Crystal turned around and left without saying anything.
She went to the front door, looked outside, where Cal’s car was still parked at the curb. She turned on the light, took one step out onto the porch, and looked around.
No Cal. No Dwayne.
She walked through the house to the back door and turned on that light, too. She saw Dwayne, standing by his pickup truck, talking on his cell phone, but there was no sign of Cal.
Crystal went outside, headed directly to Dwayne, and even though he was in the middle of a conversation with someone, she asked, “Where’s Cal?”
He raised an index finger toward her and turned away ninety degrees. Crystal changed position so that she was in front of him again and asked, “Where’s Cal?”
Dwayne looked angrily at her and said, “I’m on the phone.”
“Where’s Cal?” she asked.
“Are you deaf? I am on the phone.”
“Where’s Cal?” Crystal asked.
“Do you see him? I don’t see him. Go look in the house.”
He turned his back to her and continued his phone conversation, speaking in low tones.
Crystal raised her voice. “I looked all over the house! He’s not there.”
Dwayne spun around. “Goddamn it, I’m trying to do some business here. Maybe he went for a drive.”
“His car is here.”
“Maybe he went for a walk.”
“Where would he walk to?”
“How the hell should I know? Around the block maybe.”
“Why would he walk around the block? He didn’t even finish his pizza. He didn’t finish his beer, either.”
“Go ask Celeste,” Dwayne said. He walked toward the middle of the yard, waving his free arm behind him, as though trying to ward off a swarm of mosquitoes.
Crystal followed and pulled at his shirtsleeve. “I asked Celeste. She told me to ask you.”
“Yeah, well, I’m telling you to go ask her again because I don’t know.”
Crystal stood there a moment, as though pondering whether this was a sound strategy. Then she started heading for the back door.
“No, wait. Hang on,” Dwayne said. “Hang on, kid.”
“My name is Crystal.”
“Yeah, okay, Crystal. Just hang on.”
Dwayne spoke into the phone. “I’ll call you back in a couple of minutes. It’s the kid.” He shoved the phone down into the front pocket of his jeans, let out an enormous sigh, and said to Crystal, “Okay, fine, you have my undivided attention.”
“I just want to find him.”
“Sure, of course, yeah. Okay, well, let’s have a look at the street. Maybe he’s out there having a smoke.”
“I don’t think he smokes.”
“Well, if he quit, having to look after you might have driven him to take it up again.”
“Why?” Crystal asked.
“Huh?”
“Why would looking after me make someone smoke?”
“It was just a joke.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Never mind. Come on.” He led her away from the garage, toward the street. “He had a pretty stressful day, you know? He might have come out here just to have a few minutes to himself.”
“But he likes me,” Crystal said. “Why would he come out here to be by himself?”
“What makes you think he likes you?”
“He’s nice to me.”
Dwayne nodded. “I guess.”
“He’s nicer than you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dwayne asked. “Who brought home pizza and wings tonight? Huh? Who was that?”
“That was you.”
“You don’t think that was pretty nice of me? I was thinking about you when I got that mess of food.”
That gave Crystal pause. “Oh.”
They’d reached the street and were standing next to Cal’s Honda. “You’re right-his car’s here, so he can’t have gone far,” Dwayne said.
Without warning, Crystal shouted at the top of her lungs, “Cal!”
“Jesus,” Dwayne said, making a show of putting his fingers to his ears. “You nearly busted my eardrum when-”
“Cal!”
“Dial it down, kid.”
“Cal!”
She’d started off down the sidewalk. Dwayne ran to catch up to her, grabbed her by the shoulder. “You can’t be screaming like that.”
“I want him to hear me.”
“You don’t even know where he is. You can’t go around the neighborhood screaming for someone like they’re a lost dog.”
“Why?”
“You’re not normal-you know that?”
She looked up at him with wide eyes. “That’s what everyone says.”
“Okay, look, why don’t you go back in the house and I’ll look around for him? When I’ve found him, I’ll let you know.”
“If we both look, we’ll find him twice as fast,” she said.
“Not necessarily. If we-”
“Cal!”
Dwayne glanced around the street nervously, as though expecting people to start coming to their doors.
And someone did.
Celeste.
“What’s going on?” she said, coming down the porch steps and across the yard.
“Nothing,” Dwayne said. “We’re just talking.”
“No, we’re not,” Crystal said. “We’re trying to find Cal.”
Celeste put her fists on her hips. “You still haven’t found him?”
“No,” Crystal said.
“His car’s still here,” Celeste said.
“You’re a regular Sherlock Holmes,” Dwayne said. “Look, like I told Crystal here, I’m sure he’s just gone for a walk or something. If he’s not back in an hour, I’ll go looking for him.”
“I need him,” Crystal said.
Worry washed over Celeste’s face. “I think we need to find him now. It’s not like him to just walk off.” Something occurred to her. “You know what? I’ll just call him.”
“What?” Dwayne said, now looking pretty worried himself. “Is that a good idea?”
“It’s a very good idea,” Crystal said.
Celeste took her phone from her back pocket, made a couple of taps on the screen, then put it to her ear.
“It’s ringing,” she said.
Crystal stood stock-still, and Dwayne appeared to be holding his breath.
“He’s not picking up,” Celeste said. “I’m going to let it go a few more… okay, it’s going to message. Cal, hey, it’s Celeste, and we’re wondering where the hell you are.”
She ended the call but held on to the phone rather than put it away.
“Call him again,” Crystal said.
“Sweetheart,” Celeste said, “let’s give him a minute to hear the message.”
“No, I think I heard the phone.”
“What?” Dwayne said. “I didn’t hear anything.”
“Call him again,” Crystal repeated.
Celeste made the call. While she held the phone to her ear, Dwayne said, “I didn’t hear a damn thing. You must be hearing-”
“Shh!” Crystal said.
No one made a sound.
Crystal pointed toward the garage. “It’s coming from over there.”
“I already looked there,” Dwayne said.
But his wife and Crystal were already moving up the driveway and past the house. The phone was still pressed to Celeste’s ear. “It’s still ringing.”
As they reached the garage, Crystal said, “Don’t you hear it? It’s in there.” She pointed to the door. “Cal!”
“Okay, I heard it, too,” Celeste said, and put her phone back into her pocket. She went to the smaller door at the side, attempted to open it but found it locked.
“Cal!” Crystal had her mouth right up to the door.
“Have you got the key?” Celeste said to Dwayne.
“I don’t know why the hell he’d be in there. I always keep the door locked.”
“Do you have the key?” his wife asked again.
“Um,” he said, “it might be in the house.”
“Check your pockets,” she snapped at him. “You never go out of the house without your keys.”
“Cal!”
He took a long time hunting for them in his jeans. “I’ve got my truck keys, but I don’t know if the garage key is on-”