Page 105 of Evil Bones
“Ruthie has agreed to keep me looped in on her plans. Mainly so I have intel if Aunt Harry calls.”
“Why doesn’t Harry phone Ruthie’s cell and talk to her directly?”
“She does. If Ruthie doesn’t answer, I’m up next.”
A typical MO for my baby sister. If Harry wants a conversation, she wants it on demand.Herdemand.
“Are you worried?” I asked.
“Not really. It’s just that Ruthie usually leaves me a note. Today, nothing.”
“Was she home last night?”
“I think so. I got delayed at the center until after eleven. When I got here her door was closed and her light was out. I didn’t want to wake her, so I didn’t look in.”
“Was her bed slept in?”
“She always makes it in the morning, so that tells me nothing.”
“Do you think she’s with her UNCC pals?”
“Probably.” Now with the smile gone.
“Do you have an issue with them?”
“I’ve met some of that group. Once, briefly, when they came to pick Ruthie up.”
“And?”
“Mostly they seemed geeky, but harmless.”
“Mostly? Sensing there was something Katy wasn’t saying.
“I don’t know. I got a weird vibe from a couple of them.”
Before I could poke at that, she added,
“I know Ruthie’s precocious and funny and smarter than fuck. But these guys are grad students. Why would they hang with a seventeen-year-old kid?”
CHAPTER 24
Ruthie was buried in sand, mouth agape, gulping for air. Slidell was wobbling toward her on a bike he couldn’t control. Ryan was crouched low, coaxing a rabbit from beneath a boulder.
“It’s too late.”Ryan rose to full upright, eyes blue lasers, body a black cutout against a burning white sun.“We have to—”
My eyes flew open.
My heart was skipping hard, and I didn’t know why.
Sunlight streamed through the blinds covering my bedroom windows, throwing bright diagonal slashes onto the carpet.
Birdie was pressed tight to my back.
I reached around to stroke his head.
The cat stretched and purred, then curled into a ball.
I lay a moment, trying to uncork this new dream and let it breathe.
