He managed to swallow the lump in his mouth as Margaret looked in his direction. Amazing, he couldn’t breathe, but he still got the food down without dying on the spot.
“So how is it?” Margaret Preston was speaking to him. He had absolutely no idea how to respond without sounding like a complete idiot.
Words! Come on, words! You can speak, I know you can!
“Umm . . . I think Sally’s right, actually.”
Margaret nodded and gratefully took the cup of coffee Sally offered her. “She normally is.” Margaret looked away and he felt his ability to think come back as her eyes left his. “I’ll have what he’s having.”
Sally chuckled. “So, the usual then.” The waitress walked toward the counter that separated them from the kitchen and called out for an encore of the last order. Someone behind the wall made a comment that had her laughing as she moved to another table that she had claimed as her own.
Ben looked back in Margaret’s direction and saw that she was looking at him again. He wanted to crawl under the table and hide, but felt that might be socially awkward.
“You’re in my Lit class, aren’t you?”
She was talking to him again. It was really not a comfortable thing for him to deal with. Like as not, she’d expect him to answer.
“Um. Yes. Same class.” Nope, not his best witty response.
“Did you get the notes from last Friday? I can’t remember what we were supposed to read.”
Shit. Now she was asking questions that required thought processes that were functioning. “Lord Byron. There’re four examples of his work in there. We’re supposed to take notes on the symbolism.”
“I love his stuff. God, the man knew how to write.” Her voice was wistful and her eyes had a faraway look that seemed one part wishful thinking and one part exhaustion.
Ben nodded hard, remembering her expression when she found the poem he’d written down for her. He knew she loved Byron’s work. He also knew that “She Walks in Beauty” must have been written about a girl who looked exactly like the one he was trying hard not to stare at.
“So what are you doing out this late at night, Ben? I thought I was the only one crazy enough to live without sleep.”
He grinned, thinking about what the faceless cop he’d decided to target would be doing in a few hours. “Hunting.”
“What are you hunting?” He loved to watch her face. She had a thousand expressions that he had never seen, because she wore so few of them at school. She was intrigued by his one word answer, and maybe amused, too. It was hard to tell, because, of course, he didn’t really know her. He just loved her. The two did not always go hand in hand in the world of Ben Kirby.
Okay, he was a little more socially awake now, and maybe even a little less intimidated by her presence, so he thought before he answered. “I am hunting revenge and a way to make a friend of mine smile again. She has a nice smile. I like to see it.”
Margaret Preston rose from her booth across from his and slid into the seat on the opposite side of his table. He managed not to dance where he was sitting, or even to let out a scream of pure delighted terror, but only because having her sitting this close was enough to stun him for a moment.
“See? You get bonus points for a neat answer.” How did she do that? How did she make him feel so comfortable when he knew good and damned well that being anywhere near her could only devastate him later? He wasn’t stupid; he knew it was dangerous to get close to anyone.
“What? You want all the juicy details?” There, his mouth was still working, even if his brain was rebelling.
“Only if you want to share them.” She stretched and then smiled as Sally brought her food over to her. He tried not to stare and failed.
The waitress shot a look at each of them and smiled, then headed back to her island of sanity in the corner. It wouldn’t be all that long before the breakfast rush started pouring in, and he suspected she wanted to rest up for it as much as possible.
“Well, that depends.” Ben leaned back in his seat and decided he’d trust her. How else could he keep the conversation going? “Can you keep a secret, Margaret?”
“Yes I can. And you can call me Maggie.”
“Okay, here’s the deal. I’m about to make a phone call, and when I’m done with that, I’ll tell you what the call was all about.”
She sliced a neat little wedge of omelet away from the mass spilling over the edges of her plate and nodded, a smile playing at her lips and mischief in her eyes.
Ben very carefully pulled the cell phone from his pocket and pulled it from its bag. He dialed the first number from his list of several and waited until he heard an irritated, sleep-muted voice answer.
