Birthright

believes you’re harmless, they’re deaf, dumb and blind.”
    Lana and Doug started off in the opposite direction. “They don’t act divorced to me,” he said.
    “Really? What’s your definition of ‘acting divorced’?”
    “Not like that. I watched them putting breakfast together. It was like choreography. And you saw how they were in the car. They can let each other know what they’re thinking without saying a word, when they want to.”
    “Like when Callie distracted us from worrying by tormenting you?”
    “He knew exactly what she was doing. I don’t know what the deal is between them, but I’m glad he’s around. He’ll look out for her.”
    He pressed the bell on the first house.
    By the time Jake rang the bell on their third stop, they had their story and routine down smooth as velvet frosting. The woman answered so quickly, he knew she’d watched their progress from house to house.
    “I’m sorry to bother you, ma’am, but my wife and I were wondering about the Simpsons.”
    “I’m sure we just have the wrong day, honey.” But Callie glanced back with a distracted air of concern at the Simpson house.
    “I just want to be sure everything’s okay. We were supposed to drop by for drinks,” he said to the woman. “But they don’t answer the bell.”
    “All four of you having drinks with the Simpsons?”
    “Yes,” Jake confirmed without missing a beat, and smiled. So she’d been watching the house. “My brother-in-law and his fiancée walked up that way to see if anyone could help us.”
    “My brother and I are old family friends of Hank and Barb’s.” Callie picked up the angle on Jake’s story as if it were God’s truth. “That is, my parents and Dr. Simpson go way back. He delivered my brother and me. Our father’s a doctor, too. Anyway, my brother just got engaged. That’s actually why we were coming by for drinks. Just a little celebration.”
    “I don’t see how you’re going to celebrate when they’re out of town.”
    Callie’s hand tightened on Jake’s. “Out of town? But . . . for heaven’s sake. We have to have the wrong day,” she said to Jake. “But they didn’t mention a trip when I talked to them a couple weeks ago.”
    “Spur of the moment,” the woman provided. “What did you say your name was?”
    “I’m terribly sorry.” Callie offered a hand. “We’re the Bradys, Mike and Carol. We don’t mean to trouble you, Mrs. . . .”
    “Fissel. No trouble. Didn’t I see the two of you over at the Simpsons a while back?”
    “Yes, earlier this summer. We’ve just moved back east. It’s nice to catch up with old friends, isn’t it? You said spur of the moment. It wasn’t an emergency, was it? Oh, Mike, I hope nothing’s happened to—” What the hell was the daughter’s name? “Angela.”
    “They said it wasn’t.” Mrs. Fissel stepped out on the front patio. “I happened to see them loading up the cars when I came out to get the morning paper. We look out for our neighbors here, so I walked over and asked if anything was wrong. Dr. Simpson said they’d decided to drive up to their place in the Hamptons, spend a few weeks. Seemed strange to me, them taking both cars. He said Barbara wanted to have her own. Took enough luggage for a year, if you ask me. But that Barbara, she likes her clothes. Not like her to forget you were coming. She doesn’t miss a trick.”
    “I guess we mixed something up. They didn’t say when they’d be back?”
    “Like I said, a few weeks. He’s retired, you know, and she doesn’t work, so they come and go as they please. They were out here around ten this morning, loading up—and Barbara, you never see her up and around on a Sunday morning before noon. Must’ve been in a hurry to get on the road.”
    “It’s a long drive to the Hamptons,” Callie noted. “Thanks. We’ll have to catch up with them later.”
    “Mike and Carol Brady,” Jake said under his breath asthey started back across the street. “We’re the Brady Bunch?”
    “First thing that came into my head. She was too old to have watched it the first time around, and didn’t strike me as the type to tune in to Nick at Night. Goddamnit, Jake.”
    “I know.” He lifted their joined hands, kissed her knuckles.
    “Do you think they went to the Hamptons?”
    “However much of a hurry they were in, I don’t think Simpson would be stupid enough to tell the town crier where they were going.”
    “Me either. And I don’t think