alone. The house was the domicile of a lifelong bachelor, complete with dirty dishes stacked in the sink and the smell of burnt coffee in the air. But as David looked around, he saw that things had been changed, and in a way that set him on alert. Davidâs first thought was that Dekeâs house had been burglarized . . . but on closer inspection, he realized that no burglar would bother doing the things to Dekeâs house that David was observing. Kitchen chairs, for instance, hadnât simply been knocked to the floor; instead, they were stacked on the kitchen table. The sight of them was jarring. When he turned around, he saw that all the cupboard doors stood open. Boxes of cereal and canned goods had been arranged in careful pyramids on the countertops. David couldnât help himselfâhe thought of poltergeists and exorcisms.
âWhatâs been going on here, Deke?â
âYou know,â Deke muttered, shuffling out of the kitchen and into the living room. He said no more.
David heard noises in the adjoining room. It was the TV, showing the rerun of some eighties sitcom.
âSit down,â David said, beckoning Deke over to an upholstered armchair.
Deke sat without protest. In fact, he was smiling at David. Practically beaming.
That smile is worse than the blank look in his eyes, David thought. What the hell is wrong with him?
âIâll be right back,â David said, and hurried down the hall. In the bathroom, he found a towel on a hook behind the door. He brought it to Deke, draping it over the big manâs broad shoulders.
âThanks, David.â
âYou want to tell me what the heck you were doing out there?â
Deke laughed. It was a nervous, tittering sound that should have come from a smaller person. âDamnedest thing. I guess I was sleepwalking.â
âSleepwalking.â
âUsed to do it a lot when I was a boy,â Deke said. âAnd again in my early twenties. Itâs brought on by stress, you know. Doctors told me so.â
Ellie had suffered the occasional bout of somnambulism when she was four or five. It was eerieâDavid had once caught her ambling past him in the hallway in the middle of the night, which had scared the shit out of him but hadnât woken the girlâbut as eerie as it was, it seemed a quirk befitting of a young child. Deke was in his fifties. The thought of him roving around his houseâChrist, the goddamn streetâ in his sleep was more than just unnerving.
âIs this a common occurrence?â David asked.
âThe sleepwalking?â
âYou wander around outside in your underwear regularly, or is this a special occasion?â
âFor me?â
âOf course for you. Who else would I be talking about?â
âI donât know.â Dekeâs eyebrows arched and his mouth curled into what could only be described as a playful frown. âThere could be other things here, too.â
David frowned. âWhat do you mean?â He looked around, noting that the walls were all bare and there were picture frames on the floor. A rug had been rolled up into a tube and set against the jamb of the front door in the foyer. The gauzy curtains hanging over the windows were all tied together in knots.
âWhat have you been up to in here, Deke?â
âI donât know if itâs something new,â Deke said, and it took David a moment or two to realize he was answering Davidâs previous question. âIf Iâve been doing it for a while, Iâve been asleep and wouldnât know.â And then he laughedâa great bassoon blast that caused Davidâs toes to curl in his shoes.
âAre you on any medication?â
âCholesterol meds,â Deke said. âNexium for my âflux.â
âAnything heavier?â
This time, Dekeâs scowl was genuine. âI look like a drug addict to you, David?â
âIâm just trying to help. I
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