Part 63 (1/2)

Don't shoot till you see who it is, she warned herself.

She waited, expecting a strong thrust.

For a few moments, the door pushed gently at her hand. Then it eased away, stopped, and began coming back.

What's... ?

She thumped it with the heel of her hand.

It swung away.

Swung away silently without knocking into anyone behind it.

Jody slapped the light switch, rushed in and whirled around, ready to fire.

The door had come to a stop against the far wall. n.o.body could possibly be hiding behind it.

From where Jody stood, she could see into the bathtub. n.o.body in there, either.

A sudden movement, off to the side, sent s.h.i.+vers crawling up her skin.

She gasped and jerked her head in that direction.

And saw the pale yellow curtains rising, full of wind, away from the open window.

Wind.

A gust, not a maniac, had been toying with the door.

To make sure, she half-shut the door. Feeling the warm breeze against her back, she stepped aside. A moment later, the door swung slowly until it b.u.mped against its jamb.

The joke's on me.

She felt too shaken to laugh.

Talk about paranoia, she thought. Any other time, I would've figured it out right away.

She had taken a shower that evening after they'd returned from the Pizza Barn. The shower had steamed up the bathroom. As usual, she had opened the window to let in some fresh air.

And open it had remained.

Just to play things safe, she stepped over to the window and checked its screen. The screen was hooked in place, as it should be.

One big, fat false alarm.

She thumbed her pistol's safety switch upward to cover the red dot.

Then she approached the sink.

The girl in the mirror above it looked sweaty and haggard and a little wild. Her short hair was a tangled mess, wet loops glued to her forehead and temples. Her eyes seemed partly frantic, partly amused. Beneath them were half-moons of glistening speckles. A mustache of wet dots gleamed above her lips. The wide neck of her nights.h.i.+rt drooped off her right shoulder.

Should've gotten a smaller size, she thought.

She'd bought it at a store in Indio while Dad was helping to pick out some new clothes for Andy. Nothing special about it. It had no cartoon characters or slogans. She'd bought it because she hadn't wanted to send Dad outside Sat.u.r.day night to take her Pooh nights.h.i.+rt off the clothesline, and she'd packed an old white nights.h.i.+rt to take on the trip. But the white one had turned out to be embarra.s.sing: too tight, too short and too thin. This one hung loose almost down to her knees. And it was pink, so you couldn't see through it.

The only problem's the neck, she thought. Way too big.

She looked at her bare shoulder.

Bet Rob wouldn't mind seeing me in something like this.

She rolled her shoulder. The neck of her nights.h.i.+rt slipped farther down her arm, and now she could see the top of her right breast.

He'd go crazy.

Who knows? she thought. Maybe someday ... or some year.

I'll call him tomorrow. Ask him if he wants to help me wash the car. And I'll be out there in my bikini ...

Oh, yeah, right. No doubt, the sight of all my bruises and scabs would be a real turn on for him.

I'll call him, anyway. Maybe we can get together and do something. My face is okay. I'll just have to keep my s.h.i.+rt on for a while.

She gave herself a haggard smile.

G.o.d, it's been so long. He must wonder where I've been. Hope he's missed me as much as I've ...

She suddenly realized that she hadn't actually missed Rob very much.

I missed him, she told herself. I thought about him a lot. So what if I didn't long for him and pine away. I did have a few other things on my mind.

Including Andy.

The little pain in the b.u.t.t.

Jody switched the pistol to her left hand, turned on the cold water, and bent down over the sink. With her right hand, she scooped water to her mouth.

As she drank, she thought about Andy.

He was bound to wake up and get cute with her.

No matter what, I'm gonna sleep in that trundle bed. Even if it means I've gotta tie the little squirt up, or ... Real nice. Tie him up. His whole family's dead, and he's got n.o.body except me. But he's gonna try something. He'll want me to hold him, or something.

It won't kill me to hold him.

Just so long as he doesn't try to get grabby.