Kiss Her Goodbye by Wendy Corsi Staub Read Free Book Online Page A

finds herself staring at her husband as the door is thrown open.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” They say it in unison.
    Jen appears in the background, holding hands with the miniature Gattinski twins.
    Okay, so everyone’s in one piece. Good. That’s good.
    Breathing more easily than she has since she glimpsed her husband tearing off down the street on foot, Kathleen asks again, “What’s going on, Matt?”
    â€œJen called. She said—”
    â€œDad . . . shhh!” Jen motions at the children. “Girls, can you go change the Barbies into their dresses for the party? I’ll be right there.”
    â€œMy Barbie isn’t going to wear a dress,” one of the twins protests. “She’s wearing pants.”
    â€œShe can’t wear pants!” her sister challenges. “It’s a fancy party.”
    â€œThey’re fancy pants.”
    â€œWill somebody please tell me what’s going on?” Kathleen asks for the third time, losing patience.
    â€œDad will tell you. I’ll be right back.” Jen hustles the bickering twins out of the room.
    In a low voice, Matt tells Kathleen, “She called me because she thought she saw somebody sneaking around outside the house.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI checked outside and I didn’t see anything unusual, but she was really scared.” He shakes his head. “Do we even know these people?”
    â€œThe Gattinskis? I know Stella.”
    â€œWell, I’ve never met her or her husband. For all we know, he could be in the mob or hooked up into something—”
    â€œListen to yourself, Matt. That’s ridiculous.”
    â€œHow do you know? Have you met him?”
    â€œNo,” she admits.
    â€œSo we’ve been letting her spend all this time in a total stranger’s house. Terrific. I knew she was too young to be babysitting.”
    â€œShe’s fourteen, Matt.”
    â€œNot for a few weeks. She still sleeps with her closet light on, Kathleen. She’s got an active imagination, and—”
    â€œMaybe there really was somebody sneaking around outside.” She glances through the open front door at the SUV parked at the foot of the driveway, motor running. She had left the boys there without a second thought.
    Seized by a disconcerting vision of the sinister prowler car jacking the Tahoe with the boys in it, she tells Matt, “I’ve got the boys out there waiting. I’ll go get them and—”
    â€œDon’t do that. Just take them back home. I’ve got everything under control here, Kathleen.”
    â€œYou called the police?”
    â€œThe police? No. I checked—”
    â€œYou didn’t call the police?” She opens her mouth to tell him about the person she thought she had glimpsed on the soccer field today, but Jen is back, alone this time.
    â€œDid Dad tell you?” she asks Kathleen.
    â€œHe told me. Why were you looking out the windows in the first place, Jen? Did you hear something outside?”
    â€œNo. I had gone into the living room to grab a video for the twins and I didn’t turn the light on. The shades were up. I happened to glance out the window and I thought I saw someone standing by the bushes outside, watching the house.”
    â€œYou thought you saw, or you saw?” Kathleen asks, keeping an anxious eye on the boys in the car.
    Jen is hesitant. “I don’t know. I’m pretty sure I saw someone. I turned on the light right away—I don’t know why, because when I did that, I couldn’t see out the window anymore. And when I turned it off again, whoever I thought I saw was gone. I didn’t know what to do—I guess I freaked out a little. I started thinking about that girl, April—”
    April? Kathleen frowns. Who’s April?
    â€œâ€”and I called Dad,” Jen finishes ruefully.
    â€œI’m glad you did.” Matt pats her arm. “I think it was just