A Question of Mercy Read Free

unaccountably disturbed him. He called out, to announce that he had come home early. Jess would be packed to go back to school and Adam ready for his new home at the Cadwell Institution—though he had begged every night not to be sent away. Edward wondered how Clementine would explain the trip to him.
    The house was still. A half-glass of milk was on the kitchen counter. Edward called out again and the silence that came back sent a shiver down his spine. He heard Clementine’s car pull into the driveway and looked out to see if Adam and Jess were with her, but she got out alone. She saw him at the window and waved.
    â€œWhere are Jess and Adam?” he yelled.
    â€œI don’t know. They’re not home? I told them we were going out tonight. What time is it?”
    â€œJust five-thirty.”
    â€œWell.” She shrugged. “They probably went to the drugstore for ice cream.”
    Upstairs, Adam’s door was closed. They looked in to see his bed unmade and his closet door open. Jess’s bedroom door lay open wide and, though her bed was made, she had strewn clothes around the room. Her bags were only partially packed.
    Edward washed his hands in her bathroom, but didn’t know why, then went back downstairs. “Something’s wrong,” he said. “I feel like something’s wrong.”
    â€œYou worry too much. Adam won’t miss that cowboy movie tonight.”
    â€œBut he knows we’re taking him away tomorrow.”
    â€œDon’t say that. ‘Taking him away.’ It sounds heartless.”
    â€œNo. I don’t mean that. I just mean … he cries every night.”
    â€œI know. I know. Don’t.” Clementine took a deep breath. Her legs grew wobbly. “We have to do this. It’s for the best.” She had repeated that phrase many times over the past week.
    â€œI wonder if he’s run away.” Edward kept looking around as if he might see Adam at any moment.
    â€œWhere would he go?” Clementine grew very quiet. “You mean you wonder if Jess took him away?”
    â€œThey should be here, it’s almost dark.”
    Clementine called out the back door, then went to the front yard, still calling. Hap was barking.
    â€œWe could call the police,” Edward said. “That dog knows something.”
    â€œDon’t be silly,” Clementine said, but her face looked worried and she took Edward’s hand. They stood in the yard listening for anything. Next door, Mr. MacDougal came out onto his porch.
    â€œAre Jess and Adam over there?” Edward called.
    â€œNo. They haven’t been here today,” then added, “I saw them going toward the river earlier.”
    Edward and Clementine waited, separate as statues. The street and other houses bustled with suppertime, with people coming home, and kids in the yard. Their own house stood vacant and they could feel the emptiness of it behind them.
    â€œWe’ll laugh about this later,” Edward said in a matter-of-fact tone.
    â€œThey’ll be here soon,” Clementine’s voice sounded like a thin line to nowhere. “Where are they?”
    For days Jess kept close to the river, slogging through helms of marsh-weed. She hated marsh-weed. She hated sleeping on hard ground, and being afraid. She avoided the main roads, where she sometimes heard sirens racing toward an unidentified destination. Whenever she heard them, she cowered and slid out of sight. Yesterday she fell over a log, cut her leg and didn’t notice the cut for hours. She never even felt it. Her body felt separate from her life.
    After a week she couldn’t remember the taste of good water, only the slaking that came when she drank water from a stream. River-water made her sick. She hoped to get a ride. She was aware of the highway close-by, and knew she was moving in the direction of Asheville, going south.
    After ten days, Jess ate without discretion. One day she ate