Deeper Than The Dead Read Free Page B

insisted.
    Sara Morgan raked a handful of blonde mane back from her face and looked at Anne. “What’s going to happen? Will the police come?”
    “I don’t know,” Anne said. “Dennis Farman’s father is a deputy. He said I could take Wendy and Tommy home. Maybe the sheriff’s office will call later. He didn’t say.”
    “This is just awful. We moved here to get away from crime. And smog and traffic. I never think twice about letting Wendy walk home from school. Do you think the dog could have killed the woman?”
    “That doesn’t seem very likely,” Anne said.
    Sara Morgan turned to her daughter again. “If you touched that dog—”
    “I didn’t touch the dog!” Wendy insisted, irritated.
    “Should I take her to see someone?” she asked Anne. “My husband’s uncle’s ex-wife’s sister is a therapist in Beverly Hills.”
    “Whatever you think is best.”
    “I don’t know what to think,” she admitted. “There’s no chapter for this in the parenting manual.”
    “No,” Anne said. “It’s not in the How to Be a Kid manual either.”
    “No. God, I’ve never seen a dead person myself. When I have to go to funerals, I won’t look in the casket. The whole idea creeps me out.”
    “I should get Tommy home,” Anne said. “I wasn’t able to reach his mother by phone.”
    “I can call Peter at his office,” Sara offered. “He’s our dentist. He and my husband golf together.”
    “If you don’t mind.”
    “Not at all. And thank you for bringing Wendy home.”
    Anne got back in her car and looked into the backseat where Tommy sat looking at his hands in his lap.
    “Do you think your mom will be home by now, Tommy?”
    He consulted his wristwatch. “Yes.”
    “She’ll be worried about you.”
    “I’m supposed to have a piano lesson,” he said looking worried. “Maybe we should go there instead.”
    “I think your piano teacher will forgive your absence when he hears what you’ve been through.”
    The boy said nothing.
    “Do you want to talk about what happened?” Anne asked as they drove.
    “No, thank you.”
    Why would he share his feelings with her? She had been his teacher all of two months. From what she had observed of Tommy, he was by nature reserved. He was very bright but did nothing to call attention to himself. If anything he seemed to do his best to be invisible.
    Anne wondered why. She had met his parents. His father, the dentist, was charming and outgoing. His mother was a little intense but had seemed nice enough at conference time. She was proud of her son’s talents and academic abilities. She sold real estate and served on charity committees. The Cranes were the All-American Yuppie Family.
    They lived four blocks from the Morgans in a beautiful two-story Spanish-style stucco house with lush landscaping and a big spreading oak tree in the side yard. As daylight faded, lights glowed invitingly in the front windows and along the sidewalk.
    Through one window Anne could see Janet Crane in a fuchsia suit, pacing, speaking into a portable phone.
    Tommy got out of the car and lingered by the door. Anne reached out her hand to him, and he took it. He hung on a little too tightly as they went up the sidewalk together.
    The door flew open before they made it to the front steps. Janet Crane’s eyes were a little too wide, the white showing all around the pupils.
    “Where have you been?” she demanded, her fierce look on Tommy. “I have been out of my mind trying to find you! You knew you had a piano lesson—”
    “Mrs. Crane—,” Anne started.
    “Don’t you have any consideration for Mr. England’s time? For
my
time?”
    “Mrs. Crane,” Anne said more firmly. “Didn’t you get my message?”
    Janet Crane looked at her as if she had only just appeared. “Message? What message? I haven’t listened to the messages. I’ve been trying to find my son.”
    “Could we step inside, please?” Anne asked.
    Tommy’s mother took a deliberate breath and calmed