Family Murders: A Thriller Read Online Free PDF Page B

few inches open. Coming up to it, Angela could feel a draft of cold air setting her hair on end. Beyond the door lay the addition Ted had insisted on. It would add another thousand square feet of elegant space to the house, he'd said. Right now it was anything but elegant, just a rough wooden floor with a frame built up around it, tightly wrapped in huge sheets of plastic to protect against the elements. And it was empty. Ted didn't feel comfortable with workers alone in a house with two girls, he'd said. No telling what could happen while he was away.
    No telling at all.
    She pushed on the door and felt resistance. All the cool she had collected started to drip and drain away. Her muscles tensed and she pushed harder. The door slid open, tipping back the sandbag that had been leaning against it. Rocky pushed past her legs and into the construction area. Angela followed him.
    Standing near a big gap in the floor, looking down, was Julie. Without thinking, Angela was there. She had no memory of moving from one place to another, just of kneeling behind Julie and locking her arms around her.
    "Mommy was so worried about you, Julie," she said, "didn't you hear me calling? What are you doing in here, sweetheart?"
    "I heard something, Mommy. I was looking for Rocky, just like when I get home everyday. I heard him in here. Or just maybe I did."
    "What are you doing near the hole to the new basement?"
    "That's where he was when I heard him. Now he's up here!" Julie laughed and gave her dog a hug.
    Once again Angela had the unmistakable urge for flight, to take her daughter and run. But she'd come this far, and next to the gap in the floor was one of those yellow construction lights. It was on a stand, with a metal grill over it to prevent things from falling in and burning, and it had a handle hooked across the top near a big on/off switch. Angela reached down and picked it up. She shuffled towards the edge of the hole, angled the light, and flipped the switch.
    Nothing. Once again, Angela found herself protecting against the shadows.
    "How did you get in here, sweetie?" she asked.
    "When I heard…I just came in, Mommy."
    Angela swept the light from side to side, up and down. "Where did you get the key to open the door?"
    "Oh, the door." Julie cocked her head the side. Rocky mimicked her. Angela kept scanning back and forth with the light. "The door was already open, Mommy."
    And there they were. Far back right corner, propped upright, facing out, displayed, just waiting to be found. A pair of pink plastic sunglasses.
    In the heat of the moment, realizing how close Julie had come to something, Angela dropped the light. It fell down into the hole, rolled, and sputtered out like some medieval torch. Wordlessly, she grabbed Julie and headed back to the regular house. Rocky sensed their direction and was through the door before they were. Back in the house, Julie pulled the door shut behind her, just like she had been taught. There was a key to lock it, but Angela didn't know where it was kept. They never used this door. She settled for pulling the hallway table in front of it. The door opened outward, and the table was covered in vases and glass figurines. As a compromise (and as an early warning system) Angela figured it wasn't bad. Plus, she thought, they had Rocky.
    A ringing came from other room. The phone.
    "Stay with me, Julie. Come on Rocky." Together they headed for the kitchen. She paused in front of the phone, then picked up, cutting it off mid-ring.
    "Hello," she said neutrally.
    "Hello, I'm trying to get in touch with Angela Gray."
    "This is."
    "Mrs. Gray, this is Detective Frank Cooper. From the other day." She said nothing, and he must have detected something in the silence. "Angela, what's wrong?"
    "Jesus, Frank, you've got good timing," she blurted out.
    "What's going on?"
    "There was someone in the house. And I saw him again, the man in the sunglasses. He's was here. He was here!"
    "Slow down, just tell me what's