House at the End of the Street Read Free Page B

mom’s rancid-looking potato salad. Sarah had decided to put pickles in it, despite Elissa’s warning against it.
    Tyler passed her a plastic plate and they both loaded up,settling down beside some of the adults. Bonnie looked up from her small heap of salad. “So how are you settling in?” she asked, her eyes glancing from Sarah to Elissa.
    “Have you met Ryan Jacobsen yet?” Tyler asked. His mother glared at him, but he ignored it.
    “Not yet…” Elissa said, a little confused. She recognized the last name—the Jacobsens were the couple who’d been killed in the house. But she hadn’t heard anything about a relative living in town. “Is he coming today?”
    “Here?” Bonnie sputtered, her voice rising three octaves.
    Ben Reynolds, Bonnie’s husband, smoothed back his thin brown hair. “Gee, honey,” he joked, “Did you forget to get that invite out in time?”
    The entire table erupted in laughter. A couple sitting next to Sarah nearly spit chunks of hamburger onto the patio. “Oh, stop it!” Bonnie said, waving him off with a smile. She turned to Sarah and Elissa. “Ryan Jacobsen is the son of the couple who were murdered. He still lives in the house, but he pretty much keeps to himself.”
    “Somebody should burn that house down,” a woman with oversize sunglasses said.
    “Stop it, Jenny,” Bonnie hissed.
    The woman just shrugged. “I didn’t say Ryan Jacobsen had to be in it. But come on! Why is the kid still living there?”
    Ben Reynolds shook his head. “He’s driving down all the home values. The town tried to buy the house. Wewould’ve torn it down and donated the land to the state park.”
    Elissa glanced sideways at Sarah. What was that supposed to mean? Were they also considered undesirable tenants? The single mother with her daughter. The rusted Ford Bronco that sat out front. Sarah rested her hand on Elissa’s leg, sensing she might say something. “It does seem a little strange that he’d want to stay in the house,” Sarah tried, joining the conversation.
    The woman pulled off her sunglasses, revealing heavily made-up eyes. “The house where his parents were murdered. Maybe he’s crazier than his sister.”
    Elissa straightened up, having a hard time listening to this. Who were these people to judge Ryan Jacobsen—to judge
her
? “I can think of crazier things than living in the house you grew up in. What exactly happened?”
    The table fell silent. Tyler set down his fork. “The daughter, Carrie Anne, killed her parents.”
    “That part I know,” Elissa said, trying not to roll her eyes. “But where was Ryan?”
    “He didn’t live there. He lived with an aunt upstate.” Tyler swiped his sun-bleached hair off his forehead.
    “What happened to Carrie Anne after they were killed?” Elissa asked. She pushed back her plate, suddenly losing her appetite.
    Mr. Reynolds met her eyes. “There was a massive search for her. She drowned near the dam.”
    “But they never found her body,” Tyler jumped in. “Some people think she still lives in the woods.”
    Bonnie stood, dropping her plate in the trash. “Ignore him. That’s just an urban legend that he and his friends believe.”
    “There’s no way she could survive out there in the woods,” Jenny said, wiping her massive sunglasses on the edge of her pink polo shirt. The rhinestones on the sides glinted in the sun.
    Ben shook his head. “She had an accident outside—fell from the swings and never recovered. The girl was out of control. She’d have these horrible screaming fits. You could hear her all the way over here.”
    “Why wasn’t she in the hospital?” Elissa asked.
    “They were supposedly homeschooling her,” Ben Reynolds explained. Bonnie gestured to a maid standing by the back door, signaling for her to pick up the empty plates and glasses.
    Jenny let out a low, sarcastic laugh. “Right. They basically kept her tied to the radiator.”
    “Enough,” Bonnie said, an edge in her voice. “Can we