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Õèìèÿ×åð÷åíèåÝêîëîãèÿÝêîíîìèêàÝëåêòðîíèêà

CHAPTER THREE

×èòàéòå òàêæå:
  1. A DOG AND THREE DOLLARS
  2. A. Listen to the description of the drilling process and fill in the missing words (no more than THREE words). The first word is given as an example.
  3. Calculation arithmetic means by three ways (by a simple mean, weighted mean in discrete and interval variational series of distribution). Conclusions.
  4. CHAPTER 1
  5. Chapter 1
  6. Chapter 1
  7. CHAPTER 1
  8. Chapter 1 The Departure of Boromir
  9. Chapter 1 THE DEPARTURE OF BOROMIR
  10. Chapter 1 The Taming of Sméagol

The phone rang at seven o’clock and Addy fumbled for the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Addy? It’s Karen Kaczarowski. I mean, this is Officer Kaczarowski. I’m calling on official business.”

When Addy heard Karen’s voice, the sleepy fog inside her brain cleared instantly. Karen Kaczarowski. She hadn’t heard her name in ages. But Addy had thought about her occasionally. Her voice, even after all these years, made her shiver. It was as though they had spoken only yesterday.

“What is it, Officer?” Addy questioned stiffly. Karen couldn’t possibly think she could simply call and Addy would crawl back to her. Karen had betrayed her, and she would never forget that.

“I’m sorry to be the one to bring you bad news, Addy. Your grandmother passed away yesterday.”

Addy gasped, her hand flying to her throat. “What happened?”

“I arrived at the scene at six fifteen p.m.,” Karen recited, as though reading from notes. “A neighbor phoned to say that she had found Adelaide Cooper, your grandmother, dead in the backyard of her home. A large piece of space debris, approximately thirty-six by twenty-five by eighteen inches, evidently killed her. Authorities are examining the object to determine its origin, but initial assessments identify it as a piece of communications equipment from a Russian Soyuz orbital module. That’s all we have at the moment.”

“What about Tommy?” Addy’s heart thumped wildly. Dazed, she didn’t ask herself what else could go wrong because, with her luck, anything could happen.

“He’s okay. He’s still up in his tree, but keeps asking where his grandma is. Mrs. Sweetwater from next door and, uh, I are keeping an eye on him.”

Addy sat up and swung her legs to the floor, then shoved her hand into her hair and scratched her head roughly, trying to clear her mind. Poor Grandma. Her eyes burned and she swallowed convulsively. She didn’t want to cry, at least not with Karen on the phone.

“Are you all right, Addy?”

“I’m fine.” Addy wanted no sympathy from Karen. She was still angry at her. The intensity of her pain had lessened over the years, but a small flicker of resentment still lingered. She was surprisingly glad, though, to hear Karen’s voice and was comforted that Karen had called, rather than some stranger who didn’t know Tommy or understand his special needs.

“I’ll see if I can get a flight out today and will let you know when I’ll arrive. Please tell Tommy that I’m coming and to not be afraid.”

“I’d be happy to pick you up at the airport.”

“No, thank you. I need to rent a car anyway.”

It was so tempting to let Karen take care of her again, especially now that she had so much to do and think about. What would she do with her brother? He would never survive the move from Maryland to California. The farm where he grew up was all he knew, and she couldn’t possibly ask him to leave his tree house. What would the farm bring? The house was nearly a hundred years old. What state of repair was it in?

“Well, okay. Call me so I can tell Tommy.”

“I will.”

 

Unable to get a flight the same day, she booked an early morning flight from Oakland to Baltimore. She had a quick shower and a cup of coffee, packed enough clothes for two weeks, and with the rest of the afternoon to kill, drove into Alameda to the office. She wanted to find out more about what was going on, but the yellow tape across the door and a large chain with a padlock told her all she needed to know. She obviously wouldn’t have to worry about work on Monday.

Still, she needed to confirm exactly what was happening.

She dug into her purse for her cell phone and the business card of the FBI agent who had interrogated her. When he didn’t answer, she left a message.

She returned home, still in shock over her grandmother’s death. Her grandmother had taken care of her and her brother for fifteen years, ever since their anthropologist parents were reported missing in the Amazon jungle. Addy was ten years old, and her brother Tommy was seven. He had climbed up into the oak tree and he never came down from it, clearly believing that he was a bird and the tree house his nest. Addy believed it was his way of dealing with the loss.

He didn’t seem to remember their parents at all, and even Addy retained only shimmering memories. Were they in fact actual recollections or fantasies she had created of what she wished to remember? The faded photographs in family albums revealed a rather clownish couple wearing a vast array of tribal attire, from headgear to footwear.

As a child, Addy had giggled at the funny images, but now they appeared ridiculous. Her parents had been foolhardy, which had probably caused their death. Why couldn’t they have been more like real parents and gone to an office every day, or stayed home and baked cookies like her grandmother?

Addy’s throat tightened and her eyes burned. Her grandmother had been her entire world. Even living in California and being with Maureen, Addy had still considered Deale her home. Now that she and Tommy were alone, she would have to create a new home for them, one where Tommy would feel equally safe and loved. She only hoped she could be as strong and competent as her grandmother.

When the gentle chime alerted passengers of the plane’s descent into BWI, Addy looked up from CPA Today and out the window. The plane circled the city and the harbor that prevented its further expansion east.

