Perfect Family by Pam Lewis Read Free Book Online Page B

“Oh, Denny. Nobody did anything. I mean, they don’t know anything yet. Right, Jasper?” She was all apologetic and flustered.
    Tinker’s father approached the boy. “What makes you think someone did this? Why did you ask us that question?”
    Denny’s face bleached of color. “No.” He whined the word like a much younger child. He shook his head. “I just thought—Shit.”
    â€œDennis!” Anita said. “Your mouth.”
    â€œOh, man,” Denny said.
    Tinker’s father put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “If you know something, son, tell us.”
    â€œNo, man. I’m sorry. Honest.” Denny squirmed away. Anita scowled, and Tinker had the feeling his mother was going to read him the riot act once they left. “He’s been watching too much TV,” Anita said. “I am very sorry.”
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    Andrew continued to cry after they brought him back to Fond du Lac. He cried himself to exhaustion and finally fell asleep on the living room floor. Tinker didn’t dare move him in case he woke again. It killed her not to be able to tidy up. At least to fold Pony’s clothing. Anything. But Randy had said not to move things.
    Her father was sitting at the telephone table, his clothes still damp. He called Mira. Tinker heard him say, “It’s Pony. Sweetie, I have very bad news.” Tinker pictured Mira in her sparse apartment in that three-decker, still in bed, still half asleep. There would be books stacked on the bed, a cluttered night table, and dead plants on the windowsill. Mira would be naked. She never wore a nightgown, even in winter. She said it was unhealthy, that it was warmer to sleep skin to the sheets. “There’s been an accident here at Fond du Lac. Pony was found this morning. She drowned.” Her father squeezed his eyes, listening to Mira. He was weeping. He explained about the night before, the call from Anita. It was the story he and Tinker would have to tell over and over again. After he hung up, he tried William. “Are you there? William. For God’s sake, if you’re listening to this, pick up the telephone now. It’s about your sister. It’s about Pony. I’m up at the lake house.”
    Tinker waited until her father was finished, and then she used the phone to call Mark at work. His secretary answered. “Donna,” she said. “I need to talk to Mark. It’s Tinker calling.”
    â€œMrs. Bradshaw,” Donna said. “I’m afraid he’s in a meeting.”
    â€œGet him out.” Tinker had a history with Donna.
    â€œI’ll see if I can,” Donna said. “He’s in with Mr. Hendrix.”
    â€œI don’t care who he’s in with, Donna.” She had to wait a long time before Mark came on the line.
    â€œWhat happened?” he said.
    â€œPony drowned,” Tinker said, her voice brimming with justification before she realized it. “They found her this morning. Her hair got tangled under the raft.”
    â€œJesus, Tinker.”
    â€œWe don’t know how it happened.” Tinker burst out crying. Hearing herself say this made it true. “There’s going to be an autopsy. It looks like she drowned, but just in case it was something else.”
    â€œBut she’s the best swimmer. What do you mean, ‘something else’?”
    â€œIf she hit her head or something. She left Andrew on the lawn, and the police think that was odd. They’ll do a tox screen.”
    â€œDrugs?”
    â€œDaddy’s a wreck. Nobody knows where William is.”
    â€œWhen will you be back?”
    â€œIt’s up to Daddy,” she said.
    â€œAnd up to you,” he said.
    â€œThis is much worse for him, Mark. A parent should never lose a child.”
    â€œYou’ve lost your sister, Tink.”
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    Her father drove her car, and she followed in Pony’s because it had the baby seat. She felt like a