Rachel Alexander 09 - Without a Word

you,’ as if I’d slid a pan of hot chocolate chip cookies out of the oven and told her she could eat as many as she wanted, then take the rest home.” She shook her head. “She was a very needy little girl, even before Sally left, disappeared. Leon’s, well, vague. There’s something insubstantial about him, do you know what I mean?”
    I shrugged. I wasn’t here to share what I thought about Leon with her.
    “And Sally, she had her nose in a book most of the time.”
    “Studying?” I asked.
    “Or just reading. Even when I’d run into her at the playground, Madison would be on the slide or in the sandbox and Sally would be reading, not paying attention to Madison at all. And if Madison came up to her, she’d hold up one finger, you know, to tell her to wait until she’d finished the sentence she was reading or the paragraph she was underlining.”
    “What about Leon? Did he pay attention to Madison?” I asked, picturing the empty refrigerator, wondering when Madison’s sheets were changed last, or if she and her father ever went to the movies or sat on a bench by the river and watched the boats go by.
    “Oh, Leon’s Leon,” she said. “He’s a perfectly nice man, I suppose, and I’m sure he wouldn’t hurt a fly, but his head is in the clouds. After Sally left, before . . .“
    “The accident?”
    Nancy nodded. “I sent my maid down. I told him, ‘Leon, every other week. You’ve got to do it.’ The place was falling apart. If not for Annie, oh, I just can’t imagine.”
    “But he must care for Madison. He hired me to...“
    “He’s very protective. I’m sure he cares a lot, in his own way. He just doesn’t have very good parenting skills.”
    “And neither did Sally?”
    “I hate to speak ill of. . .“
    “We don’t know that,” I said.
    She nodded. “Right. But where could she be all these years?”
    “That’s what I’m hoping to find out. That’s why I’m here.“
    “Here? But what could I possibly tell you? What could I know?”
    “You’re helping a lot. I’m wondering, besides school, what Sally was interested in? What else did she like to do?” Nancy shrugged. “Read,” she said. “She just wanted to get lost in her books.”
    I heard the door open. A man’s voice said, “Show Mommy what you got her.” And a young girl, taller and heavier than Madison, appeared in the archway to the living room with a bouquet of flowers. She stopped when she saw me, or perhaps it was seeing Dashiell that made her pause.
    I stood. Dashiell stood, too, wondering if this was another little girl he was supposed to befriend. But then Sam put his hands on Alicia’s shoulders, ready to snatch her out of harm’s way, so I dropped my palm in front of Dashiell’s face, signaling him to stay where he was.
    Nancy got up to see me out. “I’ll explain later,” she said to Sam as we passed him.
    At the door, I thanked her for her help. She wished me luck. I was grateful. I thought luck was exactly what I needed, as much of it as I could get.
    I took the stairs down to the third floor and rang Nina Reich’s bell, but there was no answer. So I wrote a note on one of my cards and slipped it under her door. I took the stairs again, to the first floor and the apartment under Leon’s. Ted was home, but apparently I woke him up. I apologized, told him who I was, why I was there, and offered to come back later. He turned around, padding back toward the kitchen.
    “You drink coffee?” he asked without turning or stopping. He looked lost in his striped velour robe, Jacob’s coat of many colors, a small, slim man with tousled hair and sleepy eyes.
    “Tea,” I said, wondering how I had the nerve to be so demanding when I’d just woken up a perfect stranger.
    “Caf or decaf?” He turned around this time. “I was hoping he’d do something,” he said. “ Something. He sure took his good old time. Go sit down, Rachel. I’m going to take a sec and get dressed while the water boils.”
    “You’re sure? I can come back later.”
    “Sit, sit,” he said. “I’ll only be a minute.”
    It was funny to be in Ted’s apartment after being in Leon’s. The layout was the same, the style another story. Where Leon’s cluttered dining room began, Ted had a carousel horse facing the entrance, head down, mouth open, a foreleg bent and raised. The body of the horse was white, the leather saddle trimmed in gold. Beyond the horse was a round marble table, white, with leather chairs, a