“Are you talking specifically about finding Hodges’ body?” David asked.
“I’m talking about everything,” Angela said. “The change in the weather, Wadley’s harassing me, Marjorie’s death, Kelley’s harassing you, and now a body in our basement.”
“We’re just being efficient,” David said. “We’re getting all the bad stuff out of the way at one time.”
“I’m being serious, and . . .” Angela began to say, but she was interrupted by a scream from Nikki.
In a flash both David and Angela were out of bed and running down the central corridor. They dashed into Nikki’s room. She was sitting in bed with a dazed look on her face. Rusty was next to her, equally confused.
It had been a nightmare about a ghoul in the basement. Angela sat on one side of Nikki’s bed and David on the other. Together they comforted their daughter. Yet they didn’t know quite what to say. The problem was that Nikki’s nightmare had been a mixture of dream and reality.
David and Angela did their best to comfort Nikki. In the end they invited her to come sleep with them in their bed. Nikki agreed, and they all marched back to the master bedroom. Climbing into bed, they settled down. Unfortunately David ended up sleeping on the very edge because inviting Nikki also meant inviting Rusty.
14
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21
The weather was not much better the next morning. The rain had stopped, but it was misting so heavily that it might as well have been raining. There was no break in the heavy cloud cover and it seemed even chillier than it had the day before.
While Nikki was doing her postural drainage the phone rang. David snatched it up. Considering the early morning hour, he was afraid the call was about John Tarlow. But it wasn’t. It was the state’s attorney’s office requesting permission to send over an assistant to look at the crime scene.
“When would you like to come?” David asked.
“Would it be too inconvenient now?” the caller said. “We have someone in your immediate area.”
“We’ll be here for about an hour,” David said.
“No problem,” the caller replied.
True to their word, an assistant from the state’s attorney’s office arrived within fifteen minutes. She was a pleasant woman with fiery red hair. She was dressed conservatively in a dark blue suit.
“Sorry to bother you so early,” the woman said. She introduced herself as Elaine Sullivan.
“No trouble at all,” David said, holding the door open for her.
David led her down the cellar steps and turned on the floor lamp to illuminate the now empty tomb. She took out a camera and snapped a few pictures. Then she bent down and stuck a fingernail into the dirt of the tomb’s floor. Angela came down the stairs and looked over David’s shoulder.
“I understand that the town police were here last night,” Elaine said.
“The town police and a district medical examiner,” David said.
“I think I’ll recommend that the state police crime-scene investigators be called,” she said. “I hope it won’t be a bother.”
“I welcome the idea,” Angela said. “I don’t think the town police are all that accustomed to a homicide investigation.”
Elaine nodded, diplomatically avoiding comment.
“Do we have to be here when the crime-scene people come?” David asked.
“That’s up to you,” Elaine said. “An investigator may want to talk with you at some point. But as far as the crime-scene people are concerned, they can just come in and do their thing.”
“Will they come today?” Angela asked.
“They’ll be here as soon as possible,” Elaine said. “Probably this morning.”
“I’ll arrange for Alice to be here,” Angela said. David nodded.
Shortly after the state’s attorney’s assistant had left, the Wilsons were off themselves. This was to be Nikki’s first day back to school since she got out of the hospital. She was beside herself with excitement and had changed her clothes twice.
As they took her to school, Nikki couldn’t talk about anything besides the body. When they dropped her off, Angela suggested that she refrain from talking about the incident, but Angela knew her request was futile: Nikki had already told Caroline and Arni, and they’d undoubtedly passed the story on.