At Home in the Dark by Joe Hill

Author:Joe Hill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lawrence Block
Published: 2018-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

6 NOW

Lonergan and Jovie tense up against each other. Both of their minds go to the same place: Can Hailee see the body on the hallway floor? And if so—how the hell are they going to explain it to her?

“Shit,” Lonergan whispers.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got her.”

Jovie breaks the embrace and runs down the hall toward Hailee, who smiles. Grandma’s playing a game! Jovie scoops up granddaughter and carries her the rest of the way down the hall. “What are you doing out of bed you little boldie!” she whisper-yells. Hailee giggles like a loon. “Let’s get you tucked back in.”

Lonergan turns around and looks down at his son-in-law’s body, his mouth twisted up in disgust.

“Better get you tucked away, too.”

Lonergan is already thinking about the removal and replacement of the floorboards, since some blood had already soaked down into the wood and cops have those CSI flashlights that can illuminate the tiniest specks of bodily fluids.

But he pushes all that worry aside for the moment and focuses on the task at hand. Dawn will be coming in a few hours, both kids will be awake, and Isaiah’s body needs to be out of the house as quickly as possible. Lonergan can worry about the blood splatter and the million other details later.

Then he remembers the Dodge Charger, which is still idling out front.

Lonergan pulls on his jacket, slips on a pair of sneakers, then heads out into the bitter cold.

• • •

At the driver’s side door, Lonergan reaches in and fumbles around for the keys. There are no keys. The interior of the car reeks of godawful body spray. Lonergan wants to gag, and he isn’t even dealing with the corpse yet.

His dumb rubber fingers finally find it: the fat push-button that turns off the ignition. Lonergan pushes it with a knuckle. The mighty engine falls silent.

Fancy as the car is, the interior looks like a stoner’s bedroom. Fast food litter, candy wrappers, vape pen stuff, an oversized tablet phone hooked to the dash by umbilical cord.

The backseat is packed tight with stuff from Bullseye. Diapers, baby toys, a bouncy seat, as if Isaiah came straight from a baby shower.

This bothers Lonergan. If Isaiah drove up here with the intention of taking the baby home with him, why isn’t all of this stuff back home in Philly?

Lonergan fumbles around a little more until he finds the button that opens the trunk. Sure enough, inside the trunk is a big duffel bag and a smaller carry-on type deal. Goddamnit. Isaiah was planning on taking the baby somewhere else. Another state. Hell, maybe even another country.

Lonergan slams the trunk lid and notices the Charger has a Texas license plate. Is that where Isaiah had been hiding out for the past two months?

Never mind that now. The bigger question is, where’s he going to stuff the body? Traditionally, the trunk is the storage space of choice. Lonergan realizes he’s going to have to shuffle things around. Haul the baby gear into the house, then put the luggage in the backseat, then put Isaiah in the trunk.

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