October's Ghost by Ryne Douglas Pearson

Author:Ryne Douglas Pearson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Suspense & Thrillers
Publisher: Schmuck & Underwood
Published: 2011-06-16T15:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THUNDER

Frankie closed the front door easily, only a soft click from the lock signaling that she was home. A single light was on in the living room to her left, and she could see her mother stretched out serenely on the couch, a blue-and-yellow afghan covering her from knee to shoulder. She smiled and took a blanket from the closet and laid it over the woman who had always been there for her and was still, planting a soft kiss on her forehead that caused a slight stir.

She switched off the light and made her way down the hall toward the back bedrooms. Hers was on the right, the door open, and she went to it and tossed her jacket onto the unmade bed. Her penchant for cleanliness and order had been superseded by events. Next she unclipped her holster and laid the weapon in the recessed shelf of her nightstand. There it would be close, not so much because she feared intruders, but she had learned early from the needless deaths in her old stomping grounds that a gun in the wrong hands, of the little variety particularly, was deadly. On the few occasions it was not with her—agents are never really off duty—she kept the weapon in a locked safe high on a shelf in her closet. Little Cassie would someday learn about guns, something Frankie believed was much preferable to her picking one up at a friend’s house and not knowing what it was capable of. Knowledge was power, and it was safety.

Little Cassie. Frankie pushed the cracked door open enough to poke her head in. The Winnie the Pooh night light cast an angelic glow on the singular, constant beauty in Francine Aguirre’s existence. She was still a mama’s girl, barely four, a quietly intelligent child who never complained when Mommy had to work late but was as possessive as a pit bull when she knew it was “their” special time together. There was never enough of that. Never would be. Looking down on the slender face and the thumb that still found its way to the mouth despite all the talk of being a big girl, Frankie wondered if there ever would be.

She wouldn’t disturb her angel’s sleep with a kiss, which would surely wake her. It always had. The light sleeper syndrome, just like her mother. But she didn’t really mind those few times when Cassie would awaken. In fact, she had to selfishly admit that it was a purposeful plot on her part sometimes. But not tonight. It was late, actually early, and her daughter was an early riser. Frankie would give her the biggest hug she could in the morning before she went off to preschool. The biggest hug from her, and one from Art, and...

Frankie shrank back from the opening, the tears for some reason spilling as though a dam had burst. She backed into her own bedroom and pushed the door almost closed, leaving enough of an opening so she could hear if Cassie started fussing.

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