“Maybe,” Ricky said, mimicking Alan’s typical delivery of the word.
Alan blinked and took a long breath.
“Yeah. I have to get back. Like I said, we spent a long night hiding in the closet so now we have to hit the road. Please be careful, you guys. Whatever happens next, I don’t know if you’re going to be able to take it back to their turf.”
Alan backed away and got into his car after a sad wave.
Ricky and Amber stood side by side for a moment.
“Should we hit the road?” Amber asked.
“Give me a minute. I told Dad I would clean up some of these branches first.”
Ricky sighed and started slow as he moved towards the limbs. His father had left them in big chunks so they could be roped up and dragged off to the burn pile. Ricky just needed to get them clear of the driveway. His body ached from the double shift. Most of his job involved simply sitting and walking, but even that took its toll after so many hours. Pulling on the first branch, it came easily and Ricky saw that Amber had joined him. Even Tucker pitched in, although the sticks that he grabbed didn’t go far before the dog gave up interest. They finished and Ricky moved his car out of the way while Amber walked back to the house.
They went into the kitchen together. Ricky grunted as he bent to remove his boots. He felt like he was turning into his father, one noise at a time.
“Maybe we should wait a day,” Amber said. “We could really plan things out and you could get some rest.”
“I’m fine,” Ricky said.
“There’s a lot we could probably figure from the maps. If we guess how they got down here so quickly, it will give us an idea of what path they took from Prescott’s house. I’m guessing the train tracks. Is there a schedule we could access that shows us when the freight trains went through there?”
“Amber, we have to get this done. We can’t have them coming back here. How will we defend ourselves?”
“I wish I had gone out and gotten one last night,” Amber said. “Maybe Alan is right—that might be the perfect way to set up a home base.”
Ricky slumped down into one of the chairs and propped his head up with his hands.
“You have my brother’s number in your phone? I want to make sure he’s ready before we go over there to pick him up.”
“Ricky, we’re talking past each other,” Amber said as she took the seat opposite him.
He raised his eyes to her.
“I’m not willing to wait. It’s too dangerous,” Ricky said.
Amber studied him for a moment.
“And I’m afraid that if we rush into this, we’re going to make a mistake. Yesterday, I was mad and ready to do anything. Now that I’ve had a night to sleep on it, I want to make sure we go in with full strength, and I’m not sure that we can do that today.”
“If you’re worried about me, don’t be,” Ricky said. He could tell by the way she immediately shook her head that he had found the source of her resistance. “Listen, I can sleep in the car and I’ll be fresh by the time we get there.”
“If we had a safe place to plan, would you wait?”
“Yes, but we don’t, so what’s the point in…”
“My house,” she said.
“In North Carolina?”
“My great uncle’s house,” Amber said. “It’s close, and I killed one there.”
Ricky was too tired to argue.
“You’re right—we’ve been talking past each other. You and Alan have been deeper in this than I have for the past week. You’ve got the best perspective.”
“Good. Now let’s convince your family.”
Twenty-Four: Amber
Amber folded her arms, looking around the house that she swore she would never return to.
“The heat is working. Toilets are all good, and it looks like there was nothing wrong with this old refrigerator. I guess it just takes it time cooling down,” Vernon said.
“Thank you,” Amber said. “I left in a hurry last year and had to find a handyman over the phone. I wasn’t sure what the state of this place would be.”
“I’d say they did a fine job,” Mary said. “I like this place. It’s a little sparse, but there’s something warm about it nonetheless.”
Amber smiled. It looked empty to her. When she had lived there, she had slowly been sending away all of her great uncle’s possessions to covetous relatives. In the end, it had been staged for sale and it barely felt like a home to her.
They all turned as the kitchen door opened.
George and Tucker came through.
“No sign of anything out there. Sun’s going down in a bit,” George said.
“Tucker see anything?” Vernon asked.
“He was pretty interested in that place at the end of the road. Got his hackles up pretty good about it, but not for long.”
“That’s my neighbor’s place. The one who…” Amber trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence. She didn’t really want to recount how the neighbor had broken into her uncle’s place after dark, or how she had stabbed him to death in the hallway. She was pretty sure that Ricky had already told his family about all that.
“Looks abandoned now,” George said. “I couldn’t see any signs that anyone had been there this year.”
“Good,” Amber said.
“What about the Harpers?” Mary asked. “Are they safe?”
Amber nodded and pulled out her phone. “They’re staying down in Massachusetts tonight. I guess they still haven’t figured out what they’ll do long term.”
From upstairs, they heard the toilet flush and then the floor creak.
Vernon clapped his hands together. “George? You want to help me down cellar for a moment?”
“I was going to work on dinner,” George said.
“I’ll help in the cellar,” Amber said. “I want to see what you had in