And Maggie watched him, her face alight with naughty amusement.
III
The Lister house was silent. Kelli woke up only because she thought she heard a sound from Teddy’s room. She wasn’t technically working right now; his folks had eventually managed to come home, and when they were in the house, she was not in charge of Teddy’s welfare. That didn’t stop her from listening for any sounds he might make anyway.
A few seconds later, she heard another sound from the direction of his room and moved out of bed, shivering a little when the covers slid away from her body. The hardwood floors felt like someone had left them in the freezer overnight and she stepped as lightly as she could to avoid the chill.
Teddy’s room was across the hallway and to the right. She slipped over to his door and carefully opened it, mindful of any noises she might make.
He was asleep in his bed, but his rest was not an easy one. Teddy’s face was drawn down in a fearful expression and his skin was covered with light sweat. Kelli moved into the room and touched his forehead, feeling for any sign of a fever.
Teddy’s eyes opened, stared dazedly at her for a second and then closed again. He didn’t wake up. The good news was that, while he might be having a bad dream, he didn’t have a temperature.
She saw motion outside of the bedroom window and tried to catch it again. All she saw were shadows on shadows, fleeing from the streetlights. It would be impossible to see much of anything out there.
“Noooo . . . unnh . . . sabadeeng.” Teddy’s voice sent shivers running from her neck to her lower back and she looked back at him, the motions from outside the window completely forgotten.
“Teddy? Wake up, hon.” She shook his shoulder lightly and Teddy woke in an instant, his eyes wide in the darkness, his voice a faint gasp as he sat up.
He reached out for her, for comfort, and she pulled him into a hug. At ten he was still a sweet kid. He hugged her back for a few seconds, breathing hard.
“You’re okay, Teddy. It was just a dream.” He clutched at her and held on with desperation and she let him for a few moments before breaking his grip and urging him back into the bed.
“It wasn’t a dream, Kelli.” His voice was still shaken, but, happily, it was also drowsy.
“I was here, hon. I saw you having a nightmare.”
He closed his eyes, already halfway back to slumber. “Will you stay with me? Please?”
She stifled a sigh. Her bed was calling and she wanted to answer it, but Teddy was scared and she knew she’d cave in. Her own fault, really, for letting him watch those stupid horror movies. Well, and for suggesting them in the first place.
“I’ll stay.” She rubbed his arm lightly and was rewarded by a half smile that faded into sleep. “You sleep, Teddy. I’ll be right here.”
She kept her word, but it had cost her a stiff neck a few hours later when she woke up on the floor at the foot of his bed.
Teddy managed the first three hours of school before he had to come home. He was exhausted, and looked about as pale as a bar of Ivory soap. Kelli had just gotten to her class when the school nurse called on her cell phone to let her know that he was ill. Both of the Listers had work, and someone had to take care of their child. That was what they paid Kelli for.
IV
“This better be good.” Brian’s voice was scratchy from the lack of any moisture and his teeth were already clenched. Some asshole was calling his house and it wasn’t even five in the morning. Either someone he knew was in the hospital already, or they would be before he was done with them.
“It’s very good, Officer Freemont.” Oh, perfect! The prick was whispering into the phone, trying to disguise his voice.
Brian stood up and moved away from the bed, where Angie was mumbling sleepily. Ever since the baby started to show, she was tired all the time. He looked back at her; she was starting to look like a bloated cow. He didn’t need to hear her bitching because someone woke her from her much-needed beauty sleep.
“Talk to me and give me a reason not to find you.”
“Good luck with that. I’m not planning on having you find me. You have something I want. Watch what the day brings you. You’re not going to have fun. But I can make it better if you work with me. I’ll call you later today and we can discuss how fast you want to give it to me.”
“Listen, you little shit.” He didn’t get any further before the prick hung up on him. He tried calling the number back with the option he was paying extra money for, and of course it didn’t work.
“Fucker.” He resisted the urge to throw the phone down.
