A Dark Business by N L Cameron

Author:N L Cameron [Cameron, N L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-13T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“I’d love to stay over again,” said Helena as she and Bettina were leaving the shop with kids in tow, “but we’ll have to go back to the house first. I’ve completely exhausted the supply of clothes in my tiny luggage bag.”

They made their way homeward. Campers were parked foolishly all along the beach and the wind was whipping the surf into a thick froth. A young man was standing outside an RV, yelling at a woman who stood in the doorway wearing a tank top with a yellow towel wrapped around her head. “We need to get out of here ahead of the storm surge! In an hour, the whole beach is going to be underwater!”

“You sure you wanna go back to your place?” asked Bettina.

“It’s only for a few minutes. I’m just going to run in and grab some things.”

“You care if we go in?” asked Dany sweetly. “I want to see what the inside of Helena’s house looks like.”

“You’ll address her as Mrs. Carter,” said Bettina, “and you know what the inside of her house looks like; you’ve been there before.”

“Yes, but I was an infant!” replied Dany with perfect matter-of-factness. “Barely able to hold a spoon!”

“They can come in if they want,” said Helena. “As long as you stay in the living room and promise not to go exploring. It’s a huge house and it could take me hours to find you, hours which we don’t currently have.” As she said this, a Keeping Litter off Your Highway sign went flying from its post and barely missed hitting the top of the car. Bella screamed.

“Calm down back there!” Bettina raised a hand for silence. “Your mother has given me full permission to discipline you if I have to, and I’m not afraid to exercise my grandparental authority!”

“I mean, I would have screamed, too,” Helena said in a low voice. “That terrified me, and I’m the one driving!”

But of course, the girls didn’t listen; the second Helena unlocked the door, one of them zipped into the kitchen while the other dashed upstairs. Helena followed, aware of a strange scent on the stairwell but assuming that the house must have acquired some odd smells in her nearly four-day absence. Her bed and chairs were still in place, her drawers didn’t appear to have been touched, and her closet looked much as it had when she left. With the police already preoccupied this weekend, she had been worried that Kellan or one of his associates might seize on the distraction to try to slip back into the house.

She heard the heavy scuffle of boots in the hallway outside. Thinking it must be Bella, she said, “Bella, you’ve got exactly two seconds to be downstairs before your grandmother comes up here and gets you! And you don’t want that!”

But Bella didn’t respond.

The figure hovering outside stood silent and still for a minute, then made a mad scramble for the ground floor as if trying to tap dance down the stairs.

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