Blood Red

They were breaking, or they had already broken. Kelli wasn’t sure which, only that she was just now noticing the situation. Every time she’d seen them they seemed like the perfect couple. It was only now, with Teddy out of the picture, that she saw how little they had to say to each other. The only common denominator in their lives was their son. With Teddy gone, they were barely civil to each other, and most of what they had to say revolved around their mutual desire to make the hospital suffer as much as they were suffering.

They were inside the house, which was why she was outside. What had started as a nice, simple discussion about whether or not they were going to hire a private investigator to check on the possible incompetence of the hospital staff had exploded around the same time that Bill suggested using an agency he had hired previously from Boston. It seemed that Michelle’s firm had used the detectives before and found them wanting.

Right after that, the screaming match began. She hadn’t heard any of the conversation beforehand; it wasn’t in her nature to eavesdrop under most circumstances. But when the argument started growing, she really didn’t have a choice. The neighbors were probably hearing the damned fight a half a block away.

Bill started the actual yelling: “What the hell does it matter, Michelle? So your fucking boss had a bad experience with the Harkers! I don’t care! They’ve done damned good work for me for over ten years!”

“Yeah, I’ve seen the little bitch you keep hiring, too! Who do you think you’re kidding, Bill? How long have you been fucking her on the side?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! I’ve never done anything with Denise and you know it, Michelle. She’s a fucking detective who does work for me. I can’t believe you’d even make an accusation like that.”

“Really?” she asked. “Are you really having trouble with this after what happened at the goddamned New Year’s Eve party back in 2000?”

“Oh, give it a rest already!” He was really cooking after that comment. That was about the time Kelli left the house. “That was five years ago, Michelle! Five damned years, and nothing happened!”

“I don’t call a pregnancy scare nothing, you bastard. You’re lucky you didn’t get AIDS from that skank!”

She did her best to ignore the words that the Listers threw at each other. It might have been easier to do if they weren’t throwing more than just words. When she heard the fighting escalate to Michelle Factor Four—the point where breakables were normally hurled through the air—Kelli decided it was time to take a walk.

The woods were beautiful, of course. The colors of the leaves were brilliant and almost explosive. But that didn’t do a damned thing to cheer her up. The more she thought about Bill and Michelle fighting, the less she wanted to return to their home.

By the time she finally did return, the silence from inside the house was almost worse than the earlier screaming match. The tensions were high enough that she wanted a chainsaw to cut through the oppressive atmosphere.

So she sat here, on the porch, and watched as the sun fell lower. The trees finally obscured her view after a few minutes. Bill Lister stepped out of the front door and lit a cigarette. He sat down on the far end of the couch, ignoring the wicker’s creaking protests. Kelli smiled in his direction and he smiled back, a little shamefaced by what he suspected she’d heard.

“It’s safe now, if you want to go inside. We’ve reached the I’m-Not-Talking-To-You stage.” He tried to keep his voice light, but she could hear the strain.

“Oh, it’s all good. I’m just enjoying the dusk.”

“It’s a beautiful night. Or it will be.”

She looked away and was surprised to feel her eyes threatening tears. “Teddy should be here. He liked to sit in my lap and have me read to him when he was younger, and lately he’d just sit right where you are and read his own stuff.”

Bill looked away, and she could tell by the way he was swallowing in rapid gulps that he was trying not to lose it.

After almost a full minute he nodded his head. “Yeah, he should be here.” He looked at Kelli and she could see the ghost of Teddy’s future looking back. In that light, with that expression, Bill looked exactly like she thought Teddy would look when he was done growing up. “Do you think he’s alive, Kelli?”