Lost

  “Hey, guys! Come on in!” I opened the door, and then stood to the side, as he and Isaiah brought in a few samples for us to look at.

  “Alright. You ready to do this?” Joe asked me as I followed the two of them up the stairs.

  “I don’t know. You guys probably have a better eye than I do. I think I’m going to defer to you,” I said as we reached my bedroom door, and they laid the samples down.

  They had six different samples. I was about to tell them that they all looked good to me—Honestly, they did!—but then they started their critique.

  “I think the color’s a bit off in this one,” Joe said putting one aside.

  “Yeah, I see that. This one doesn’t have that distressed look of the original flooring. See that?” Isaiah put another one aside.

  Joe nodded. “Plank width is off on these two. And this other one might be hard to get.”

  Isaiah held up the only sample left. “Okay, baby girl. What do you think?”

  “Umm… perfect?” I replied, more asking than telling. Like I said, they all looked good to me.

  “Yep, we think so too,” Joe told me. “This flooring can be in by Monday, and we can pick it up and come out and get started right away.”

  “Guys, you don’t have to rush around for me.”

  “We would’ve done it for Brian, so you know we’ll do it for you,” Joe told me, and I got the feeling that part of the discussion was done.

  I thanked them, as I knew arguing wouldn’t do any good, and I mentioned the party I had planned, “So... August 10. Don’t make plans.”

  “Why aren’t I making plans?” Isaiah asked me.

  “I thought I’d have a big cookout at the lake house—bounce house for the kids, burgers, hot dogs, beer… I want to invite everyone.”

  Brian threw a big summer bash for the guys every year at the lake house. The kids went swimming off the dock, and we hired a DJ. Well, we didn’t really hire a DJ. One of the guys moonlighted as a DJ part time, and he always volunteered his services. We danced and sang. It was a great time. I hadn’t planned on doing anything—after all it wasn’t our company anymore, but it felt right.

  “Sounds great! Are you sure you’re up to it?” Isaiah asked me.

  “Yep! We all are. The kids are already looking forward to it.” They were. I wasn’t lying about that. I had already told Ben, Amy, Bee, and Anthony, and they were coming. It was going to be a great time—just like it was last time.

  “Great! I’ll make up some flyers and put one in everyone’s paycheck next Friday. Guess, I’ll need to bring up my grill?” Joe asked.

  Joe had this ridiculous grill that he made. I don’t know how else to describe it except that to get it up to the lake house, he had to use a trailer. I think the record at the last get-together was 103 burgers. The thing was huge.

  “You bring the grill. I’ll get the charcoal?” I offered.

  “Deal,” Joe said, making another note in his yellow legal tablet. “So we good on this one, yep?” He asked me as he held up the only sample he and Isaiah had deemed worthy.

  “Yeah, works for me. Do you know how much it’ll cost?”

  “I can get you an exact figure once I get to the store. We can call you, and you can pay for it over the phone. That okay?”

  That’s exactly what I’d done with the mirror and the shower doors, so that was fine with me. Joe had refused to take any money for the replacement toilet he brought over previously. I walked the guys down to the front door, and Joe told me I should hear from him in an hour or so. Then, hopefully by this time next week, my house would be back to normal, with the exception of the pictures that I had not yet gotten frames for.

  After they left, I shut the door and grabbed my new magazine. I sat down and read about the tragedy that was now Amanda Bynes.

  Chapter 41

  He had arrived back at the house and immediately laid down. No headache, but he was still tired. He hadn’t been sleeping good.

  She filled his dreams. He heard her laughing. The kids from the picture were there too, always smiling, always asking him questions.

  A part of him knew they were memories, but another part of him just got angry at the dreams. He felt like the answers he needed were so close, within his grasp, but he could never grab them and hold on.

  He laid down and prayed the dreams stayed away so that he could sleep.

  Chapter 42

  “Not hinky, my ass!” Ethan Jeffries muttered to himself.

  “You okay, bud?” Walter Petterson asked him. Walt was a uniform, but he and Ethan had been at the academy together.

