She looked at Randy, her eyes telling him he could come back, put his arm around her, it was okay now. So she sat down, arms crossed over her breasts, hands cupping her elbows, shivering. Randy was not sure it was happening, but he thought maybe it was. A little scared? For the first time tonight, for the first time this month, this year, maybe for the first time in his whole life? Now there was an awesome thought-Deke loses his fear-cherry. 'So? A caretaker-' Deke was sounding a little pissed now, a little off-balance. He had also succeeded in scaring himself. 'Next month, yeah,' Randy said, and shut his mouth with a snap. 'Did it go under?' LaVerne said, and there was something oddly nonchalant about her tone, as if she were trying with all her might to be conversational, but she was screaming, too.ĭon't look right at it, the colors make you loopy' Her lips made a pathetic, loose little smile. 'Maybe it'll leave us alone,' LaVerne said. We turned off Route 41, we came up eight miles of back road-' 'How do even you know the blueprint is here?''You know where we are,' Randy said.

Without a word, he's deep into the house. Slush sprays the undercarriage of the car as the suspension dances over a pothole.īut Paul is already inside, scanning the first floor. 'You're the one who ran,' I say under my breath. Putting a shoulder into the wood, he sweeps the door forward.

Paul knocks again, then pulls a ring of keys from his pocket and cradles one into the slot. 'I'm the one who called the police too,' he says. Just as his foot begins to engage the clutch, though, Paul yanks the door handle and stumbles out onto the curb. Shaken by the sight of Taft's house, he lightens pressure on the brakes, letting us roll in neutral, prepared to go back. Just beyond them stands the tree line of the Institute woods, its canopy tinseled in white. At Taft's address, all windows are unlit. The houses before us are fashioned in white clapboard. 'I told them I saw Vincent near Dickinson when Bill was shot.' 'That's why the police took Vincent in,' he says. 'Paul' I get out of the car, trying to keep my voice at a whisper. 'He's still at the police station,' Paul says, almost to himself. Staring at the back of Paul's head, I have the strange sensation of looking at myself from behind, of being inside my father's car again. I'm waiting for Gil to react, but he keeps his eyes on the road. Everything returns to the moment I pushed Taft. I can hear it in his voice, the accusation sneaking in.

To make brave synonym