Firefly Rain (35 page)

“Nice to meet you,” Adrienne sniffled.

“Don’t let him fool you with that ‘business associate’ bullcrap. I worked for him, and then ran screaming for the hills.” Jenna grinned, genuinely, and patted Adrienne on the shoulder. “Now finish your coffee, and then we’ll get you taken care of.”

“I’m all right, really.” Adrienne put her cup down and stood. “I’m just very tired.”

“Of course you are. Now take that ridiculous raincoat off, and let’s put you to bed.” Jenna gave me a look that clearly said
Get your ass in gear
, and I figured it out about a second after anyone with a brain would have.

“Right, right.” I hastily dropped my cup into the sink and made a grab for Adrienne’s bag. “Come this way. We’ll figure out where to put you, get you some towels and everything, no worries.”

“You’re very nice to let me stay here,” Adrienne said, with considerably fewer sniffles as she followed me. “I know it’s a big imposition.”

“No,” I told her. “It’s a big house. Besides, it’s good to have someone out here to protect me from Jenna and her razor-sharp tongue.”

“Just for that, you sleep alone tonight, Logan,” Jenna said, and I could hear the sharp intake of Adrienne’s breath. “Oh, relax, I’m just kidding. Now where are we going to put you?”

“Right this way,” I said, and I suddenly stopped. To my left was the door to Mother and Father’s bedroom. It was open, and as I watched, it swung open wider. “Oh, no,” I breathed.

Jenna squeezed past Adrienne to stand next to me. “How about here?” she said, and she barged in. I followed her, my heart going a hundred miles a minute.

“Are you nuts?” I hissed once we’d crossed the threshold. I flicked on the light and gestured. “This is my parents’ room. She can’t sleep in here.”

“The bed’s made up,” Jenna said mildly. “Saves us some work. And did you realize you just called them your parents? That’s a first, I think.”

“Never mind that,” I said. “She can’t stay in here. Things have been happening in here, or haven’t you been paying attention?”

“The door was open,” Jenna said. “The door was
opening
. You saw it, too. Your mother wants her in here.”

“I know,” I said softly. “That’s what scares me.”

She smiled at me. “Smart boy. Now go get her bag.”

Adrienne was standing in the hallway, her arms folded across her chest, holding herself tightly. “Adrienne? You’ll be staying in here, if that’s all right?” I asked. She nodded but didn’t say anything. “I’ll be right across the hall,” I said more softly. “You can leave the door open, and I’ll leave mine open, and if you need me, just come get me, all right?”

She nodded again. I stepped closer, and when she didn’t move away, I pulled her to me. She didn’t resist, but she didn’t open her arms, either, and I could feel the tension in her body. “It’s going to be all right, I promise,” I told her. “You’re safe here. I’ll take care of you. And besides, I don’t have any other cars.”

She didn’t laugh, but I could feel her smile a bit. “I’m just afraid,” she whispered. “Do I have to sleep in there?”

“Just for tonight,” I promised. “Tomorrow, we can figure something else out. But nothing will happen tonight, I swear.”

“Nothing else, you mean.” And there was a spark of the Adrienne I’d first met. “All right. I trust you. I hope you’re a light sleeper, just in case.”

“Just in case what?” I said, and I waggled my eyebrows even though I knew she couldn’t see them. “I’ll stand watch outside your door all night, if you ask.”

She actually laughed then. “You’re terrible,” she said, and she disengaged herself from my arms. I stooped to pick up her bag and followed her into the bedroom.

Jenna had already turned down the bed and fluffed the pillows. “You should be comfortable in here, dear. Jacob, why don’t you run out to the kitchen and clean up. I’ll see about getting Adrienne here something to sleep in, and maybe something for tomorrow.”

“As you command.” I put the bag down next to the bed. “Towels are in the closet next to the bathroom. First come first served on the hot water in the morning. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Adrienne shot me a look of pure gratitude. “Thank you, Jacob,” she said, and shooed me out.