She was coming home for only the second time in almost seven years. She had meant to go off to college for a few years, returning for summer vacations, then move back permanently after she graduated.

But she met Maureen, a cheerleader at Berkeley, and within weeks had moved in with her in a rush of hormonal necessity.

Grandma Adelaide, Addy’s namesake, supported her desire to stay in California. Jobs were far more plentiful and better paying there. Addy needed to make her own way in life, her grandmother said. She was young and didn’t need to take care of her brother. That would come soon enough.

But the frequent checks Addy sent home for Tommy’s support didn’t help assuage her guilt over abandoning him.

The one time she had visited, Maureen had come with her. She despised everything about Deale, and they never returned.

Addy didn’t like to think about her other reason for leaving Maryland—Karen Kaczarowski. They had known each other since Karen’s family moved from Fort Meade to Deale. Karen had made Addy laugh on the first day of second grade, and they became instant best friends. All the way through high school they shared everything, including birthdays and life events, both momentous and mundane.

But in their junior year they discovered they were more than simply friends. Addy would never forget their first kiss, which was unlike anything she had experienced before or since. They were in love from the very beginning, and it made the infidelity all the more painful.

Addy had been hunting Karen after gym class during third period one day. The hot shower had made her horny, and she needed the release that Karen was always willing to provide.

Merely the idea of Karen’s hands roaming her heated flesh aroused her. In her rush to find her, she hadn’t knocked on Miss Wilson’s office door and had burst in upon them.

At first the scene in front of her didn’t make sense. Why did Karen fall off Miss Wilson’s desk and fumble with her jeans, pulling them up from around her ankles? Perhaps Karen had injured herself during volleyball, so Addy moved toward her to see if she could help. But something in Miss Wilson’s rugged, confident face made her stop, an expression she had never seen on her—embarrassment. Then it dawned on Addy—Karen and Miss Wilson were having sex.

The airplane’s touchdown jolted Addy from her reverie.

When they arrived at the gate and the “fasten seat belts” light had been turned off, she gathered her belongings, neatly folded her navy blue blanket, and followed the signs to Hertz.

 

The airline’s Web site announced that Addy’s plane had arrived on time, so in less than two hours Addy would be in Deale. Karen already had sweaty palms.

She had never stopped thinking about Addy. She had screwed up their relationship back in high school and felt guilty ever since. And while she felt terrible about Addy’s grandmother, she was excited about seeing Addy again. She had always fantasized that they would get back together and hoped they could at least reconcile.

“Hey, Karen, call on line two.”

Karen punched the button on her desk phone. “Deputy Kaczarowski.”

“Deputy? It’s Myrna Sweetwater.”

“Yes, Mrs. Sweetwater. Is something wrong with Tommy?”

“No, dear, he’s fine. Though when I took his lunch earlier, he flapped his arms and ran around the tree house with his usual ‘Caw! Caw!’ I’m guessing he didn’t like the grilled-cheese sandwich and tomato soup. I hoped they would comfort him.”

“Ravens don’t like tomato soup. But I’ll bet he ate the grilled cheese.”

“Why, mercy me. Yes, he did. Left only the crusts. How’d you guess?”

Karen smiled into the phone. “When you’re around Tommy long enough, you begin to realize these things.”

“Well, he was asking for you again. He seems to be a little more unsettled than usual.”

“I can imagine.” Change upset Tommy. When his parents were reported missing, something inside his brain had snapped.

The stability of his grandmother’s care had kept him from completely disengaging from society, although Addy’s departure had obviously affected him deeply, even though she called and wrote him every week.

Karen couldn’t blame him. Addy’s absence had upset her too.

She could almost feel the sting on her face from the slap Addy had left her with. Her own guilt hadn’t helped matters either.

“Kaczarowski, come here for a sec.”

Karen’s boss stood in the doorway of his office, and she waved her acknowledgement.

“I’ve got to go, Mrs. Sweetwater. But tell Tommy I’ll be over later. We’ll have dinner when his sister arrives.”

She hung up the phone and strode to the office.

“Yeah, Chief?”

“Got someone on their way to see you.” He tossed her a file.

“FBI. Coming out to investigate something going on around here. Something to do with the dead fish we’ve been seeing lately.”

“InfraGard?”

InfraGard was a collaborative effort between institutions of higher learning, commercial enterprises, various levels of law enforcement, and Homeland Security to prevent hostile acts against the United States. Karen had become a member a few years ago as part of her involvement with law enforcement, but also because of her love of the Chesapeake. She flipped through the file, scanning the documents.

“Yup. I’m putting you on it. But this agent is undercover, so only you and I will know why they’re here. If it’s terrorists, we need to find them, and find them fast.”




Äàòà äîáàâëåíèÿ: 2015-09-11; ïðîñìîòðîâ: 20 | Ïîìîæåì íàïèñàòü âàøó ðàáîòó | Íàðóøåíèå àâòîðñêèõ ïðàâ

IV. Îñíîâàíèÿ äëÿ ïðåäîñòàâëåíèÿ åäèíîâðåìåííîé ñîöèàëüíîé ïîääåðæêè | CHAPTER ONE | CHAPTER FIVE | CHAPTER SIX | CHAPTER SEVEN | CHAPTER EIGHT | CHAPTER NINE | CHAPTER TEN | CHAPTER ELEVEN | CHAPTER TWELVE |


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