  Ethan threw the file on his desk and leaned back in his battered old chair. “Do you remember a Brian Klevan? Jogger? Hit by a car last November?”

  Walt racked his brain. “Yeah, yeah I do. He was a younger guy, right? 40, something like that?”

  “38. Was hit out on Route 17.”

  “If I remember correctly, that was a pretty simple case. Why you looking at the file?” Walt asked.

  “He left behind a wife, five kids… Seems someone broke into their house while they were away. Did a real number.”

  “Think the two are connected?” Walt looked interested now.

  “Look at this report. Car hit him going almost 55 miles per hour. Look at the list of injuries.”

  Walt read the report, and then he reread it. “Okay. I feel like I’m gonna look stupid, but what am I not seeing here?”

  “The M.E. said he died of a TBI... See right here.” Ethan pointed to the report. “Traumatic brain injury. But aside from that, no broken bones in his body. How do you get hit by a car, a minivan at that, going that fast and have no broken bones? None. Not even a finger!”

  Understanding flashed across Walt’s face, and he looked up at his friend. “No?”

  “I talked to Hogarty over at the lab. Do you know what he said they found at the Klevan house?”

  “Do I want to know?” Walt’s blood was turning to ice, just like Ethan’s had after talking to the lab tech.

  “A fingernail… a wolf’s fingernail. Or perhaps I should say a wolf’s claw.”

  Walt sat down and put his head on his desk. “Tell me this isn’t happening.”

  “’Fraid I can’t do that my friend,” Ethan said.

  Chapter 43

  “I don’t think we’re doing it right!” I told Sam as we looked at the coals I had dumped on the grill.

  “Mom, you told me this is how it was supposed to be done.” Sam was frustrated.

  I was peering at the little pictures on my phone. “That’s what it says here. But it never took Dad this long.”

  The afternoon had been relatively quiet. True to his word, Joe had called about an hour after he left, and he’d been able to give me an exact figure for the flooring—$1800, which was right about what insurance priced a replacement floor. I had finished putting away all my clothes and had been able to enjoy my magazine and an iced tea before Sam brought the girls home. About an hour later all the kids were back, and we were trying to figure out how to light the grill.

  “Yeah. Well, Dad knew what he was doing.” Sam stood there with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Oh! OH! Look. Coals are turning red!” Finally, it was moving along. I smacked Sam lightly on the shoulder. “Told you we’d figure it out.”

  “Mom? Is dinner almost ready?” Carey stuck his head out the back door and asked. He had a date with Lessa tonight, and he was antsy.

  “What’s the plan?” I asked him.

  “We were just gonna go see a movie. Maybe Iron Man 3,” he told me.

  “Oohh! Can we go? Please, Carey!” Maggie begged her older brother, who did not look happy with the idea.

  I stepped in. “No, sweetie. Carey’s going on a date. I’ll take you sometime soon, okay?”

  The girls looked disappointed but nodded their agreement.

  I fished $20 out of my pocket and handed it to Carey. “Here. Go grab some burgers at the food court or something
. I didn’t think it would take this long.”

  He grabbed it and kissed me on the cheek before running back in the house. “Cool! Thanks, Mom!” He yelled as he ran out the door.

  “Alright, I think we need to let these sit for a bit, then I can put the burgers on.” Sam put the cover back on the grill and sat down with the girls at the picnic table.

  “Anyone want a drink?” I asked. “I cut up some fruit.”

  “Can I have a Coke?” Jessie asked.

  Sam, Maggie, and Jimmy agreed, and I went to get the fruit and some drinks for everyone. After I brought them out, we all sat around, and the kids told me about their day.

  Apparently, Karie wears a rather small bathing suit, and Sam really appreciates it—I got this from the girls, not Sam. The girls approved of Sam dating her though, because she wasn’t like the other girl Sam took to the park last year who rode on nothing and didn’t want to get her hair wet—no one can remember her name, and Sam wasn’t giving it up.

