Page 84 of The Intruder

“She’s dead,” I blurt out.

His face falls. “Oh.”

“I…I’m sorry.”

“Jesus.” He runs a hand through his hair. “What did the police say?”

“Nell isn’t in any trouble.”

I pulled over at a gas station about five miles from here, which has one of the last remaining pay phones in the country, and I placed an anonymous call to the police. I’m not sure if they’ve discovered the dead body yet, but I feel confident Nell won’t get the blame. After all, she’s got an alibi: She ran away from home and spent the entire night at my cabin.

Also, who would believe that such a young girl would kill her mother?

He glances over his shoulder at where Nell appears to be fast asleep on his sofa. “We need to tell her. But…I hate to wake her…”

“Don’t wake her up. This is the kind of thing that can wait.”

“Right. I just…I don’t know how to…”

“Do you want me to tell her?”

He shakes his head. “No. I’m her uncle—her only family. It should come from me.”

I respect him for stepping up and taking responsibility, even though he hardly knows the girl. But he looks terrified. He looks more scared of this than he did of the storm. Funny how a twelve-year-old girl can do that to you.

“Here’s what you do,” I say. “Make sure she knows she’s not in any trouble. And that she has a home with you as long as she wants it.”

“She does have a home with me as long as she wants it.” His face turns slightly pink. “And I think it’ll be a better home than the one she had. Did you see her arms? I swear to God, Casey, if I were in a room with that woman, I…”

I’m glad he saw that. He knows what she’s been through, and maybe he can help her heal.

“That’s all in the past now.” I think back to twenty years ago, to the way I felt when my mother was gone and I showed up on my father’s doorstep. “Right now, you just need to make sure she knows you will be there for her no matter what.”

“I will.” He nods soberly. “Thank you, Casey.”

“Good luck, Lee.”

He closes the door and goes back to Nell. I hope that he lets her sleep a little longer. Because when he wakes her up and tells her that her mother is dead, her childhood will be over.

59

The power comes on in the evening.

The timing works out well, because the sun just went down, and I was getting ready to break out a new set of candles. But then suddenly, the room is bathed in the artificial glow of my lamps. Let there be light.

That’s what my father used to say jokingly whenever he would turn on the light in a dark room. Let there be light!

Miss you, Dad.

I’m glad I got to spend those years with him after my mother’s death. I took his name a year after I moved in with him. Legally, I am Elizabeth Casey Carter, although I have pretty much entirely dropped my first name. Nobody has called me Elizabeth or Ella in years. Most people don’t even know it’s my first name.

I make myself some dinner now that the stove is working again. Nothing too fancy. I just heat up some canned beans and some canned hamburger I find in my pantry. Don’t laugh, but it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. A little salty but edible. Just as I’m finishing up the last of my dinner, there’s a knock on the cabin door.

My first thought is that it must be the police. Somebody saw my truck and wrote down the license plate when I was outside Jolene’s apartment. Or maybe somebody spotted me making a phone call at the gas station. Or there was some hidden camera I didn’t know about.

If it’s the police, I don’t know what I will say. I don’t have an alibi. Lee and Nell saw me leave, and I was gone for a long time. I’m sure forensics will accurately reveal the time of death. Actually, I’m sure the fresh blood will give it away—no expert analysis will be required.

My heart is pounding as I walk over to the cabin door. But when I look through the window, I don’t see any flashing lights. If it is the police, they haven’t come to arrest me.