Rude Awakenings: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 2)

Chapter Twenty: Al, Sunday

Al looked over at Lauren from time to time as he drove them back, then checked his rearview mirror to make sure Sunny was following them. All was quiet. Lauren had Joe's phone plugged into a USB charger where, if it had been a car from when they grew up, a cigarette lighter and ashtray would have been. She obviously knew the code to unlock Joe's phone, and at the moment she was scrolling, though through what he didn't know.

She was quiet for a long time, and it made Al nervous. He wished he could see what she was looking at. Her delicate fingers tapped, expanded, pinched, flicked, and he was in the dark about what that meant.

"You'll need to give me directions to your parents' house," he said. "I don't think I've ever been there."

She nodded absently. "It's not terribly far from where we live. It's funny how Joe's parents, my parents, and we live in roughly the same area of Burnaby. A blessing, and sometimes a curse."

He drove in silence a little longer, but he couldn't help it anymore. "Is there anything on--"

"Al," she interrupted, "I have to take my children home. It's going to be a very delicate situation, because the first thing they're going to ask is where their dad is."

Al cleared his throat and said, "Yeah."

"I think... I think it might be best if, when we get to my parents' house, you quietly take your leave before I get to the door. I don't want you there when they ask that question, because I don't know how I'm going to answer, and if you're there I might break down, and I need to be strong for them. The Brentwood Skytrain station isn't too far away from there, if you don't mind taking it back home."

Al blinked in surprise. It seemed a completely reasonable thing to ask, but it also sounded like a brush-off. "Oh. Okay. What about Sunny?"

"I'll call him and tell him we'll split from here and call each other later." She used her own phone to do it, making sure to lock Joe's phone before she did.

The highway took them all the way back to the Willingdon Avenue exit in Burnaby, which Al took on Lauren's direction. After taking a few more turns, they were at the Hasegawa house, a small post-war two-bedroom home with a big yard. As soon as Al stopped the car, he got out, handed her the keys, and was about to walk away when Lauren said, "Hey, aren't you going to say goodbye?"

He turned. "That depends. Are you going to eventually tell me what's on that?"

She hesitated before answering. "I will tell you anything that is relevant to finding our errant spouses."

He nodded as if that were a good enough answer. There was something she saw on Joe's phone, he just knew it, something she didn't want him to see. He also knew, though, that if it had to do with Rachel, she would have shown him.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked.

She nodded, but her chin was quivering, and he knew she was barely keeping it together. "You're not angry, are you? That I'm sending you away? I mean, there really isn't anything more we can do right now except talk around it over and over again."

He sighed in resignation. "You're right, and you have to be there for your kids now."

She nodded. "It's like that joke about being a mom: going sky-diving with your kids, and yours is the only parachute that doesn't open, and when you hit the ground, you don't die, you just get up and make dinner."

He burst out laughing, but then to his surprise he felt tears in his eyes. He felt so sorry for her, she must have felt so alone. "I'll stay if you need me," he said, voice heavy. "I could help with whatever you need, making meals, whatever."