Read Online The Grim Reaper's Dance by Judy Clemens - Free Book Online Page B

eyes stood out between thick liner.
    “Oh.” Casey relaxed and stepped out from the corner. “Bailey.”
    “Hey.” Bailey looked around at the shed, toward the space where Casey had been sleeping. “Where’s your stuff?”
    “I didn’t know who was coming.”
    “So you cleaned it up.” Bailey assessed her. “You don’t take any chances, do you?”
    “I try not to.”
    “Dad let me drive the car to school today. He and Mom are both at work. I thought you might want a shower. And maybe some real food.”
    “Bailey, you don’t have to—”
    “Come on. If you’re going to be sticking around you might as well not stink.” She grinned. “My sister’s at college, and she left some clothes. Mom won’t notice if they’re gone.”
    “Just like they don’t miss you at night?”
    Bailey laughed. “Exactly.”
    “And doesn’t anybody miss you during the day? Like your teachers?”
    Bailey shrugged. “I called in. Said I was my mom, and that my daughter wasn’t feeling well today.”
    “Bailey, you shouldn’t—”
    “Hey. My choice. Don’t give me a lecture.”
    Casey shut up and retrieved her bag from the bucket, following Bailey to a blue Honda Accord. “Won’t you draw attention to the shed by driving back here?”
    “Nah. I checked the fields before I turned in the lane. No one’s within a couple miles.”
    Casey walked around to the passenger door and hesitated. Just being in the vicinity of another car made her heart race. She closed her eyes, concentrating on her breathing.
    “You all right?” Bailey looked at her over the top of the car.
    “It’s just, the accident, you know, it makes me—”
    “Freak out? Sure, I get it. I thought about bringing bikes, but there’s no way to ride one and pull another one, so—”
    “It’s fine. I’ll get in in a minute.” Casey gritted her teeth, and opened the door.
    Bailey kept up the chatter the whole way into town, and had the radio turned to a top forty station so loudly she had to raise her voice. “You like pancakes? I make good pancakes. Sausage, too. Or we have that bacon that’s already cooked and you just have to warm it up. Or I could make eggs. Or cereal. We’ve got lots of that. How about toast? You could have cinnamon toast. Unless you want lunch? It is about lunchtime, actually, so we could have that. You want to stop at McDonalds? Or Taco Bell? Or maybe you’d rather have something from the house? I can make mac and cheese, or we have leftovers from last night. Lasagna. Or a sandwich. We have all the stuff to make sandwiches. Even that Amish Baby Swiss cheese.”
    Casey’s stomach rumbled, whether from excitement or apprehension, she wasn’t sure. The long list of food was rather overwhelming, as was the volume at which it was delivered.
    Bailey suddenly stopped talking and pulled a cell phone out of her pocket. She slid it open and began punching keys at a rate faster than Casey could keep track of. Casey prayed silently that nothing would pull out in front of them, and that Bailey could keep at least one eye on the road.
    Bailey closed her phone and set it on the seat beside her. “Martin. Wondered if I’d picked you up yet.”
    “He knows?”
    “Sure. They all do. Martin and Johnny wanted to come, but I thought that would look weird, if we were all gone.”
    “Sheryl probably thought you shouldn’t come.”
    “Yeah, well, she’s got her reasons.”
    Bailey’s phone buzzed again, and she snatched it up, laughing. “Martin says he looks forward to seeing how well you clean up.”
    Casey hoped she lived long enough to do it. Weren’t there laws about this sort of thing? That you needed to actually pay attention to the road while driving?
    Besides fearing for her life, Casey kept her eye out for traffic, thinking that in her present state she would be a source of interest, even if people didn’t recognize her. They might also wonder why a school-age girl wasn’t actually in school, but there was nothing she