Chapter 10: The Envelope

I was dressed in a minute flat.

Kenneth was already pulling on his shoes.

"Stay on the phone with her," he said.

"Mom, stay in the kitchen. Don't go near the window."

"I'm not an idiot, Molly Anne. I'm holding the rolling pin."

"Where's Dad?"

"Asleep on the couch. I didn't want to wake him."

"Don't. We're on our way."

We took the garage elevator and Kenneth's grey car, and he drove the empty expressway at ninety.

I held my phone to my ear the whole way.

My mother narrated in a whisper.

"He's still there. A silver car. Silver man. Silver hair, I mean. He's sitting with the window down, smoking."

"Don't open the door."

"Why would I open the door?"

I heard the radio turn on low.

She was humming along.

At four-thirty we turned onto our street.

The silver car was pulling away from the curb.

I saw one glimpse of a man in a good coat, gray hair, a flash of a gold ring.

He did not look at us.

His car turned the corner and was gone.

Kenneth slowed.

"Do you want me to follow?"

"No. Stop at the house."

On the porch, my father stood in the doorway in his undershirt, holding a baseball bat in both hands.

My mother stood behind him with the rolling pin.

"Who in the hell was that?" my father said.

"Dad, you just had a procedure."

"I had a stent. I didn't lose my hands."

Then he saw the man getting out of the driver's side, and he lowered the bat.

"Mr. Ashworth?" he said.

"Mr. Lundberg," said Kenneth. "I'm sorry for the hour."

"It's four in the morning."

"Yes, sir."

My father looked at him.

He looked at me, in the clothes I had left the house in on Monday.

He looked at the man's rumpled shirt.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Not Dying for Her Lie Again from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.