One look at his watch and he knew he wasn’t going to get any more sleep. Hell, he had to be up in an hour anyway.
Brian Freemont put the phone back in its cradle, scowling the entire time. He was not a happy man.
He was about to be a lot less happy.
V
The sun was coming soon. It wouldn’t be long before the light of the new day covered the town and the people of Black Stone Bay rose from their sleepy little beds to start a new day among the conscious.
Out on the bay itself, the waters were almost calm. The waves that ran to the jagged shoreline merely tapped the stones instead of shattering against them.
Jason Soulis looked out at the waters and listened to the sighs of the wind and the water.
He was going to like this town. He did already. It was perfect for him.
The waters below him stretched as far as he could see, and the sky at their horizon was changing quickly, growing brighter. He smiled to himself and turned back to the great black mansion behind him. Albert Miles had promised he would like the place, and his old friend had been absolutely right. He had also promised that Maggie would be everything Jason was looking for, and so far she was showing a great deal of promise. Two of them in one day; he let himself chuckle at the thought. The lady in question certainly had initiative.
Yes, he supposed he would keep her.
Assuming she would be willing to be kept, which he doubted.
Jason Soulis walked to his new home, casting his eyes briefly through the window of the boy he had visited during the night. He could sense the woman that slept next to him, fitfully turning in her sleep: he suspected she was a lovely young lady, friendly and shy, and innocent. He would watch her over the next few weeks. She would probably surprise him if he let her.
The wind was still a soft murmur at his back, playing idly with his hair as he closed his eyes for a moment and listened. To the west, not too far distant, he heard a scream that brought a thin smile to his lips.
Someone had found his first victim. He’d been wondering how long it would take.
Chapter 4
I
The car was a complete wreck. The front end had wrapped itself very neatly around a telephone pole, and the engine was halfway out of the hood. What was left of the windshield lay across the entire mess, covered with strands of hair and lightly drizzled in blood. The steering wheel looked more like a pretzel than a proper circle, and the seatbelt had been completely torn free of its moorings.
Brian Freemont looked at Alan Coswell and shook his head. “You mean to tell me someone got out of this and walked away?”
“Screw that.” Coswell lit a cigarette, careful to step away from the wreckage, just in case there might be some gasoline left in the area. It wasn’t very likely. The car had been there for at least a day and the spillage from the ruined tank had long since evaporated. “What I want to know is how anyone driving down this road could miss the fucking car sitting here.”
Brian kept his voice as calm as he could; he was doing a damned fine impersonation of a sane man as far as he was concerned. “No street lights. Not a lot of traffic out here, except on the weekends. Hell, the only thing down this way is a make-out spot.” He knew it well. He’d used it a few times back in high school and a lot more often since he’d joined the force. This was one of his favorite roads for finding a little action on the side.
He thought about a few of his recent conquests. The girls he’d had along the side of the road were pleasant distractions. It was easier than focusing on the shit his life had become in less than twenty-four hours.
Coswell snorted and coughed, a chest cold doing its best to work itself deep into his lungs. That was what he got for being a smoker as far as Brian was concerned. The fact that Coswell felt like shit also helped Brian stay outwardly calm in the face of personal disaster.
His life had become absolute hell since the phone call the day before. Piece by little piece his entire life had slipped down into a cesspool, and it didn’t look like he could do a damned thing about it until the next time the badly disguised voice on the phone called him.
“Jesus Christ, Freemont! Are you even listening to me?” He turned to see Coswell glaring at him. The man’s fat face and walrus mustache always annoyed him, but he was a sergeant, so Brian faked giving a damn.
“Sorry. I was trying to figure out what happened to the body.” It was a lie, of course. He couldn’t have cared less. Nothing much mattered right now except getting his world back in order, before everything else could crumble away.
“Come look at this shit.” He moved his flashlight over a section of the car’s front. Brian nodded as he walked around the rear of the vehicle. They hadn’t looked over there yet.