He sighed, shaking his head with a grin.
“Have it your way.”
He turned the car around and ran her over. The wheel nearly jerked out of his hands as the car bumped over her. There was a satisfying crunch, like you got dropping a rotten melon, and the car tried to fishtail away from him.
He laughed out loud. “That was fun, Daddy…can we do it again? Why, sure, Son! Don’t mind if we do.”
Glancing through the back windshield, he threw the car into reverse and backed over the girl for good measure. It wasn’t as much fun as he had planned on having with her, but it would do.
He pulled forward over the body. Now the sound was like driving in slushy snow filled with broken branches. He studied the remains in the rearview mirror. She certainly didn’t look snotty now. Slimy maybe…
Reaching into her purse, he pulled out her wallet and flipped it open. Caroline Marshall wouldn’t be going home again. Wonder how long it will be until someone misses her?
Long enough, probably.
He checked the bill compartment. There was almost a hundred dollars. Nice score. Enough for the rent and a small rock, at least.
The car had a full tank of gas, and it was a lovely day. He cranked down the windows and drove. Of course, the further out of town he went, the longer it would take him to get back for his errand…but it’d be worth it.
He pulled into a used car lot about forty miles from town. He slid the car into an empty space at the back of the lot.
The skellyman stuffed his hands into his pockets and roamed the lot with a practiced eye. He found a low mileage black sedan that’d do nicely. It was the work of a minute to hot-wire the car, and he drove it off the lot, radio blasting.
He had a good suspicion where he would find his Angel. The Bitch would’ve left her with the Parents again. It was the only place she’d consider safe enough for her precious darling.
Sure enough, when he pulled onto the Fullertons’ street, he could see Daisy playing in the front yard, chasing a mangy white puppy around the lawn.
He grinned. Bet she isn’t supposed to be doing that. Bet she is supposed to be safe and sound in the backyard with its high privacy fence. Bet Ma Parent is too busy cooking some swill to notice. Pa Parent will be snoozing on the couch. Hell, I bet I could sweep the Angel up and carry her away and no one would be the wiser.
Except the Bitch probably had every cop in town looking for him. So, not yet.
The dog ran into the street after a badly-tossed ball, and his foot hit the accelerator instinctively.
He laughed in excitement, feeling the car leap forward on command. Daisy ran out after the dog, and he jerked the wheel to the right to miss her. The front tire clipped the puppy, however, and it yelped in pain, skidding into the curb and lying there stunned.
Daisy managed to stop herself before she ran in front of the car, and stared at him through the windshield. He nodded at her, face stretched in a maniac grin.
He sped on down the street, glancing back in the rear-view mirror to see her run to the puppy and kneel beside it, hands to her face.
But her expression was more excited fascination than sorrow. Just as he’d anticipated.
Chapter 35
Robbie threw himself in front of the car, trying to protect Daisy—but of course it did no good. The car went right through him.
It careened across the road and hit the little white puppy. The man behind the wheel was laughing as he did it.
Wait a sec! The man behind the wheel—was that…?
He melted through the side of the car, hitching a ride. This man was important. There was something about him that must be stopped.
He would try and stick close to this man. If he didn’t, he was afraid that something very, very bad would happen.
Chapter 36
Brenda fought down the scream rising in her throat with difficulty. No more screaming. She’d been screaming entirely too much lately. It was time to act, even if her teeth wouldn’t stop chattering.
Struggling into a clean t-shirt and sweats, she walked to the window on the far side of the bathroom and inspected the lock. It was shut tight. In fact, even after she undid the catch and tried to lift it, it remained shut. Peering closely, she could see it was painted shut. No one had opened this window in quite some time.
She drained the tub and moved into the bedroom. The windows here were also sealed shut. Plus, they were on the second story of the house, and there was no tree within climbing distance. Craning her neck to see as much of the ground outside the window as possible, she could see no sign of ladder tracks or any other marks to suggest how someone could get in from the outside.
That left the house. She went to the bedroom door, but the chain was still in place. The closet maybe?
She checked that as well. The ceiling of the tiny closet was shadowed. It was possible there was a trap door between it and the attic…but how would her stalker have gotten into the attic?
Brenda rubbed at the goose bumps covering her arms. This whole thing was driving her nuts. It would be so much easier to take if there was some logical explanation—no matter how weird—but that didn’t seem to be the case.
There was a knock at the door, and Brenda hurried to undo the chain. Penny stood outside with the promised tray and a friendly smile.
“It’s just leftovers,” she apologized. “We don’t usually do lunch and dinner for the guests, but Phil said you really needed a bit of coddling today.”
“Oh, he did, did he?” Brenda asked, eyebrow rising.
“Don’t get mad at him. He’s just looking out for you. I haven’t seen him this worried about someone in a long time.”
Penny bustled over to the writing desk and set down the tray. “I told him he could go ahead and bring your kitten over here. There’s no problem having her stay in the room—and I’m sure she’ll be a comfort to you.
“Besides, it’ll be nice to have a cat around the house again. I lost mine recently. She got run over—right outside the house—and I would’ve said this was the safest street in the neighborhood.”
