These Unquiet Bones by Dean Harrison Read Free Book Online

were unfounded.
    He hoped his gut was wrong this time, and that his theory was indeed crazy.
    He hoped Joe found nothing at the old, abandoned compound, and that his daughter would be safe from a past he had tried his damnedest to keep buried. A past he had tried to forget.
    But the ghosts wouldn’t let him forget. They reminded him every chance they got, and they never let up on their torment.
    Hank sensed a couple of them lingering about the shadows. They were in the room with him right now, watching. Waiting.
    He felt Ellen among them. She was always there.
    So was the guilt.
    Keeping his eyes away from the dark corners of the dimly lit room, Hank finished off his beer and crumpled the can. He needed another.
    Alcohol had an amazing tendency to chase those nagging spirits away.
     
     

Chapter 10
    As Layne turned onto Catherine’s street, Amy rolled her eyes and groaned in irritation.
    There were cars lining both sides of the street. “So much for the last time being the last time,” she said.
    “You’re surprised?” Layne parallel parked between a Honda Civic and a Dodge Ram.
    “I shouldn’t be, should I?”
    Once Layne killed the engine, she popped the passenger door open and climbed out.
    Unlike Amy, Catherine lived in an upper-middle class suburb where street lamps beamed brightly on every manicured lawn, and all the fancy brick houses were lit up like jack-o-lanterns.
    Amy looked nervously up and down the street. The lie she told her father weighed on her mind. So much so that she even wondered if he followed them to the party.
    “Everything all right?” Layne asked.
    She didn’t see her father’s truck anywhere. She decided she was just being paranoid. “Yeah, come on.”
    The sidewalk was strewn with fallen leaves. They crunched beneath their feet as they made their way to the front of Catherine’s house. Amy noted two round pumpkins with wickedly painted faces arranged on both sides of the green door. An autumn reef hung from the brass knocker. She smiled, glad to see someone else still got into the Halloween spirit. Not many of the neighboring houses were decorated. .
    What was wrong with these people? Didn’t the holiday excite anybody anymore?
    Amy shrugged, opened the door, and was assaulted by a heavy blast of hard rock music. Above the din, she heard Catherine call out, “Birthday girl’s here!”
    Amy maneuvered through the crowd of unfamiliar bodies and approached her friend. “Even at the last minute, you’re still able to invite everybody under the moon,” Amy said.
    “Yeah, sorry.” Catherine shrugged. “Once word got out, there wasn’t much I could do. Is that a new jacket? Very nice. Hey, we got drinks in the kitchen. Come on!”
    Amy slipped out of her jacket and handed it to Layne. “Can you take this up to Cat’s room for me?”
    “Sure thing, your highness,” Layne said with a bow.
    “Thanks, dear servant.”
    Layne headed upstairs. Catherine leaned in to Amy and said, “I swear, you two should go to Homecoming together. It’s your last chance to go.”
    “No.” Amy allowed herself be taken by the wrist and pulled through the dining room and into the kitchen. “Going with Layne would be like going with my brother.”
    “Don’t be silly. Oh, speaking of brothers, mine’s staying over with a friend tonight. Thank God for small favors, right? And Layne came through with the booze.”
    “Of course he did.” In the kitchen Amy bypassed the booze. Given her father’s drinking problem, alcohol didn’t interest her.
    Instead, she grabbed a Coke and followed Catherine down a short hallway that led into the den. A hard rock song tore through the air, and a girl in high heels danced on a pool table. Drunken idiots cheered her on.
    “Kari!” Catherine hollered, pushing her way through the gyrating mass of bodies. “You’re going to fuck up the felt and my Dad’s going to kill me!”
    Looking for a place to sit among the smoky, smelly throng of strangers and mere