Hide & Seek - James Patterson [70]
We sat on the ground and held each other for a long, long time. A breeze came up, and I wrapped my sweater around her. My baby, I thought. My friend for so many years. My sweet Jennie.
But I could think of no way to comfort her, and make it better for either of us. I blamed myself, of course. I’d tried so hard to be supermom, but it wasn’t enough. It never is.
CHAPTER 82
I SPENT A blessed hour the next morning, which was unseasonably warm, working in the garden behind the swimming pool. The time alone, the feel of sunlight on the back of my neck, the physical exertion—all were exactly what the doctor ordered. I began to regroup.
I needed time to think things through in a straight line. The worsening situation with Will. Jennie’s problems at school. My own bad experience in San Francisco. It was a lot to take at one time; I was afraid that I wasn’t handling it very well.
There was an explosion in the woods beyond the pool.
I stopped digging, stopped thinking, stopped breathing, and listened with total concentration. And dread.
A second explosion came from behind a thick wall of evergreens. The trees masked my view.
Gunshots? Oh my God.
I was on my feet, running at full speed toward the thick pocket of trees. A scream was stuck in my throat.
Oh God, dear God … what’s happened?
What’s happened now?
I plunged into the woods, heading for the sound of the shots. My heart was pounding and there was a sharp pain in my chest.
Instinct drove me; I didn’t even think of calling for help. Whom would I call to anyway?
Gunshots? Near our house? How could that be?
My ankles were stabbed by rocks and thistles. There were no more shots, just a frightening, desolate silence. Finally, I came to a clearing. I stopped running.
Will was standing there. Will was holding a rifle in the crook of his arm.
He turned at the sound of my footsteps. He looked at me as though I didn’t belong there.
“What are you doing?” I managed to speak.
“Target practice,” he said. He motioned to a row of beer and soda cans set up on a log. “Care to give it a go, Maggie?”
He flashed his best North Downing smile. “I’m getting quite good. I’m a natural it seems. Great hand-to-eye.”
Phillip had a gun too. I had used it to kill him. I remembered dark blood pouring from his mouth, saw his look of horror, heard his grunt of surprise as the fatal bullet struck him.
“Get rid of it!” I screamed. “I don’t want it anywhere near my house. Get rid of that gun!”
Will looked at me coldly, but then he grinned. “Our house. But it’s your call, Maggie. If it disturbs you, it’s gone. If you don’t trust yourself around guns, I understand.”
CHAPTER 83
THIS WAS THE day. I just couldn’t have known it. I wouldn’t have expected it. This was the day.
Having been unable to sleep, I slipped out of the house at dawn. I was wearing a terrycloth robe and my rattiest sneakers. My long hair was in knots. Hopeless.
I figured the air would be good for me, give me a fresh start. I hoped no one would see me like this. No paparazzi sneaking shots through the fence.
I walked to the partly crumbled fieldstone wall that divided my property from the grounds of the Lake Club. My sneakers stamped defiantly through damp leaves and creepers. Chattering blue jays and robins darted among the high trees over my head.
“Oh, shut the heck up,” I grumped at the birds.
I was startled to hear another kind of sound in the woods. A human voice.
“Who’s there?” I called ahead. “Hello?”
J. C. Frazier appeared. He was coming out of a meadow that belonged to the Lake Club, where he worked as head groundskeeper. J.C. was always outside, so we met from time to time. I knew that he was seeing Mrs. Leigh, and she thought he was a good man. Yes, and they are hard to find, I was tempted to tell her.
“Mornin’, Mrs. Bradford. You the one responsible for this fine weather?” he asked. Not a care in the world, and why should he? His grounds were in perfect order.
“I thought you were in charge of the weather, J.C.”
“No way, ma’am. I’m charged with the grounds only. I believe you have