Suspicions by Christine Kersey

longer there.
    He must have gone out again, she thought.
Good.
    She immediately headed across the street to
the Stone's house. As she approached the door she noticed the
reporters becoming more insistent.
    One of them almost knocked her over in his
haste to ask her a question. “What are you doing here?”
    She looked at him with annoyance. “I'm
Amanda's friend,” she said, not missing the irony. Then she shoved
by him and knocked on the door.
    Agent Morrison answered and let her in. “Mrs.
Stone is up in her bedroom.”
    “Thank you.” Stacey walked up the stairs as
if Amanda had been expecting her. She knocked on the master bedroom
door and a voice told her to come in.
    Amanda was sitting at her dressing table
putting on some make-up. “Hi, Stacey.”
    “I left when Mark got here,” Stacey said.
    “I guessed as much.” Amanda said, continuing
to apply her mascara.
    “Did he have anything new to report?” Stacey
asked as she eyed the crystal bowl on the dresser.
    “Actually, they did find a fingerprint on the
ransom note. But it turns out it belongs to Kyle.”
    Stacey's eyebrows went up. “Really? How did
they know it was his?”
    “Remember when the school had that stranger
danger program?” Amanda paused and watched in the mirror as Stacey
nodded. “Like the good parents we are, we had his fingerprints
taken.”
    Stacey remembered the program and had made
sure her children were fingerprinted too. Who would have thought
those prints would have actually been needed?
    Amanda set the mascara down and began
smoothing on her lipstick.
    “Are you going out?” Stacey asked.
    “Mark promised he would stay here for a while
so I could get some fresh air. He said he'd be back in an hour or
two.”
    Checking the time, Stacey saw it was
twelve-thirty. Maybe she could get a look at some more of the files
before he got back. “Have you had lunch yet, Amanda?”
    She looked at Stacey in the reflection of the
mirror. “No, but I'm not really hungry.”
    Biting her lip, Stacey tried to think of a
way to get into the office without Amanda noticing. “You really
should eat something. You need to keep up your strength.”
    Amanda put the lid back on the lipstick and
began brushing her long blond hair. “If I'm not hungry I can't
really force myself to eat without getting sick.”
    “Oh.” Stacey thought for a minute. “What are
you going to do while you're waiting for Mark?”
    Amanda's composure started to slip. “Oh, I
don't know. Maybe sit in Kyle's room and cry some more.”
    Listening to this, Stacey felt reprehensible.
Here she was trying to manipulate her friend so she could sneak
into Mark's office and Amanda was barely holding herself together.
She had some compassion though. She went over to Amanda and knelt
next to her. “He'll come home soon, Amanda. You'll see.”
    The tears were flowing freely now. “When?”
she cried. “When will I be able to hold my boy in my arms again?”
Hiccups punctuated her words. “I go into his room and bury my head
in his pillow just to smell his sweet scent. I miss him . . . so .
. . much.”
    Stacey stroked her hair. “I know. I know,”
she murmured.
    Amanda's tears of sadness changed to tears of
anger. “How could you possibly know? Your son is safe. You know
exactly where he is. I have no idea where my son is. And to top it
all off, a car your husband once owned might be involved.” She was
breathing heavily.
    Stacey suddenly felt dizzy to hear the words
she had only thought about, spoken out loud. Yet she knew if she
wanted to clear her husband's name she would have to stay in
Amanda's good graces long enough to find out more about Mark. She
didn't respond to Amanda's accusations. Instead she got up and sat
on the bed, putting her face in her hands, a real feeling of sorrow
overcoming her.
    Amanda was contrite. “I'm sorry, Stacey. I
didn't mean that. I'm sure Jason has nothing to do with Kyle's
abduction.”
    Stacey lifted her head and smiled sadly.