Pokrewne

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Chelsea Handler Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (epub
Brit Brinson [Dia of the Dead Dia of the Dead (epub)
Cody Goodfellow [Radiant Dawn Radiant Dawn (epub)
Cate Tiernan [Immortal Belove Immortal Beloved (epub)
C J Busby [Deep Amber 01] Deep Amber (retail) (epub)
Carl Ashmore [Time Hunters 01 The Time Hunters (epub)
Drew Hayes [Super Powereds 02 Super Powereds Year 2 (epub) i
Beth Harbison [Shoe Addict 02 Secrets of a Shoe Addict (epub)
Cara Lynn Shultz [Dark World The Dark World (retail) (epub)
Captain W E Johns [Biggles 32 Comrades in Arms (epub)

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.”“I’ll have someone there in a few minutes,” the 911 operator said.“Just hang on, Mrs.Hollowell.”“I will, thank you.And you probably ought to tell the rescue people that they’ll need sticks for the dogs.I think they’re pit bulls.”“Yes ma’am.Sticks for the dogs.”I turned around and surveyed the scene.Sister and the man were both still lying on the floor, but she had moved over against the sofa.Meemaw was sitting next to her.“My good hog-butchering knife,” Meemaw said again.“And who the hell is he, and where is Sunny? Here’s her soup.I didn’t even spill any.”“I’ll put it in the refrigerator,” I said.And I walked around the little man in the dark suit with the hog-butchering knife sticking out of his chest, and got the Styrofoam container of soup from Meemaw.“Sunny!” she screamed.“I know you’re here.Answer me, girl, right this minute or I’ll beat your butt.”Sister opened her eyes for a second and then closed them again.FourMary Alice and I have always reacted to traumatic situations differently.She tends to react physically, sometimes fainting dead away which may or may not have happened on this occasion.I, on the other hand, remove myself mentally from the situation.Sister describes my reaction as taking little trips.And I guess I do.After I put the soup in the refrigerator, I sat at a table that folded down from the wall and on which I assumed Meemaw and Sunshine had been playing checkers on a worn board.Some of the checkers were lost, and they had substituted corn and pebbles.I looked away from the sad unfinished game and thought about the white sale Sears was having and how it was a strange time to have a white sale which should be in January.August was the time for back-to-school sales.But maybe kids going off to school needed towels and things.“Sunshine?” Meemaw called weakly.I continued my musing.A couple of down pillows would be nice.They cost an arm and a leg, so you have to get them on sale.It would be a nice surprise for Fred, though.And maybe a new bedspread for the middle bedroom.A flowered one?Sister sat up.“I have to go to the bathroom.”Meemaw pointed toward what I had assumed was a small pantry.“But maybe Sunshine’s in there.”“Open the door, Mouse, and see,” Sister said.“You’re closer.”My vision of Sears’ white sale evaporated.There was no way I was going to open that bathroom door.“You open it.”“I swear,” Meemaw said, looking around.“I wasn’t gone more than fifteen, maybe twenty minutes.” She struggled to her feet and opened the bathroom door.“It’s empty.”Sister got up and managed to squeeze in.Years of plane travel helped, I’m sure.“Maybe Sunshine’s asleep,” Meemaw said, walking back to the bedroom area.Fat chance anyone could have slept through a murder or through our screaming.I held my breath until she turned around and said, “No, she’s not here.” One dead body in that trailer was one too many.I forced myself to look down at the man.He was smaller than average with dark hair and olive skin.He was dressed neatly, though warmly for such a hot day, in a gray suit, white dress shirt, and a red-and-gray-striped tie; polished cordovan shoes splayed outward, showing the tops of black silk socks.There was surprisingly little blood on the white shirt.Apparently the hog-butchering knife had gone straight in and was, in effect, sealing the wound.Or—oh, God—was it possible that the knife had gone all the way through the man’s body? That he was impaled to the floor?That thought did me in.Not even Sears’ white sale could save me.