CHAPTER 5 - Molly

CHAPTER 5MollyCORRINE’S APARTMENT IS SMOTHERING ME. I CAN’T SEEM TO TAKE A deep breath, to pull air down deep into my lungs. I feel trapped here. I want to go home. That’s where I want to be, home with Jay.The doorbell chimes, and someone raps on the door as well. It has to be my parents. My mother is impatient in the best of times. I sigh and drag myself to standing.Mother and Dad sweep into the apartment, brush by Corrine, and Mom pulls me into her arms. “Sweetheart, we just can’t believe it. We can’t believe Jay’s gone.” She stands back, her hands squeezing my arms, and looks me up and down. “But you’re all right?”I nod, my gaze on the floor.“Thank God!” Her short brown hair is neatly combed, her glasses gleam. She looks every inch the math professor she is, organized and logical.Dad nudges her aside and hugs me. “What did the cops say, Moll?” His chin wobbles just a little.“I’ll put coffee on,” Corrine calls from the kitchen.I clasp my arms across my chest. “They don’t know anything yet.”“But someone killed him? Who in their right mind would do such a thing?” Mom clutches her hand over her mouth. But I see it in her eyes, a vague accusation as if this is my fault. Trouble seems to find me was her mantra when I was growing up.I shake my head. I have no answers.“It must’ve been some low-lifer on dope, don’t you think?” Mom says. “You live in a pretty expensive neighborhood, Molly. I can’t believe you two don’t have a security system in that big place. Even Dad and I have ADT. And you, especially, should know better after . . .” She doesn’t finish that thought. She doesn’t have to.I turn away, heat rising to my face. “It was on our list.” It was one of the things we hadn’t gotten around to since moving in last spring. The house had fallen into some disrepair when we bought it. There’d been a lot to do. Now, of course, I’m full of regrets. Refinishing the hardwood floors and updating the master bath seem irrelevant. And besides, Jay made me feel safe, untouchable, which is ridiculous in hindsight.Mom’s phone rings from her huge open purse. “It’s been nonstop,” she says, fishes the phone out and disappears into the powder room.“You’re okay, kid?” Dad asks. He looks utterly lost and hugs me again.“Yeah. I’m okay.” I tear up and start to walk over to the window, change direction and swing into the kitchen. Corrine is standing at the counter, assembling a platter of snacks. “Can I borrow your phone. The cops have mine.”“What? Sure.” She tips her head toward the table. “In my purse.”Phone in hand, I head to the guest room. I hear my mother talking in the powder room as I walk down the hall. Her loud nasal voice cuts through my head. I close the guest room door and drop down on the bed.Kim answers right away. “Corrine?”“No, Kimmie. It’s me.”“Molly! I’ve left you about a dozen messages.”“The cops took my phone. I’m at my sister’s.”“Oh my God, are you okay?” Her breath hitches, and she stifles a sob. “I didn’t even get a chance to ask you this morning.”“I had to be quick. The cops needed to talk to me.” I start crying. Again. I barely remember our conversation from this morning, just a teary “Jay’s dead. Someone killed him last night. The cops are here.”“I can’t believe it. Josh and I are devastated. Did someone break in? You could’ve been hurt too!”“I’m fine. I didn’t hear a thing. No one knows what happened.” My voice comes out like a robot’s. “I found him, Kim, in the office. Someone slit his throat.”“Oh my God.” The line goes quiet. Kim coughs and blows her nose. “You’re staying with Corrine?”“Yes. I can’t go home until the police are finished with the house.”“Do you even want to go back?” she asks tentatively.My first thought is, I never want to set foot there again. Yet it’s my home. Jay and I were so happy there. It’s the first place I felt totally at ease, settled. Like an adult at long last. “I honestly don’t know, but I’m not going to stay with my parents, and Corrine’s place is too small.”“You can stay with us.”“Thanks, but you guys don’t need me underfoot. Willow needs you.” Kim and Josh’s daughter is only four. She was born seven weeks premature and suffers from developmental delays that have her in therapy twice a week, so Kim’s got her hands full.“Willow’s fine. You know you’re her favorite person.”“I don’t want her to see me like this. I’m okay here for now.”“Do you want us to come over?”I sniff back tears, nod, though she can’t see me. “Can you?”“Of course. We’ll drop Willow off at my mom’s.”“Thanks, Kim.” We hang up, and I dial Laken.“Hello?”“Laken, it’s Molly.”“Oh my God, Moll.” She sniffles. “How are you holding up?”“I’m okay. I was pretty out of it this morning. I don’t even know what I told you.”“Someone killed Jay? How can that have happened? I can’t believe it.” Laken takes a big teary breath, mumbles something to, I assume, her husband. “We can’t believe it. Cal’s been a basket case since you called this morning.”“I can’t believe it either,” I say. “We were just all together.”“Do you want us to come over?”“Please. Kim and Josh are coming too.”“Of course. We’ll be over as soon as we can. But we got a call from a detective. They’re coming here to talk to us. We’ll come after that. Okay?” I hear her blow her nose. “Poor Jay,” she mumbles. “God, I can’t believe it.”“Oh, I’m at Corrine’s, by the way. My house is a crime scene.” I drop my head in my hand.“Did someone break in after we left?”“I don’t know. The door to the office was open when I came downstairs.”Laken sniffs, lets go a deep breath. “Did it happen this morning, do you think?”“I don’t know.” I run my hand through my hair and glance around at the green pastel walls with their expensive artwork. It seems strange that Corrine’s apartment is just the same. Everything is the same except my house and my life. And I don’t even know why.I hear noise in the background of the call. A doorbell. “Wait a sec,” Laken says. A minute ticks by. “Those detectives are here,” she whispers. “We’ll come over as soon as they leave.”