Web of Angels Read Online Free PDF Page A

and a smaller stack face down beside it. Click on pay bills. How was she going to talk to him about Heather? Click on vendor name. She had to do it right. Peerless Printing. What if she said the wrong thing? Click on enter invoice: $2,212.52. What if she made things worse? Account: office expense. Turn it over. Next.
    She listened for his arrival. Every door hinge in the house had a different creak, every floor a different rumble depending on whose hand or foot was on it. The compressor in the fridge, the air conditioner on the third floor, the furnace in the basement, each had their thumps and clicks, touching off a flicker in a different set of lights when they went on and off, as distinct and familiar as her own breathing. If there was any change, she would know it as surely as she would know a strange pain in her body. A key turned in the front door. First there was a jiggle, then the smack of the long chain with the whistle on it—Josh was home. Now all her children were safe.
    “Mom!” he called. His backpack hit the floor. Those were his footsteps and someone else’s, lighter steps, slower, along the hall.
    “I’m in the dining room.”
    “Mom, can you make us something to eat?” He stood in the doorway. “We’re starving. Can Cathy stay for supper?” She was hanging back a bit as if uncertain of her welcome today. Josh had hold of her hand.
    “Hi Cathy.” Sharon’s voice was warm.
    “Hi Mrs. Lewis.” Cathy was a good student and while hanging out with Josh, she had made him a better one. Even today her hair was perfectly parted, falling on either side of her face like a gold frame. She wore a cropped shirt and tight jeans, like any kid, except that she didn’t slouch as she looked around at the half-open cabinet with yarns and fabrics poking out, the yard-sale tabletop on end against a wall, the kids’ crafts on the oak sideboard, balanced precariously under the bag with the sweater inside that had been intended for her sister.
    “Shouldn’t you be at home?” Sharon asked.
    “Nobody’s there.” Cathy shrugged. “They didn’t want me with them.”
    “Is that right?” Sharon kept her voice gentle, though her eyebrows shot up in surprise.
    “They were staying at the hospital to talk to the doctors about the baby. Then going to the funeral place. They said I should go to school, try to have a normal day.” Cathy’s eyes were as vague as if she was stoned, which she probably was. Everyone in her family, the ones who were left, had to be stoned on medication strong enough to keep them standing. “How am I supposed to have a normal day?”
    “Your parents might be home by now. They’ll be missing you.”
    “No they won’t.”
    “You don’t mean that,” Sharon said, though Cathy looked as if she did. “Well, you’re welcome to stay. Just let your parents know where you are.” She listened to the kids’footsteps as they went upstairs and called after them, “Leave the door open.”
    When she got back to the kitchen, she took out another lamb chop to defrost for supper, and made popcorn for the kids, pouring melted butter over it. Then she blended shakes with frozen strawberries, thinking that even if Cathy couldn’t eat she would manage that. She carried the tray up to Josh’s room, pushing the door wider, but they were just sitting at his desk, both of them wearing headphones, looking at the monitor. Only a mom would notice that their feet were touching.
    Six vinyl chairs had come with the kitchen table. When it was extended, it could accommodate two more chairs, or a single high chair if it was wide and thickly padded like the one that was down in the basement. By six-thirty everyone was at the table, even Dan. His offices were in the old Ford factory on Hammond Street, and in the evening, he’d do some work upstairs in his home office. He had software to keep track of his contacts, his appointments and his Internet passwords, synchronized with his smartphone and networked to his