The house was deathly quiet, making Jennifer wonder what the people downstairs were doing. Were they all still there? Were they asleep? Or were Evan and Derrick sharing a good laugh over her trusting foolishness?
In the stillness she could hear the faint song of chattering cicadas serenading the full moon. She sat motionless in the rocking chair, gazing out the window at the top of the small roof over the back porch, mesmerized by the moon’s light reflecting off the particles in the tiles like a hundred tiny diamonds.
And then it hit her.
She waited another twenty minutes, barely breathing, her ears alert for the tiniest noise. Everything below was so quiet she could hear the occasional faint ticking sounds of the house settling. Finally, she unfolded herself from the chair, tiptoed over to Tanner’s bed, and sat down beside him. She bent down and whispered in his ear.
“Tanner?”
His eyes fluttered open and he jolted upright, his eyes looking around the room fearfully. Quickly, Jennifer placed two fingers over his lips and tapped her own mouth with the finger of her other hand. To her relief, Tanner’s wide-eyed expression relaxed and he nodded his understanding. When she was sure he would stay quiet she leaned over and whispered in his ear again.
“We’re going to make a run for it, Tanner. Out the window and down the tree. Like you did last summer. Remember?”
Tanner’s eyes shone bright in the moonlit room. He screwed his forehead up in thought, then nodded almost imperceptibly.
Jennifer stood up, gathered pants, shirt, and a pair of shoes and handed them to him.
“Dress as quietly as you can,” she whispered.
Tanner obediently took the clothes and pulled them on, taking care to move as little as possible. When he was done Jennifer motioned him over to the window.
After undoing the lock, she slowly nudged the bottom sash up. It gave with a tiny creak and she froze for one heart-stopping moment, listening for a sign that someone below had heard it. When no one came crashing through the door, she slid the window up the rest of the way. Then she stood and stared at the screen, muttering an oath under her breath.
Tanner tiptoed over to his dresser, carefully opened the top drawer and reached inside. Then he came back to the window and handed her a Swiss Army knife. It had been a gift from Evan last Christmas, one they had fought over as Jennifer felt it was too dangerous for a young boy. Now, she smiled grimly at the irony. She opened the blade and carefully sliced through the nylon mesh, pausing occasionally to see if the faint ripping sound was arousing any attention from below. When she had an opening big enough for them to squeeze through she motioned Tanner out. She watched, holding her breath as he sat on the sill, then twisted around, easing himself over until he was hanging by his hands. He dropped the few inches to the roof with the stealth and quiet of a cat.
Jennifer followed suit, trying to control her jangled nerves and cursing her unsteady arms and legs, fearful she would slip and make too much noise.
She took Tanner’s hand and together they crept to the roof’s edge near an old oak tree that grew a few feet from the porch. A branch hung about five feet above the roof’s corner and without waiting for Jennifer to tell him, Tanner jumped up and grabbed it, inching his hands along its length until his feet touched another branch below. Then he quickly scrambled his way down to the lowest branch and with a short swing, dropped to the ground.
Jennifer followed, grimacing when the branch swayed noisily under her heavier weight. Within seconds, she, too, was on the ground. She grabbed Tanner’s hand and ran.
As they scurried their way along the path to Carny’s house, Jennifer prayed Carny would be home. The woman was always disappearing for days on end, particularly during the summer break from school, on what Carny called mini vacations. Jennifer suspected there was a man involved with each of these vacations and had often wondered if Carny wasn’t involved with a married man, a liaison she had to keep secret. Jennifer had been tempted to ask on many an occasion, as she watched Carny find, and then dispose of boyfriends like they were last year’s clothes. But so far she had managed to restrain herself, feeling that Carny would reveal the details of her love life when she was ready.
When they reached the clearing on the other side of the woods, Jennifer was relieved to see Carny’s car parked in its usual spot beside the house. She led Tanner around to the back door, tested the knob, and, finding it locked, went over and removed a key from beneath the ivy planter. She opened the door and dragged Tanner inside, locking up again behind her.
