The Return of the Incredible Exploding Man by Dave Hutchinson

Author:Dave Hutchinson [Hutchinson, Dave]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Solaris
Published: 2019-09-02T16:00:00+00:00

THE ADDRESS BUD had given him for the Shanahans was not in Minneapolis or in St Paul, but further to the west of the Twin Cities, in a town called St Christopher. It was an almost four-hour drive from Sioux Crossing, and the Accord was more than equal to an eight-hour round trip, but instead he drove over to Mason City and parked at the long-stay car park at the airport, then went inside to the Hertz desk and hired a Lexus, with cash. He did all this almost without thinking, an indication of the generalised air of paranoia which had begun to settle on his life. He had no evidence that there was a tracker on his car, but equally he had no evidence that there was not, and if anyone did, in future, ponder why the car had spent all day in the car park at Mason City airport, well, he’d have to cross that bridge. He’d left his phones at home, so before leaving the airport he bought a preloaded burner in case of emergencies, and set off north.

He was in St Christopher just after lunchtime, following the Lexus’s GPS to find the Shanahans’ address. As a town, it didn’t seem all that much larger than Sioux Crossing, and if it didn’t have that brand-new patina, it seemed prosperous enough.

The address turned out to be a small apartment complex on the edge of town, set in its own grounds and looking out across farmland that seemed to go on forever into the west. A sign with the words WINDY RIVERS APARTMENTS went by as he drove through the gates.

He parked in a little parking lot to one side of the complex and walked back round to the front. The Shanahans were in one of the ground-floor apartments. He walked up to the door, took a moment to gather his thoughts, then rang the bell.

There was no answer, and it belatedly occurred to him that he might have driven all this way only to find nobody here. He rang the bell again, and this time he heard the door being unlocked. It opened, and a young boy was standing there, blond and big-boned and about eleven years old.

“Hi,” said the boy.

“Hi,” said Alex. “Are your parents home?”

“Who is it, Timothy?” called a man’s voice from inside the apartment.

“Mr Shanahan?” Alex called. “My name’s Dolan. I’m from Sioux Crossing.”

“You sure don’t sound as if you’re from Sioux Crossing,” the voice called. It sounded weak and reedy and far-away.

“I’m living there at the moment,” Alex said. “In your old house.”

There was no reply to this. After a while, Alex heard someone moving around deeper inside the apartment, and a few moments later a figure appeared in a doorway, supporting itself on a Zimmer frame. “That house is cursed,” said the figure.

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