Page 6 of Five Survive

“Okay, well.” Catherine’s face fast-forwarded, twitching as it dragged itself to the present. “I’ll let you get on with…is that a beer bottle?” Catherine’s eye moved to the camera again, staring at a shape on the counter behind Oliver’s shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s mine,” Oliver said smoothly, without a beat. He might just be a better liar than Red.

“You aren’t drinking on this trip, are you, Maddy?” Catherine raised her voice to find her daughter off-screen.

“No, Mom,” Maddy began. “I know—”

“—You are seventeen, I don’t want to hear from anyone that you’ve been drinking. You can have fun without it.”

Which reminded Red; Maddy turned eighteen in just a couple of weeks. She was already worrying about how to get her a birthday present.

“Yes, I know. I am. I won’t,” Maddy said, leaning forward so her mom could hear her more clearly.

“Oliver?”

“Yes, Mom. I’ll watch her. Take chaperone duties very seriously, won’t we, Reyna?”

“Yes ma’am,” Reyna called.

“All right.” Catherine eased back from the camera. “I’ll let you go, then. I’ve got some prep to get on with. Text me in the morning before you head off again.”

“Will do, Mom,” Oliver said.

“Okay, bye everyone, bye Red.”

They called “Bye” in clashing tones, Simon going high and shrill for some reason.

“Love you, Oliver, Maddy.”

“Love you, Mom,” they said in perfect Lavoy synchronization, and Oliver thumbed the red button, disappearing Catherine back to that warm house in Philadelphia.

“Whew.” Maddy breathed out. “What more does she want? My big brother and his girlfriend are already accompanying me on spring break at her insistence. It’s so annoying.”

She was talking to Red, she must have been, because just then her eyes flashed and she snatched them away, realizing she’d been complaining to the one with the dead mom. But that was okay because Red was thinking about the cartoonPhineas and Ferb;they weren’t a match for the pattern in the curtains, but now the full theme song was running through her head.

“It’s fine,” Oliver said to his sister. “Reyna and I are renting our own condo. You won’t even see us; we’ll leave you and all your friends to it. Wouldn’t catch me staying in an RV for a whole week with a bunch of teenagers.”

“Yeah,” Maddy said, directing her voice at her brother now, “but Mom doesn’t know about that part.”

“And what Mom doesn’t know can’t hurt her. She’s just stressed with work stuff at the moment,” Oliver said, coming to his mom’s defense. He did that a lot.

Red really wanted to stand up now, to escape this conversation, to go stand with Arthur at the front, but Oliver and his wide shoulders were trapping her here. Simon came and sat down too, just to makethe situation worse, dropping in beside Maddy and digging his hand through the bag of chips. He shoveled an entire fistful into his mouth.

“Yeah, I know,” Maddy said, cheeks still flushed. “But she doesn’t have to take it out on me.”

“She’s just protective of you,” Oliver countered.

“What are youse all talking about?” Simon said, spewing orange crumbs from his mouth as he did.

“My mom,” Oliver explained. “She’s stressed because she’s in the middle of this huge case at the moment.”

“Oh yeah, she’s a lawyer, right?” Simon asked, going in for more chips.

Oliver did not look amused. “She’s assistant district attorney,” he said, and it was hard to miss the pride in his voice, the way he overpronounced those three words. Which Red translated to mean:No, Simon, you idiot, she’s notjusta lawyer.

“What’s the case?” Simon said, oblivious to the disdain on Oliver’s face.

“You’ve probably heard about it on the news,” he said, pointedly. “It’s a pretty big deal.”