“Thanks to Zach,” she said. “I wish he had come tonight.”
“He’s focused. Have you noticed that about Zach? He’s into his music or he’s on a case. One or the other, never both at once. He uses the music to cleanse himself after every tough case.” He let out a sigh. “But…back to the subject. Amanda’s my wife, even if that makes me an old fool.”
Kat drew away, stunned. “You mean that you agree with me…that Amanda did—”
“Kat, don’t go thinking that I agree with you about that, because I don’t. Just because I’ve realized that Amanda isn’t…well, that she can be rude, that she’s shallow, that I may have been thinking with other parts of my body than my brain, it doesn’t mean she’s an evil human being.”
The word evil was a strange choice, she thought. Her father should have said bad. “…it doesn’t mean she’s a bad human being.”
It was just a word….
“Almost home,” Tom said cheerfully. “Just a few more minutes.”
Kat tried to read her father’s expression, but he had turned away, watching the lights once again.
“Amanda has been a lot nicer since the blueberry incident,” Kat said, trying to sound nicer herself.
“She coops herself up in our room a lot, that’s for sure. I’ve barely seen her myself lately,” Sean said. “It’s as if we’re all on hold, in a way. Waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“Eddie to be found,” he said quietly.
Tom drew to a stop at the front of the house to let them out. Kat thanked him and stepped from the car, reaching in to offer her father a hand.
“Thank you, kitten,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “It was a nice night.”
He headed for the house, and Kat started to follow.
But then she froze. There were birds everywhere.
They were high over the house, swooping on the air currents like vultures. Were they vultures? She narrowed her eyes against the night sky, trying to ascertain what they were. Not vultures. They were big, but not that big. They were darker silhouettes against the dark night sky, moving in strange circles, rising and falling.
She remembered the bird outside her window, and suddenly panic swept through her.
“Dad!” she cried, and raced to catch up with him.
He waited for her, and she took his arm. “Look at all those birds,” he said.
“They’re creepy,” she told him. “Let’s get inside.”
“They’re just birds,” he said, and shrugged. “Maybe it’s global warming.”
“It’s freezing tonight.”
“They’re just birds, Kat. They won’t hurt you.”
He was convinced and started heading toward the house again. Kat looked up at the sky as she walked alongside him and could have sworn that the birds were swooping lower. She was sure they wanted to come after her and peck her eyes out.
Cal was dreaming. Dreaming that he was running, about to grab the brass ring and achieve a life of ease, a house that wasn’t owned by the bank, credit cards that weren’t maxed out and the power to make someone else work when he didn’t feel like it.
He was reaching out, about to grab it….
But Eddie was there, in front of him, laughing at him, telling him that he was a fool, that he had to learn to work, like all the rest of them, had to pay his dues. Eddie was going to block him from his dream.
Then the birds came. Great flocks of them, with huge eyes and wide dark wings. They cawed and flapped around him, tearing at his hair.
He cried out and ducked.
And woke up.
He was standing outside, barefoot, and the ground was freezing. At least there weren’t any birds, he thought in relief, and then he realized that yes, there were. They just weren’t flying around and screaming.
Two of them were perched on the cover of the barbecue.
A few more were on the eaves of the house.
He swore softy and glanced at his watch. It was late, but he wasn’t tired at all.
Might be the fact that he had all but frozen his feet.
Well, hell, this just might be the time to get a few things done.
When Caer had gone, Zach took a long hot shower and dressed in long flannel pajama pants. It was late, but he felt restless. He slipped into a robe and stepped out into the hallway.
He stood outside the door of Amanda’s and Sean’s room, listening. He could hear the television; she was either watching a late-night talk show or she had simply fallen asleep with the television on.
He quietly walked away and went to check on Bridey, cracking the door open and looking in.
He thought she was asleep, but then she spoke to him. “Hello, my boy. Are you all right? Restless, and walking about in the night.”
“I’m fine, Bridey. How are you doing? Think those pills are starting to kick in?”
“I’m all right, Zach. I’m all right. They’re not here for me, y’know.”
“Who’s not here for you, Bridey?”
“The birds.”
Bridey wasn’t all right, he thought. She was growing stranger by the day. She’d told stories forever, but always with a twinkle in her eyes.