at it, so I eventually have to poke my head up.
It’s pristine. I mean spotless. I don’t just mean I cleaned it a few days ago, and it’s still clean. I mean someone cleaned this pool within the past twenty-four hours and they did a hell of a lot more than rake out leaves and switch a pool filter. The walls themselves look like they’ve been scrubbed. I don’t see a speck of dirt in there.
Why am I here? Does Clara just want someone else to witness that there’s no sign of foul play in the pool? No, that makes no sense. The police ruled Lila’s death an accident.
“Everything okay, Nate?”
I realize I’m staring and smile. “Fine. The pool looks pretty good, so I think I’ll just start another pool treatment and you should be good to do.”
“Good. It smells like death.”