“I’m sorry to hear it,” said Brenda sincerely.
“Well, she was very old. It was probably a blessing in disguise.”
“Penny…can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Has anyone else rented this room lately? Or maybe just come through for some reason…a plumber perhaps?”
Penny laughed.
“You sound like Phillip. He asked almost exactly the same questions while we were downstairs.” She shook her head. “Nope. No one’s been here since the end of August and the last of the summer crowd. Is there something wrong?”
“How much has Phillip told you about why I needed to go to a hotel for a few days?”
Penny frowned.
“He said you’d been having problems with someone bothering you, and they might’ve broken into your house. Is there more to it than that?”
“I’m not sure,” Brenda answered truthfully, “but I need to show you something.”
She led the way into the bathroom. The mirror was as pristine as the rest of the room.
Brenda stepped closer, peering at the glass. There were no traces of the message she had seen only moments before.
“What is it, Brenda?” asked Penny.
“There was a message—right here. It said, ‘you can’t hide from me’.”
“I don’t see how that’s possible,” Penny said. “This room’s been locked tight until this morning when Phil called and said you needed a place to stay. Do you think you could’ve imagined it?”
“I-I guess it’s possible. My nerves’re coming through my skin these days.”
“I’d say forget about it for now, and you can report it to Phil when he brings the kitten over. Right now, you should eat your lunch before it gets cold.”
She took Brenda’s arm in hers and led her over to the desk. “It isn’t a lot of food, but we’ll do better by you at dinner.”
“Well, how it looks and smells aren’t the important things. How does it taste?”
Brenda picked up the spoon and raised a mouthful to her lips. She blew on it reflexively, and then stuck it in her mouth. The beef seemed to melt away on her tongue.
“That’s marvelous!”
“Glad to hear it.”
Penny patted her shoulder. “Eat up, and then lie down for a bit. I’ll collect the tray when Phillip brings the kitten over.”
Brenda nodded.
“Thanks again.”
“No problem.” Penny headed for the door, pulling it shut behind her as she left.
Brenda hadn’t realized how hungry she was until the scent of the stew hit her. She made short work of the meal, rinsing out the bowl in the bathroom sink. She studied the mirror again as she did so.
Absolutely no trace of the message. Am I going insane? Imagining all these incidents?
But she couldn’t have imagined them all—Daisy was the first one to see the skellyman. She supposed there could be some kind of shared hallucination at work between them. But hadn’t Phillip seen the man at the pancake house?
She sighed. At least she’d been able to give the police a good description. Now they had Christa’s sketch, it shouldn’t be too hard to catch the guy. Someone that creepy-looking has to stand out. Doesn’t he?
Returning the bowl to the tray and setting it on the dresser beside the TV, she decided a little background noise wouldn’t be unwelcome. She turned on the set, flipping through the channels until she hit a rerun of a sit-com she’d always enjoyed.
She lay down on the bed, watching the characters hamming it up on the screen. The plot would’ve been predictable even if she hadn’t seen the episode before—and somehow that was comforting. Before the program was even halfway over, her eyes drifted closed again, and she was fast asleep before the credits rolled.
This time her dreams were pleasant ones, filled with images of Robbie playing ball and Daisy blowing bubbles for Bones to chase. Ethan laughing at them then taking her into his arms and telling her what wonderful children they had. She happily agreed…the family back together at last.
Then she drifted down past the layer of dreams until a soft knock on the door pulled her out of sleep. “Come in,” she called groggily, sitting up and running her hand through her hair to tame it.
The door opened a crack, and a familiar black and white face peeked around it. Brenda laughed aloud in delight, patting the bed beside her.
“Come here, baby.”
Mask mewed, and then leaped lightly onto the bed, stepping gingerly over the pliable surface as she made her way to Brenda. She stopped to butt her head against Brenda’s hand, demanding petting.
Happily, Brenda complied.
“I missed you, little missy,” she crooned to the kitten. “I haven’t been a very good mama to you, have I?”
Phillip poked his head around the door next.
“Did you get some rest?” he asked her.
“Yes, thank you. I just had a lovely nap.”
“Penny said you had a bit of a scare earlier?”
Brenda frowned, a bit annoyed by the reminder. She’d almost managed to forget the scrawled message for a few minutes.
“Yeah. When I got out of the tub, there was a message written on the mirror—but there’s no trace of it now. I must’ve dreamed it or something. I was so tired I fell asleep in the tub.”
“What did the message say?”
“It said ‘you can’t hide from me.’”
“Was there anything remarkable about the writing?”
She shook her head.
“Aside from the fact it looked like some kid wrote it, it wasn’t particularly remarkable.”
“Maybe that’s it,” answered Phillip. “Maybe a kid did write it. Penny’s got two boys. I wouldn’t put it past Benny or Carlos to be playing around in here and write the message for his brother.”
“Maybe so,” Brenda replied…but she didn’t really believe the explanation. For one thing, Penny had said the room was locked up for the last few weeks. Also, she didn’t see how she could have missed it on her way to the tub.