I shut the door behind me carefully. Nothing odd happened as I did, though I did hear a burst of laughter from Jenna that would have scared small children, had there been any around. Down to the kitchen I went, and I made a great show of puttering around with mugs and dishwashing soap. When everything was as clean as it was likely to get, I set up the drying rack and took myself to the door. There I looked out at the night and wondered if the dog would visit.

An hour or three later, Jenna joined me. “Hi,” I said without turning around.

“Hi,” she replied, and she leaned on my back. “Whatcha looking at?”

“Nothing, and that’s good.” I shook my head. “I keep on wondering when that damn dog is going to come back.”

She shifted slightly, and I was suddenly aware of her body pressing against mine. “Maybe there are too many people here for him, or he got picked up by animal control.”

I laughed. “Around here, animal control is firing a warning shot and giving him a chance to run. No, he’s still out there. I can feel it.” I turned and felt her slide off me. “The scary thing is, I don’t know why he’s out there. All the rest of it—well, most of the rest of it—I’m starting to understand. But the dog? I don’t know.”

She gave me a look that could best be called appraising. “How serious are you about all this, Logan?”

“Dead serious, Jenna. I can’t afford to be otherwise.” I pulled out a chair and swung it around, then sat myself in it and leaned over the back. “Mother’s trapped and wants me back here. I don’t doubt anymore that she’s here or that she’s real. Father’s stuck here, too, and I think he’s trying to help me. Carl’s tied up with both of them, and the town’s working with Mother whether they know it or not. Hanratty, well, she’s just a cast-iron bitch—”

“Don’t be too hard on her,” Jenna said, much to my surprise. “I think I know what’s going on there.”

“Oh?” I gestured to a chair. “Pull up a seat and tell me about it.”

“You said she followed her husband here, and then he left?” I nodded in response. “She stayed, though. Why?”

I shrugged. “Never gave it much thought. Maybe she liked Mr. Hilliard’s ice cream?”

“Looks like, but that’s not what I’m thinking. She stayed. She made herself a part of the town.”

“Man, did she ever,” I grumbled. “She was lecturing me on what it’s like to be from here.”

Jenna stabbed the tabletop with a finger. “Exactly. She gave up a good job to come here, and then she
chose
to stay. I think she’s become more town than the townies, just to vindicate the decision she made to come here. She moved here, and by God, she’s staying.”

The light dawned. “And all of a sudden I come here, I don’t want to be here, and the town tries to pull me in. Damn, that must be busting her balls.”

“That’s one way of putting it.” She gave a thin smile. “So don’t be too mean to Hanratty, even if she is a cast-iron bitch. She got dealt a lousy hand, and she’s been bluffing with a pair of threes for years. Oh, and she’s got a gun.”

I chuckled. “All right, I’ll try to play nice. She doesn’t make it easy, though.”

She shook her head. “No, she doesn’t. Though it was nice of her to bring your little friend out here.”

I felt myself blushing. “Adrienne? How is she?”

“Dead asleep,” Jenna answered. “Which is not surprising. She’s had a hell of a day. I know if I had a strange car drive into my bedroom, I’d be a wreck. No pun intended.”

“None noticed,” I told her. “That whole thing worries me.”

“Oh, really? What part?”

“Two things, actually.” I adjusted myself in the chair and found myself frowning. “One is the driver. I caught a glimpse—just a glimpse—of the driver yesterday. He—or she—was big. Really big.”

“You thought it was Hanratty.” It wasn’t a question.

“I had my suspicions,” I confessed.

Jenna leaned back. “But if your friend’s story holds, that’s impossible.”

I nodded. “She wasn’t supposed to be on duty today, so what she was doing at the apartment is an open question. Then again, in a town like this, everyone pitches in at a moment like that. But if we can trust her and Adrienne, the large, heavyset driver just… vanished. And that leaves one suspect.”

“And that is?”

“Father,” I said.

Jenna looked unconvinced. “Hmm. Wasn’t he trying to help you, or so you thought?”

I stood and started pacing. “That’s what I thought. Maybe this is his way of trying to help. If Adrienne’s the bait the town is dangling, and Father doesn’t want me to get caught the way he did…” I let my voice trail off.

