Dead to the World

school volleyball coach always said about “assume.” Of course, he’d also told us that we had to leave everything out on the court so it would be there when we came back, which I had yet to figure out.
    But he’d been right about assumptions.
    Sam had already gotten the heater in the truck going, but not at full blast. Too much heat too soon would be bad for Jason, I was sure. As it was, the second Jason began to warm up, his smell was pretty evident, and I nearly apologized to Sam, but sparing Jason any further humiliation was more important.
    “Aside from the bites, and being so cold, are you okay?” I asked, when I thought Jason had stopped shivering and could speak.
    “Yes,” he said. “Yes. Every night, every damn night, he’d come in the shed, and he’d change in front of me, and I’d think, Tonight he’s going to kill me and eat me. And every night, he’d bite me. And then he’d just change back and leave. I could tell it was hard for him, after he’d smelled the blood . . . but he never did more than bite.”
    “They’ll kill him tonight,” I said. “In return for us not going to the police.”
    “Good deal,” said Jason, and he meant it.

Chapter  15
    J ASON WAS ABLE TO STAND ON HIS OWN LONG ENOUGH to take a shower, which he said was the best one he’d taken in his life. When he was clean and smelled like every scented thing in my bathroom, and he was modestly draped with a big towel, I went all over him with Neosporin. I used up a whole tube on the bites. They seemed to be healing clean already, but I could not stop myself from trying to think of things to do for him. He’d had hot chocolate, and he’d eaten some hot oatmeal (which I thought was an odd choice, but he said all Felton had brought him to eat had been barely cooked meat), and he’d put on the sleeping pants I’d bought for Eric (too big, but the drawstring waist helped), and he’d put on a baggy old T-shirt I’d gotten when I’d done the Walk for Life two years before. He kept touching the material as if he was delighted to be dressed.
    He seemed to want to be warm and to sleep, more than anything. I put him in my old room. With a sad glance at the closet, which Eric had left all askew, I told my brother good night. He asked me to turn the hall light on and leave the door cracked a little. It cost Jason to ask that, so I didn’t say a word. I just did as he’d requested.
    Sam was sitting in the kitchen, drinking a cup of hot tea. He looked up from watching the steam of it and smiled at me. “How is he?”
    I sank down into my usual spot. “He’s better than I thought he would be,” I said. “Considering he spent the whole time in the shed with no heat and being bitten every day.”
    “I wonder how long Felton would have kept him?”
    “Until the full moon, I guess. Then Felton would’ve found out if he’d succeeded or not.” I felt a little sick.
    “I checked your calendar. He’s got a couple of weeks.”
    “Good. Give Jason time to get his strength back before he has something else to face.” I rested my head in my hands for a minute. “I have to call the police.”
    “To let them know to stop searching?”
    “Yep.”
    “Have you made up your mind what to say? Did Jason mention any ideas?”
    “Maybe that the male relatives of some girl had kidnapped him?” Actually, that was sort of true.
    “The cops would want to know where he’d been held. If he’d gotten away on his own, they’d want to know how, and they’d be sure he’d have more information for them.”
    I wondered if I had enough brainpower left to think. I stared blankly at the table: the familiar napkin holder that my grandmother had bought at a craft fair, and the sugar bowl, and the salt- and peppershakers shaped like a rooster and a hen. I noticed something had been tucked under the saltshaker.
    It was a check for $50,000, signed by Eric Northman. Eric had not only paid me, he had given me the biggest tip of my career.
    “Oh,” I said, very gently. “Oh, boy.” I looked at it for a minute more, to make sure I was reading it correctly. I passed it across the table to Sam.
    “Wow. Payment for keeping Eric?” Sam looked up at me, and I nodded. “What will you do with it?”
    “Put it through the bank, first thing tomorrow morning.”
    He smiled. “I guess I was thinking longer term than that.”
    “Just relax. It’ll just relax me to have it. To know that . . .” To my embarrassment, here came tears. Again. Damn