Five Days in Summer

don’t you have your mother-in-law take them back to New York?” Geary asked.
    “She can’t make the long drive alone with the kids, especially Maxi. She cries.”
    “You could take them.”
    It was a practical idea but the thought of leaving Emily behind was impossible. Will could not leave the Cape without her.
    “Dad!” David called.
    “I’m coming!” Will turned to Geary. “I’ll call my sister.”
    “Good.” Geary stood up. “I’ll be in touch with you. And with the police.”
    “Thank you, Dr. Geary.”
    “John.”
    Will nodded.
    “I’ll let myself out. You go do your job, Will. Take care of your boys.”
    Will jogged down the porch steps and joined David on the path.
    “Race you!” he said to his son, and they went tearing down toward the lake.
    “Dad.” David stopped running when they reached the clearing just before the beach. “Why was that man here?”
    Will reached out and touched David’s shoulder. “It’s okay. We needed to discuss something. Don’t worry.”
    David jerked away from his father’s hand. “Whatdo you mean, don’t worry? I’m not stupid, Dad. Where is Mom?” A cloud moved and a shaft of sun sprang onto David’s face. His pale eyes were pierced in the center by tight black pupils.
    Will faced David and opened his mouth to speak and didn’t know what he would say. How could he tell David? How could he not tell David? He was too smart for lies but too good for the poison of this new truth.
    “They’re going to find Mommy.” Will felt his stomach contract. “Dr. Geary is helping us find her.”
    “How?”
    But before Will could try to answer, his cell phone vibrated. He dug his hand into his pocket, pulled it out and flipped it open. David kept his eyes on Will as a young woman’s voice asked for Mr. Parker.
    “Speaking.”
    “Hi, this is Pam. From Stop and Shop? I got your message? I called that other number but there’s not even an answering machine. I got your number off my caller ID? I hope that’s, like, okay. It seemed kind of important.”
    “Yes.” Will looked at David, lifted his chin and pointed to the beach. “Go,” he whispered. “I’ll be right there.”
    David did not leave.
    Will hated to do it, but he turned his back on David, took a few steps away and lowered his voice. He explained what he could to Pam, without being so explicit he’d frighten David, whose hovering presence he could sense behind him.
    “What can you tell me?” he asked Pam.
    “I guess my friend told you most of it. I just wanted to tell you that every time I see that guy? He’s with the lady that yelled at him. I think it might be, like, his mother?”
    “Why?” Will whispered.
    “They just kind of remind me of that mother-son thing from New York, you know? Where they killed a rich lady to get her house? I saw it on Most Wanted .”
    Will didn’t know what to make of that, coming from a teenager. It could be very true, or very false. He would mention it to Geary.
    “Can you remember anything else?” Will asked. “Anything at all.”
    “Not really.”
    “Well, if you do—”
    “I promise I’ll call.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Sir? I hope you find her. She seemed really nice.”
    “Thanks for calling.” Will flipped shut his cell phone and held it in his hand.
    “Who was that, Dad?”
    Will shook his head. He needed time to think about what to tell the children, and when, and how; he needed to find a way to help them understand the situation without terrifying them.
    “Come on,” Will said, “let’s ask Grandma what she wants for dinner.”
    David followed Will to the lake. Sarah was sitting in a folding chair, next to Maxi, who was playing next to her in the sand. Sam was splashing around in the water, ten feet in front of them. Sarah’s skin looked almost translucent in the sunlight. Will couldn’t tell her, not yet. He would urge her to sleep tonight, take a sleeping pill and sleep as deeply as she could. He would make all the plans and in the morning he’d tell her everything.
    They decided on spaghetti and meatballs, and Will went back up to the house to cook but most of all to make the call for help. He called Caroline first, and after leaving a message on her home machine rememberedthat she and Harry always took off the weeks just before and after Labor Day, shut down their law practice and traveled somewhere. This year it was Italy. They wouldn’t be back to their apartment in New York until late on Sunday and by then it would