I shrugged. “You weren’t very specific in defining it,” I said. “But that’s hardly my fault.”
I started back across the pool, this time at a slow, leisurely pace. A few seconds later, I heard the movement of the water behind me as Alistair followed.
I was about halfway across the pool when I felt Alistair reach out and grab my ankle. He pulled me toward him, against the hard warm panes of his chest. I could smell his scent—a hint of spice and something exotic and sweet, like tuberose blossoms. He looked down at me, and I knew he was going to kiss me before he did. He tilted my chin up to meet him. He grazed my lips gently, and then his hand slid into my hair, and he pulled me harder toward him. He opened my lips with his tongue and kissed me roughly. I was breathless, my heart hammering in my chest, the apex of my thighs aching.
When it was over, he looked at me, his eyes hooded.
“That,” he whispered against my lips, “was a kiss.”
Seventeen
Charlie Calloway
2017
When I returned from Camp Wallaby, there was a large box waiting for me on my dorm room bed. Inside was a letter from Uncle Teddy.
As promised, kiddo, here is everything from Mr. Lynch, the private investigator.
There were stacks of thick manila envelopes with labels like “Phone Records” and “Credit Card Bills.” I found a drive labeled “Interviews” and plugged it into my laptop. Several folders popped up instantly with names and dates. Nearly everyone on both sides of my immediate family had been interviewed, as well as close friends of the family and employees. My father’s family was at the top of the list because it was in alphabetical order. I wondered whose interview I should listen to first. I had already heard what Eugenia had to say—that my mother struggled with depression and that might have had something to do with her disappearance. I clicked on my aunt Grier’s folder. She was my aunt by marriage and a psychologist. She had gone to Harvard and gotten her doctorate at NYU. If anyone were to weigh in on my mother’s mental state and how it may have related to her disappearance, it would be my aunt Grier.
I clicked on the audio file and it started to play. I put on my headphones in case Drew came into our room.
“State your name, the date, and your relationship to Grace Calloway,” came a male’s voice. It was a deep, rough voice that I assumed belonged to Mr. Lynch.
“Grier Calloway. October twenty-second, 2007. Grace Calloway is my sister-in-law.”
October 22, 2007—that was more than two months after my mother went missing, and a few weeks after the bank tapes were discovered.
“Mrs. Calloway, would you say you and your sister-in-law are close?”
“Not particularly,” Grier said. “Given her history with my husband, I think it’s only natural.”
What did that mean? Did Uncle Teddy not like my mother for some reason?
“But we were cordial enough, and we saw each other at family gatherings and over the holidays quite a bit,” Grier’s voice went on.
“And what is your impression of her character?”
“That’s a complicated question,” Grier said, “because my impression of Grace was influenced by events that transpired before I even met her. But I would say that, looking at her history, Grace is a creature of habit. She exhibits similar patterns of behavior—namely abandonment—and seems driven by a singular desire.”
“And what desire is that?”
“Well, on the face of it, money. But of course, there’s always an underlying cause for this desire. Maybe to Grace, money represents a sense of freedom or security she never had in her working-class family. Maybe money gave her a sense of power. I couldn’t tell you; I didn’t know her well enough.”
“When you say Grace is a creature of habit, can you give me an example of what you mean?” Mr. Lynch asked.
“Well, take what she did to Teddy,” Aunt Grier said. “It was no coincidence that Grace settled near Princeton and met Teddy. She was clearly hunting for an affluent partner. Teddy was a good catch—he came from a well-established, wealthy family, and so Grace invested her time in him, in their relationship. And then when she met Alistair, who was obviously the favored heir, someone who was already positioned for leadership at the Calloway Group, she latched onto him. When she saw an opportunity to secure him, she did. She saw it as trading up.”
I could hear my heart beating in my chest. I felt dizzy. My mother dated Uncle Teddy? She left him for my father? Was this true?
“And you see both of these relationships as primarily motivated by money?” asked Mr. Lynch.
“Yes,” Aunt Grier said. “Everyone is acting as if Grace taking this money and running off is some kind of surprise. But if you look at her history, it’s a behavior she’s exhibited repeatedly. Grace is, like most people, a creature of habit. Here she had a chance to get Alistair’s money without any of the obligations or entrapments—no more husband, no more children, nothing tying her down. Grace saw an opportunity, once again, to trade up, and she took it.”
I slammed my laptop shut. I didn’t want to hear any more. I couldn’t. My mother had used Uncle Teddy and my father for their money, and then, as soon as she had the chance, she just ran off with it? This whole time, she had just been manipulating all of us? And what did that make me? Just some by-product of her greed—some entanglement, or “obligation” or “entrapment,” that stood in the way of what she really wanted?
Not to mention—what other dark secrets about their past were my family hiding from me?
