Chapter 7 - What Lily Saw At The Gas Station
The vestry was too warm. The little radiator under the window had been running since morning and the air smelled like old wood polish and lilies. Claire sat on the edge of the folding chair I'd pulled out for her, her veil bunched in her lap. Lily stood beside me, her hand still tucked in mine, her white dress wrinkled now at the hem.
I didn't know how to ask the next question without it sounding like an accusation. Claire was staring at the pearl in my palm like it might disappear.
"It's not my mother's," she said again, quieter this time. "I told you. I lost one yesterday. I borrowed these."
I nodded, but I didn't answer. Lily shifted her weight against my leg.
"Daddy," she said, "I saw her yesterday."
Claire's head came up fast.
Lily looked at me, not at Claire. Her brow was furrowed the way it got when she was trying to get a story exactly right for her teacher.
"After the dinner," she said. "At the gas station."
I crouched down so I was level with her. The tuxedo pants pulled tight at the knee. "What gas station, sweetheart?"
"The one by the church," she said. "With the big sign. You got me the gummy bears there."
The QuickTrip on Highway 12. Two blocks from the church. We'd stopped there after the rehearsal dinner because Lily said she was hungry again and Claire had gone to take a call outside the restaurant. I remembered telling Claire we'd circle the block and pick her up.
Claire's hands tightened around her veil. "Lily, honey, you were in the car."
"I saw you," Lily said, earnest and a little louder now. She turned to me. "She was by the side. Not inside. There was a lady with a blue box."
I felt my pulse kick once. "What kind of blue box?"
"Like for jewelry," Lily said. She held her hands about six inches apart. "Velvety. The lady opened it and Claire looked inside. Then Claire gave her a little box too. I thought you were buying candy."
Claire went pale. I saw the color leave her face under the warm light, even through her makeup. Her breathing got shallow.
"Mark," she said quickly, "it was my cousin. Jen. She was returning some jewelry to me. That was all. We met there because it was on her way."
Lily frowned. "She wasn't Jen. Jen has yellow hair."
Claire forced a small laugh that didn't land. "She had a hat on, sweetie. You didn't see her well from the car."
I stood slowly. The gold band was still in my vest pocket, a hard little circle against my ribs. I looked at Claire and tried to keep my voice even.
"You told me yesterday you were on the phone with your mom outside the restaurant," I said. "You said Jen couldn't make the rehearsal because she was working."
Claire didn't answer right away. Her left hand rose again toward her ear and then stopped mid-air, like she caught herself. She folded both hands in her lap instead.
"It was a quick handoff," she said. "I didn't want to make a big deal about it before the wedding. She had my grandmother's earrings, she was bringing them back. That's why I had them today."
Lily tugged my sleeve. "But you gave her the box, Claire. The lady gave you the blue one. You gave her the small one."
The room was quiet except for the radiator ticking. Outside the vestry door I could hear the muffled murmur of the sanctuary, guests shifting in pews, someone coughing.
Claire looked at Lily, then at me, and her eyes were wet now but she wasn't crying. She was holding very still.
"Mark, please," she said. "It was nothing. You're making this into something because Lily's confused and we're all stressed. Can we just go back out there? People are waiting."
I looked down at Lily. She wasn't confused. Her eyes were wide and clear and she was watching my face to see if I believed her. I squeezed her hand once.
"Lily, was the lady's blue box open or closed when you first saw it?" I asked.
"Open," she said right away. "It had shiny earrings inside. Like Claire's but not the same."
That detail landed hard. Claire closed her eyes for a second.
I kept my voice low and controlled. "Claire, who was the woman at the gas station?"
She swallowed. "I told you. My cousin."
"Which cousin? What's her last name? Where does she live?" I asked. "Because we can call her. We can clear this up in two minutes and go back to the altar."
Claire's mouth opened, then shut. She glanced toward the vestry door like she wanted someone to knock and save her.
I didn't push harder. I didn't need to. Lily had given me something I could check without a fight. A place. A time. A blue jewelry case that didn't belong to any cousin I knew.
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I put my hand on Lily's shoulder. "Thank you for telling me exactly what you saw," I said to her. "That was very brave."
Claire stared at the floor, her veil twisted tight in her fists, and I knew the cousin story wouldn't hold for another minute if I drove two blocks to look at that gas station's cameras.
