Read Rachel Alexander 09 - Without a Word for Free Online Page A

the phone while Leon processed my request.
    “Why? She’s not going to tell you anything,” he whispered. “She’s not going to talk to you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
    I looked at my watch wondering if Madison was still up and if that was why he was whispering.
    “Even if you had a court order saying that you had to keep her with you, you’d probably still be able to occasionally hire a responsible person to take care of her when you weren’t able to.”
    “There is no court order. She hasn’t been arrested.”
    I ignored his comment. “Hire me,” I said. “I’m responsible and my rates can’t be beat.”
    Silence.
    “Don’t tell me you couldn’t use a break, Leon? I’m offering you a break.”
    “What’s this all about?”
    “You’re going to have to trust me on this, Leon,” I told him. Then the silence was coming from my end. “I’m not sure what it’s all about but I think that in order to do the job you hired me to do . . .“ Stopping in mid-sentence, sounding more like Leon than myself. “Here’s what I’m doing, Leon. I’m exploring every possible connection to Sally in the hope that someone or something will eventually lead me to her. That’s all I can do after all these years and that’s what spending time with Madison is all about.”
    “But Madison...“ He stopped. I figured I knew what he was going to tell me but I didn’t say so. “She won’t talk to you, Rachel. And even if she did, she was only seven when Sally left. I don’t know how much she remembers or if any of it would be useful to you. And she’s difficult. You won’t find it easy being with her. You can see that already, can’t you?”
    “I don’t have a lot of options, Leon.”
    I heard him blowing his nose. Then coughing. “Okay,” he said. “You do what you feel is best. I’ll explain it to Madison.”
    “No, don’t do that,” I said much too quickly.
    “Don’t explain it?”
    “What would you say?”
    “I’d say that...” He stopped, unable to answer my question. “What would I say?”
    “Does Madison understand the arrangement and the reason for it?”
    “I believe so.”
    “So she knows you’re not willing to leave her alone right now?”
    “Yes.”
    “Fine, then tell her that you have to do something on Saturday morning and you can’t take her with you. Tell her that I’m going to stay with her.” There was another silence on the other end of the phone. I couldn’t even hear Leon breathing. “Leon?”
    “Oh,” he said.
    “Oh, yes or oh, no?”
    “Oh, yes. I was nodding. I forgot you couldn’t see me.“
    “I’ll be there at ten,” I told him. “Day after tomorrow.“
    “I’m working on the papers for you.”
    “Good. When will I be able to get them?”
    “Tomorrow night, after eight.Madison goes to sleep at eight.”
    “I’ll be there,” I told him.
    “Just ring the bell. I’ll bring them down.”
    This time I was the one who nodded, but not until after Leon was off the line. It wasn’t that I’d forgotten that Leon couldn’t see me. I was nodding to myself, agreeing with my plan to try to get to know Madison. As I walked home, that’s all I could think about, wondering how I might connect somehow with this unreachable person, wondering when I did, if I did, what her response would be, wondering if she had, indeed, killed Dr. Bechman in a fit of rage, as the authorities presumed.
    When I got home, Dashiell and I stayed outside for a while. I thought I’d sit on the steps, look up through the branches of the oak tree in the center of the garden and watch the stars. But it was cloudy and there wasn’t much to see, the sky an inky black with just the occasional wisp of silver-gray cloud visible beyond the tree. Dashiell sat next to me, on the top step, waiting to see if I might toss a ball or order a pizza, or perhaps just waiting with no other purpose in mind. I thought we’d stay out for a while and then go in and go to bed, but I couldn’t