Lex wailed from under the washcloth, “She tried to make me do a bad thing!”
“I only want him to come and talk to Drew.”
Lex wailed again. He tore the washcloth off his face and ran upstairs. A bedroom door slammed, and the noise of his sobs came muffled through the walls. Theo banged her saucepans with her spoon. Lacey wished they would all shut up and let her think. She almost understood . . .
“We couldn’t handle him when he got into his teens,” Harry said. “Whenever he wasn’t in detention, the county put him in a group home. He used to run away and go back next door.”
“Did he ever talk to Drew?”
“He never went in. He set fires in the yard, but he never got close enough to the house to do any damage. Mostly he’d just stand across the street and shout. I finally made him understand he could never go there.”
“Sounds like the lesson took,” Lacey said, listening to the cries from upstairs. “What’d you do, beat it into him with live wires?”
“Repetition and discipline,” Harry said. “You can teach Lex anything eventually.”
“Well, isn’t that nice.”
“It’s too dangerous for him. I owe it to Dora to keep him safe.”
“Too dangerous for him? What about Tyler Craddock? What about Greeley Honeywick’s baby?”
“He’s my sister’s child; he’s all that’s left.”
“Drew’s left. He says they left him all alone. Do you owe it to Dora to help him?”
“Why do you think I held on to the house all these years?”
“Why’d you sell it to us?” Lacey asked the question quickly, without letting any tone of anger or accusation color her voice. Harry would talk about Lex when he wouldn’t talk about Drew? She was fine with that. Not why did you sell me the house when you knew it would kill me but why did you sell the house, after you kept it so long?
“You were perfect, you even look like Dora. Your hair’s the same color. And you were a teacher and an artist. I thought you could help Drew, if anyone could.”
“Help him? How?”
Harry ducked under the table to give Theo a metal spoon. He showed her how to hit the pans with the metal spoon, and how the two spoons made different noises. Theo gave a baby screech of pure joy and banged louder than ever.
“You thought I would die there,” Lacey said.
“No, no,” Harry said from under the table.
“Yes, yes. I’d die and I’d go on and Drew would go with me. He would recruit me to be his guide, like you said.”
“No, no.” Harry came up from under the table. His face was red. “I never wanted anyone to get hurt. I thought you could talk to Drew.”
“Talk to him? You sold us the house so I would die there, me and my baby both. Don’t you lie to me.” This sweet old man, whom everyone liked and respected: she was going to make him face what he had done.
“So many people have died.” Harry leaned across the table to grasp Lacey’s hands. She pushed her chair back. “When I put people in the house, people die, babies die. When I live in the house myself, Ted’s kids start seeing him in Australia. Same thing when I leave it empty. They’re my grandchildren. If only one more person had to die, I thought, someone who could take Drew away, it would be the last one.”
“Two people,” Lacey said. “You had no right.”
“There wasn’t any other way.”
“Why not take Lex inside and let him talk to Drew?”
“No. I owe it to Dora. He’s all that’s left.”
Lacey rolled her shoulder. It was only bruised, and the frozen peas had soothed away the pain. “He’s all that’s left? Then you won’t mind if I do this.” She stood up and dragged Theo from under the table. Lacey got her hands under the baby’s armpits and hauled her up to balance her on her right hip. Theo’s left leg pressed against the undercurve of Lacey’s pregnant belly, and the baby kicked in greeting. Lacey turned toward the door, and Theo gave her a wet, soft kiss.
Harry started toward her, but the telephone rang, and Lex raised a new shriek of despair, and his uncertainty trapped him in the conflict of demands. “What are you doing? Where are you going?” he called after her.
At the front door, Lacey looked back. “Home,” she said. She walked out of Harry’s house with her double burden, her right leg almost buckling with each step. She crossed their two lawns and hurried up the front steps, getting herself and Theo inside and the door locked just as Harry reached the front door.
“I’ll call the police!” he shouted.