314 Read Online Free PDF Page A

bounced off the edge of the table and fell to the floor.
“Shit, sorry,” he said as he retrieved it. The glazed pork had
collected a wealth of carpet fuzz when he picked it up. “Gross.” He
put the fork on the plate and covered it with his napkin.
    “Smooth,” said Rachel in jest.
    “So, you two are partners in this website?”
asked Alma.
    “Yeah.” Rachel seemed to recognize why Alma
looked confused. “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to mention Stephen’s not
just my camera guy, he’s my husband.” She held up her left hand and
pointed at her naked ring finger. “They don’t want me to wear a
ring on camera. All part of the illusion, you know?”
    Alma shook her head. “Not really.”
    Stephen got up to get a new plate of food
from the buffet and set his hands on his wife’s shoulders to
massage her for a second. “Rachel is supposed to be the hot, single
reporter. They don’t want viewers to know she’s taken.”
    Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed. “Yeah,
it’s a sleazy business.”
    “Well, at least it pays well,” said
Alma.
    Rachel gave a quick laugh and straightened
her posture. “You’d think, right? Truth is reporters get paid like
shit. You think teachers have it bad? Try being a reporter on a
local news show.”
    “Really? I had no idea. I just assumed you
guys made a lot.”
    “Not unless you’re an anchor.” Rachel looked
over her shoulder at her husband. “He makes more than I do, by a
lot.”
    “That’s why we’re trying to get this site
off the ground,” said Stephen on his way to the buffet table, out
of earshot.
    “Look,” said Alma sharply. “I have a feeling
I know where this is headed, and I should just stop you before we
go any further. I can’t help you with your site. I’ve left that
part of my life behind me.”
    Rachel visibly deflated, and she looked
nervous as she continued to stab at the zucchini on her plate. “I
understand. I really do, but will you just hear us out?”
    “Honestly, I probably couldn’t help you out
anyhow. That happened when I was eight years old. I don’t even
remember it that well anymore.”
    Stephen overheard them as he came back with
a new plate of disgusting fried meat. “Did you tell her?” He
sounded disappointed.
    “She saw it coming,” said Rachel. “Probably
because of your none-too-subtle introduction at the school.”
    “Sorry to be a bummer,” said Alma. “I really
can’t help you though. I don’t know anything more than what’s
already been out there. And to tell you the truth, I don’t believe
all the ghost stories anyhow. The police said that the
disappearances were due to a fight between a motorcycle club and
the mob. They said that the people in the town are probably all
living in Mexico or something, hiding from the mob.”
    “Yeah, but that’s crazy,” said Stephen. “An
entire town just packs up and moves because of some drug running
mob deal?”
    “What’s crazier?” asked Alma. “That, or that
they all got abducted by aliens, or sucked up into an alternate
dimension, or whatever other crazy conspiracy theory is out there
now.”
    “You told the police that you saw the green
light that night,” said Stephen, almost as if trying to confront
Alma with a lie.
    “I was eight,” said Alma. “Who knows what I
saw? I don’t remember any of it.” She had a habit of avoiding eye
contact when she lied, and tried to stare at him when she spoke,
but still averted her gaze when she said that she didn’t remember
that day. The truth wasn’t that she couldn’t remember anything, but
rather that she couldn’t remember pieces of what happened. There
was a large chunk of time that had been lost to her.
    “Have you heard about the Widowsfield
lights?” asked Rachel. Her light tone calmed the conversation. “Not
just what the police report said you saw, but the phenomenon that’s
been going on out in Missouri ever since the day the people in
Widowsfield went missing.”
    Alma shook her head. “I try