The Piper

THIRTY-SIX




Neither Olivia nor Teddy had much to say as Olivia backed the Jeep out of the Chambliss Place parking lot and onto the street. Even Winston was subdued. It was a mere three minute drive to the house, and Teddy sat quietly in the front seat, twisting her hands. Olivia had never seen her do that before.

They pulled into the driveway, just as dusk was settling to dark.

Olivia hesitated. She did not like leaving Teddy out here. Maybe it would be best to get Teddy settled into a hotel room and come back later, alone.

‘Teddy—’

‘Just hurry, Mommy, okay?’

Stick to the plan. She had agreed. ‘Stay right here in the car with Winston, keep the doors locked, and don’t open them until I come back.’

Teddy nodded and the look on her face broke Olivia’s heart. She looked so much like the old Teddy, the little girl she’d been before the divorce.

‘I’ll be fast,’ Olivia said.

Olivia went through the front door instead of the back, so Teddy could see her. She thought, as she often did, how odd the front door was, the awkward way it was hung, so that it hit the wall on the left and would not open all the way. She turned on the lights in each room she went through, leaving the shutters open so Teddy could see her from outside. And so she could see Teddy. She waved and thought she saw Teddy raise a hand.

The house had that same feel of presence, like it had since Amelia died.

Down to business.

Olivia dragged two suitcases out of the closet in the hall, bouncing them up the stairs to the bedrooms. She flipped the light switches as she went, hating the way the lights came on, those damned economy lights, just a glow at first, barely lighting the room, as they warmed up and grew brighter in tiny increments. The house felt different upstairs. Heavy with something she could not see. Almost like a fog. She was actually relieved to be going to a hotel.

She’d start in Teddy’s room. The door was shut tight but the light was already on, she could see the line of brightness under the door. She hesitated, shook her head, and went inside.

Teddy had made her bed very neatly, her stuffed animals arranged around the pillows. A contrast to the carnage – every dresser drawer hanging open, underwear, tee shirts, jeans and socks in a snarl all over the floor, as if someone had ripped the drawers open in a fury and dumped them.

‘Good God,’ Olivia said.

Olivia knew that if she asked Teddy about this, she would blame it on Duncan Lee. She wouldn’t mention it. She’d tell Dr Raymond, day after tomorrow, when she took Teddy back.

But there was anger here. Such anger. Olivia choked out a small sob and picked up jeans and tee shirts off the floor, stuffing them into the bag. There was something very wrong with her little girl.

Her own things she left on hangers, draping them over Teddy’s suitcase. She looked up once at the attic fan. It took up a four by four section of the ceiling, the dusty monolithic motor looming behind the rusting brown grill. There was a switch on the wall, and she felt the unexpected urge to turn it on. She didn’t. She headed for the bathroom, packing up makeup and Teddy’s favorite bubble bath. Amelia’s things were still on the counter tops. Olivia tried not to look at them.

She was in a hurry, her packing was sloppy. The suitcases were heavy and awkward, and Olivia wrestled them down the stairs, the hangers with her expensive black sheaths, skirts and blazers slung over one arm. Dammit, she needed shoes. Back upstairs, fast, just that other pair, then running right back down on the slippery, polished wood, holding tight to the rail.

Olivia looked out the sunroom window at Teddy. Still there. Still okay. Winston sitting up front in the driver’s seat.

There were clothes in the dryer, most of her lingerie that she washed on the delicate cycle in a little net bag. She wouldn’t go far without clean bras and panties. Grab those and call it a day.

The basement door was open a crack, as if inviting her in, and Olivia tried to remember if she’d left it that way. She flipped on every light in the kitchen, and went down slowly, the light streaming in from behind, illuminating the paint chipped, open backed stairs. She held her breath until she found the switch about halfway down, and flipped on the light. A regular light bulb, this one. The basement lit up in a flick.

The dryer light was on, a red pinpoint glow that let her know the cycle was finished and her clothes were ready. No doubt the warning buzzer had gone off the usual three times at five minute intervals while she’d been at work. The mundane normality made her feel better. The dryer door creaked when she opened it, and she reached in for the bag. The clothes were dry, and crackling with static electricity, emitting the faint sweet scent of the lavender fabric softener she used.

She shut the dryer door, and was heading for the stairs when she heard the thump.

Olivia turned around slowly, feeling a tingle of tension at the base of her spine. The noise had come from behind her, somewhere close, definitely right there in the basement. She looked from corner to corner. Stacks of damp, moldy boxes, the old washer and dryer Charlotte had left behind, perched on a platform of bricks along the back of the wall, collecting dust.

The thump came again, no mistaking it, just a few feet away. Olivia did not move. She held her breath. Waited. And once more, a thump, and she pegged it now, coming from the dryer. Had something got trapped inside?

She knew it would keep her awake that night, the thought of some bird or squirrel, maybe even a stray cat, a small one, a feral kitten. Coming in from outside through the dryer’s vent, and getting trapped inside. Suffocating slowly, afraid in the dark.

Except there was no vent, not now. The dryer was disconnected and stacked and covered with that peculiar mix of greasy basement dust, shoved up on bricks against the wall.

F*ck it. Olivia crossed the room and opened the dryer door.

She dropped the clothes. Not a snake, no, the way it was coiled there in the bottom of the dryer gave that impression, but no snake had a buckle, no snake was bright red. It was a belt. A long, red leather belt.

And the memory of Teddy’s voice flashed through her head. There’s a ghost there, Mommy, you have to believe me, there’s a ghost. He’s going to hang Winston from the attic fan with a red leather belt. And then Dr Raymond. It’s not Winston anymore. Now it’s you. She’s convinced that Duncan Lee is going to hang you with that red leather belt.

‘Jesus,’ Olivia said. She turned and ran up the stairs.

Two things happened, all at once. Every single light in the house went out, and a dog began to bark.