The Watcher in the Wall by Owen Laukkanen Read Free Book Online Page B

glimpse of the far wall, the little painting of the ship in the storm. Made a flash decision to save his own skin. Turn the tables, let Sarah get in trouble for a change.
    “Sarah snuck out,” he told Earl, arms up to ward off the inevitable blow. “She’s gone with her boyfriend. You can check her room.”
    Gruber braced himself. But Earl didn’t hit him, and when Gruber opened his eyes, Earl was gone.
    He heard Earl’s boots in the hall again. Heard him open Sarah’s bedroom door, heard the grunt as he took in the empty bed. Heard the boot steps, the snarl as he searched the room, searched for Sarah, discovered her gone.
    Then Earl was back.
“Where did she go, that little slut?”
    Gruber didn’t know where Sarah was, but he didn’t let that stop him. He told Earl everything he could think of, the way Sarah’d been sneaking out for weeks, that she was probably kissing Todd somewhere. Making out, petting, all the things Gruber ached to do with her. Was midway through his spiel when Earl stiffened and straightened. Looked up from the bed to the window.
    An engine outside, the familiar pitch this time. lights on the bedroom wall. Gravel under the tires.
    “There she is,” Gruber told Earl. “
See?
I told you she was gone
.
”
    < 20 >
    Gruber heard it all.
    Earl waited until Sarah had climbed out of Todd’s truck. Until she was halfway up the path to the screen door, turning back to wave good night. From his bedroom, Gruber heard the screen door squeal open. Heard Earl go out of the trailer.
    He went for Sarah first. Gruber watched from the window, how Earl cuffed Sarah around the neck, wrenched her toward the house. Heard Earl tell her,
“Get in the goddamn house
.
”
Watched Sarah stumble and fall onto the gravel as Earl steamrolled past her.
    Earl was going for the truck, Todd’s truck, Todd sitting in the driver’s seat, going pale like he didn’t know whether to stand on the gas pedal or get out and fight. He did neither, just froze up. Let Earl come around to the driver’s side of the truck and drag him out and start whaling on him.
    “Piece-of-shit goddamn dog,”
Earl was saying, punctuating every syllable with a fist or a boot.
“Teach you to lay hands on my daughter.”
    Todd wasn’t answering. He didn’t have time to answer. Gruber couldn’t see him from the window, could only see the Ford and the shadows and Earl aiming his punches downward, straightening up now and then to come in for a kick. Sarah picked herself up from the gravel, made a run at Earl, crying. Circled around the front of the Ford and launched herself; it didn’t help. Earl swatted her away like a nuisance fly, sent her sprawling again. Returned his attention to Todd.
    Lights were coming on up and down the lane. The neighbors. Earl was yelling and Sarah was crying, and Todd was hollering something, too, from the ground beside the pickup, begging Earl to stop. A lot of noise, too late at night. People were starting to appear in their windows and doorways, just watching for now, but Gruber knew they’d have to step in sooner or later.
    Apparently, Earl knew it, too. He stood up from where he’d been beating on Todd, caught his breath, huffed and puffed for a second or two. Told Todd if he knew what was good for him, he wouldn’t come around anymore. Then he grabbed Sarah where she lay crying on the gravel, pulled her to her feet, and dragged her, stumbling, back to the double-wide. The screen door squealed open. Slammed shut. Gruber hurried back to his bed.
    He heard the rest of it, though. Earl in the living room, breaking things. Glass, naturally, and heavier stuff, too. The thudding and crashing sounding like the end of the world, and through it all, Sarah sobbing. Pleading with Earl. Crying out when Earl would slap her. This went on for a while. Gruber listened, rooted to his bed. Knew he should feel guilty about selling out his stepsister. Didn’t. Felt giddy, instead.
    You did this,
he thought.
You caused this