Never Saw It Coming: (An eSpecial from New American Library) Read Online Free PDF Page B

who they’re looking for,” he countered, grinning.
    “What I give everyone, for varying amounts of time, is hope,” Keisha said defensively.
    “Yeah, well,” Justin grinned. “You know what’ll be really good about this thing we’re doing? This time, you’ll be right. You’re going to know exactly where I am. It’s gonna look good on your resumé.”
    * * *
    The job was behind her now.
    It had been a week since Keisha had led Marcia and Dwayne Taggart to Justin’s hiding spot in those deserted offices. Dwayne had, as she’d requested, paid her in cash later that day. She’d taken Justin’s half, put it in a sandwich bag, put that bag of cash into a small Tupperware container, poured some spaghetti sauce around it, and tucked it into the freezer so Kirk wouldn’t find it. He never made the meals, so she wasn’t running any risk. As for her share, she’d lied to Kirk, telling him she’d only made a thousand on this job, half of which he demanded. The remaining two grand she’d hidden in a Tampax box that sat under the sink.
    Justin had told her he probably wouldn’t be around for a few days to collect. He knew his mother would want him to see “someone,” and that she wouldn’t be letting him out of her sight for a while. His stealing the sleeping pills, and that note he’d written her, had her scared to death he might hurt himself.
    But sooner or later, he’d escape. He was planning to make a speedy recovery, psychologically speaking. He’d tell whatever shrink his mother lined up that it was just a blip, he was right as rain, it was all triggered by his troubled relationship with his mother (lay as much guilt on her as possible, he figured), but they’d patched things up, he couldn’t be better, he was never going to do anything like that again, and while I’m here, have you got any samples of some fun meds I could take with me?
    So when the doorbell rang that morning, seven days later, Keisha was not surprised to see Justin on her doorstep.
    She’d been making Matthew’s breakfast, the kitchen TV on, the volume down low. Kirk was sleeping in. Last time he’d been awakened too early, he’d come hobbling into the kitchen like a bear with its leg in a trap and thrown a glass up against the wall. He scared the hell out of Matthew.
    So Keisha tried to keep things quiet this early, but at the same time, she liked to know what was going on in the world, so the TV was on.
    “Hurry up,” she said to Matthew, “or you’re going to be late for school.”
    He picked at his breakfast, which was a piece of toast with peanut butter slathered all over it.
    “Did you hear what I said?” she asked him.
    “I’m not hungry,” he said.
    Keisha had noticed he’d been particularly mopey these last few days. Quiet, withdrawn, spending a lot of time in his room. She’d asked Kirk, “You got any idea why he’s so down in the dumps?”
    Kirk, dusting his mag wheel display in the living room, said, “Beats me what’s wrong with the li’l fucker. He’s just moody.”
    But Keisha thought it was something more than that. Now, at breakfast, she said, “Somethin’ on your mind?”
    Matthew shook his head.
    “Anything going on at school?”
    “Everything’s fine,” he said. “Haven’t I been good lately? Have I done anything wrong?”
    She didn’t have to think. “You’ve been good.”
    “So I don’t see what the big deal is,” he said.
    “I was thinking,” she said, “maybe after school today, we could go to the Post Mall, get you some new shoes.” She could spare a little of that cash she had tucked away.
    “I don’t care about new shoes,” Matthew said. “I just want to be able to stay here with you.”
    “You want to hang around the house after school today?”
    “No, I mean, all I want is to be able to keep living here.”
    “What on earth are you talking about?” Keisha said. “You’re losing your tiny mind.”
    “We never have a vacation,” Matthew said. “We should