Read Online Home Before Dark by Susan Wiggs - Free Book Online Page B

and exhaust. A clatter rattled through her head—the chattering of her own teeth. She tipped back her chin, feeling excruciating pain as she tried to make out the others in the back seat. Slitting open her eyes, she caught a glimpse of Kathy, who stared straight ahead without seeing and kept whispering, “I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared.”
    Someone else spoke. She wasn’t sure who, but it came out as a distant, monotonous chant. “Please God please God please God…” A truncated plea from someone whose skill at praying was rusty.
    She heard a distinct dripping sound and twisted to look, defying the screaming agony in her shoulder. Bodies lay strewn outside the car, but some were still strapped in. The back seat was a tangle of arms, legs, crushed beer cans, rumpled clothing, patches of dark, slick wetness she couldn’t identify. She could see one face clearly. It was Dig, who’d given up his seat belt. His face shone like the moon, pale and round and distant and mysterious. His eyes were shut. A viscous black ribbon trickled from the corner of his mouth, another from his ear.
    The clatter started up again inside Lila’s head, only faster, harder. And through the steady rattle of her teeth, she managed to make a noise, sending through her pain and terror the only word that made sense to her, the only thought she had:
    â€œMommy.”

CHAPTER 7
    Even before she answered the phone, Luz knew. It was the phone call every mother fears with the special dread reserved for people whose entire world is made of love for others. The call that signals her life has changed while she was sleeping.
    She came instantly awake, grabbing the phone in the middle of the second ring. Adrenaline flushed all the grogginess from her by the time she had the receiver in hand. She mentally flipped through the gallery of possible horrors. Ian’s plane had crashed. Mom had had a heart attack. Jessie… That had to be it. Simon was calling to grovel, and had no idea what time it was in the States. At least it was a school night, and the kids were safe in bed.
    As she clicked on the phone, she glanced at the clock. The blood-red digits read 1:36 a.m.
    â€œHello?”
    â€œIs this the parent of Lila Benning?”
    Everything inside her turned to ice. “Yes,” she said in adeceptively clear, calm voice. “This is Lucinda Benning.” She almost never used her hated given name, but then again, she’d never had a phone call in the middle of the night.
    â€œMa’am, this is Peggy Moran. I’m a nurse at Hillcrest Hospital. Your daughter has been brought in…”
    â€œNot my daughter. She’s asleep in her room.”
    â€œâ€¦level two Trauma Center…”
    Luz’s mind seized on the information even as she burst into motion, tucking the cordless receiver between her shoulder and chin, bounding out of bed, throwing on clothes. “I don’t understand. Lila’s in bed.”
    â€œMa’am, there was a motor vehicle accident involving a group of teenagers…”
    â€œA group of…then there must be some mistake.” Dizzying relief flowed through her like a drug. “It’s a school night. She’s here at home.” Clutching the phone, she rushed into Lila’s room, just in case. In case the nurse was wrong. In case Lila was actually safe and sound in her bed and this was all a horrible nightmare. But no. The room was messy, but unoccupied.
    â€œMa’am, I’m afraid she’s here. We ID’ed her from the learner’s permit in her pocket.”
    The relief dried up, blew away like a child’s lost balloon. Luz grabbed her purse from the doorknob as she passed. “Is she conscious? Can I talk to her?”
    â€œShe’s in the radiology suite now.”
    â€œIs she—” Luz couldn’t draw the words from the well of horror inside her. “I’m on my way. You