First Girl Gone(48)

Charlie shrank low in her seat as though to hide. Braced herself.

As he drew in line with the hood of her car, he suddenly changed direction, veering toward a truck parked across the street.

He climbed inside, slamming the door shut with a loud clunk. The engine roared to life, a violent sound in the quiet, and the headlights clicked on to spear the darkness.

Charlie exhaled. Relief flooded her body, letting all those tense muscles in her back and shoulders relax again. She wasn’t sure exactly what she had been scared would happen, but the kid seemed to be coming unglued. Better to stay out of his warpath for the moment.

The truck tore out of its parking spot, sliding on the packed snow. Red taillights flared for a moment just before they disappeared around the corner, tires squealing all the way around the bend.

“Shouldn’t we follow this maniac?” Allie said.

“I’m not sure. I’m curious where he’s headed, but I kind of think we should try to get a look at the dude up in the bedroom, you know?”

“It’s a tough call, but yeah. I think getting a look at the outsider makes sense. Like as a priority, I mean.”

Charlie nodded.

“So we wait.”





Chapter Thirty-Four





With the carnal shadows still fresh in her mind, the thought of eating any more Doritos made Charlie squeamish. She folded up the top of the bag and placed it in the backseat, out of sight.

The Fresca still seemed OK, at least, if a little warm now. She sipped it, wanted to make it last. Room-temp Fresca—the nectar of the gods.

“Jesus. How much longer can this go on?” Allie said.

“What?”

“Whatever prolonged sex act we’ve got going in the bedroom. It’s been a while, right? This guy’s got the stamina of a bull or something.”

Charlie chugged some Fresca to avoid responding to that, remembering after a second not to polish it off.

“No question about it,” Allie said. “We’ve got a thoroughbred stallion on our hands. I can see what Sharon sees in him.”

“Stop.”

Charlie went back to watching Todd Ritter in the basement. He was playing video games now. Possibly Minecraft, but she didn’t have a good enough angle of the TV screen to be sure.

“This guy is fiddling down in the basement while Rome is burning up in his bedroom. Good God,” Allie said.

“Not like it’s his fault.”

“I guess that’s one way of looking at it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, he’s pretty disengaged. I’m not saying he’s to blame, necessarily, but what we’re witnessing here is a high level of checked out. He’s playing with his trains. Clueless. At the very least, if he were more tuned in, he would have an inkling of what’s happening. You’ve got to figure this is a regular thing, right?”

Charlie sighed.

“Probably.”

“And we’re on the same page that our boy Todd Ritter is oblivious to all of this, yeah? Unless he and his wife have some kind of arrangement.”

“I suppose that’s possible,” Charlie said. “Except that Sharon told the guy to hurry. Back when they first started, I mean.”

“She could have meant like, ‘Hurry up because I’m so hot for you.’”

Charlie drummed her fingers against the steering wheel.

“Maybe. But we also figure he must have snuck into the house. Why sneak in if there’s some sort of agreement between them?”

“Yeah. You’re right. I guess I was holding out hope that our good buddy Todd wasn’t getting cuckolded quite so hard. I don’t mean to judge the man. It’s a sad situation.”

They fell quiet after that. Todd moved blocks around on the screen. It had to be Minecraft.

“OK, here we go,” Allie said.

Charlie’s eyes flicked to the upstairs feed. Solid shapes moved there instead of shadows.

The mystery man strode through the frame, putting his T-shirt back on. He’d somehow timed it perfectly to cover his head with fabric as the camera might have gotten a look. However, an identifying feature did come into focus. A tattoo on his inner left forearm—it looked like a skull with some kind of symbol growing out of the base of it.

“Almost looks like a Dark Mark tattoo,” Allie said. “From Harry Potter, you know?”

Charlie squinted. Looked closer. It did look a lot like that.

“Think we can get a look at him on the way out?” Allie said.

“Maybe. If we figure he’s going out the back, we can try to get out there. Cut him off. Take a look.”

“Better hustle.”

“Yeah. Just a second. Let’s make sure he’s actually leaving.”

With his T-shirt now on and back to the camera, he stretched for a moment, arms out wide, spine elongated. He had a slender build. Wiry. Sinewy. It was hard to say for sure, but he looked on the young side, at least compared to Sharon.

Before Charlie could react, he tore open the bedroom window and started climbing out in one motion, one leg and then the other into the breach. A practiced move. His upper body descended a fraction of a second later. He disappeared through the hole there in the window frame. Just gone.

Allie swore.