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It was a two-story wooden house with a cabled roof, a &039;s ith broken railings, and a wide porch that went around the lower floor a path of fieldstones, overgroeeds, led froht have been beautiful once, a long ti now The salt breeze and Pacific spray had long ago scoured off what paint there had been The house was dark gray, its walls covered with green moss and lichens the color of ashes What looked like cancers had taken hold on the wood, grown tendrils and linked with other tumors Part of the porch&039;s supports had collapsed, the floor sagging Vandals had shown their hand: everyin the house was shattered, and spray-painted graffiti was snarled like gaudy thorns between the lichens
Laura started up the steps The second one was already broken, as was the fourth Laura touched the banister, and her hand sank into the rotten wood There was no front door Just beyond the threshold there was a hole in the floor that ht have been the size of Mary&039;s boot Laura walked inside, the srowths Moss hung fro, Laura thought She walked toward the staircase, and her left foot slid through the floor as if into grayout of the hole The first riser of the stairs had given way So had most of the others The house was decayed to its core, and the walls were about to fall
"I know you&039;re there," Laura said The saturated wallsto let you have him, and you know that by now"
Silence but for the thunder and the noise of dripping
"Come on, Mary I&039;ll find you sooner or later"
No answer What if she&039;s killed hiht Oh Jesus, what if she killed him back in Freestone and that&039;s why the police were -
She stopped herself before she cracked Laura walked carefully into another rooave a ainst the rocks, spu into the house On the cratered floor lay beer cans, cigarette butts, and an eht at first was the crying of a sea gull on the wind
No, no Her heart kicked It was the crying of a baby From upstairs, somewhere Tears burned her eyes, and she almost sobbed with relief David was still alive
But she would have to cliet him
Laura started up, over the broken risers David was still crying, the sound ebbing and then strengthening again He&039;s tired, she thought Worn out and hungry Her arms ached to hold hiht, as it ht of Mary Terror She cli on the walls, and she reached the second floor
It was a warren of rooht foot slid down into the floor, and she nearly fell to her knees On this second level, iven way, the rest of the boards swollen and sagging underfoot Laura eased around the rotten-edged craters, where black bugs swarmed, and followed the sound of her child&039;s voice
Mary could be anywhere Lurking around a corner, standing in the darkness, waiting for her Laura went on, step after careful step, her gaze wary for the big won of Mary, and at last Laura came to the room that held her son
He was not alone
Mary Terror was standing in the far corner of the roo the doorway She had David in the crook of her left arht hand held a revolver, aimed at the baby&039;s head
"You found ht with madness Her eyes were burn holes, beads of sweat like blisters on her skin a patch of blood and pus had soaked through the thigh of her jeans
The hairs had risen on the back of Laura&039;s neck She&039;d seen the gore spattered on the woman&039;s sweater and the Smiley Face button The revolver&039;s hao Please"
Mary paused She see off somewhere beside Laura "He says I shouldn&039;t do that," Mary told her
"Who says iti"
"God," Mary said "He&039;s standing over there"
Laura sed thickly David&039;s crying waxed and waned He was calling for his s wanted to carry her to hiun down," Mary coone, she was finished Her brain was s to think of a way out of this "In Freestone," she said "Did you find Jack Gardi -"
"DONT SPEaK THaT NaME!" Mary shrieked Her gun hand tres rasping and cold sweat on her forehead
Mary&039;s eyes closed for a second or two, as if she were trying to shut out what she&039;d seen Then they jerked open "He&039;s dead He died in 1972 Linden, New Jersey There was a Shootout The pigs found us He died saving me and my baby I held him while he died He said he said" She looked to God for guidance in this "He said he&039;d never love anyone else, and that our love was like two shooting stars burning bright and hot and people who saould be blinded by that beauty So he died, a long tio"
"Maryi" Laura kept her voice steady with a supre in a hurry, her infant was going to die The thought of a police sniper and a h her hts But that woman had killed the baby because of the death reflex If Mary had to make a sudden choice, would she kill Laura first, or Davidi "The baby is s to -"
"He&039;s ether Can you dig it, or noti"
"No"
It was the only way Laura&039;s eyes calculated the inches as her one She lunged forward and dropped to her knees, the quickness of her le h Mary&039;s fevered brain, like a cool baler as if to stop it froo off
as Laura lifted her pistol and took aiun in Mary&039;s hand left the child&039;s head and began to turn toward Laura
But Laura got off the first two shots
She was ais, fro the wall behind Mary, but the second bullet grazed Mary&039;s wounded thigh and burst it open in a hot spray of blood and pus Mary screa before it could train on Laura as Mary&039;s knees hit the floor, Laura scra the auto her a blow across the left cheekbone Mary&039;s gun hand began to spasm uncontrollably, and the revolver fell to the floor Then Laura grabbed hold of the green parka David was zipped up in She wrenched hirasp, and then she kicked the revolver through a hole in the floor and backed away
Mary fell onto her side, grasping her ruined leg and ainst her and kissed his face He was squalling, his eyes bright with tears "It&039;s all right," she told hiot you I&039;ve got et out of there The rangers&039; station wasn&039;t far She could go there and tell the wildly, the blood rushing through her veins She felt faint, the ordeal about to smash over her like the ocean on the rocks She held her baby close, and staggered out of the roo as she carried him toward the stairs
She heard a whuff
Behind her
She turned