They tiptoed through the darkened house and up the stairs to Carny’s bedroom. Jennifer motioned for Tanner to stay in the doorway as she made her way over to Carny’s bed. She could hear her friend’s faint snore as she reached down to nudge her awake.
“Carny?”
Carny’s eyes flew open and she sat straight up in bed with such suddenness Jennifer swore under her breath.
“Christ! You scared the hell out of me!” Carny hissed when she saw who it was.
“Sorry,” Jennifer half whispered. “It’s just me.”
Carny blinked and tried to run her fingers through her hair, which stood out from her head like a knotted halo. Her hands were shaking slightly and Jennifer could see a throbbing pulse in her neck by the moonlight that shone in through the window.
“Shit, Jen! I thought you were a burglar or rapist or something. What in the hell is going on?”
“I need your help. Someone is trying to kill us.”
“What are you talking about?” Carny asked impatiently. “I thought you were in Maine. What is going on?”
“I can explain later. Right now I need you to help me and Tanner get away from here.”
Now that her eyes were awake and had adjusted to the moonlit darkness, Carny could see Tanner’s outline in the doorway. She threw back her blanket, sat on the edge of the bed, and flipped on the lamp on the bedside stand.
Jennifer promptly reached over and turned it back off. “I’m afraid someone will see it,” she whispered. “There’s enough moonlight to see by.”
“This is too weird, Jen.”
“Please, Carny,” Jennifer begged. “I don’t know where else to go.”
“Why not go to the police? I can call them right now.” Carny reached for the phone on the night stand, but Jennifer stopped her by grabbing her hand.
“No, I don’t trust them. I don’t trust anybody. Please. We have to hurry. Once they discover we’re gone from the house it won’t take them long to make their way over here. If they knew about my mother, they sure as hell know about you.”
“They who?” Carny asked with a hint of irritation.
“Bioceutics. They want some papers or something that Tim had. Some project he was working on. Carny, they killed Tim!”
Carny stood up and grabbed Jennifer by the shoulders. “Okay, let’s just calm down. You’re getting hysterical. Look, I don’t know what’s going on but I think it’s pushed you over the edge. You and I both know Tim died in a car accident.”
“It was no accident. They planned it. Tanner and I were supposed to die, too.”
Carny cocked her head to one side and studied Jennifer’s face. “How do you know this?” she asked.
“Tim,” Jennifer said. Then she bit her lip, wishing she could yank the word back. She was having enough trouble convincing Carny without mentioning that Tanner had been communicating with his long dead father. “Look, Carny, you just have to trust me on this. We have to get away from here now. Your life is in danger, too. They’ve already killed my mother and Eric.”
Carny’s face took on a troubled expression for the first time. “Your mother is dead?”
Jennifer swallowed hard and nodded. “They found us in Maine and brought me and Tanner back here. They shot Eric and my mother.”
Carny studied Jennifer a few moments longer and then said, “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am. Do you think I’d joke about something like this?”
Carny studied Jennifer’s face another few seconds before seeming to come to a decision. She went to her dresser and took out some clothes.
“The car keys are next to my purse on top of the microwave. You take Tanner out to the car and I’ll be right behind you.”
“Thank you, Carny,” Jennifer said, the relief apparent in her voice. She turned and left the room, taking Tanner with her. After grabbing Carny’s oversized purse and the car keys from off the microwave, Jennifer led Tanner out to the car. After settling Tanner into the back seat, she slid into the front and waited, quiet but alert, scanning the surrounding area. When Carny finally came out and slipped in behind the wheel, Jennifer breathed a quiet sigh of relief and handed Carny the keys.
“Keep the headlights off until we reach the main highway,” Jennifer said. “I don’t want to alert anyone.”
