The Spider Bites Read Free

I said. “Who else?” She moved over to the top of the stairs to get a better look.
    â€œYou’ve changed. You look different.”
    â€œThat doesn’t matter,” I said. “Listen, Susanna, I’m worried about you. You can’t just stand on the porch out here in the dark.”
    â€œWhat am I supposed to do?”
    I didn’t have an answer to that. “I have to talk to you, Susanna.”
    â€œAbout what?” she asked.
    â€œWhat have they told you about the fire?”
    â€œNothing, Rick. And I’m going crazy. They won’t tell me anything. I’m so scared.”
    She looked cold, standing there on the porch. She was shivering. I had to get her into someplace warm. Right now.
    â€œNo need to be scared,” I said. “Come on, Susanna. Come with me. Let’s go grab a pizza.”
    * * *
    We walked back toward the familiar, comforting sound of traffic going home. It was getting to the end of rush hour. We reached West Central, and Susanna seemed to relax a little.
    The pizzeria was crowded with people waiting for takeout. I found us a quiet table at the back and ordered a large pepperoni pizza with extra mushrooms.
    â€œIs that okay?” I asked.
    â€œIt’s what I always have,” said Susanna.
    â€œI know. I remembered,” I said. “But people change.”
    â€œI don’t,” said Susanna.
    â€œI guess not. You never did like change, did you? Even as a kid.”
    She stared across the table at me.
    â€œI can’t get over how you look. What happened?”
    â€œNothing much,” I said. “I’ve been on a farm. Working hard. I lost some weight and grew a beard. It’s still me. You look different too.”
    She glanced down at her outfit. She was wearing a red dress and expensive-looking brown boots. She had tied a brown and red silk scarf around her neck. There were blond and silver streaks in her dark hair, and her face was covered in makeup. She looked like a model. I was more used to seeing her in jeans.
    â€œOh,” she said, “I just had my hair done. I had a date tonight.” Her eyes filled with tears. “It seems kind of stupid to be dressed like this now.”
    â€œDon’t worry about it. Tell me about the fire.”
    â€œI can’t. I don’t know anything. I was at work today.”
    â€œHow is the job going? Are you still working at 52 Division?”
    â€œYeah,” she said. “It’s going well. I’ve been meaning to thank you.”
    â€œWhat for?”
    â€œRecommending me for the job. All the guys there are really nice.”
    â€œYou like cops?” I asked, trying to smile.
    â€œMost of them,” she said. “Anyway, like I said, I had a date. So I took the afternoon off to have my hair done.”
    â€œYou got dressed like that to have your hair done? Do you have to do that?”
    Her cheeks turned red under her makeup. “Of course not. I put it on before I left work. I thought maybe I wouldn’t have time to go home and change. Anyway, it was almost five o’clock before I got back to the station. They told me about the fire.”
    â€œAnd you came over.”
    â€œThey told me Cheryl was dead, and I came over.”
    The waitress set the pizza down on our table. Susanna stared at it. Like she had never seen pizza before.
    â€œHelp yourself,” I said, pushing it closer to her. But my mind wasn’t on pizza. I was wondering why she always called her mother by her first name. I had asked her that once before, and she had laughed. “Cheryl thinks we’re like friends. Not like mother and daughter,” she had said.
    I still wondered.
    She pulled off a wedge of pizza and took a bite.
    â€œIt’s too hot,” she said. She waved it in the air to cool it down. “You know, all the way home, I kept thinking I had to cancel my date. After spending all that money for my hair. And getting my