  “Nope, Karie just put her hair up and dove right in,” Jessie told me.

  “Yeah, I think Sam wanted her top to fall off,” Maggie laughed.

  Sam shot her a look. “No such thing. You two monkeys behave.”

  I laughed.

  “Okay.” I interrupted after a bit more banter. “Let’s put the burgers on. Sam get it ready, and I’ll go get them.”

  Jimmy rubbed his hands together. “Finally!”

  “Hey, maybe if you’d caught something, we could be having fish,” Sam teased him, as I went into the house.

  * * *

  45 minutes later, everyone agreed that the burgers, if not as good as Brian used to make, were pretty tasty. I was just happy we figured out the grill. In all the years we’d been together, all the times we’d grilled outside, I don’t think I paid attention once to what Brian did. He always did his thing, and about 40 minutes later, we had a tasty burger. It’s just one more way we had to adjust to life as a party of six, as opposed to a party of seven—learning to man the grill.

  The kids were still sitting on the patio, though I think they were now spitting watermelon seeds into the yard. Apparently Jimmy was beating Sam, and the girls were cheering Jimmy on.

  “Excuse me! Who took you to the water park today? Not Jimmy!” Sam reminded them.

  The comment stopped the girls in their tracks. Jimmy was usually the most patient with them. On the other hand, Sam could drive and took them places. The girls looked at each other, and something unspoken passed between them.

  “Go, Sam!” Maggie yelled.

  “Come on, Jimmy!” Jessie chimed in.

  “That’s more like it,” Sam muttered, and I just shook my head, as I brought in dirty plates and glasses.

  The revelry continued for at least another hour, before the girls started to complain of being tired.

  “Okay. Let’s wrap this up,” I told them, standing up. “Guys, let’s bring in the fruit bowl.”

  The boys gathered whatever was left outside, and I took the girls in to get them ready for bed.

  Teeth brushed and hair combed, the girls climbed into their beds. Jessie pulled her pink quilt up to her nose and looked at me with sleepy eyes.

  “The burgers came out good, Mommy,” she told me.

  Maggie’s purple quilt was already askew, and I set about straightening it. “They were almost as good as Daddy’s,” she told me.

  I smiled at them in the faint light and bent to kiss one head, and then the other. “Almost as good as Daddy’s? I’ll take that.”

  “Okay. Night, Mommy,” Jessie muttered, already half asleep.

  “Love you,” Maggie said as she drifted off.

  “Night, baby girls. I love you too,” I told them as softly as I shut their door.

  I went downstairs to clean up the kitchen a bit more and make sure all the doors were locked. Truth be told, despite what happened to our house while we were away, I didn’t feel scared. I wasn’t worried, but I wasn’t going to invite issues either.

  I went into the kitchen and finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher. I wiped down the counter, and then went over to the back door—locked up tight. Carey had a key to the front door, so I checked the garage door—down. And I locked the door in the kitchen that led to the garage. Then I turned off the kitchen light. I decided to just leave a light on in the living room, and the porch light of course. Front door checked and locked.

  I yawned as I made my way upstairs. I wasn’t looking forward to another night in the bottom bunk, and I couldn’t wait for my new mattress to be delivered. It wouldn’t come soon enough. I had extra sheets, but my comforter and duvet cover had been ruined. So rather than scour the mall, I opted to just order new ones from The Company Store. They had been delivered the day before and were sitting in the chair in my room waiting.

  I made my way into Jimmy’s room. He was reading in his old lazy boy.

  “Hi, Mom. Mind if I read for a while?”

  “Of course not, sweetie. It’s your room. Thanks for letting me bunk with you,” I told him as I crawled into bed.

  “No problem.” He put his book down. “Have the police said anything, Mom?”

  I pulled the covers up over my legs and leaned against the headboard. “Not yet. Detective Jeffries has been great about calling to let me know what’s going on. Unfortunately, nothing much is going on. It sounds like they’ve run into a dead end.”

