Blood Red

The phone clicked in her ear, a warning that Lori was now gone and on to the next phone call.

“Fuck.” She’d forgotten all about Halloween. Lori either hadn’t heard or had forgotten that Kelli’s charge was out of the scene. And damn, didn’t that start her wanting to cry again.

“Okay, so maybe I should do it anyway. The kids still need to be watched, and I could use a chance to get out of the house.” She leaned back in her seat and thought about it. There were some sweet kids out in the area and she liked kids. She genuinely did, which never ceased to amaze her friends from school.

“It could be fun. I’ll call the girls and we’ll get it going on and maybe even dress up ourselves.” She smiled. “Then there’re some parties to hit. So, yeah, I’ll do it.” She looked around and exhaled. “Christ, I’m talking to myself again.”

The room did not answer her.

VIII

Michelle Lister never made it home. She had court for most of the day and then she had a meeting with another client, and after that she needed to dig into the legal research her interns had dragged up for her; the proper destruction of a hospital took effort.

Make no mistake about it: the entire situation was extremely personal. Her only child, a boy she loved as much as she had ever loved anything in her life, was dead. She knew that. She felt it in her heart. She let Kelli stay, of course, because the girl was practically family after the last few years, and it would have been wrong to turn her out.

And it would have been lonely. The damned house was always too big and now, well, now it was just plain monstrous. If Bill was indeed dead—a thought she tried not to let creep into her mind because, like the house, it was too big—then she would sell the house and move somewhere else, somewhere smaller without any of the emotional luggage.

For now, however, she was busy, and that meant she would have to wait a while to discuss everything with Kelli. Dinner was a double cheeseburger and fries; she ate while she drove and called to her assistants to get the paperwork ready. They were jumping hard and fast to keep Michelle happy right now, not only because of her losses, but also because her temper was legendary at the offices.

She spent three hours going over the papers and making her own notes. Tomorrow she would have them typed up and properly filed. For now it was enough to get everything ready.

After that, when she realized she had spent the day in a frenzy and might actually be able to sleep, she started for home. The air was thick outside: sometime after she’d gone to the offices, the weather had changed. Heavy ground fog slipped along the edges of the buildings and across the road like phantom waves, shifted by the wind. The air was colder too, and she felt a shiver run up her spine as the misty weather crept through her clothes.

“I hate this damn town.” She moved over to the car and double-checked to make sure that no one was lurking around the building. College towns could get weird at night and lately this one was worse than usual. Too many disappearances, too many strangers, too many people who could be a threat.

Not enough family left.

She let herself think for a second and that was a mistake. Just like that, everything washed over her again, Teddy and Bill and everything. If Bill really was gone and the last thing she’d said to him was to accuse him of sleeping around— which he hadn’t done, but it always pissed him off—she would never forgive herself.

The tears started a few seconds later and despite her best efforts they wouldn’t leave her alone. Her eyes were dripping like a bad sink and she hated it.

“Screw this!” She wiped the wet works away with her palms and opened the car door. If she was going to turn into a bawling baby she was going to do it in the comfort of her own home, no matter how little comfort it provided.

The radio went up to a little lower than deafening and she popped in her Police CD. Sting always helped make her feel a little better.

Then she was on the road and heading for home. Sting was talking about a Scottish Loch and she was letting herself start to unwind, to get a little tension undone, when she saw the flash of movement up ahead in the fog.

She tapped the brakes because, for just a second that looked like . . .

“Teddy?”

Her heart stuttered, it shivered inside of her chest. She came to a complete stop and climbed out of the car. “Teddy? Are you out there?”

“Mommy?” His voice! Oh, Jesus, his VOICE! She didn’t stop to think, she merely ran. Behind her the idling car moved forward, slowly gathering speed as it moved away. She was aware of the problem, but couldn’t let herself think about a car: her son was up ahead, out in the darkness of the woods.

“Mommy? I’m scared!”

“Baby! Momma’s coming!” Her heel broke and she kicked the shoe off irritably as she moved off the road and into the woods. “Momma’s coming honey, where are you?”

“Mommy!”