Hello, Darkness Read Free Page A

out for her? Was Brad snoring?
    No, the house was silent except for the low whir of the air-conditioning vents in the ceiling. A sound hadn’t awakened her. Not even the soughing of her husband’s breath. Because the pillow beside hers was undisturbed.
    Toni got up and pulled on a lightweight robe. She glanced at the clock: 1:42. And Brad still hadn’t come home.
    Before going downstairs, she checked the children’s rooms. Although the girls got tucked into their separate beds each night, they invariably wound up sleeping together in one. Only sixteen months apart, they were often mistaken for twins. They looked virtually identical now, their sturdy little bodies curled up together, tousled heads sharing the pillow. Toni pulled a sheet up over them, then took a moment to admire their innocent beauty before tiptoeing from the room.
    Toy spaceships and action figures littered the floor of her son’s bedroom. She carefully avoided stepping on them as she made her way to the bed. He slept on his stomach, legs splayed, one arm hanging down the side of the bed.
    She took the opportunity to stroke his cheek. He’d reached the age where her demonstrations of affection made him grimace and squirm away. As the firstborn, he thought he had to act the little man.
    But thinking of him becoming a man filled her with a desperation that was close to panic.
    As she descended the staircase, several of the treads creaked, but Toni liked a house with the quirks and imperfections that gave it character. They had been lucky to acquire this house. It was in a good neighborhood with an elementary school nearby. The price had been reduced by owners anxious to sell. Parts of it had needed attention, but she had volunteered to make most of the repairs herself in order to fit the purchase into their budget.
    Working on the house had kept her busy while Brad was getting settled into his new practice. She’d taken the time and effort to do necessary repairs before finishing with the cosmetic work. Her patience and diligence had paid off. The house wasn’t only prettier in appearance, but sound from the inside out. Its flaws hadn’t been glossed over with a fresh coat of paint without first being fixed.
    Unfortunately, not everything was as easily fixable as houses.
    As she had feared, all the rooms downstairs were dark and empty. In the kitchen, she turned on the radio to ward off the ominous pressure of the silence. She poured herself a glass of milk she didn’t want and forced herself to sip it calmly.
    Maybe she was doing her husband a disservice. He might very well be attending a seminar on taxes and financial planning. He had announced over dinner that he would be out for most of the evening.
    “Remember, hon,” he’d said when she expressed her surprise, “I told you about it earlier this week.”
    “No you didn’t.”
    “I’m sorry. I thought I did. I intended to. Pass the potato salad, please. It’s great, by the way. What’s that spice?”
    “Dill. This is the first I’ve heard of a seminar tonight, Brad.”
    “The partners recommended it. What they learned at the last one saved them a bundle in taxes.”
    “Then maybe I should go, too. I could stand to learn more about all that.”
    “Good idea. We’ll watch for the next one. You’re required to enroll in advance.”
    He’d told her the time and location of the seminar, told her not to wait up for him because there was an informal discussion session following the formal presentation and he didn’t know how long it would last. He had kissed her and the kids before he left. He walked to his car with a gait that was awfully jaunty for someone going to a seminar on taxes and financial planning.
    Toni finished her glass of milk.
    She called her husband’s cell phone for the third time, and as with the previous two calls, got his voice mail. She didn’t leave a message. She thought about calling the auditorium where the seminar had taken place, but that would be a waste