Nowhere Fast (A Mercy Watts Short) Read Online Free PDF Page A

patted my knee. “I’m glad you could come this morning.”
    Like I had a choice.
    “What did you find out?” she asked. I could see the other sisters cocking their heads to hear what I had to say. I told her what I could without embarrassing her or myself.
    After Mass ended, we walked down the center aisle. My head swiveled around, looking at the beauty and knowing I couldn’t catch it all. I headed to my favorite place, at least the favorite I was allowed to go into, The All Souls Chapel with its black and gold mosaics and winged hourglasses. Under the chapel arch, I spotted the Bled sisters, Myrtle and Millicent. It was their favorite, too. Myrtle and Millicent were my godmothers. When I was little, I called them my fairy godmothers. I spent a lot of Sunday mornings sitting between them, looking at the mosaics and being fed expensive French chocolates that they kept in gold foil boxes inside their Hermes handbags. They were the Bleds that had given Dad our house and had practically raised me. Considering the time they’d given me, the education, the art, the museums, you’d think I’d have turned out as elegant as they were, but my blood won and I turned out a Watts.
    I waved to them, kissed Aunt Miriam on the cheek, and threaded my way through the crowd to two little old ladies dressed like they should’ve been walking on a boulevard in Paris in 1935 rather than in St. Louis in the boring now.
    “Mercy, my love,” said Millicent. “So good to see you here.”
    If Aunt Miriam had said that I’d have felt guilty and resentful, but when Millicent said it I just felt happy to be seen.
    I hugged her and then Myrtle.
    “We were just going to lunch. Care to join us?” asked Myrtle.
    “I’d love to,” I said, looking down at my cotton sweater. “I’m not really dressed for it.” Lunch with my godmothers usually involved tuxedoed waiters.
    “No one will mind about that,” said Millicent, hooking her arm through mine. “We insist.”

    I got back to my apartment at one-thirty bloated with clams casino and veal scallopini. Pete had left me a note. He’d been called in to cover someone else, so I had the rest of the day free. But I still hadn’t interviewed Charley’s partner in crime, Rachel.  
    I called and spoke to Rachel’s mother. Rachel would speak to me in an hour. Rachel Steinburg lived in Maryland Heights, too. Her house was a cinch to find and Rachel was standing on the stoop waiting for me when I arrived. She walked halfway across the lawn toward my car and waited. She was tall for thirteen and well into the gangly stage. She had dark hair, braces, and painful-looking skin. I felt like giving her my dermatologist’s card. I hadn’t taken time with makeup that morning and was happy for my laziness. Sometimes it’s good to be a slob.
    I walked over to Rachel. “Hi. I’m Mercy. Do you want to go inside?”
    “No. My mom’s in there,” said Rachel.
    “You don’t want her to hear us?”
    “Yeah. She’s so nosy. She has to know everything.”
    Gee. I wonder why.
    “Can we take a walk then?” I asked.
    “No way. She’ll think I’m doing something bad.”
    Duh.
    “Okay. Here’s fine. Is Charley your best friend?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “I bet you miss her a lot.”
    “Sometimes. Mostly I just wish people would stop asking me stuff.”
    “Like about why you ran away.”
    “Yeah. Like they’re so stupid. Everything sucks here and I should’ve stayed with Charley. I can’t do anything. I can’t even walk around the stupid block,” said Rachel.
    “Do you really wish you’d stayed with Charley?”
    “I don’t know. She’s probably doing cool stuff and going to parties. I can’t do anything.”
    “She might not be doing anything. Have you thought about that?”
    “She’s OK. I mean, she could call or something if she wasn’t.”
    I gave her a look and waited to see if it would dawn on her that Charley might not be able to call. It didn’t.
    “Do you want her found?” I