The Piper

TWENTY-SEVEN




That night, Olivia dreamed of McTavish, who had doubled back to the front door after getting Jamison settled into the front seat of the car. He had kissed her under the porch light while Amelia took the empty bottles and glasses into the kitchen, and Teddy stumbled up the stairs, Winston trailing, to put on a nightshirt and sprawl back to front in her bed. McTavish had touched Olivia’s cheek afterward and smiled, catching her hand for a quick squeeze before heading back down the walk to the car.

The martinis had put Olivia under in a deep, engulfing sleep, but she woke up instantly at the sudden flash of light streaming in under her bedroom door.

‘Stop.’ Amelia’s voice from the next room. Sounding odd. The light went out. Then came back on again. ‘I said stop.’

Olivia swung her legs over the side of the mattress, pulled her sweat pants on. And again, her toes slid in yet another puddle of water, collecting at the side of her bed. She was going to have to get that dehumidifier ASAP. She tiptoed out into the hallway, and flipped the hall light.

Teddy was there, standing in the doorway of Amelia’s bedroom. She was holding a worn stuffed Eeyore she had not pulled off the shelf since she was two and still taking naps.

‘What are you doing out of bed, Teddy?’ Olivia said. ‘What’s going on out here?’

Amelia was sitting up in bed, her red hair sticking up, her face pale and strange without the familiar makeup. She shoved the blankets off her legs. ‘My light keeps going on and off. I would say a loose connection but hell, it wouldn’t keep going off and on like that.’

‘Teddy, were you messing with Amelia’s light?’ Olivia asked.

‘It wasn’t her,’ Amelia said.

‘I didn’t, Mommy.’

‘Somebody did, and you’re the one standing there.’

‘I didn’t do it.’ Teddy threw Eeyore and hit Olivia full in the chest. ‘You always blame me for everything.’

Olivia took Teddy’s arm. ‘Come with me, right now, move it.’ She led Teddy into her bedroom, looking over her shoulder. ‘Hang on a minute, will you, Amel? I’ll be right back.’

‘Don’t kill the kid,’ Amelia called after them. ‘She didn’t do it. She wasn’t even there when it started up.’

Winston followed them into Olivia’s bedroom, and Olivia shut the door.

‘Sit,’ Olivia said.

Teddy perched on the edge of the bed and looked at the floor.

Olivia folded her arms. ‘Just tell me the truth, Teddy. I don’t want any more lies. Were you messing with the light in Dr Amelia’s room?’

‘Nope.’

‘Then what were you doing? You were standing right there.’

‘He told me to get out of bed and watch.’

‘Who told you, Teddy?’

‘You know who. He wanted me to watch.’

‘To watch what?’

‘The lights. I don’t know. He just told me.’

Olivia folded her arms. ‘Who told you, Teddy?’

Teddy’s shoulders went stiff, and she looked at Olivia out of the corner of one eye. She lowered her voice, so much so that Olivia had to bend close to hear.

‘He has lots of names. Duncan Lee. Decan Ludde.’

‘Did you say Decan Ludde?’ Olivia felt a flutter of strange fear in the pit of her stomach. Decan Ludde was the name in graffiti on the walls at the Waverly. Had Teddy overheard them talking? She’d been in the same room, watching a movie. Of course she’d heard.

‘Don’t say it, Mommy. Please don’t say it. He knows about you and Winston. He watches you all the time.’

Olivia sat on the side of the bed next to her daughter. ‘I don’t know what to say to you, Teddy. I don’t know what to think.’

‘Do you believe me, Mommy?’

Olivia sat on the edge of her bed and put her head in her hands.