Read Online The Good Neighbor by Kimberly A. Bettes - Free Book Online

that affect us than on anyone else.
    We talked into the morning light about the
things in each of our lives’ that had held our attention in the
last two years. A recap while we waited for daylight.
    For Andy and Jill, the past two years had
been full of ups and downs. They’d been trying to have a baby. It
seemed once that it was going to happen for them. Jill had gotten
pregnant, only to miscarry two months later. They’d been devastated
for a while, but figured it was meant to be. They’d been trying
since.
    Andy’s father had suffered a stroke. There
was a while when it didn’t appear he was going to make it, but he
did. After months of therapy, he pulled through virtually
unchanged. He’d gone from being unable to speak or use his right
side to doing everything he was before, with only a hint of a
speech impediment. He was so proud of himself, as he should’ve
been. He worked so hard to get better. Six weeks after leaving the
hospital, he had a heart attack in his sleep and died. After his
father’s death, Andy and his brother took turns staying with their
mother. In the end, she’d gone to live with Andy’s brother.
    And me, well, I’d spent the first of the
previous two years working myself to death, and the last year
depressed. Most of that time was spent on the front porch, trying
to forget everything that had ever happened within the walls of my
house. I’d considered moving, but wasn’t prepared to let go. I
didn’t want to face the memories, but I didn’t want to erase them
either. Selling the house had never been an option for me. So I’d
taken to the front porch.
    Holly had been my only family, and when she
left, in her place remained a huge hole. That hole seemed permanent
until Carla moved in. The time spent with Carla was time well
spent. The ache that I’d suffered through every day had finally
eased. The knot in my stomach had relaxed. The weight that had felt
so heavy on my shoulders had finally been lifted. I was starting to
see things in a new and different light now. My world wasn’t made
up of only shades of grey.
    So looking back, it was easy to see how we’d
missed the correlation between the many events that had taken place
on Hewitt Street. We’d all been caught up in our own versions of
hell, too far down to see much else.
    We decided then, at about five in the
morning, that we were going to pay closer attention. Our eyes were
open now, and it was very unlikely that anything else was going to
be escaping us. We agreed that in addition to keeping watch, we
would do a little digging, see what we could come up with as far as
what lay beneath the horrible events that had occurred on our
sleepy little street.
    Maybe it was all a big coincidence. Maybe
there would be nothing to find. Maybe sometimes these things just
happened. The principle of three. You know, people always die in
threes. Well, with the old couple and Elaine, that made three.
Maybe the stress we’d been under lately had finally caused us to
crack.
    We were about to find out.
    Andy and I sat on the porch, still
contemplating our sanity when Jenson came out, dragging a large
black trash bag as usual, down the steps, across his lawn, and to
his car where he loaded it into the trunk. He rested, like always,
before getting in the driver’s seat.
    While he performed these tasks, Andy pestered
me about following him.
    “Come on,” Andy said urgently. “What are the
chances that he’s doing this today? It’s like we were meant to
follow him. We’ve sat here all night, even dug through his trash,
and now he’s doing it.” Though he was speaking in a whisper, I
heard the excitement in his voice.
    Feeling Andy’s eyes fly back and forth from
me to Jenson, I said, “We’re going to have to hurry.”
    We went as quickly as we could to Andy’s car
without seeming obvious or suspicious in any way. We were backing
out of Andy’s driveway as Jenson made a left at the end of the
street.
     
     
     
13 Bernie
    The sound