come out to the Kilbride house alone. He stood like he was expecting to be invited in, but Thomas didn’t want to do that. He had never liked Len Prentice.
“Your brother around?” he asked.
“He’s in New York City today,” Thomas said.
“What’s he doing there?”
“He’s checking to see whether somebody was murdered by having a bag put over their head.”
That stopped Len for a second. “Huh,” he said. Then, “You really are crazy, aren’t you, Thomas? Can I come in?”
He hesitated, then said, “I guess it’s okay.”
“I was driving by and thought I’d pop in and see how you boys were getting along.”
Thomas didn’t say anything. Len Prentice hadn’t actually asked him a question.
“Got a beer or anything?” he asked.
Thomas said, honestly, “I don’t know.”
“Never mind. I’ll have a look.” Len crossed through the living room to the kitchen, opened up the fridge, and found what he was looking for.
“So whattya been doing to keep yourself busy, Thomas?” he asked, twisting off the cap and taking a swig.
“I work on the computer.”
He nodded knowingly. “Oh yeah, right. Pretty much all the time, right?”
“I have stuff to do.”
“What did you say Ray was doing again?”
“He’s in New York.”
“Yeah, yeah, but the other part? What’s he doing?”
“He’s meeting a friend about work, and he’s trying to find out what happened to the person in the window.”
Len drank more of his beer. “Is this the person who had a bag put over his head?”
Thomas nodded.
“Your dad used to talk to me,” Len said. “I wasn’t just his boss, you know. He and I, we were friends. And he said you were always finding pictures of things on the Internet that got you all riled up. Used to tell me he considered unplugging you from the Net, but letting you sit on the computer all day was really the only thing that gave him any peace.”
Thomas wanted Len Prentice to leave so he could finish making his peanut butter sandwich and take it upstairs with him.
“It was Marie suggested I drop by. She thinks it would be a nice thing if you and your brother came over to the house for dinner.”
“I’d have to talk to Ray,” Thomas said. He didn’t want to go, but didn’t feel comfortable saying that. He would get Ray to tell them they couldn’t go.
“Your dad used to say he just didn’t know why you’re the way you are. Happy to be cooped up in this house all the time, sitting on your computer all day. Never going out except maybe to see your psychiatrist. What’s her name? Gargantuan?”
“Grigorin.”
“The thing I can’t believe is, you wouldn’t even go to your own dad’s funeral. Was your little computer fixation so great you couldn’t even do that for him?”
Thomas blinked. “Why are you saying these things to me, Mr. Prentice?”
“I don’t know. Just making conversation, really. I guess I’m a simple man, Thomas. I don’t know a lot of psychiatric mumbo jumbo. I thought I knew what this schizo thing is you have, that it means you have a split personality, but your dad told me that was a common misconception, that it’s not like that at all. What I don’t get is, if you know you’ve got a problem, why don’t you do something about it?”
“I don’t have a problem,” Thomas said.
Len chuckled. “A son doesn’t go to his own father’s funeral service? That, to my way of thinking, is a problem.”
“I had things to do,” he said. “And…”
“And what, Thomas?”
“And there would be people there I didn’t want to see.”
“Who’d that be? You talking about me, Thomas? Haven’t I always been nice to you?”
Thomas shook his head. “I have to make my lunch. I’m making a peanut butter sandwich.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Len Prentice said. “Why don’t I take you out for lunch?”
“What?”
“I mean, why don’t I take you out of the house in a car and we’ll go get something to eat?”
“I already started making the sandwich.” He pointed to the kitchen counter.
“So what? You can eat it later for an afternoon snack. I’ll take you for a drive. It would do you good to get out of the house.”
“No.”
Len set his beer down and said, “I insist.”
“I don’t want to go.”
Len closed the distance between them. “I think that’s where your dad made his mistake. He always let you get your way. He needed to be more forceful, introduce you to new experiences. We could go into Promise Falls, hit the McDonald’s or get a slice. We could even go back to our place, have Marie make you something.”
Thomas took a step back.
“You know, from what I hear, you’re going to have to get used to being out of this house. What about when your brother sells this place?”
“I don’t know for sure he’s going to do that.”
“You don’t think he’s going to leave you here on your own, do you? That’s not exactly a terrific idea.”
Thomas said, “Maybe he’ll decide to live here. We could live together.” But even as he said it, Thomas wasn’t sure this was what he wanted. He loved his brother, but he could be difficult. Like their father, he was critical. Picking at him all the time about things he couldn’t do anything about.
“Well, whatever happens, I’m sure it’ll work out for the best,” Len said. “Now, you want to grab a jacket or something? I don’t know about you, but I could go for some KFC. You like KFC?”
Thomas did like KFC, but his brother wouldn’t get it for him. Their father brought it home sometimes. But he did not want to go anywhere with Len Prentice. He felt himself becoming increasingly anxious, like there were bugs crawling around just under his skin. His breathing quickened, became more shallow. He might have been willing to go out, briefly, with some people, people he liked and trusted, but he did not like or trust Len Prentice.
And his father never really had, either. They’d had a friendship. They’d get together once in a while and watch a game, or grab a beer. But whenever Adam Kilbride returned home from spending time with Len, he’d say, “Jesus, but that guy can really suck the life out of you.”
Len reached out and grabbed Thomas by the arm. Not rough, but firm. “Let’s go, pardner. Let’s have some fun.”
Thomas wrenched his arm free. He put more into it than he needed to, and his hand flew up accidentally and slapped Len across the cheek.
Len stopped, rubbed the side of his face, and said, “Well, Thomas, I sure wish you hadn’t gone and done that.”
THIRTY
Truth be told, Lewis Blocker wasn’t sleeping all that well, either.
Allison Fitch was out there, somewhere, and not knowing where she was, or what she might do, had Lewis worried for all the same reasons it did Howard Talliman. If, and when, she decided to walk into a police station and
