Hear the Children Calling by Clare McNally

Author:Clare McNally [McNally, Clare]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DCA, Inc.
Published: 2014-01-07T00:00:00+00:00

29

JILL HAD REMAINED AT THE HOTEL THAT NIGHT, IN spite of the terrifying incident in the bathroom. It had been too late to go off in search of another place to stay, and she doubted anyone would be so bold as to invade her room again. Awake all night, she tried to figure out exactly how the intruder could have slipped out of a locked room without being seen. Finally, she came up with two possibilities. The first was that someone had slipped something to her in the restaurant, causing her to hallucinate. But the problem with that theory was that there hadn’t been time to plant a suggestion in her head as to what she would envision.

Her second idea made more sense to her. Somehow, when she wasn’t looking, the red-haired man—formerly a Wheaton, Michigan, cop—had set the intruder free. But whatever had happened, Jill understood now that Maureen had been right. “They” had been watching her all along.

She flipped the top of her suitcase back onto her bed and began to repack. Certain now that Ryan was at the LaMane Center, she would proceed to the next step in her plan: surveillance of the area from a safe distance, just as she’d told Maureen.

Jill checked out of the hotel and drove along Central. Every once in a while her line of vision would go to the rearview mirror, just to convince her no one was following her. She drove until she saw the huge, wood-framed stained-glass sun hanging from a signpost outside a small shopping center. She had noticed it on her way home from Maureen’s house the previous night, the orange-and-yellow flares of glass shining like a beacon in the moonlight, under a sign that said, SUNFLOWER MALL. She remembered seeing a large sporting-goods store here and had filed the stained-glass sun away as a landmark.

Although it was small, it was well-stocked, and within twenty minutes Jill had all the things she had been unable to pack in New York. She handed the clerk a credit card and waited impatiently while her order was tallied. Then the teller filled a huge shopping bag with everything she had purchased: a small camp stove, a lantern, a huge canteen, and a box of waterproof matches. There was long underwear, heavy socks, hiking boots, a wool hat, and numerous small items.

“Cold time of the year to be camping,” the teller commented.

“But the best time of year for viewing certain constellations,” Jill answered. She hoisted the bag up, grabbed her new, rolled-up sleeping bag by its cord, and left the store.

Jill then stopped at the grocery for provisions, packed the bags into her car, and drove away. One more stop now, she thought. The most logical place to find a camera store would be near the university. Sure enough, she located one between a shop specializing in stained-glass works and a place called New York Deli. She went inside and found a display of high-powered telescopes. She turned one toward the

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