Ashlyn's Radio by Norah Wilson, Heather Doherty Read Free Book Online Page B

Ashlyn said. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell’s going on.”
    Maudette’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll tell you everything. It’s giving me no choice. But let’s go in with the dogs, Ashlyn. I’m … I’m so afraid for you. So damnably afraid.”

    “Hot chocolate?” Maudette asked.
    “Coffee.” Ashlyn answered, her voice just as tremulous as the old woman’s. “Black.”
    “You won’t get back to sleep.”
    Ashlyn looked at her incredulously. “Like that’s a possibility after what just happened?” She raked a hand through her hair. “And isn’t that just the question of the night. What did just happen, Maudette? What’s going on here?”
    Maudette held up a hand. “I’ll answer your questions, Ashlyn. All of them. But please, just give me a minute. I need my tea.”
    Turning away, her grandmother filled an old kettle from the small sink beside the grooming stations, set it on the single burner of the hot plate and turned it on high. The coil burned bright red within moments. A short time later, Ashlyn, her mind racing, sat at Maudette’s small desk with her hands wrapped around the hot mug of instant coffee. Maudette grabbed a tea bag from a decorative tin on the counter, plunked it in a china mug and filled it with hot water.
    The old woman was still shaking as she sat down across from Ashlyn.
    They were in Maudette’s office in the dog barn attached to her kennels. It was small, cramped and smelled like wet Airedale. The office’s paneled walls were covered with dog show ribbons, certificates and pictures of various people, places and dogs. There was a picture of Ashlyn and her mother at a Blue Jays game from ’09 and one of Ashlyn standing alone on the balcony of their Toronto apartment. Ashlyn hadn’t even known Leslie had sent these along. There was an absolutely amazing shot of Lolly-Pup and two others that stood out for their quality, and Ashlyn wondered if it was Caden’s work. Dozens more framed photographs topped Maudette’s small desk, the filing cabinet in the corner, and the tiny metal nightstand beside the utilitarian-looking cot.
    A cot?
    Did Maudette spend some nights out here, out of earshot of that bizarre radio in the basement?
    “Okay, so what’s with the radio?” Ashlyn demanded. “How can it be back again looking showroom-new? I mean, I saw you go all Rambo on it last night. There was hardly anything left of it!”
    Maudette stopped stirring the whitener in her tea, and the panic started to show all over again in her green eyes. She set the spoon down quickly, let go of her teacup and half stood, as if ready to run again. Faster. Further. Anywhere the hell away from here.
    “Maudette?”
    Her own heart pounding in her chest, Ashlyn watched as her grandmother fought to conquer her flight response. After a few deep breaths, the old woman subsided on her chair again.
    “I don’t know,” she confessed. “I don’t know how it does it, but it always comes back, exactly like before. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to destroy it, and it probably won’t be the last. But I can’t get rid of it. I’ve tried everything. I’ve burned it. I’ve buried it. I’ve burned it and buried it. I’ve sunk it in the river. I’ve buried it and laid cement over the site. I’ve driven it miles away and tossed it out. I’ve taken a sledgehammer to it.”
    Ashlyn trembled. “But that’s … that’s impossible.”
    Maudette snorted. “Tell that to the radio.”
    “Can you get away from it out here?”
    Maudette blanched. “Can you still hear it?”
    “Only faintly. Very faintly. And just the music. I can’t make out any of the lyrics at all. Especially not with the dogs whining like they are.”
    “Good.” Maudette sat down again, expelling her breath in a long sigh. “That’s good.”
    “So, what? Is the radio possessed? Or haunted or … whatever?” Her words came out a little more sharply than she