  “Do you think it was personal? Like someone that didn’t like us, or maybe someone that didn’t like Dad?” Jimmy simply asked the question. There was no fear in his voice, rather he just wanted to know my thoughts.

  “Honestly, Jimmy, I don’t know. Your Dad was almost 40. I’m almost 40. It would be ridiculous to think that somewhere along the way we didn’t piss someone off. On the other hand, whoever broke into our house did a lot of damage. So I won’t go on record and say that we never made an enemy, but I don’t think we made an enemy that disliked us this much.”

  “So you think it was a random thing? Just bad luck?” Jimmy pushed.

  I thought about it a minute before answering, determined not to just placate the kids. “I do. The house sat empty for a week, it’s summer, and I think it was a crime of opportunity. Nothing was really stolen. I think someone broke in and had their idea of fun.”

  Jimmy shook his head. “Some people are really screwed up.”

  I smiled at our son. “Some people really are screwed up, babe.”

  He smiled back at me and went back to his book. I laid down and stared at the bottom of the top bunk. A part of me actually believed what I told Jimmy. I really didn’t think there was anyone out there that hated me, or Brian for that matter, that much. But as I closed my eyes, I couldn’t get one thing out of my mind.

  The pictures. Maybe someone did hate me that much.

  Chapter 44

  I peeled my eyes open and winced. Jimmy’s bed was not comfortable, and my aging back was telling me that over and over again. I looked at the alarm clock on Jimmy’s nightstand—3:15.

  God!

  My throat felt like I had swallowed a tube sock. I decided to drag myself out of bed. I made my way downstairs and saw my van in the driveway. Carey had gotten home and locked up. I didn’t bother turning on the kitchen light. There was enough illumination from the moon outside. I grabbed a glass out of the dish rack and got some water, and then decided to take something to help me sleep.

  After Brian died, Dr. Holt, the therapist we saw, wanted to prescribe something to help me sleep. I was tossing and turning all night and barely able to function during the day. But I had asked him to recommend something over-the-counter first. He suggested I try Unisom. It worked for my allergies too, but it took the edge off and allowed me to relax so that I could fall asleep. I hadn’t taken one in months, but the bottom bunk was making it tough for me to sleep, so I dug out the bottle.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw something. My head shot up, and I looked out into the backyard. The wind had picked up someti
me during the night, and it looked like a summer storm was blowing in. The bushes that I really needed to tend do at the fence line were whipping about.

  There!

  In the back, almost hidden among the trees, something moved. I leaned forward and put my hand on the window pane, and something, no, someone stood up. I dropped the bottle and took a step back, my hand going to my mouth to stifle any sound I made.

  Though the moon was out, that part of the backyard was shrouded in night, and I couldn’t see anything other than an outline. I stood still, not moving, and whoever or whatever was in my backyard did the same. I could feel it watching me. I started to shake.

  The shape took a step forward, and I took a step back.

  “No!” I forced out of my dry throat, and I shook my head, snapping out of whatever hold the shape had on me. I rushed to the back door to make sure that it was locked. It was. I ran back over to the sink so I could look out the window.

  The figure hadn’t moved. It was still standing in my yard. My inability to see anything made it all the more menacing, and I struggled to control my breathing.

  The shape came closer still.

  I had used a large knife to cut the fruit during dinner, so I picked it up from the drainer.

  “Please, God. Please.” Silent tears rolled down my cheeks. I was terrified.

  I struggled to remember if I had taken my cell phone upstairs with me, and then, suddenly, the figure moved.

  His or her or its head flew to the side, as if it’d heard something. It stood like this for a minute, and then slowly turned back to face the house. I saw an arm raise and a finger point—directly at me. I choked on a sob.

  And then the shape turned, jumped over the fence, and was gone.

  I dropped the knife in the sink and struggled to control my breathing.

  Our back fence was almost nine feet high.

  Chapter 45

  Morning didn’t come soon enough. After the “incident” as I had been calling it the past few hours, I couldn’t get back to sleep. Instead, I laid in Jimmy’s bed with my eyes closed, debating.