“That doesn’t sound like your father, Logan,” Jenna said in a very small voice. “He wouldn’t… no. I don’t believe it.”

I shrugged. “Maybe death changes a person. Then again, Mother could have gotten a hold of him. He never really could say no when she insisted. I don’t know.”

“That may be for the best. So what’s the other thing?”

“The toothbrushing,” I said.

Jenna stared at me, incredulous. “She forgot to brush her teeth. So what?”

“Do you really think Adrienne ever forgets to brush her teeth? Come on, she’s wearing bunny slippers. But this time, she forgets just in time to get out of the way so that Father can drive my car into her bedroom and wreck the joint…”

“Forcing her to come out here, where presumably you two can get to know each other better. Very devious, Logan. I’m not sure
whether to applaud the ghosts of your parents for being sneaky, or you for having a subconscious that came up with it.” Jenna’s expression was grim. “So how do you feel about it?”

“About what?”

She shook her head. “Assuming you’re right, and there’s been enough weird stuff going on that I’m willing to at least entertain the notion that you’re right, how do you feel about being set up by your dead mother?”

“I don’t know,” I said truthfully. “It’s all kind of confusing. Hell, the first time Adrienne was out here Mother knocked stuff over to ensure there’d be no hanky-panky. It was the old ‘not in my house’ routine, I guess. Or at least, ‘Not yet.’ I always was a sucker for reverse psychology.”

“Are you sure it was your mother?”

I blinked. “Oh,” I said. “You think Father did it instead, to keep me off the hook?”

Jenna shook her head. “I don’t think anything. But as long as we’re willing to entertain the possibility that you’ve got ghost problems, it makes a certain amount of sense.”

“And it fits with what Carl said,” I said softly. “Where was my father’s place? Damn.”

Jenna gave a soft, low laugh. “Poor Jacob. All you wanted was some time to be alone, and all of this lands on you.” She stood. “She’s a nice kid, Jake. She’s not you, though. I know you well enough to know that. Make your own choices, when it actually comes time to make them.”

She rubbed her eyes and yawned. “And now, I’m for bed. I’ll see you in the morning. Hopefully the ghosts will let you be for the rest of the night.”

“Good night,” I said quietly. “Thank you for coming down, Jenna.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said. “I’ve only been here one day. I could still screw everything up.”

“You don’t screw things up,” I said, and I let myself grin. “Occasionally, you just set up things that are screwed.”

“Like this,” she said, and headed off into the dark of the house. “Good night.”

“Good night,” I said again, and I wondered about the dog.

I spent a few more minutes puttering around before deciding that, as usual, Jenna had the right idea. Lights went out one by one, windows and doors were checked, and I made my way to bed. True to my word, I kept my door open, which meant sleeping in a T-shirt and sweats. No sense scandalizing Adrienne if she did come running in the middle of the night, and no sense giving Jenna more to laugh about than absolutely necessary.

Sleep came hard that night. I kept on hearing something like thunder in the far distance, though the rain had stopped all those hours before, and every creak and groan the house made was like shouting in my ears. Across the hall, I could hear Adrienne breathing, regular and soft. The sound rasped on my eardrums out of all proportion, and by one in the morning I was resigned to the hopelessness of it all.

I swung my feet out of bed and onto the floor, figuring to go into the kitchen and read. My left hand found a book on the nightstand, and I padded out into the hall. The urge to check in on Adrienne rose up, but I strangled it in its cradle and instead tiptoed down the hall, away from where the women were sleeping and out into dim yellow light.

Deciding against coffee, I drew myself a cup of water instead. The book was one I’d bought in Boston and brought down with me, a legal thriller about a two-fisted lawyer who seemed to solve most of his courtroom problems by getting into gunfights. I was halfway in and still hadn’t figured out what the hell was going on, but at that hour of the night, I didn’t particularly care. Sipping from my glass, I settled in at the table and tried to find my place.

I’d just managed to locate it when something went
ratta-tat-tat
on the window. I turned to see what it was, and there was Carl, pale as death and looking twice as hungry. He saw me looking back at him and he grinned, then motioned me over urgently.