Sliver Moon Bay: The Looking by Ivana Hruba Page B

missing
child. Even Lilian’s registered this, despite her medicated
oblivion; she’s bursting into fresh tears, dissolving in them like
a soggy tissue. Is this all she can do? It’s enough to make one
angry. But I’m still here, thinking for the both of us.
    I answer Detective Martin’s
questions. He wants to know our daily routine; what Starling and I
did when we were together, which, he understood, was most of the
time. He throws a glance at Lilian. She, of course, is oblivious.
Too busy crying. Too busy pitying herself to help locate her
missing child. It’s a good thing Chris is holding it together. He
explains that Lilian is not well, that she’s a delicate, frail
person, and if she falls ill when he’s away working, I take care of
Starling. Yes, I have missed a bit of school, yes, this will be
addressed and I will be attending classes regularly in the future,
and now can we please try to find my daughter? Chris assumes a
stance like he’s facing off old Drake; he has crossed his arms,
spread his legs wide apart. He’s ready for a confrontation. His
defensiveness has not escaped Detective Martin’s notice. He takes
note of it alright cause this here is a clever cookie. With a lot
of expertise in the field.
    Captain Josh registers the
shift in the atmosphere. He’s trying to be helpful so he’s doing
his best to diffuse the situation. He’s suggesting we go get a cup
of tea from the canteen, just me and them. Give Lilian time to
compose herself. Chris too. But Chris isn’t having any of it. He
hasn’t much respect for Captain Josh to heed his advice. I really
don’t blame him. I wouldn’t take notice of anything Captain Josh
has to say. The dude’s lived in Sliver Moon Bay all his life. He
married Silly Bitch, right out of high school for Chrissakes so
what does that say about him? He settles for what he can see. But
he’s no eye for detail, if you ask me. He’s not found Starling. How
hard can it be to locate one little girl when there’s only one
place to look? Comb the beach, Chrissakes. That’s all she knows.
That’s where we always go to play. We shouldn’t have to call on a
big town detective to figure this out. He’s going to be nothing but
a nuisance. He’s going to dig into people’s lives. I can see
Lilian’s going to be in pieces, permanently. She’s gonna up the
drinking, up the mental-rama she’s powerless against under much
less stress, let alone this. It’ll crush her. So it’s only Chris
who can be counted on. He has a one track mind. He’s not going to
give up. That just leaves old Drake. But he’s been doing things he
might not want people to know about. He might derail the
investigation with new, unhelpful ideas to take the heat off him.
It’d be good if he just did everyone a favour. But we won’t worry
as yet; the way things are going, I don’t think he’s gonna be a
problem.
    I’m looking around me and I see
that I really need to get out of here. We have a little girl to
find. And somebody’s got to take charge.
    Then Lilian rallies her wits
about her. She tells Detective Martin about the pictures she’s
found in old Drake’s house. Of course, our house is gutted so
nothing of the sort is going to be found so it’s just her word. And
Chris’s. They’re telling the man about the trouble with Assassin
and White Sox but conveniently nothing about Chris stealing his old
man’s dope. I can see Chris’s mind ticking just so. I see what he’s
thinking. What good would it do? —Exactly. Detective Martin writes
everything down, all of Chris’s suspicions about old Drake. How he
took Starling before he started the fire. To teach us a lesson,
says Chris. To pay us back cause he thinks we killed his stupid
dog. He’s set on revenge. He’s already killed our cat. And he knows
Lilian’s found his sick pictures. So he’s stolen our little girl
and set our house on fire. The whole
diving-into-the-flames-looking-for-Starling scene was a ruse. He’s
just that