The Piper

FORTY-TWO




‘Well, that was creepy as hell,’ McTavish said, as the three of them settled back into the car.

‘Have you done any background checks on this woman?’ Hugh asked. ‘Is there any chance she could somehow be involved?’

McTavish shook his head. ‘Unlikely, and yes, I’ve checked her out. She is what she says she is. Whatever that may be.’

Hugh looked out the window. ‘I would think that alone would be suspicion enough.’

‘Look, let’s stop by the house,’ McTavish said. ‘The forensic guys are done, and it will be okay for you to go back inside, Livie. You can get your things. And I’d like another look around without Detective Donnie breathing over my shoulder.’

‘It’s looking over your shoulder, or breathing down your neck,’ Hugh said.

They looked at him.

‘Sorry. I want to see it too,’ Hugh said. ‘The house.’

Olivia rubbed her eyes. ‘I don’t guess either of you are going to listen to me when I tell you the house is a very bad place. You guys will just think I’m nuts.’

McTavish touched Olivia’s hand. ‘Livie, you knew Amelia. Do you think there’s any chance she killed herself? She was pretty upset about that little girl, what was her name, Marianne?’

‘Amelia didn’t kill herself. Amelia made a deal.’

‘A deal?’ Hugh leaned close from the back seat. ‘What kind of deal?’

‘Never mind.’

‘Olivia?’

But Olivia folded her arms. She was not going to talk anymore. She should be outside, going through the neighborhood looking for Teddy. Or maybe she should stay there, stay in the house. Wait for Teddy there. Wait for something, God knew what.

Of the three of them, Olivia knew she was the only one who hoped nothing would happen, that whatever was there in the house would stay in the background. But she knew it would be there. She knew it would watch. She was like Teddy now. She believed.

The driveway was empty and McTavish frowned.

‘What is it?’ Olivia asked him.

‘There ought to be a patrol car out front. Teller said Donnie was going to have someone watch the place.’

‘They took my Jeep,’ Olivia said, as McTavish parked the car.

He shut the door of his Caddy very gently. ‘They had to. After what happened with that little girl who went missing in Florida—’

‘Please don’t,’ Olivia said. ‘Not now.’

Hugh stepped backward from the walk, taking in the depth and breadth of the house. ‘I forgot how pretty it is here, Olivia.’

‘Don’t let it charm you,’ Olivia said.

But it was already too late. Hugh was bewitched. Olivia knew he was imagining them all together again, she and Teddy, Hugh and Winston, living together in the storybook cottage house.

‘And no mortgage payments,’ Hugh said. ‘What do the utilities run?’

He’d be thinking about going out on his own again, Olivia knew it. All those nights they’d discussed it, Olivia thinking that if he did go that way they could live anywhere they wanted, unable to control the buzz of excitement in the pit of her stomach. He’d drawn up business plan after business plan, but never pulled the trigger.

The door was locked, and Olivia handed Hugh the key.

‘Aren’t you coming in?’ he asked.

‘In a minute. You guys go ahead.’

‘You want to wait out here, it’s okay,’ McTavish said. ‘Just tell us where your stuff is.’

‘I’ve got a couple of suitcases out in the hall. And I—’ Olivia put her hands over her face, felt the tears spill over her fingers. ‘I was going to ask you to get Winston’s food bowls.’

‘Of course we’ll get Winston’s food bowls. And his squeaky toys. He’s going to need them when we find him. And we will find him, Olivia, he and Teddy, we’ll get them back.’ Hugh gave her a quick hug, and went inside the house, McTavish following.

It was a tedious thing, waiting, and Olivia was glad when Hugh and McTavish came out with suitcases and dog toys and piled them into the trunk of the Cadillac. But then they went back into the house, and were gone for a long time.

Olivia decided to go inside. She could go and get Teddy’s school papers. She knew her obsession with the school papers made absolutely no sense, but she would take her comfort where she could find it.

She felt oddly self conscious, walking into her own kitchen, everything familiar but strange. She fingered the broken shards of glass from the window. It would need to be fixed or boarded up. She listened for the men, and heard them. In the basement, for God’s sake. Olivia wished they would not make so much noise. That they would be quiet, that they would be quick, that they would get out.

She went into the living room, walking quietly, so as not to disturb. Teddy’s papers were right where she had left them, and she gathered them up, reached for the one on the coffee table as well, adding it to the stack. She had folded them in half and was just cramming them into her purse when she began to feel it. The foglike sensation that permeated the house. Whatever it was that watched them, it was watching now.

