The Spite House(68)

A car was parked close to the house, still running. Max said, “Stacy, you can get in the back, okay? You’ll get to meet my wife. Her name is Jane. She’s quiet right now, but she’s nice, I promise.”

He then got close to Dana and whispered something to her, and Stacy could not tell what he said to her but saw Miss Dana nodding quickly.

At the car, Max opened the back passenger-side door, where there was a woman lying down like she didn’t want to be seen.

Max said, “Jane, sit up, honey,” and the woman lifted her head and obeyed his order without looking at him or anyone else.

To Stacy he said, “Get in. It’s okay, she’s my wife. She doesn’t want to hurt you either.” Stacy climbed in and sat next to the red-haired woman, who didn’t seem to notice anything was taking place around her. Max opened the front passenger door for Dana and made her get in before he ran around to the driver’s side, got behind the wheel, and drove away from the house.

During the drive, Stacy could not look away from Jane, who stared ahead, blinking every seven seconds. Stacy kept count. She reminded Stacy of one of her old dolls from before she helped make Miss Happy. Jane could breathe and move on her own and looked alive, but Stacy thought Jane’s actual life was missing from her, and this made her sad, like she could understand what that was like.

She reached out and touched Jane’s hand to let her know someone else was there. Jane’s pinky flinched on contact, then went still, and she did not move again until they got where they were going.





CHAPTER 32



Dess



Dess and Millie arrived at the Houghton Estate to find Lafonda and Eunice seated together on the top step of the front porch. Dess opened her door before Millie’s car was at a full stop. She ran toward the women and said, “What happened? Where’s my sister?”

Lafonda looked up with an apology in her eyes, and Dess thought she might throw up. “Somebody came to the house. A man came here with a gun and he took her.”

“What? Took her where?”

“I know where,” Eunice said, having to catch her breath after she spoke. “I just need a little more time to recover, then I’ll get the sheriff. He’ll get her back and he’ll get Max too. He’ll get him, that son of a bitch.”

“No, no, no police,” Dess said. “Shit, shit, I don’t know what to do.”

Eunice said, “I understand why you’d be worried, but trust me, the sheriff will just do what I tell him. He won’t be looking into whatever it is that you-all might have done, or what you’re running from.”

“Have you called my dad? I keep trying him but he isn’t answering.”

Millie stepped forward and said, “Hon, I think Eunice might be right, and you know I hate to say that. But if we’re talking about some man with a gun—”

“It was Max Renner,” Eunice said.

“Oh hell,” Millie said. “Damn it, Eunice, I told— You know what, not the time.” She turned to Dess. “Honey—”

“Just let me think a second,” Dess said. “I need to think.”

Lafonda said, “Odessa, what is there to think about? Saving your sister has to be the priority here.”

“You don’t understand. It doesn’t do any good to save her if someone ends up finding out about Stacy,” Dess said. The tears flowed now, and her voice cracked. “You have to believe me. For the love of everything, please. It’s hard enough for me to trust any of you. If anyone else gets involved then … Shit, I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you mean?” Eunice said.

Millie put a hand on Dess’s shoulder. “Hey, look at me. Just talk to us, hon. Tell us what’s going on. Help us understand.”

Dess composed herself as well as she could and said, “Stacy died a year and a half ago.”

A fattened second of silence passed between everyone before Eunice spoke up. “What do you mean she—?”

“I mean died.”

“Like she flatlined and got resuscitated?” Lafonda said.

“Like she died and was buried. We held a service. We had an open casket. We all saw her inside. We all cried and tried to pretend the preacher’s words meant anything. We all said our last goodbyes like she could hear us. I kissed my baby sister on the cheek and told her I was sorry. I didn’t even know why I said it. I was just sorry that she was gone. I was sorry for any time I didn’t spend with her, or if I ever kicked her out of my room or didn’t take her to the park when she asked me, or anything. Then we all went and watched her get lowered into the ground, and then I spent the next few months wondering how the rest of the world was still going on when my sister wasn’t here anymore. And I was just getting used to the idea of feeling like that for the rest of my life when she came back.”

Eunice’s eyes were wide now, her mouth agape. Millie stared at Dess like her young friend had ranted in an invented language. Lafonda held her hands near her mouth as if she meant to recite a secret prayer.

“I still don’t understand. What do you mean came back?” Millie said.

“Look, I’m telling you everything,” Dess said, any semblance of composure crumbling again. “You wanted to know, I told you. This is why we left home, because my sister came back from the dead like she’d never left. We couldn’t stay home around all our neighbors and family and friends who knew she was dead. That’s why we’ve been on the run like fucking criminals. That’s why my dad’s in that fucking house to make this fucking money so we can just stop running. It’s all to protect Stacy. Don’t you see? What happens if somebody else finds out? What happens to her then? You gonna promise me that your sheriff wouldn’t tell anybody, Eunice? Nobody? What if you’re wrong? What happens then?”