A Different Light Read Online Free PDF Page B

light as they hurried into Callie’s room. They pulled aside the curtains at the window overlooking the backyard and gazed down in horror. A tree had fallen, flattening most of the garage.
    “Daddy’s tree!” Callie cried. “Oh, Mommy, it’s Daddy’s tree!”
    Callie buried her head in her mother’s chest and wailed. The magnolia that John had planted the day they moved into the house twelve years ago lay split right down the middle.
    Lights flickering in the homes of their neighbors announced that most of the street had been awakened by the crash. The few who had slept through it were surely now being roused by the sound of the police cruiser as itrounded the corner at the end of the street.
    “You okay, honey?” Athen caressed the trembling child. “You want to get your robe on and come downstairs with me? I think the worst of the storm is over now.”
    “Why are the police here?” Callie tugged on her robe and followed her mother into the room across hall.
    “I guess they want to make sure no one was hurt and that no wires were brought down.” Athen pulled on sweatpants and a sweatshirt just as the doorbell rang. Hannah, barking and growling, flew down the steps.
    “Hey, Fred, come on in.” Athen opened the door and greeted the officer.
    Fred Keller quickly stepped inside the entry as the lightning from the passing storm flashed in the distance.
    “Are you guys all right?” the short stocky officer asked.
    “We’re fine.” She nodded. “But it looks like we lost one of our trees.”
    “Any wires down?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “We’ll take a run out back and have a look. You got any lights out there?”
    “On the back porch. I’ll turn them on for you.”
    Fred went back out the front door, where he was joined by three other officers who were already heading up the driveway.
    Athen and Callie turned on the back porch lights and peered out the door. John’s magnolia had been split cleanly in two, one half smashing the garage, the other huge section demolishing their neighbor’s fence.
    Athen went out on the back porch and surveyed the damage wordlessly. Callie wrapped her arms around her mother’s waist and cried.
    “Daddy’s tree is gone, and it smashed his garden, too.” She pointed across the lawn to John’s prized perennial beds, covered now by the huge tree trunk.
    Damn, cursed Athen silently. The tree would have to be removed, the garage rebuilt, the Sullivans’ fence replaced.
    “Daddy would know what to do,” Callie lamented.
    “And so do I, pumpkin,” Athen assured her.
    When he finished cursing, John would have called their insurance agent. And that would be Athen’s first move, first thing in the morning.

 3 
    The sound of the slamming car door at the end of the drive announced the arrival of the insurance adjuster, right on time. Athen peered out the window as the young woman started toward the front door, and was there to open it before the bell was rung.
    “Mrs. Moran?” The adjuster handed her a business card as she introduced herself. “I’m Susan Watson. Mr. Fisher, your agent, called this morning and asked that I come out first thing.”
    “Yes, he told me to expect you. Thanks for being so prompt. I guess you’re pretty busy today, after that wild storm.” Athen ushered her into the house.
    “We insure a lot of homes in Woodside Heights, so yeah, we’re jammed.” Susan followed Athen into the kitchen. “Would you mind if I called my office before wego outside? We’re supposed to call in as soon as we get to each stop.”
    “I don’t mind.” Athen waited by the back door while Susan keyed her phone and reported in.
    “Let’s take a look at that garage.” Susan tucked her cell phone back into her bag when she finished her call. She trailed behind Athen through the back door and into the yard, where steamy fingers of mist rose like smoke from the wet grass that was warming in the sun.
    “Boy oh boy.” Susan whistled, looking at the remains of