“I’ve got to get out of here right now,” I said, heading for the door.“Grab a stick,” Meemaw said.“Those dogs better not come near me.”“I’m right behind you,” Sister said, stepping out of the bathroom, still pulling up her crumpled white linen slacks.“See if you see Sunny,” Meemaw called as we dived for the car.Not a single dog even looked up.The car was burning-up hot, but Sister and I both had the shakes so bad, it felt good.We huddled on the warm leather of the front seat, our teeth clicking like castanets.“Who the hell do you suppose he is?” Sister asked.“No idea.”“And reckon where Sunny is?”“No idea.” I watched Meemaw leave her trailer and walk to Kerrigan’s.“Maybe she’s in there, in her mother’s trailer.”“Dead.”“Of course not.She heard the dead man, whoever he is, coming in whatever vehicle he came in, and she knew what he was up to, and she had time to hide somewhere.”“Do you really think so?”“Absolutely.Now if we just knew who he is and how he got here and what he was up to, we’d know where Sunshine is.” I was babbling, but it seemed to make Mary Alice feel better.“Are you sure, Mouse?”“Of course.Sunshine’s fine.” In a pig’s eye.The girl was kidnapped, murdered, or a murderer.Take your pick.Meemaw came from Kerrigan’s trailer and waddled quickly toward us.For just a second, she reminded me of our grandmother Alice.The housedress, I realized.How long since I’d seen anyone wear a printed housedress with a belt to show where the waist is?Mary Alice let down the window on my side and Meemaw leaned in, panting.“Everything in there’s just torn up! I mean everything.They even broke the Elvis magnets on the refrigerator.” Meemaw began to cry and held out her hand.Elvis’s head had left the building.The white jumpsuit and blue suede shoes remained.“Kerrigan just loved these.”“Get in, Meemaw,” Sister said.“I’ll turn on the air-conditioning.”“I want to find Elvis’s head for Kerrigan.It can be glued back on.”“We’ll find it after the police come,” Sister said.“We really shouldn’t compromise the crime scene.”I looked at her and she seemed serious.Compromise the crime scene? We had only stepped, fallen, touched, and peed on every inch of Meemaw’s trailer.Meemaw opened the back door and got in.“Oh, Lord.” She began to cry in earnest.“Anybody got a Kleenex? Something awful’s happened to my Sunshine.I just know it.And that girl’s my heart.Always has been.”Mary Alice fished in her purse and handed Meemaw a tissue.“Sunshine’s all right.I’m sure.”Meemaw looked up.“You haven’t seen what they did to Kerrigan’s trailer.”“But why would someone come in here and do something like that?” I asked.Meemaw shrugged and blew her nose.For a few minutes we sat quietly, each lost in our own thoughts.Mary Alice started the motor and turned on the air; the dogs looked up.“Who lives in the other mobile homes, Meemaw?” I asked finally.Meemaw sniffed and leaned forward.“The one next to Kerrigan’s with the Christmas lights around it belongs to Eddie.He’s my oldest, works at the chicken plant in Trussville.The one next to that’s Howard’s.He’s the baby.Does something in Atlanta for the city.I’m not sure what, but the Olympics just about wore him out.And then the last one’s Pawpaw’s.The one next to mine.”Mary Alice, who had been only half listening, looked up in surprise.“Pawpaw? I thought you were a widow.”“A widow? Lord, no, child.Far from it.Pawpaw and I visit each other real frequently.But he likes his privacy.And he’s deaf as a post since that accident he had at NASA ages ago when he was working with Wernher von Braun.” She began to cry again.“How am I going to tell him that there’s a dead man in my trailer and Sunny’s gone? He’ll have an attack.”I patted Meemaw’s hand.“He has heart trouble?”“No.He just has these attacks.”“What about Eddie and Howard?” Mary Alice asked.“Do they have wives and children?”“Several.The manufactured homes are the boys’ homes away from home, though.”The sound of a siren coming through the briar patch was a relief [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]