They stood in Roydon’s study. “You’re going to get rid of that guitar? The one signed by Johnny Cash. At a garage sale. It’s probably worth a lot of money,” Sarah said. Even though the area was rural, people would flock to this garage sale once word got out.
“I don’t need the money. I need revenge. Hmm, maybe that should be my next song. What do you think?”
Carol and Sarah looked at each other. “It sounds good?” Carol’s voice went up on the word “good.”
“You’re sure Roydon doesn’t want any of this stuff?” Sarah asked again. Roydon had walked away not only from his family, but everything else in his life. It didn’t make sense, even after June had shown Sarah the emails from Roydon saying he didn’t want any of it.
That night they sat around the kitchen island. One that was so big it really could be an island.
“I’m writing a new song,” June said.
Sarah thought that was a good sign. Anything to get June’s mind off the nanny. “Tell us about it.”
“It’s called ‘You Made My Halo Crack.’ It’s a song of love, betrayal, and revenge.”
Sarah and Carol exchanged glances. “It must be therapeutic,” Carol said.
“Damn right. It’s perfect for Carrie Underwood. She loves a good revenge song.”
“I just don’t get it,” Sarah said. “Roydon’s always been so crazy for you.”
“Yeah, well now he’s just crazy. Maybe that would be a good song ‘Now He’s Just Crazy.’”
“Are you sure?” Carol asked.
“After he left I found a burner phone in his study. Full of torrid text messages.”
This was hard to ask, but something nagged at Sarah. A burner phone carelessly left out. Roydon didn’t want any of his things. It just didn’t add up. “Were there any, uh, personal photos?”
“No, but the messages said it all.”
“When’s the last time you talked to him?” Sarah asked.
“I haven’t. We are corresponding through email.”
Sarah thought that anyone could send an email. “And when’s the last time he talked to the kids?”
Tears spilled out of June’s eyes. The first full on tears Sarah had seen since they’d arrived. Before this she’d been pissed. Her lip quivered. “He hasn’t.” The tears overflowed, followed by sobs, and a gut-wrenching moan.
Carol glared at Sarah across the island. “I’m sorry, June.” Sarah reached over and patted her hand.
A “yoo-hoo” from the back door saved them. A redhead with big hair and too much makeup walked in and set a bottle of bourbon in the middle of the isle. “Looks like y’all need some of this.”
“Hey, Ella Mae,” June said, “Let me grab some glasses.”
“I’ll get them for you,” Ella Mae sashayed over to a cabinet and grabbed four on-the-rocks glasses.
They’d met Ella Mae yesterday when they arrived. She’d been “keeping company,” as she said, with June like someone had died. Ella Mae was June’s closest neighbor. You could see her house on a crest of a hill across the way.
Ella Mae splashed bourbon into four glasses giving June a heavy pour. Bourbon wasn’t Sarah’s favorite, but she put on her game face. She’d already made June cry once and didn’t want to do it again. After they clinked glasses, Sarah knocked back a tiny bit of the bourbon.
“Now, June honey, why on earth are you crying?” Ella Mae asked. “Roydon ain’t worth crying over.”
“You’re right, Ella Mae. You always have been.” She took another large swallow, intercepting the raised-eyebrows look Carol and Sarah exchanged. “Ella Mae’s my best friend ever since I moved here.”
Sarah had heard all about Ella Mae over the years. She’d greeted June, delighted to have a new neighbor close to her age. They had their babies at about the same time, took care of each other, went horseback riding together, and shared their secrets. June was lucky to have her.
“Ella Mae told me early on that Roydon had a wandering eye. She wasn’t the only one around here that warned me Roydon fell hard and left easy. Hey, that would make a good song.”
“But you are the only one he married,” Carol said.
“And you stayed married a long time,” Sarah added.
June’s eyes watered again and Ella Mae gave Sarah a ‘what the hell’ look.
“Hey, June do you remember the time…” Sarah started off with a tale about a night that Carol, June, and she had decided a late-night dip in Monterey Bay was a good idea—until the sheriff’s deputy arrived.
