The Silent Girl

bond two people could know thanto stare death in the face together. Now they were about to find out if that bond could survive the acid test of a week in each other’s company, under civilized conditions.
    At the sound of the doorbell, she dried her hands on a dish towel and hurried down the hall, aware that her heart was suddenly thumping hard. Relax, he’s only a boy, she thought as she opened the front door. And was almost knocked down when an enormous black dog reared up to greet her, its two front paws landing on her chest.
    “Bear!
Down, boy!
” yelled Rat.
    She laughed as the dog gave her a sloppily joyful lick on her face. Then it dropped to all fours, tail wagging, and barked. Maura smiled at the boy, who looked thoroughly appalled by his companion’s bad manners. “Well?” she said. “Aren’t you going to give me a hug, too?”
    “Hello, ma’am,” he said and awkwardly wrapped long arms around her. She was startled by how much bigger he seemed, how much muscle he’d put on since she’d last seen him. Was it possible for a boy to grow so much in only a few months?
    “I missed you, Rat,” she murmured. “I missed you both so much.”
    Footsteps creaked on the porch stairs and the boy suddenly pulled away from her, as though embarrassed to be seen hugging her. Maura looked at the man now standing behind Rat. Anthony Sansone had always seemed a forbidding figure, physically imposing, his face impossible to read, but on this gloomy afternoon, he was smiling as he set down Rat’s backpack on the porch.
    “There you go, Julian,” he said.
    “Thank you for driving him all the way to Boston,” she said.
    “It was a pleasure, Maura. It gave us a chance to talk.” He paused, his gaze searching her face, and as always he seemed to see too much. “It’s been a long time since we spoke. How are you?”
    “I’m fine. Busy.” She forced a smile. “I never have any shortage of clients. Would you like to come in for a bit?”
    He looked at the boy, who’d been glancing back and forth between them, following their conversation with great interest. “No, Ishould let you and Julian catch up. Are you two going to be fine for the week?”
    “I have to go in to work Monday and Tuesday, but starting Wednesday I have some time off. We’ll take a tour of the city.”
    “Then I’ll pick you up next Saturday, Julian,” said Sansone, extending his arm to him.
    The man and boy shook hands. It was an oddly formal farewell, but between these two it seemed perfectly natural, and just what was expected. Rat waited until Sansone returned to his car and drove away. Only then did he look at Maura.
    “We talked about you,” he said. “On the drive down.”
    “All good things, I hope.”
    “I think he likes you. A lot.” Rat picked up his backpack. “But he’s kind of strange.”
    People could say the same about you, she thought, looking at the boy. About both of us. She draped an arm around him and felt him flinch at the unaccustomed affection. For too long, the boy had lived like a wild animal, foraging in the Wyoming mountains, and in his eyes she still saw traces of the abandoned child. The world had not been kind to Julian Perkins, and it would take time for him to trust another human being.
    They walked into the house, and the boy glanced around the living room. “Where did Bear go?”
    “I think he’s already made himself at home here. I bet he’s discovered all the goodies in the kitchen.”
    That was indeed where they found him, gobbling up the lamb trimmings that she’d placed in the ceramic dog bowl. She had never owned a dog, and the bowl was brand-new, as was the extra-large dog bed and the leash and the flea powder and the cans of Alpo stacked in the closet. Where the boy went, so did Bear, which meant that this week she was sharing her house with two alien creatures, a dog and a teenager. In the oven, drippings from the roasting lamb sizzled and she saw the boy lift his nose, like a beast scenting his supper.
    “Dinner should be ready in an hour. Let me show you your room,” she said and frowned at his backpack. “Where’s your suitcase?”
    “This is all I brought.”
    “Then it looks like you and I need to go shopping for clothes.”
    “No, I don’t really need anything,” he said as they walked up the hall. “We all wear uniforms at the school.”
    “This room’s yours.”
    Bear trotted in first, but the boy hesitated in the doorway, as if wondering whether a mistake