Dark of Night by Michael Lister

Author:Michael Lister
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pulpwood Press

CHAPTER

THIRTY-ONE

“Wonder if they can see us right now?” Rick asks.

“Probably,” I say, and turn and wave toward the trees lining the golf course.

We are standing behind Sheri’s house.

“It’s so surreal that they have it,” Rick says, “but then to boast about it like it’s something to be proud of . . .”

“It was sickening.”

“So much concentrated power,” Rick says. “You know they never have turned over the costume Sheri’s attacker wore. I’m telling you . . . they do what they want to . . . with impunity. Those who live here have far more to worry about from them than the supposed boogie men outside these walls they’re meant to be protecting them from.”

“No doubt,” I say, “and—”

I stop as Blade opens the recently repaired back door. “You boys gonna hang out in the garden all day or y’all wanna do some investigative work?”

We walk over and join her inside the house.

Sheri, Ashlynn, and Alana are at a yoga class, a spa day, and a playdate respectively, so we have the house to ourselves.

Blade sits down at her open laptop on the dining room table.

We join her.

“How’re you feeling?” I ask.

“Like the fuckin’ fog is finally liftin’,” she says, “How’d it go with Ace Davis?”

“Feel free to ask him yourself,” I say. “He’s listening in right now.”

“Huh?”

I explain.

She shakes her head. “Not surprised. But he’s wrong. Our presence here shows the riffraff can still get in.”

“Says if Aiden had just stayed inside the confines of this citadel he wouldn’t’ve gone missing,” I say.

“How that jibe with what happened to Sheri inside her own bedroom inside her own house inside his citadel?”

“Riffraff from outside must have snuck in somehow, but not to worry, top cop is on it.”

“Always an outsider, ain’t it?” she says.

“Stranger danger,” I say.

“Bet he black too,” she says.

“The danger is always out there, always from the other.”

“Statistically, you’re far, far more likely to be hurt or killed by someone you know,” Rick says. “It’s not even close. And yet . . . what happened to you last night . . . seems like the work of a stranger. We can find no evidence that Sammy did anything. Of course, I haven’t found any evidence that anybody else did either.”

“If Sammy’s been going to Suzi’s for years,” I say, “why just drug him now?”

“Good point,” Rick says.

“Maybe Sammy wasn’t the intended target after all,” I say. “Or maybe he’s been drugged before.”

“That’s interesting,” Rick says. “Both of those could be the case—or maybe Sammy was meant to be drugged so he’d be incapacitated when whoever did it made his move on Blade.”

“I been thinkin’ some of those same things,” Blade says.

“I’m still going over all the surveillance footage to see—”

“You mind if I take a look at it?” she asks. “See if I recognize anyone?”

“Not at all,” he says. “That’s a great idea. I’ll get the files to you.”

She says, “I’ve been watching the feeds from the night Aiden vanished. Look at this.”

She angles the laptop so we can see it too.

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