“Remember how June buckled her knees. That young deputy almost had a heart attack trying to catch June before she hit the sand?” Carol said.
“Well, he let us go, didn’t he?” June said.
“After he got your number,” Sarah added.
They spent the rest of the evening drinking bourbon and laughing over crazy things they did when they were young. It was like a tonic.
Sarah walked Ella Mae to the door as Carol and June said their goodnights and went upstairs. “Keep June out of the nanny’s room if you can,” Ella Mae said.
“Why?”
Ella Mae shuddered. “She was obsessed with Roydon. There’s pictures of him plastered everywhere. I went up there to search for clues of their whereabouts right after they first took off.” Ella Mae shook her head. “It’s bad. I plan to clear it out for June but haven’t been able to sneak back over. Maybe you can do it and save June from seeing it.”
* * * *
Sarah went up to Roydon’s study. She’d been in here on a past visit, and it hadn’t changed much. The walls were lined with photos of June and the kids. Yes, there were also some mementos of his singing career, but the room was more homage to his family than anything else. Old maps lined one wall. Why would a man who had a room like this run off with the nanny?
Sarah knew celebrity marriages weren’t easy and lord knows Roydon had his faults. He had a big ego, but when it came to June and the kids, he had always put them first. Roydon hadn’t had a big hit in five years, hadn’t been nominated for an award for six. Did the nanny stroke his ego and fill something empty in him? Maybe Sarah could slow this whole garage sale thing down until she had more answers or until Roydon came to his senses.
Sarah had one more stop before she headed to bed. She grabbed keys off the hook by the back door and climbed the steps to the apartment above the garage where the nanny had lived. Seconds later she stood in the middle of the nanny’s room. Holy crap. Sarah turned in a slow circle of the spacious studio apartment. Almost every inch of wall space was posters or framed pictures of Roydon. Some had been printed out and some had June cut out. Others were pictures of the nanny laughing with the kids and Roydon. Pictures that June must have taken.
The nanny was cute but not a stunner. She wasn’t the young ingénue that Sarah had expected. She was just on the far side of plump, but it suited her. She did have dark eyes, gorgeous thick hair, and lush lips. Dimples lent her face a happy look. But the way she’d betrayed June and the kids meant her heart must be darker than mountain shadows.
Sarah started going through the room methodically—a skill she’d learned doing garage sales. Halfway through, she realized she was too tired to finish. So groggy that she wouldn’t know if she’d found anything important. She decided to call it a night.
As Sarah left the nanny’s room, she wondered if June had known just how obsessed the nanny had been with Roydon. It was scary, and it left Sarah wondering if all was as it seemed, or if something else was at play here. The idea that Roydon would run off with the obsessed nanny didn’t sit well. Sarah crept back to her own room, plagued by questions. Questions she needed to ask June but was hesitant to. June might be full of bravado, but Sarah knew she was fragile. Who wouldn’t be under the circumstances?
* * * *
The next morning Carol was sitting alone at the big island when Sarah walked into the kitchen, grabbed a cup, and poured coffee. A plate of croissants sat in the middle of the island. She snagged
one and put it on a small plate. Next to Carol was an empty coffee mug with June’s favorite shade of lipstick on the rim. A croissant sat on a plate beside it, crumbled to pieces, but not eaten.
“Where’s June?” Sarah asked.
“She and Ella Mae took the horses out for a morning ride,” Carol said.
“I’m glad she’s keeping up some routine. Her days must be pretty empty without Roydon and the kids here.”
Carol nodded. She had a husband and kids of her own.
“Carol, I think something is off here.”
“No kidding. Roydon’s a dick.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m starting to wonder if he left on his own.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you think it’s strange that no one has heard from him except through emails?”
Carol shrugged. “Not especially.”
“He loved June. And even if he left her, I can’t imagine him cutting the kids out of his life.”
Carol frowned. “Roydon was always crazy about them.” Carol chewed her croissant while she puzzled over what Sarah had just said. “What’s your point?”
“I’m not sure, but what if he didn’t leave voluntarily. What if the nanny kidnapped him?” Sarah sipped her coffee watching Carol over the rim of the cup.