Carny nodded silently. She slid the car key home and turned it, both women grimacing and casting an anxious look around when the engine started up. Though the car was well-tuned and relatively new, the quiet purr of the engine sounded like a lion’s roar. It was at least fifteen minutes later, when they were headed west along Interstate 64 with no sign of any headlights tagging along close behind, before Jennifer began to relax.
“So, you want to tell me what’s been going on?” Carny asked, breaking the shroud of silence that had lain over them since they left the house. “Or do I have to stay in the dark?”
Jennifer filled her in – starting with Tanner’s odd behavior after the bike accident, Eric’s speculations about Tanner’s apparent powers, their flight to Maine after the shooting incident at the hospital, and the trip back to Virginia, including the crushing discovery that Evan had betrayed her.
“I should have known they would know about my mother,” Jennifer said, her voice laced with remorse. “My stupidity cost her and Eric their lives.” She cast a glance over her shoulder at Tanner, relieved to see that he was curled up in the corner, thumb planted in his mouth, apparently asleep.
“And I can’t believe I fell for Evan’s slick and sleazy moves,” she said with disgust. She punched her thigh. “Damn. How could I have been so stupid?”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Carny said. “Let’s face it, no one in their wildest dreams would have believed all this conspiracy crap about Bioceutics. Not to mention this thing about Tanner talking to Tim’s ghost.” Carny shook her head. “I have to tell you, Jen, I’m having a hard time with some of this myself. It sounds like the plot to a bad movie.”
“I know,” Jennifer said. “It does sound crazy. Believe me, I didn’t exactly become an instant convert myself. If it hadn’t been for Eric ....” Her voice trailed off, the mention of Eric making her throat tighten up.
Carny glanced over at her. “You really fell for him, didn’t you?”
Jennifer nodded, unable to speak. For a moment, she indulged herself, letting in the memories of Eric, trying to recall those moments – frozen in time and memory like a still photograph – that were marked with tenderness and affection. But the anguish and pain came back as well, and when it became unbearable she forced the memories back into that special locked room she kept inside, holding them safe until she could take them out and examine them without feeling as if everything in her life was torn asunder. She made a determined effort to focus on the here and now. She gazed out the window of the car at the passing scenery, seeing the farm houses scattered along the surrounding hillocks, yearning for the cozy security and mundane lives of those sleeping inside.
“I don’t know where to go,” she said to Carny. “I’m afraid that no matter where I am, Bioceutics will find me.”
“Well, I do have an idea,” Carny said. “There’s this guy I dated for a few months last fall who has a cabin in the mountains, near Afton. The relationship didn’t last, but we parted friends. And I happen to know two very important facts about the guy – other than the fact that he had the best pair of buns I’ve seen in years.”
Jennifer laughed. “And what is that, I shudder to ask?”
“One, the guy only uses the cabin twice a year, once in the fall and again between Christmas and New Year’s. And the second,” she said gloatingly, “is where he keeps the key.”
“You mean he leaves it there?”
Carny nodded smugly. “Yep! You know what a nosy bitch I can be. I spied on him one morning when he didn’t know it and saw him check to be sure it was still there.”
Jennifer shook her head in amazement. “You are something,” she said with a half grin. “I guess this guy’s cabin is as good a place as any. But how do we know it will be safe?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? Even if these people at Bioceutics know about me, they aren’t likely to know about every guy I dated. Besides, I wasn’t with the guy all that long and I haven’t seen him since last fall.” She shrugged. “It’s the best I can think of on the spur of the moment.”
Jennifer sighed. “I guess you’re right. Besides, I don’t know where else we can go. I left all my cash and credit cards in Maine, and anyway, I’d be willing to bet they’ll be watching the banks and such.” She felt the overwhelming frustration, which seemed as inevitable to her current lifestyle as breathing, threaten to take over.
