EIGHTY-FOUR

“It’s my mother’s recipe for fried chicken,” Manning was saying, as he and Caleb carried in trays of crispy wings, breasts, and drumsticks. “She was from Alabama, so it’s got all the best Southern ingredients.”

“This is awfully sweet of you,” Jessie said.

“I figured you all wouldn’t be up to making dinner tonight,” John said, giving Jessie a smile. “I’ve got some whipped potatoes to bring over, too.”

“Mr. Manning is a wonderful cook,” Caleb said. “I’ve often told him if he weren’t such a successful author, he’d make a terrific chef.”

“It smells great!” Abby chirped, as John handed her a drumstick. She began munching on it like a hungry little chipmunk.

“Let’s eat out on the picnic table,” Jessie suggested. “It’s such a lovely afternoon. We can watch the sunset.”

She grabbed a pitcher of lemonade and a handful of paper plates and led them all outside. Caleb ran back over to the house and brought over the potatoes, a hunk of butter melting all over them, and they began their feast.

“Thank you so much,” Jessie said.

John smiled over at her.

For a few moments, she could push all thoughts of death and fear from her mind. She could forget that someone—something—was out there that wanted to hurt her. She could forget all of Aunt Paulette’s crazy suspicions.

“I wish Aaron were here,” Abby said. “He’d like this fried chicken.”

Jessie thought about the little boy, and wondered where he was. She worried about him, out there by himself, obviously uncared for.

John leaned in toward Jessie. “What have you learned about him?” he asked in a soft voice.

“That he’s a scared, lonely little boy,” Jessie told him.

John looked at her a little quizzically.

“We have nothing to fear from Aaron,” she said firmly.

“Mommy,” Abby said, looking up with a face covered with grease, “can I go trick-or-treating with Aaron?”

Halloween was now just a couple of days away. Jessie hadn’t told Abby about Bryan’s death, but she couldn’t allow her to daughter to walk through the neighborhood at night. “I tell you what,” she said. “We’ll have a Halloween party here. Aaron can come. Will you come, too, John?”

“Sure,” he replied. “But how will you let Aaron know? Have you found a way to reach him?”

“Oh, he’ll be here,” Abby said confidently.

Jessie thought she was right. Aaron would know to come. They didn’t have to tell him. He would just come.

And that thought didn’t frighten Jessie at all.