Kevin O'Brien - Disturbed

“I’m sorry,” Rachel said, putting a hand on her arm. “Who would send me something like this? Do you have any idea?”

Molly just shook her head. She couldn’t blame Angela anymore. The letter might have arrived at her house by mistake when Angela was still alive, but she knew Jeff’s late ex-wife hadn’t sent it. She couldn’t blame a dead woman for those strange phone calls she was getting. Sure, Angela had lied to her at that lunch when she’d claimed not to have told anyone else about Charlie. But what if that had been her only lie?

Someone else is behind all this….

This someone seemed to know everyone’s secrets. This woman knew about Charlie — and she also had something on Jeff, concerning his whereabouts the night Angela had been murdered. When Lynette’s kids were cut up by the glass in the vacant lot, Lynette had asked her, “You’re not the one who called me?” That had been a few days before Jeremy’s arrest. Had this woman hounded Lynette about Jeremy’s secret the same way she was now tormenting her about Jeff? A raspy-voiced stranger’s phone calls had haunted both Angela and Kay just days before they were killed. Angela was going to pay for something she’d done. And she’d asked Kay if she was a good mother or something along those lines.

“You know,” Rachel said. “I think this cul-de-sac must be cursed. I mean, the woman who lived in the house before me, your friend, Kay — she fell, hit her head, and bled to death. And the mother of your stepchildren was murdered. And just in the last week, Lynette’s little darlings. .” She nodded toward the play area, where Carson was teasing Dakota and Erin. “They were cut up in that empty lot. Then my toolshed mysteriously caught on fire. Lynette’s husband got arrested yesterday. And now this afternoon, Lynette’s daughter gets in a freak car accident. It’s like Willow Tree Court is one big bad insurance risk. I mean, please, tell me this isn’t normal.”

Molly’s cell phone rang. She immediately thought of the crazy woman caller, but when she checked the caller ID, she saw it was Lynette. She clicked on the phone: “Hi, Lynette. How’s Courtney?”

“In recovery,” she answered edgily. “They sent us home. So — I’m here at your house with Chris, and I don’t see my children. Where are my kids?”

“I took them out for dinner here at Burger King,” Molly said. “They’re fine, Lynette—”

“I need to be with my kids right now,” she said, her voice cracking.

“All right, we — we’ll leave now,” Molly said. “Do you want me to bring you something from Burger King? Does Chris want anything?”

“I just want my kids!” Lynette cried.

“All right, we’re leaving right now. Bye, Lynette.” She clicked off the cell and looked at Rachel. “God, she sounds absolutely crazed.”

“I could hear her,” Rachel said. She put her fingers in her mouth and let out a loud whistle. “C’mon, kids,” she called. “Your mom’s waiting for you.”

She folded up the microfiche photocopy with the Post-it attached and shoved it inside the envelope. “Do you want this?” she asked, offering the envelope to Molly. “It was addressed to me, but I think, well. . I think it was really meant for you, Molly.”

“Please, throw it away,” Molly said.

She watched Rachel tear up the letter and toss it in the trash receptacle.

Chris was in his bedroom, about to change out of his clothes. He desperately needed a shower. He still smelled like the hospital.

He noticed a bright light sweep across his windows, and he heard a car.

“Thank God,” he muttered. If Molly was returning with the kids, then Mrs. Hahn would be going home. He felt so horrible for her, and at the same time she’d practically sucked the life-force out of him for the last five hours at the hospital.

Chris had been waiting for Courtney outside the music building when another student asked if he’d heard about Courtney Hahn cracking up her car. A bunch of kids had seen the accident a few blocks from the school. Stunned, Chris called home to see if Molly had heard anything. She said Courtney had been taken to UW Hospital, and if he could catch a cab or a bus, Mrs. Hahn would probably appreciate having someone there with her.

But Courtney’s mom was like a crazy woman — sobbing one minute, and getting so angry-bitchy at all the doctors and nurses the next. It was embarrassing to be with her. The hospital staff she abused at every turn probably thought she was his mother.

He was so busy trying to comfort Mrs. Hahn and apologizing behind her back to half the hospital staff there really wasn’t much time to let it sink in about Courtney. The doctors explained that Courtney had second-degree burns on the right side of her face and neck, and third-degree burns on her right hand and arm. They said that she’d lost her right ear and two fingers from her right hand. They rattled off her various sprains, cuts, and contusions. And yet as Chris listened to them, he couldn’t really think about Courtney and her pain, because Mrs. Hahn became hysterical.

“Courtney will be all right,” Chris tried to tell her in the hospital corridor. “She’s tough. She’s going to get through this—”

“How can you even say that to me?” Mrs. Hahn screamed. “Didn’t you hear him? Weren’t you listening? She’s not going to be all right! My beautiful little girl will never be beautiful again. . ”

She settled down a bit after Courtney went into surgery. The doctors were hoping to save her right eye. It was only then that Chris could think about Courtney, and how pretty she was — especially this morning, without makeup. The thought of her face all burned up and mangled made him ache inside.

A nurse came out and explained to them that Courtney had made it through the surgery okay, and they were placing her in the ICU.

Mrs. Hahn had one final hissy fit, demanding to talk to a doctor. The ever-patient nurse managed to convince her that they’d know more in the morning and she should go home.

Courtney’s mom had another minor meltdown when they’d gotten here and found that Molly and the kids were gone. But his dad came to the rescue and fixed her a drink. When Chris had slipped away and snuck up to his room, he’d left them standing in the kitchen with Mrs. Hahn crying in his dad’s arms.

He’d only gotten as far as unbuttoning his shirt when he heard the car. Chris stepped over to the window and watched Molly’s Saturn pull into the driveway.

“Call me if you need anything,” he heard their neighbor, Rachel, say as she climbed out of the passenger side of the car. She headed across the yard toward her house. Carson, Dakota, and his sister piled out of the back. Molly herded them toward the house. “C’mon, kids, let’s get inside,” she was saying.

Chris’s bedroom door was closed, and for a few minutes, he could only hear mumbling downstairs. It was hard to make out any of it.

But then there was a click, the sound of the front door opening. He went to the window again and watched Carson and Dakota amble down the driveway. Molly and Mrs. Hahn were so close to the house, he couldn’t quite see their faces. He was looking down at the tops of their heads.

“Call me if you need anything, Lynette, okay?” Molly was saying.

Mrs. Hahn nodded, and started to move away. But then she stopped and turned toward Molly. “Why is this happening?” she asked.

She sounded as if she expected Molly to have an answer to that question. He could see Molly shaking her head.

“Why, Molly?” she pressed. “In just one week, my little ones were cut up, I buried my friend, then my husband was arrested, and now, this. They still don’t know how it happened. One of the cops said it might have been some sort of cell phone malfunction. What does that even mean? Half of her beautiful face is burnt off. . ”