Death Dream Read Free

three times his Air Force salary. Dan had jumped at the chance; Susan had been reluctant, but she saw that this move meant so much to her husband. It scared her to move so far from everything and everyone she had known all her life, especially with the new baby, but she had taken her courage in her hands and decided that it was time for her to see if she really could stand on her own two feet, without family and lifelong friends surrounding her.
    On Susan's insistence they had flown from Dayton to their new home near Orlando on Friday so that they would have the weekend to get settled in. But the furniture and car and the rest of their belongings did not arrive until the middle of Sunday afternoon, after a dozen angry phone calls, and the moving men told them they would be charged extra for the overtime work. Now, on Monday morning, their new house was in a jumble after a weekend of fast-food deliveries and sleeping on blankets laid out on the bedroom carpeting. Nothing seemed to be working, including the car's battery.
    At least Dan had set up her computer. while she and Angela had started the unpacking he had sat himself in a corner of the kitchen and put her computer system together. Some husbands watched football that weekend; Dan Santorini sat in front of his wife's computer screen Sunday afternoon and most of the night, fiddling with the programs for hours on end.
    "Angie's got to get to school, too," Susan called to her husband's retreating back.
    "I know," he said with a heavy sigh.
    "Don't they have a school bus?" Angie asked. "I always took the school bus back home."
    "This is our home now, Angel," Dan told his daughter as he brushed past her and returned to the kitchen.
    Susan said, "I'm sure they have a school bus, Angela. We just don't know what time it comes. In a day or so we'll get it all settled, you'll see."
    Angela gave her mother an accusing stare. She had cried for four straight days when her parents had told her they were moving to Florida. Susan knew Angie would adjust to the move faster than any of them, but at age twelve with new braces on her teeth the tears came easily and in flood. Now she just looked angry: You've ruined my life, her stare said. You've taken me away from my home and all my friends. I'll never love you again, ever. Ever, ever.
    "You'll get to school, you'll see," Susan said.
    "Sure."
    "In the meantime, you can unpack the dishes in the kitchen. Okay?"
    Angela's pout deepened, but she said, "I guess so."
    Trying to ignore her daughter's silent accusation and her own fears, Susan finished diapering the baby and got to her feet. Before she could start for the kitchen the front doorbell rang.
    Now what? she wondered.
    She squeezed through the packing crates and reached for the doorknob just as the bell chimed again. Susan pulled the door open. Kyle Muncrief stood there in the dazzling Florida heat, a broad welcoming smile on his tanned face, looking cool and at ease in an open-necked sport shirt and whipcord slacks.
    "Hello, Susan. Thought I'd drop by to see how you guys are getting along."
    Muncrief was not quite handsome, but he knew how to wear clothes well and he could be elegantly charming. He was tall, wide in the shoulders, but starting to look soft in his midsection. His hands always seemed to be in motion, reaching for some invisible object, emphasizing points he wanted to make, brushing back the shock of unruly hair that constantly tumbled across his forehead. His hair was still thick and dark, but touches of silver showed at the temples. He wore it long, down to his collar. There was something restless in his hazel eyes: something urgent, demanding. His eyes did not match the charming, easygoing smile.
    "Mr. Muncrief," Susan muttered.
    "Kyle. Just call me Kyle." His voice was a soft light tenor.
    "Uh—come on in."
    As Muncrief stepped into the chaos of the living room, Dan yelled form the kitchen, "Who was at the door?"
    "Mr. Muncrief, dear," answered Susan. "Kyle's