Midnight Lullaby by Jen Blood

Author:Jen Blood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jen Blood
Published: 2015-10-19T16:00:00+00:00

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We stopped for dinner in Brunswick on the way home, and rolled back into Portland at around nine that night. I tried Buzz as we were hitting town, but he didn’t answer—not unusual, since half the time he either left his cell phone behind altogether or forgot to charge it and it was lying dead in his jacket pocket. I decided to stop at the apartment and check in with Wolf before we met Buzz back at the Ledger, so at just after nine p.m. I pulled into a spot in front of our apartment building. Solomon was asleep. I didn’t wake her immediately, but sat there for a second and watched her chest rise and fall, the pale pink in her cheeks, the warmth of her skin when I touched her hand.

I considered leaving her in the Jeep while I ran inside and did what needed doing. She could use the rest, I knew.

I started to get out, opening the door as quietly as possible, and then stopped.

A dark figure stood at the corner of our building, hidden in the shadows. Female, I thought, though it was hard to tell in the darkness. Whether man or woman, it was definitely too small to be Wolf, Elias, or the scarred man. I thought of my mother for a moment—wasted away from cancer, incoherent and conversing only with my dead brother in those final days of her life.

I suppressed a shiver. Something withered and multi-legged crawled along my stomach lining. I closed my Jeep door again, and took the cowardly way out.

“Sol?” I whispered. It took a second before she started awake. “Sorry—we’re home.”

The figure remained, still watching. Solomon rubbed her eyes and sat up.

“Who’s that?” she asked a second later, gaze fixed on whoever lurked in the shadows.

“You see it?”

She looked at me like I was crazy—a possibility I considered more and more likely. “Yeah, of course. It looks like...”

She got out of the Jeep before she’d finished the thought. I followed, but she was already half into the shadows.

“Mary?” she said, quietly enough that it was hard to hear her. The figure—a woman, I could see now—took a hesitant step toward Solomon, looking around first to make sure we were alone.

“Please,” she whispered. Mary Dsengani took another step toward us. She wore the same outfit she’d worn at Charlene’s funeral, complete with the black headscarf. “Could we go inside? I must speak with you.”

“Of course,” Solomon said quickly. I unlocked the front door while Mary continued looking over her shoulder.

Inside, I made sure the door locked behind us and turned on the hallway light. Mary walked in front of us, looking back over her shoulder frequently.

She didn’t speak until we’d gotten into the apartment and I had locked the door behind us. We led her into the kitchen and offered her a seat; she chose to stand. I asked if she wanted a drink, but she would take only water. She drank it quickly, her hands steady and her eyes watching our every move.

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