Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly

Author:T. Marie Vandelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-07-22T16:00:00+00:00

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I DROVE HOME with one eye on the road and one eye on three days ago, frantically pressing buttons to find a radio station that would provide an update on Claire. From what I was able to piece together from teasers leading into commercials and the last few seconds of a “News and Weather on the Eights” report, until the discovery of her body that morning, Claire Reynolds had been missing since the day she vanished off my couch. After checking in at her office that morning, she left to “run down” a story, which meant she probably had come to my house that day. She had told a coworker she would be back in time for a staff meeting that afternoon, but was never seen or heard from again. If the timing of her disappearance was accurate and she had already been dead for a few days, I was probably the last person on earth to see Claire Reynolds alive.

I pulled into my driveway five minutes after the top of the hour. I was hunched over, picking crumbs from the plastic casing around my gearshift, listening to commercials, and waiting for the news to start, when a hard knock at my window threw me back in my seat.

Vicki waved at me through the passenger’s side window. I gave her a tentative smile as she mouthed something through the glass. I popped the trunk so I could gather my groceries.

“Sorry if I scared you,” she said as I got out of the car. “I thought you saw me coming.”

“That’s okay,” I said, rounding the car. “What’s up?”

“Just thought I’d say hi,” she said, then cocked her head pensively. “You doing okay, sweetie?”

I nodded as I hooked a couple of bags over my wrist. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know . . . I just haven’t seen you in a couple of days. I thought you might be sick.”

“I’m fine. My aunt’s sick, though. I was just over there helping her out.” As I closed the trunk and moved around the back of the car, I noticed a small boy attached to Vicki’s hip. “Hello there,” I said. “What’s your name?”

The boy looked to his mother for the answer.

Vicki patted the top of his head. “This is Conner.”

“Hi, Conner,” I said.

“Can we go now?” Conner complained, stretching his neck to elongate his impatience.

“In a minute,” Vicki said sternly, then tempered her expression as she looked up at me. “I don’t know why he’s in such a hurry. He’s going to the dentist. Of course the one day I arrange a sitter for Katie so I can get a jump on my Christmas shopping, he wakes up with a toothache.”

“Christmas,” I repeated in a rather Scroogey way. “Isn’t it a little early for Christmas shopping? We haven’t even had Thanksgiving yet.”

She covered Conner’s ears. “Not if Santa wants to find all the best toys, it’s not.”

Conner wrestled free. “Can I wait in the car?”

“We’re going. Now shush.” She shook her head at me.

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