The Piper by Lynn Hightower Read Free Book Online

in a soft little voice, bunching the hem of her shirt in a fist.
    â€˜I heard it,’ Olivia said.
    She headed for the mess, looking for the shine of broken glass. The movers had stacked the boxes neatly on wood pallets, in the only corner of the basement that was swept clean. Olivia saw the wet spot near the water heater, and saw the glint of a thick shard of glass. She crouched down to take a look.
    The boxes had knocked over a jam jar of clear water someone had set behind the stairs. The front of the jar had a label on the front where someone had handwritten
Holy Water
.
    Olivia sat back on her heels. She was not a Catholic, and as far as she knew, neither were Charlotte or Chris. It was a nervous thing, finding this jar of holy water hidden away in her basement. Who would put it there, and why?
    â€˜What broke, Mommy?’
    â€˜Nothing. Have you finished your homework, Teddy?’
    â€˜Everything but math.’
    â€˜Then go and do the math.’
    Teddy trudged away, then sat down heavily on the bottom step and put her head on her knees.
    â€˜What’s the matter, Teddy? It’s okay, I’m not mad at you about the boxes.’
    â€˜It’s scary here, without a daddy in the house.’
    â€˜Why don’t you get your homework finished, and then call your dad?’
    â€˜Janet says this house is
haunted.
Janet says it’s not safe.’
    Olivia gritted her teeth. ‘Janet is telling you stories to scare you, which is mean, but it’s something big kids do. I’ll talk to Charlotte and make her stop.’
    â€˜I didn’t touch those boxes, Mommy. There was no reason for them to fall down. Are you scared here, Mommy?’
    â€˜No, I am not.’

SEVEN
    W hen Olivia tried to kiss Teddy good night, Teddy pushed her away.
    â€˜No good night kiss?’ Olivia asked.
    â€˜You think I knocked those boxes over, don’t you? You think I tell lies.’
    â€˜And do you?’ Olivia heard her phone ringing downstairs. ‘We’ll talk about this later,’ she said, running down the steps. Since the mysterious call from Chris, she had been frantic not to miss a call. Her phone was on the table in the sunroom, Amelia’s number on the caller ID.
    â€˜Amelia,’ Olivia said.
    â€˜You sound out of breath.’
    â€˜I had to run for the phone. Is everything okay with you? How’s Marianne holding up?’
    â€˜She’s losing ground inch but inch, but they’re still keeping her propped up. How is it going for you?’
    â€˜Bad day. Teddy told me a lie about knocking over some boxes, and she’s upset anyway – her cousins are telling her creepy stories about the house.’
    â€˜That’s mean.’ Amelia sounded distracted.
    â€˜What’s up with you?’ Olivia said.
    â€˜The thing is, I’ve been doing more research. On phone calls. Like you got from your brother.’
    â€˜Yeah, me too. Are you as obsessed with this as I am? I’m spending way too much time on the Internet with this.’
    â€˜Did you find the one about the Metro link crash?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Okay, listen. Do you remember when that Metro link commuter train in LA collided with the freight train? It was 2008, September, I think.’
    â€˜Oh, God yes, the Chatsworth crash. Didn’t you go into the ER that night?’
    â€˜Yeah, everyone did who could. There are only two trauma centers in the San Fernando Valley, and they were swamped. Twenty-five people were killed in the crash, something like a hundred thirty injured.’
    â€˜I remember that. The engineer missed a signal, right, because he was texting?’
    â€˜Who knows what really caused it. The thing is – there was this passenger on the train – he worked for Delta in Salt Lake City, and was in Los Angeles for a job interview, because his fiancée lived in California and he wanted a transfer. She was actually on her way to pick him up at