Джеймс Паттерсон - The House Next Door

“Seventy-five dollars,” I add, still in my gentlest voice, “is about half what you paid for the tie you’re wearing. Which, incidentally, seems to have a small butter stain on it.”

“What? Oh, for God’s sake.” Ned checks his reflection in our hall mirror. “I just got this tie. It’s an Armani. Here,” he says, carefully unknotting it from around his neck and draping it on the hall-closet doorknob. “Drop this at the dry cleaners, will you?”

He bolts up the stairs, two at a time, in search of another tie—then reappears and kisses me good-bye. His lips miss my cheek entirely. I wait to see if he notices that I have chopped three inches off my hair since yesterday, and I’ve gone from Deep Chestnut to Honey Brown. He doesn’t.

“Be home late again,” he says, checking his reflection one last time in the hall mirror. “Asshole client meeting that doesn’t start till six.” Then he grabs his car keys and leaves.

We soon find the oboe, of course.

In the one place I’m never allowed to look.

Chapter 2

Welcome to Ben’s bedroom.

I am a Navy SEAL, cautiously making my way through enemy territory. I step carefully to avoid minefields.

No. Wait.

I am actually your basic forty-four-year-old suburban mom, cautiously making my way through piles of clothing scattered on the floor. It all needs washing, but I am under strict orders never to pick up anything I find lying there. This, as a result of accidentally laundering various dollar bills, student IDs, and cell phones left in pockets that I forgot to check.

A foot from Ben’s trundle bed, I spot the corner of something leathery and brown peeking out from under an Imagine Dragons T-shirt. Sure enough, it’s the oboe case. I lift it up, shake off some Cheez Doodle dust, and carry it downstairs.

Ben frowns and says, “Dad said I didn’t have to go.”

“He said no such thing. Now go get your backpack. And where are your brother and sister? Joey! Caroline! It’s eight twenty-five.”

Caroline comes down the stairs, a vision of long blond hair and denim, holding her sixth-grade science project: a mock-up of the Mount St. Helens volcano, molded out of Play-Doh. She’s only eleven. But with her blond curls and deep blue eyes, someday soon she’s going to break some hearts.

Joey, age sixteen, appears on the top landing—high tops untied, hair gelled and standing straight up so that he resembles a hedgehog. He gallops down the stairs.

“Careful!” I say, as he zips past Caroline. “And would it kill you to carry that for your sister?”

“No! He’ll tip it!” she says, hoisting the volcano high above her head.

“Fine. Whatever. Can we just get going ?”

Then the usual mad scramble—lunch bags grabbed, jackets pulled from hooks, protein bars shoved into pockets, the three of them pushing through the front door and arguing over who gets the front seat. Another morning gotten through. I take out my keys and am about to lock up.

And that’s when the phone rings.

Chapter 3

“Maybe they’re calling to say it’s a snow day,” Ben says.

“In September?” I ask. But he has a point. When the phone rings that early in the morning, it’s generally someone from the school phone chain with news of a weather day, an early closing, or—these days—a bomb threat.

I go back and answer it.

“Hello,” says a male voice. “Is this Laura Sherman?” The voice is warm and friendly—two things I have no time for.

“Sorry. We’re on the do-not-call list,” I say.

I am about to hang up, when the voice gets more insistent.

“Laura, wait! Please. My name is Vince Kelso.”

“Look, if you’re running for office…”

“I’m your new neighbor. At thirty-seven Maple.”

Thirty-seven Maple. The house next door. A total eyesore. The house had been vacant for quite a while. We were hoping someone would buy it and tear it down. But my friend Darcy, whose house is on the other side, said people moved in last week. She went over with brownies and rang the bell. No one answered. She left the brownies and a note asking them to call if they needed anything.

She never heard from them.

“My gosh. I owe you an apology,” I say. “I’ve been meaning to stop by and bring over a plant or something and…”

“No problem,” he says. “But I was wondering if I could ask a favor.”

“Sure. I mean, I guess. Look, Mr. Kelso…”

“Vince,” he says. “Please. Call me Vince.”

“ Vince . I don’t mean to be rude, but my kids are waiting in the car.”

I look out the window to see if this is true. It is. Joey is in the front seat of our dusty Volvo wagon, practicing his best Justin Bieber pout in the rearview mirror. Ben and Caroline are in the back, arguing. As I watch, Ben hits Caroline over the head with his lunch bag. The bag breaks.

“I don’t know a soul here. I was wondering if you could pick my son Vinny up after school today and take him to soccer practice.”

“Today? Gee,” I say, letting my eyes wander to our lawn. The grass needs cutting, and the garbagemen have left our big plastic garbage bins sprawled in the gutter. “Today’s a little tough. See, Thursday’s my busiest day. First there’s my daughter’s dance class. Then I have to get my son across town for his oboe lesson and…”

“I would never be asking,” he continues “but my wife is suddenly quite ill. They had to take her away…”

“Oh. Gosh…”

“And you’re my last hope.”

“Me?”

I hear him take a deep breath. Then he says, quietly, “Honey, I’m all alone here…and I could really use a friend.”

“Of course,” I say.

“Swell,” he says. Swell? Where is this guy from? The 1950s?

“I heard you were an angel,” he says, sweetly. “I guess they were right.”

Who’s “they”? I want to ask. Certainly no one in my immediate family.

But he has already hung up.

Chapter 4

I lock the front door behind me and walk to my Volvo wagon. As I get closer to the car, I see Ben’s peanut butter and jelly sandwich glued to the rear seat.

“Ben hit me with his lunch,” Caroline says.

“It was her fault,” Ben says. “She started it. She wouldn’t move her stupid feet.”

“Shut up,” Caroline says.

“Hey! We don’t use words like that,” I say, pulling out of the driveway.

“Yes, we do,” Joey says. “All the time.”

“Well—we shouldn’t,” I say. So much for today’s lesson in parenting. We drive past the post office, the Stop & Shop, the dry cleaners ( damn—I left Ned’s tie hanging on the doorknob ). We drop Joey off at the high school. They are still arguing about whose foot belongs where.

But I’m lost in thought, wondering about the weird phone call.

“What do you guys know about Vinny Kelso?” I ask as we make a left onto the street that leads to the school.

“He’s new,” says Ben.

“Keep going. What’s he like?”

“Nobody likes him.”

“And why is that?” I ask. The crossing guard in a shiny yellow vest holds up a hand to let a bunch of students cross.

“He’s a nerd. He reads all the time.”

“Well, shame on him,” I say. “How does he expect to make friends, with an attitude like that? No wonder everybody hates him. But I bet you’ve been kind to him. Right, Ben? Taken him under your wing. Shown him the ropes.” I keep my eyes on the road, but I’m sure Ben is squirming in the back.

“Well…I heard his mother got sick,” Ben says, desperate to change the subject.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Casey in my class said she heard two teachers talking.”

“That must be pretty scary for Vinny. For all of them.” Suddenly, my heart goes out to the Kelsos. New in town. Family emergency. No one to turn to.