The Darkness - Jason Pinter [15]
time she heard it, she thought about their relationship.
She'd never been a goopy girl, the kind who read her
horoscopes or gossiped over cosmos while wearing
outfits that cost more than the GDP of the Congo. She
wasn't superstitious either, but she didn't want to think
about losing what she wanted. What she had.
She figured if Aimee knew what she and Henry had
been through in their few years knowing each other, she
wouldn't take offense.
Kicking her shoes off, Amanda lay back on the hard
bed, wanting to think about nothing until it was time to
get up for work the next morning. The one thing she did
like about Darcy's place was that the girl didn't spare the
pillows. The guest room had no less than a dozen pillows
of various shapes and sizes covering the bed. Amanda had
spent her first week deciding which ones were right, and
picked the right half-dozen to fall asleep to. When she and
Henry lived together it always drove him crazy. Mainly
because he would wake up on one side of the full-size bed
with one nostril covered and a feather sticking out of the
corner of his mouth.
Amanda groaned as she rolled off the bed, blowing a
hair strand from her eye. Darcy and Devin had a fifty-six-46
Jason Pinter
inch flat screen in their bedroom, one of those cool wallmounted units that seemed to hover without wires or a
bracket. It probably cost more than her education, so
Amanda figured she'd make use of it.
The remote control was some digital monstrosity that
took Amanda ten minutes just to turn on. She was
always amused by Darcy's taste in television, so she decided to see what her friend had recorded. The DVR
listed thirty-two episodes of Sex in the City, ten of
Gossip Girl, three of Desperate Housewives... and this
morning's newscast. Amanda laughed. One of those
things didn't quite fit.
She pressed Resume Playback on the news program,
and saw swarms of cops roaming around what appeared
to be a crime scene. A reporter's voice-over spoke of
some horrendous murder, some young man's body found
pulverized in the East River. The reporter was using her
"ultra serious" tone of voice reserved for crimes that were
not just bad, but truly terrifying. Amanda felt her heart
beat faster. Why the hell had Darcy taped this?
"Kenneth Tsang was survived by his mother and father
and young sister. According to the police there are no
suspects at this time, but sources confirm that the brutality
with which the killer or killers ravaged Mr. Tsang's body
was done with some sort of message in mind. And since
the city medical examiner Leon Binks has confirmed that
over one hundred of Mr. Tsang's bones were broken
before the body was found in the river, that message will
be heard loud and clear."
Amanda shook her head. It was still hard to fathom just
how much evil there was in the world. How normal
people seemed to be at risk leading normal lives.
And then she realized why Darcy had taped the segment.
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Standing by a yellow line of police tape, talking to a
uniformed officer, was Henry.
Amanda watched. Henry was just doing his job, but
something about him being so close to death always
unnerved her.
When the clip ended, Amanda walked back into the
guest room and grabbed the cell phone. She dialed Henry's
number at work. It rang through and went to voice mail.
Then she tried his cell again. Right to voice mail.
"Henry...it's me. I know I just called, but I just wanted
to say I love you and please be safe."
Amanda hung up the phone and put on her pajamas.
Then she tucked herself under the warm covers and
turned off the light. Not for sleep. That wouldn't come.
Not until the phone rang. Not until she knew for sure
Henry was on his way home.
When I got home it was close to midnight. I sloughed
off all the detritus from the day: wallet, keys, loose change,
cell phone. The phone was off. I'd forgotten to turn it back
on after Jack and I had left the crime scene. I turned it back
on, saw there were two messages waiting for