Desperate to distract her mind from its frightening train of thought, Jennifer reached over and flipped on the radio to break the silence. It was tuned to an easy listening station and the melodic tones of Whitney Houston filled the air. Jennifer stared out the side window and watched the road roll by, focusing on the hypnotic effect of the white line along the side of the road in an effort to lull her mind. She was yanked back to the present when the DJ interrupted with a late breaking news story.
“Senator Edward Tranley, who was rushed to the UVA Emergency Room earlier this evening after collapsing at a fundraising party at the home of wealthy grocery store magnate, Miles Wentworth, is reported to be improving. Sources state that Senator Tranley’s collapse was from a combination of the flu and exhaustion from his intensive campaign efforts. Senator Tranley is reported in stable condition, and is being treated for dehydration and some minor burns incurred when a cup of coffee he was holding at the time of his collapse spilled on his chest and abdomen. Doctors anticipate the senator will be released within the next day or so. In other news ....”
Jennifer reached over and turned the radio down to a faint murmur. “Thank goodness he’s okay,” she said. “It’s no wonder he collapsed from exhaustion with the pace he’s been keeping lately.”
Carny glanced over at her. “You look a little exhausted yourself,” she observed.
Jennifer shrugged. “I am.” She gazed out the window, staring at the white line again, her mind racing. “They’re not going to stop until Tanner and I are both dead,” she said, her voice heavy with fatalism.
Carny gazed back at her, chewing on her lower lip. “Don’t you have any idea what it was Tim was working on?” she asked.
Jennifer shook her head. “All I know is that it was something to do with genetic engineering. But beyond that ....” She held her hands palm up and then let them drop into her lap. “If only he had told Tanner what it was.”
“Are you sure he didn’t?”
“Pretty sure. Tanner would have said something.”
“Unless Tim tried and it was just too technical for Tanner to understand,” Carny suggested.
“I don’t know,” Jennifer said, her voice laced with frustration. “All Tanner has said so far is that Tim hid some papers somewhere in the house. If that’s true, I wish I knew where the hell they were. Maybe if I knew what this was all about, I’d know where to go from here.”
Carny’s brow drew down thoughtfully. “If Tim really did tell Tanner he hid these papers, why didn’t he tell him where?”
“I don’t know,” Jennifer said with annoyance. She buried her face in her hands for a moment, then ran her hands through her hair. “I’m not convinced there are any papers. I’ve been living in that house for eight years now and I never found anything that sounds like these papers. And the people from Bioceutics have searched, too. If they were there, I think someone would have found them by now.”
“Maybe you’re overlooking something,” Carny persisted. “Think back. When Tanner was having these spells, did he say anything or do anything that might give you a clue?”
Though she thought it was a waste of time, Jennifer obliged by thinking back over the past few days, replaying them scene by scene in her mind for the umpteen millionth time. Finally, she shook her head.
“There’s nothing. All Tanner knew from Tim was that Bioceutics had him killed and that he supposedly hid some important papers. All the rest of Tanner’s little episodes were mind-reading stuff, like knowing that Eric had been adopted, and that the phone was about to ring ... things like that. He even told Evan he would lose this case he’s working on.”
“He did lose,” Carny told her.
Jennifer barked a short laugh. “Well, he sure had Evan pegged right,” she said disgustedly. “A loser all around.”
Carny shot a sidelong glance at Jennifer. “Doesn’t it freak you out a little that Tim’s ghost might be hanging around somewhere?” she asked with a little shiver. “I mean, it isn’t every day that your long dead husband comes back to speak to his son. Have you ever felt him? Or seen him? Anything like that?”
“Not really,” Jennifer said, trying to recall the times Tanner had gone into one of his fugue states. “Though I must admit Tanner’s behavior has been a little creepy at times. He gets this far away, blank look on his face, almost as if his soul, or spirit, or whatever, has left his body. He seems totally oblivious to his surroundings. One time, he even wandered off. I found him sitting in the middle of the basement with all the lights off ....”
Jennifer froze. Then she turned and grabbed Carny’s arm so abruptly it made the car swerve. “Carny, I think I know where the papers are hidden. We have to go back.”