Olivia went to the top of the basement stairs. She had to make Hugh and McTavish leave the house, leave right now. She could hear them talking, tapping the basement windows, checking the dryer vent. One of them actually laughed. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She knew that whatever watched wanted her attention, but she pretended she did not notice. She would ignore it. It was not there.

Hugh was first back up the stairs, holding her net bag of lingerie in one hand, and from the other, dangling the red leather belt.

Olivia stumbled backwards. ‘Hugh, dammit to hell, put that down.’

‘Is this it? The famous red leather belt?’

‘Don’t touch it, Hugh, why did you have to pick it up? Get rid of it, get rid of it.’

‘Bring it on, baby,’ Hugh bellowed. ‘You think you’re going to threaten my daughter? You think you’re going to threaten my wife? I’ll hang you from the attic fan, you disgusting—’

Upstairs a door slammed very hard. None of them said anything for a full minute.

‘A door doesn’t just shut like that,’ Hugh said. Finally.

Olivia backed toward the kitchen door. ‘Put that f*cking belt down and let’s go. Please.’

McTavish grabbed the belt out of Hugh’s hands.

‘What are you doing?’ Olivia said.

‘Taking it outside. To the garbage.’ McTavish headed out the back. ‘Let’s just throw it away and be done with it.’

‘Fine by me,’ Hugh said. ‘I’m going upstairs to see what slammed that door.’

‘The hell you are.’ Olivia grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the back door. ‘Let’s just go. Please. Who cares why the stupid door slammed?’

The grind of a motor starting up made them both go still.

McTavish came back in from the driveway, looked from Olivia to Hugh. ‘What is it? Did the door slam again?’

‘Listen,’ Olivia said.

They were quiet, all of them, barely breathing.

‘It’s the attic fan,’ McTavish said.

Hugh leaned close to Olivia, raised a hand to barely touch her cheek. He was whispering. ‘We are by God not putting up with this.’

He turned and headed through the sunroom, and Olivia heard his step on the first stair.

‘He’s right,’ McTavish said. And followed.

Olivia hesitated. She admired Hugh very much, but she knew he was wrong.

But she went upstairs behind them. It was fear and not courage that made her go. She did not want to be alone. Not even outside the house. Outside was where Teddy disappeared.

She went up the stairs slowly, hanging onto the rail, careful in case something pushed her, or tried to make her fall. The noise of the fan dominated the house, and Olivia remembered how impossible it was to sleep with that kind of racket in the hall outside the bedroom doors.

McTavish was staring up, and Hugh was flipping the switch. On. Off. On again. Nothing happened. The fan continued to run.

‘Where’s the breaker box?’ Hugh said.

‘Right next to the back door. I’ll go,’ McTavish said. But as soon as he turned to go back down the stairs the attic fan stopped. He looked over his shoulder at Hugh. ‘Turn it back on again.’

Hugh worked the switch but the fan stayed dead. ‘Could be a short, maybe a loose connection.’

Olivia folded her arms. ‘Right, Hugh. And a loose connection slammed the door, and wrote the names in the bathroom ceiling.’

‘Let me see those,’ Hugh said.

The three of them piled into the bathroom, and this time Olivia led the way. The stepladder was folded into the bathroom closet, and she got to it before McTavish did, set it up and began to climb. She wanted to see for herself. If the names were written in blue chalk. If she really had remembered it right.

‘Let me go,’ Hugh said.

‘Just hand me the flashlight. It’s under the sink.’

McTavish held the ladder steady, which Olivia really did not need. Hugh handed her the light. This time she knew exactly where to look.

Just like she remembered, the newer names in blue chalk. And now, one more added to the list.

Olivia dropped the flashlight, and the front cover smashed. She could barely catch her breath, and she was glad of Hugh’s hand, helping her back down the steps.

‘Olivia? What is it? What did you see?’

‘Nothing, it’s just . . . a panic attack. I need to get out of here. Please.’

Hugh caught her up in both arms. ‘What did you see, Olivia?’

‘I told you, nothing.’

But McTavish was already climbing the ladder, shaking the flashlight, miraculously getting it to work. He paused for a moment, then poked his head back out of the ceiling. ‘It’s your name, dude.’

‘Mine?’ Hugh said.

‘Written upside down in blue chalk. H-U-G-H.’