Page 36 (1/2)

Right then, the cab pulls up the circular driveway and just as the car rolls to a stop, the cabdriver says, “Is it safe to—”

I don’t hear the rest of what he says I race out of the cab and run upa mile a minute I don’t waste a second I wrapthe door open

I One look at the wall tells me the alarm is off And my parents never leave the door unlocked Ever

Slowly, I enter the foyer, leaving the door open for when Ryder’s teaht, and there’s just nothing going on in the century-old house No

My throat tightens, and the air becomes harder to inhale as I quietly move forward I listen to every noise…every little creak of the historic house It’s all normal, exactly as I reh enerations, until I reach the living room

That’s when I findon his beloved chair, the television set turned to the baseball game But that’s not all I see

Blood

And it’s all over my father

Chapter 13

Ryder

“Get your hands up,” I yell the second I step off the thin stairs and enter thehands up”

Fro up thequarters below deck, the kid’s hands shoot straight up into the air “Okay, they’re up They’re up”

I keep un aimed at his head “Move and I shoot, you little shit” Of course, I wouldn’t injure hih part of s done to her Even to state to the world that I’ain

Swiftly and cautiously, I s and soda cans cover the tiny galley kitchen on ht He’s here alone, that much I know

I stop a foot away from the back of his black un still aimed at his blond head There’s no other noise around us, now that the kid’s fingers are no longer clicking against the keyboard The re an eye on anyone walking down the boardhoour way