Free Time and Trouble by Gillian Roberts Page B

Hang around for five years? He ’ s gone, too. Way gone and there isn ’ t a single clue or a chance in hell —”
    “ But that charm, the Vux —”
    Penny put the necklace back on and shook her head. “ You just want to do something — anything — especially if it ’ s about something of mine. How are they going to find somebody that nobody thinks is lost? Where would they even start? And meanwhile, they ’ ll go to my parents and —” She shook her head again. “ Remember the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark ? That enormous, enormous storage room where things disappear forever? That ’ s what will come of it. They ’ ll stick it away and forget it. ” She sighed. “ You do understand now, don ’ t you? ”
    Nobody said anything. Penny smiled expectantly at him, at the others at the table. She was so relaxed all of a sudden, so comfortable, that the tension level dropped by a thousand percent. He thought his roomies had almost accepted her, forgiven him his trespasser, but on the other hand, they weren ’ t saying a thing. Waiting for him, for the next move.
    And much as he hated to mess with the calm that now reigned, something was still out of kilter. “ I see your point, ” he said, “ and I ’ m sure you ’ re right, but all the same, that ’ s for the police to decide. We ’ re talking a probable double homicide, a serious thing. No matter how cheap or common the heart might be, the cops won ’ t laugh at you — they ’ ll call you a good citizen, commend you, even. ”
    Her mouth dropped open and the goodwill that had been softening her face dried up and disappeared.
    “ It ’ s about honesty, ” he said. “ It ’ s the most basic ideal any of us have, to live honestly, be honest. That matters maybe more than anything. ”
    Kathryn and Gary nodded in his direction, as if he ’ d passed a test. Then they looked back at Penny.
    “ Don ’ t you see? ” he asked. “ It isn ’ t about a little gold —”
    “ Gold plated. ”
    “— heart. It ’ s about doing the right thing, so you can sleep easy. ”
    She stood up so abruptly her chair wobbled, and would have fallen to the floor had not Gary reached out a long arm and steadied it. The sunshine in her was so completely gone that her skin seemed darker.
    Maybe she was mentally ill. He ’ d never considered that before, but it wouldn ’ t be the first time he had been naive or stupid and willfully manipulated by a crazy girl. “ What? ” he asked.
    “ I can ’ t go to the police. ” Her voice was so low and strained her neck grew hollow-centered and veins stood out on it. “ And I won ’ t. For starters, I ’ m a runaway. ”
    “ Shit, man! ” Gary said. “ You brought a runaway here? Somebody the police want? ”
    His housemates glared as if he ’ d deceived them, put them in jeopardy.
    “ She ’ s eighteen, ” he said. “ She left home. Nothing illegal about it. ” He didn ’ t want to explain his loose relationship with her, the rescuer fantasies that had gotten him into this mess. Not with her right here, ready to become hysterical if he implied she was less than everything to him.
    “ Besides, ” she said, breathing hard as if she ’ d been running, and facing him, eyes riveted on him. “ You saw my mother run after the car. She ’ s pretending to be crippled, committing fraud. I can ’ t involve the police in my life. They ’ ll arrest her, and then what? What happens to Wesley? ”
    He shouldn ’ t even have tried. Surely shouldn ’ t have mentioned honesty. Penny didn ’ t understand it. All she understood, or thought she did, was that if her mother the insurance-scammer went to jail, then nobody would take care of Wesley. Not her father, who, she was positive, was already living a double life. And that left only Penny, and how could she make a living, do any of it? And if she couldn ’ t, Wesley would be sent to foster care. He knew the drill and its circular form by heart, she ’ d said it so