Particularly since she had set her clothes down almost directly beneath the words. She didn’t feel like rehashing the incident right now, however. It would ruin the peace she had finally grasped a corner of.
Mask demanded more attention by climbing up the cast to her shoulder and purring loudly in her ear. Brenda rubbed her cheek against the soft fur. Such a sweet little thing.
As if to belie the thought, Mask nipped Brenda’s ear with her sharp baby teeth.
“Ouch!” Brenda cried, pulling the kitten off her shoulder with no regard for the safety of her t-shirt. “That hurt, baby girl!”
Phillip was struggling to keep from laughing. He finally lost the fight, and peals of laughter filled the room. Brenda couldn’t help but join him.
She scolded the kitten fondly, “Don’t you go biting people, little bit. No one will want to cuddle you then.”
The sound of her phone ringing cut short her merriment. Her cell phone! Damn, I should’ve used the camera to take a picture of the message…
It took her a minute to locate her purse, sitting on the floor beside the dresser. “Can you hand me my purse?” she asked Phillip, gesturing toward it.
“Sure.”
He brought it to her, and she set the kitten in her lap so she could rummage through it, answering the phone on the third ring with a breathless, “Hello?”
“Brenda?” Mary’s voice came through the phone.
Brenda almost made a wisecrack about “who else would it be,” but something in the tone of her mother’s voice made her hold back the sarcasm.
“Yes, Mother. It’s me. What can I do for you?”
“Brenda…there’s been an accident.”
Chapter 37
All the strength went out of Brenda in a great rush. She thanked God she was sitting down already. She felt flash-frozen into a block of icy stone.
“An accident?” she repeated dully. “What kind of accident?”
Phillip moved over to stand behind her, his hand on her shoulder. She reached up and squeezed it gratefully.
“It was all that damn dog’s fault, excuse my language.”
“What happened?” She was fighting to control her voice—panic threatening to suffocate her. “Please…just tell me.”
“I’m trying to, Brenda Elaine. If you’d stop interrupting me—”
She could just picture the hurt expression on her mother’s face…and yet, she couldn’t quite bring herself to care.
“I’m sorry, Mother,” she managed, “please, go on.”
“Well, as I was saying, Daisy was out in the front yard playing with that little dog—I told her to keep to the back with the fence, but she decided it needed a change of scenery, and snuck it around to the front while your father was napping and I was in the kitchen. And we have that busy street out front…”
“Is Daisy hurt?” Brenda gasped, her voice like jagged glass in her throat.
“Daisy? Of course not. Daisy’s fine. Haven’t you been listening?”
Brenda sagged in relief.
“Thank God. What did happen?”
“It’s that silly little dog. He ran out right in front of a car—which was probably going far too fast for the neighborhood, but what can you say to teenagers they will listen to…”
“Is Bones badly hurt?”
She felt the bed sag as Phillip sat down behind her, massaging her shoulders. She turned her head and smiled at him.
“Thank you,” she mouthed.
“Oh, the silly creature is fine. The car just
clipped it—your father and Daisy took it to the veterinarian and it just needed its leg set. It’s in a cast too, which Daisy seems to think is extremely funny. She wouldn’t settle down until I called to tell you. Would you like to speak to your daughter?” Mary’s tone made it clear she felt Brenda should be with her daughter and not off God-knew-where doing God-knew-what with God-knew-who.
“Sure…put her on.”
She could hear Mary murmuring to Daisy in the background, and then the child’s breathless voice came through the phone.
“Mama! Mama! Bones brokeded his leg. He’s got him a castamajig just like you do.”
“Does he, sweetie?”
“Yes! And he has to take medisum. Papa said he’d give Bones his medisum while I’m at school, but I’ll give it to him when I get home.”
“Don’t give him too much, baby—you listen to Papa about when he needs it.”
“Oh, I will. When’re we going home?”
“Not for a while, kiddo. Are you having fun with Papa and Grammy?”
Daisy paused.
“Mostly. Though it wasn’t fun when the skellyman runded over Bones.”
Brenda was caught off guard.
“Grammy said a boy hit Bones.”
“Oh, no,” replied Daisy placidly. “How would she knowed? She wasn’t even there!
“I sawded him. It was the skellyman. He was laughing when he runded into Bones. That wasn’t very nice of him, was it?”
“No, baby. That wasn’t nice at all. Are you sure it was the skellyman?”
Brenda felt Phillip’s hand tighten on her shoulder. She held up a finger to forestall his questions.
“Potamus, Mama. I sawded him good. I run faster than Bones or he might have runded over me too.”
“Well, don’t you play out in the front anymore. You stay inside unless Papa can watch you in the back where it’s safe.”
“But it’s boooorrrring in the back, and inside is worse!” Daisy protested.
“Daisy, darlin’, Bones can’t run with a broken leg. You need to think of him and keep him safe too. He needs to be inside most of the time, and he needs you to watch him.” Her mind spun as she tried to think of something Daisy would consider an acceptable diversion. “Maybe you can teach Papa to play Space Invaders with you,” she said, shuddering inwardly at the thought.
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