Carny gaped at Jennifer as if she had just seen her head pop off and spin around. “Go back? Are you crazy? I thought you said these people are trying to kill you.”
“They are,” Jennifer said with such enthusiasm that Carny began to wonder if her friend had finally gone over the edge. “The only reason we’re not dead already is because they haven’t found those papers. They think Tanner knows where they are. If they find them before we do, Tanner and I are history.”
“And you think you know where they are?” Carny’s voice was rife with criticism.
“Yes, they’re in the basement. It all makes sense now. Why didn’t I see it before?” Jennifer slapped her forehead with an open palm. She stared at Carny with eyes that were wide and a little too bright. “That’s why Tanner was in the basement that one time. Tim led him down there. The papers are hidden somewhere in the basement.”
Carny eased the car onto the shoulder and shifted it into park, letting it idle. She turned toward Jennifer, one arm resting on the back of the seat. “Okay,” she said. “Suppose you’re right. Suppose the papers are hidden in the basement. How do you propose to get them? There’s no way you can get into the house without them knowing.”
“I don’t know, Carny. But I’ll find a way. I have to. I know every nook and cranny of that house. If those papers do exist, I’ll find them. It’s the only hope I have left.”
“They’ll kill you,” Carny argued.
“I’ll find a way,” Jennifer insisted stubbornly. “Turn around.”
Carny placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Jennifer, you’re not thinking clearly. What about Tanner?” she asked, gesturing toward his sleeping form in the back seat. “Are you going to risk his life too?”
Jennifer considered that a moment. “I’ll have to hide him somewhere,” she said thoughtfully. She snapped her fingers. “I can leave him with you at the cabin. That way he’ll be safe. I’ll go back by myself.”
“And what if you don’t come back?”
Jennifer swallowed hard. The excitement in her eyes dulled noticeably and her face became grimly serious. “If I don’t come back, then you have to promise me you’ll look out for him.” Despite the bravado of her words, Jennifer felt tears burn at the edges of her eyes.
Carny turned back and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands, flexing her fingers around its rim. “You’re crazy,” she said slowly. “We’re going to the cabin, like we planned. This asinine idea of yours will never work.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Jennifer sighed, her tears welling even higher. When they finally leaked their way down her cheeks, Jennifer swiped at them irritably. As Carny glanced over her shoulder and eased back onto the interstate, Jennifer reached over and opened Carny’s purse. “Got a tissue in here?” she asked, peering into the oversized bag. She shoved aside the leather wallet that lay on top and froze when her eyes fixed on the item beneath it.
“Jennifer, no!”
Jennifer heard Carny’s frantic words, and some distant part of her mind knew that her sanity was dependent on following that command. Yet despite the warning bells, her hands closed on the item and slowly withdrew it from the bag. Holding it in front of her, Jennifer felt her stomach fall to her feet. She glanced up and studied Carny’s face in the eerie greenish glow from the dashboard.
Carny cast her a quick, sideways glance.
“Carny?” Jennifer’s voice came out as a whimper. She felt as if she was hanging onto the end of a rope, dangling over a precipitous drop, the rope slowly slipping through her hands. “Carny?” she repeated.
Carny squeezed her eyes shut a moment, then turned to look at Jennifer. “I’m sorry, Jen,” she whispered.
Jennifer fell back against the seat, her mind reeling. The frizzy, red-haired wig slipped from her hands, falling onto the floor at her feet. Then her mind snapped shut, closing out all thought, refusing to confront the reality that was smacking her in the face. Her eyes stared out the windshield, seeing nothing. She was dimly aware that her ears popped to compensate for the rising altitude in the road as they climbed up the side of the mountain. She barely felt the odd, empty thud in her chest as her heart skipped a beat. Then the last of the rope that was her life line slipped through her hands, and she felt herself falling, falling, falling ….
And then she felt nothing.