Standing in the Shadows by Shannon McKenna Read Free Book Online Page B

else has been in the house?" Erin demanded. "How on earth could you not have heard the person who did this?"
    "I… I've been sleeping a lot," her mother faltered. "And a couple of times, I, ah, took some Vicodin for my headaches and my back pain. And when I take a Vicodin, an army could troop through here and I wouldn't hear them. But God knows, if there's one thing I would never forget, after everything that's happened, it's to lock the doors!"
    Erin laid the mirror carefully upright on the floor against the wall and wrapped her arms around herself.
    Seven years of bad luck. As if they hadn't had their quota.
    Another thought struck her. She glanced at the grandfather clock, another of the treasures that had come with Grandmother Riggs from England at the end of the nineteenth century. She turned it around.
    The face of the antique clock was shattered.
    She drifted to the couch and sat down. The pile of mail beside her suddenly seemed much less important than it had minutes before.
    "Mom, maybe you should talk to someone," she whispered.
    Barbara's reddened eyes swam with desperate tears. "Honey. I swear. I did not do this. Please believe me."
    A heavy silence fell between them. Silence that was like darkness, teeming and writhing with terrible possibilities.
    Erin shook herself and got to her feet. "I'm going to clean up that broken glass. Then I'm taking the frame and clock to Cindy's room until we can repair them. And then we're going to clean up your kitchen."
    "Don't worry about it, sweetie. I'll do it."
    "No, you won't," Erin said.
    Barbara tightened the sash of her bathrobe with an angry tug. "Do not take that tone with me, Erin Katherine Riggs."
    Her mother's sharp response made her feel better, oddly enough.
    She murmured a garbled apology and hefted the mirror, shaking as much glass as she could out onto the floor. Busy was better. Activity blocked thinking, and she didn't want to think. She preferred to scurry around, hauling the mirror and clock upstairs, gathering up slivers of glass from the carpet and putting them into a plastic bucket.
    That was better than chewing on the two possibilities available to her: Mom had done it and didn't remember doing it, or Mom hadn't done it. Which meant that someone else had.
    She wasn't sure which notion terrified her more.
    She shouldn't leave Mom at a time like this, but she couldn't afford not to go to Silver Fork. They needed that money so badly. Her mind ran over the problem the way the vacuum cleaner was running over the rug. Each time she thought she was done, she heard another little
ting
. Always more of them, hidden in the deep pile carpet like tiny, cruel teeth awaiting unwary bare feet.
     
    Barbara ran a sink full of hot, soapy water, and was washing the dishes when Erin came back in from emptying the garbage. It was bad enough to have admitted to those hallucinations, or whatever they were, but to have her daughter think she was so far gone as to smash family heirlooms… that was unthinkable. Heaven knew, if she were to smash a Riggs family heirloom, she would damn well remember doing it.
    Erin leaned against the porch doorway. Barbara's heart ached at the pinched, anxious look in her daughter's face.
    "Thought I'd get to work on this mess," she said awkwardly.
    Erin looked relieved. "Great idea."
    "I'll just load up this dishwasher and set it running. Maybe we can nuke a couple of Budget Gourmets. Have you eaten?"
    "I should get home. I have to pack for my trip tomorrow. Let's put one in for you." Erin peered into the freezer. "Swiss steak and chicken teriyaki are your choices, Mom."
    Barbara's stomach lurched unpleasantly at the thought of food. "Leave them for now, hon. I'll have one later. What's this trip of yours?"
    "I'm going to the coast. Another consulting job for Mueller."
    "Oh, that's lovely! You see? Cream always rises to the top, no matter what happens. You're going to do just fine, sweetie."
    "We all will, Mom," Erin said. "But you've got to stay