Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?
this.’
‘Because you didn’t have to live here with Aunt Betty. You got to live with your father.’ Cole glared at Matthew. ‘You weren’t here when Mom . . .’ He couldn’t make himself say the words. ‘When she ended it. I was. I found her. Down there, in the shelter. So, that you didn’t know about it is a fucking huge shame.’
Matt was staring at him, all confused. ‘What? No. That’s not what happened.’
Cole balled up his fist, so tempted to knock Matt’s head off his shoulders. ‘It is so. I found her. Mitch said you were in Europe.’
‘I was. It was my senior year in high school. I was an exchange student that year. When I came home, she was gone. Dad said she killed herself in the garden.’
‘That would have been a lot less trouble for Mitch to clean up,’ Cole said bitterly. He could hear the muted echo of the doorbell. The cops are on my doorstep. ‘I don’t have time for this. Believe what you want to believe. Just tell the cops I’m not here.’
‘Cole, wait. I’m sorry. I never thought . . . I went away to college. I didn’t know . . .’
‘You didn’t know because you didn’t want to know. If you’d visited here just once. Just once. Then you would have seen. You would have known.’
‘Dad wouldn’t let me come out here. I should have made Dad bring you home.’
‘Yeah, you really should have. You can start making it up to me by telling those sheriffs that I’m not home.’
‘Is there water down there?’
‘I have no idea. I haven’t been down there since I was five.’
‘Hell. Stay there until I come for you. I will come back for you. I promise.’
‘Thanks,’ Cole grunted. ‘Bang on the door when it’s safe for me to come out.’
‘How will you know it’s me?’
‘Do it to . . . “The Star Spangled Banner”. Hell, I don’t know. Just don’t be long. Please.’ He pulled the shelf back into place and twisted the vault-style lock to secure the door from the inside. He then crept down the stairs into the darkness, his heart thundering to beat all hell.
He felt sick. Oh God, please don’t let me throw up .
‘I hate this goddamned house,’ he whispered. Then he drew a breath, sat on the hard cement floor, and went absolutely quiet. He couldn’t hear anything happening up in the house and could only pray that Matt had gotten rid of the sheriff.
He hated this house and he hated the dark. There had been lights down here before, when his mother came down here to drink herself unconscious.
Cole pulled out his cell phone and turned it on, shining the light at the walls until he saw the light switch. He flipped it on, his eyes widening as he turned to view the room. It was different. Smaller. Way neater than Aunt Betty had kept it.
Mitch must have come down here . His brother hated clutter.
The two doors along the far wall were new. One was open. Behind it was a tiny room, big enough for a cot. The other door was closed. Locked. Cole yanked on the doorknob, jiggled it, but the door did not open.
And then he heard it. A girl’s voice. ‘Hello? Is someone there? Help me. Please.’
There aren’t any ghosts. No such thing as ghosts . Cole swallowed hard. ‘Mom?’
‘What? Hell no, I’m not your mom or anyone else’s. Who are you?’
‘Cole. Who are you?’
‘Kim. My name is Kim. Please help me.’
Chapter Nineteen
Wheeling, West Virginia, Wednesday, December 4, 7.55 P.M.
‘ Y ou needed more sleep,’ Joseph said, studying Daphne’s face in the harsh light of the hospital elevator. She looked fragile, her skin too translucent.
She lifted her brows at him. ‘I feel remarkably rested. I’m thinking that would be one of those “multi-layered benefits of sex” I was recently told not to dismiss.’
His body surged to life, instantly remembering, instantly wanting her again. ‘That it would.’ He cupped her cheek in his palm, brushed his thumb over her mouth. ‘Still, when this meeting is over, we’re going back to the room for sleep. For both of us.’
Her eyes laughed at him. ‘You’re going to keep your hands to yourself? Really?’
He shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘I’m capable.’
‘Hmm.’ She took a step closer, lifted on her toes so that her mouth was a breath away from his. ‘So when we get back to the room, you don’t intend to pick up where we left off when the phone rang? Because that would be a real shame.’
He was unable to control a shudder. She’d fallen asleep in his
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