Thicker Than Blood - the Complete Andrew Z. Thomas Trilogy - Blake Crouch [51]
"Give me candy or I’ll shootcha," John David said. The four-year-old’s blond hair poked out from under the black bandanna. His mask was crooked, so that he could see through only one of the eye-holes, but he maintained the disguise. "I’ll shootcha," he warned again, and before I could speak, he pulled the trigger. As the plastic hammer clicked again and again, I cringed with the impact of each bullet. Stumbling back into the foyer, I dropped to my knees.
"Why, John David, why?" I gasped, holding my belly as I crumpled down onto the floor, careful that my Glock didn’t fall out. John David giggled.
"Look, Dad, I got him. I’m a go see if he’s dead."
"No, J.D.," Walter said as I resurrected. "Don’t go in the house."
I walked back to the door, caught Walter’s eyes, and looked down at the seven-year-old angel.
"You look beautiful, Jenna," I said. "Did you make your costume?"
"At school today I did," she said. "You like my wand?" She held up a long pixie stick with a glittery cardboard star glued to the end.
"Take a walk with us," Walter said. "I left the car by the mailbox."
"Let me see if I can find some candy for —"
He rustled the trash bag in his right hand. "They’ve got plenty of candy. Come on." I put on a pair of boots, grabbed a jacket and an umbrella from the coat closet, and locked the door behind me as I stepped outside.
The four of us walked down the sidewalk, and when we reached the driveway, Walter handed his umbrella to Jenna. "Sweetie, I want you and J.D. to walk a little ahead of us, okay?"
"Why, Daddy?"
"I have to talk to Uncle Andy."
She took the umbrella. "You have to come with me, J.D.," she said, bossing her brother.
"Nooooo!"
"Go with her, son. We’ll be right behind you." Jenna rushed on ahead, and John David ran after her and ducked under the umbrella. They laughed, their small buoyant voices filling the woods. His toy gun fired three times.
Walter stepped under my umbrella, and we started up the drive, the tall loblollies on either side of us. I waited for him to speak as the rain drummed on the canopy. The night smelled of wet pine.
"Beth’s packing," he whispered. "She’s taking the kids away."
"Where?"
"I told her not to tell me."
"She knows about —"
"No. She knows the children are in danger. That’s all she needs to know."
"Stoppit!" John David yelled at his sister.
"Kids!" Walter shouted gruffly. "Behave."
"Dad, Jenna —"
"I don’t wanna hear it, son."
I wondered where Walter’s anger toward me had gone.
"Do you really know where he is, Andy?" he whispered.
"I’ve got a possible alias in New England. Now, I can’t be sure until I get there, but I think it’s him."
"So you’re definitely going?"
"Yeah."
He stopped and faced me. "You’re going there to kill him? To put him in a hole somewhere, where no one’s ever gonna find him?"
"That’s the plan."
"And you have no compunctions about killing your own brother?"
"None."
We started walking again. I had an awful premonition.
"You’ve called the police, haven’t you?" I said.
"What?"
"You told them about Orson."
"No, Andy."
"But you’re going to."
He shook his head.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Come here, Jenna!" Walter hollered. His children turned around and ran back to us, their umbrella so low, I couldn’t see them. Walter took his umbrella from Jenna and lifted it up.
"Jenna, show Uncle Andy the tattoo you got at school."
"Oh yeah!" she said, remembering. "Look, Andy, isn’t it cool?"
Jenna raised the sleeve of her robe and held up the delicate underside of her right forearm. My knees weakened. In pink Magic Marker, scribbled from her elbow to her tiny wrist:
W – Shhhhh. O
I looked up at Walter. His eyes flooded.
"All right, kids." He smiled through it. "Here. Go on ahead now. Let us talk." Jenna took the umbrella and she and John David ran ahead as we continued on, the mailbox not far ahead.
"She had