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ofia Lopez stared at the two plastic-wrapped packages that Lauren diMucci had left on her dining room table. She didn’t want to touch them, felt vaguely that they were like grenades with their pins pulled partway out.
She couldn’t leave the bags on the table. If Lauren was right—and she’d certainly believed she was right, Sofia could see that—then these bags were valuable evidence. If they weren’t moved, one of the children was sure to find them and grow curious about what was inside. It was fortunate that all three of them were off playing elsewhere when Lauren arrived.
They’d been in the backyard earlier but as the other children of the neighborhood drifted out to play, the lot of them had migrated to another yard, one that had a tree house. Daniel and Camila had run inside onl
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Night of shades 31
Alex stood on the lawn and waited for Riley to drive away. He wanted to make sure the man was gone before following Sofia and Bea into the house.Alex heard Bea’s sobs coming from the kitchen. He saw the black plastic garbage bags that Sofia had called him about on the dining room table.He desperately wanted to know what was in those bags. He also wanted to talk to Lauren diMucci about where she found them. Sofia hadn’t been able to give him a great deal of information. She only told him that Lauren had found some things that belonged to the two dead girls in the woods, and that Lauren didn’t want her mother to know what she’d been doing so she asked Sofia to take them.But Alex knew he couldn’t go through the bags while his sister-in-law was in the kitchen crying. First
Night of shades 32
Lauren found herself walking very slowly to her own house. Normally she would rush to Officer Hendricks’s side (God, you really did do that. What a stupid little puppy he must think you are), but she didn’t want to talk to him today.It had something to do with Jake and his declaration, she realized. She felt guilty about accepting his invitation to the fair and then talking to Officer Hendricks, even though she shouldn’t. It wasn’t as if Hendricks was planning on asking her out himself.And you know that you really do like Jake.She liked what she knew of him, she amended. He had been kind to her when they were young, and kind to her when she’d been sick. He was smart—she knew that because he’d graduated from high school early, and he would
Night of shades 33
Karen waved good-bye to Officer Hendricks—Aaron, he told me to call him Aaron—as he climbed into his patrol car and drove away. She’d been out front watering the flowers when he pulled up at the end of the driveway.It had been a surprise when he stopped, and even more of a surprise when she realized he didn’t have Luke Pantaleo with him. The two of them were always together.At first she thought he might deliver more information about Joe’s death—a witness that had come forward, a suspect in custody. But he said he’d just come by to see “how all of you are doing.”Somehow a simple check-in had turned into almost an hour of conversation. They’d started chatting about books and movies and travel. Karen had never realized before how mu
Night of shades 34
ouhy stared at the headline in the Chicago Tribune. His breakfast eggs and bacon lay untouched on his plate and his coffee grew cold as he read the six words over and over.SHOCKING MURDERS STUN SMALL-TOWN POLICE“I’ll have somebody’s head for this,” Touhy said and then read the byline:George Riley, special correspondentTIt was that reporter from Chicago stirring up trouble. And a story like this would make more trouble, would bring more reporters from other places asking questions about things they shouldn’t even know about.Crystal gave him a mildly inquiring glance from
Night of shades 35
Jane, Jane, Janey,” Mrs. Schneider muttered to herself as she stared out the window. “Jane, Jane, Janey.”She’d forgotten all about Janey, but now she remembered. Ever since that nosy reporter came poking his nosy nose around.The Mexicans across the street were all home today except for the police officer. The two women were out front, weeding the flower beds together and laughing. The other man was watering the front lawn with the hose. As Mrs. Schneider watched she saw him turn and spray the women briefly with the hose and laugh. His teeth were very white against his brown face and she thought he looked handsome for a moment.“Like that Ricky Ricardo that Lucy married,” she said. Except he wasn’t Mexican, she recalled. He was Cuban. “Not that it matte
Night of shades 36
Miranda saw Lauren and Jake Hanson sitting at the picnic table holding hands. They seemed to be having a very intense conversation, looking soulfully into each other’s eyes.He’s probably telling her some bullshit about how he adores her and later he’ll have his hands underneath her undershirt grabbing at her tiny breasts.Tad had already grabbed at Miranda’s much more substantial breasts while they rode the Himalaya. She hadn’t cared so much about that, but his breath had been sour when he put his face close to hers and she turned her head away so he could suck at her neck instead. What she really wanted was to go home. She was tired of pretending that Tad was interesting.After they rode the Himalaya Tad and Billy decided they wanted to try their hand at the shooting gallery
Night of shades 37
Miranda looked into the face of her lover, or what she’d thought was her lover. His mouth wasn’t right. It was huge and black and seeping across his face in a way that no human mouth should. The hand across her mouth didn’t feel like ahand anymore. The sharp tips of his fingers dug into her cheek and tore the skin.I want to go home. I want my mommy.Lauren fiddled with the hem of her shirt. It seemed like Jake had been gone a very long time, though looking at the lines for every booth it was probably to be expected. She’d lost si
Night of shades 38
MSchneider looked around at the circle of expectant faces in her living room. Many people had come when she called—more than she’d thought. There were twenty of them squashed together on her sofa or perched on thearmrests of the chairs(Mr. Schneider would not have liked that, no he would not, he would have thought it rude)and some of the younger ones sitting cross-legged on the floor like they were in kindergarten again.No one was talking. A sense of hushed resolve hung around the room, a feeling that they all knew their purpose and were willing to fulfill it.For the first time in a very long time her mind felt clear. No fog obscured her memories of Janey or of the other girls. If she tried she thought she could name off every one that had died in her lifetime.
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