The Babysitter by Diana Diamond

The Babysitter by Diana Diamond

Author:Diana Diamond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Published: 2011-03-10T00:00:00+00:00


August

THIRTY

They woke up slowly with dry mouths and the taste of last night’s liquor still in their throats. Ellie raised her head to the clock and saw that it was nearly ten. She nudged Gordon, hoping that he might start the breakfast, and then eased back into the pillow.

Suddenly, she was wide awake. The children should be up by now, and yet the house was deathly quiet. She bounded up, stepped into jeans and was pulling a tank top over her head as she walked out of her bedroom. Both doors at the far end of the hall were open, and there was no one in either of the bedrooms.

“Gordon!” There was an urgency in her voice that sobered him instantly.

“What is it?” He was already up and searching for his underwear.

“They’re gone. She has the children.”

“Gone where?” He was hopping into his loafers.

“I don’t know. There’s no one in the house,” she called back from the head of the stairs, then she quickly ran down.

Gordon was right behind her, wearing only his trousers and shoes. “She probably took them down to the beach so that we could get some sleep.”

Ellie looked into the kitchen and then stepped out onto the empty screen porch. “They’re not on the beach,” she called back.

Gordon was past her. “I’ll check the garage.” They met again in the driveway. “She took the Range Rover. Didn’t she leave a note?” He raced up the steps to the house.

She tried to keep up. “I didn’t see any note.”

They had just reached the porch when they heard a car turn into their driveway. Both of them froze. The car bumped over the loose gravel and skidded to a stop somewhere behind the house. Doors opened and instantly the air was filled with voices. They heard Molly announcing exactly who would get which doughnut, while Timmy kept repeating that he wanted the chocolate one. Next there were footsteps on the outside stairs.

“Where have you been?” Ellie demanded.

Molly pushed open the screen door and headed straight for the kitchen. “We went down to the village. We bought doughnuts.”

“I want the chocolate one,” said Tim, who was right at his sister’s heels.

Theresa came behind them, taking the steps with much less energy. “They were up early. I thought I’d get them out of the house so you could get some sleep.”

“You should have told us,” Ellie answered. “We were worried.”

“I left a note under the coffeepot. I thought that was the one place where you couldn’t miss it. And you had to figure that they were with me.”

“Still—” Ellie began, but Gordon cut her off with a tug on her elbow.

“Let’s get that coffee going,” he said.

They kept watching Theresa for signs of distress and anger. Did she know that her date had been under the boardwalk with another girl? Had she known that she was being two-timed all along? Was she planning some diabolic revenge? But there was nothing. She set the plates, poured the milk, and wiped the chocolate from Timmy’s face every time he took a bite.



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