Half In Love With Death Read Online Free Page A

pebbles pelting me. I couldn’t take it any longer.
    â€œMom,” I said.
    â€œWhat?” Her oblivious look made me feel sick.
    â€œJess isn’t coming home. She’s on her way to California.” An inappropriate smile crept across my face the way it did when I was nervous.
    Mom dropped the serving spoon she was holding. “Is this a joke, because if it is . . . .”
    â€œI’m not joking. Debbie Frank told me.”
    â€œDebbie Frank. Why were you talking to her?”
    â€œShe came over when I was out by the pool. She said Jess is going to see Arnie.”
    â€œArnie?”
    â€œYou know, the boy she met while we were on vacation.” I felt less alarmed as I spoke. Jess was having a second vacation while I was stuck here. It was so typical.
    Mom shook her head. “This doesn’t make any sense. Jess slept late, and then she went out. She didn’t go to California.”
    I got a sour metal taste at the back of my throat. “Jess didn’t sleep late. She snuck out last night and didn’t come home. She probably left for California hours ago.”
    For a moment Mom didn’t move. “And you waited until now to tell me?” She was almost shrieking. “You lied to us?” Now she was definitely shrieking.
    I wanted to shrink down to nothing. “She told me not to tell.”
    A spider with delicate, horrible legs ascended a thread dangling from the kitchen light.
    â€œCaroline, you know that by waiting all this time to tell me, you may have put your sister in danger.”
    â€œI was afraid she’d be mad if I didn’t cover for her.” I struggled to avoid her guilt-inducing eyes as I went on, “I thought she was going to do the same stupid thing she always does, that she would stay out late and then lie to you about it, and you would believe her like you always do. I didn’t know she was going to California.”
    â€œIs Tony driving her?” Mom’s voice trembled.
    â€œNo, some other guy. Debbie didn’t know him.”
    â€œOh God, Jess is driving across the desert with some stranger.”
    I tugged on a hangnail with my teeth. The idea of Jess being in the desert hadn’t occurred to me. Mom crumpled Dicky’s napkin while he watched, his eyes wide. “She can’t have gotten very far. We have to find her before it’s too late. I’m going to call Debbie right now. Hand me the phone.” When I didn’t immediately jump, she said, “Now!”
    She held the receiver to her ear for what felt like forever. “Why can’t those damn people answer? What’s wrong with them?” She jammed it back into its place on the wall. “Where the hell is your dad? He should be done with golf by now. He’s probably at a bar, getting soused while Jess is God knows where.”
    Dicky yelled, “There’s a mushroom in my mouth.” He spit it out into his napkin and started crying. He’d hated mushrooms ever since Dad had told him about the poisonous ones.
    He was working himself into a frenzy when Mom said, “Stop it,” and for once Dicky actually stopped. The room fell silent.
    Mom stared at the phone. “What are we going to do?”
    We? I couldn’t believe she’d said that. She was the mom. She was supposed to have the answers. I patted her on the shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, she’ll come home soon. I bet she’ll walk in the door any minute.”
    She didn’t seem to have heard me. “I should call the police, but I hate to do that without your dad here.” She turned to me. “Do you think I should call them?”
    I took a deep breath. “Yes, I think you should call them.”
    â€¢ • •
    Dad came home about fifteen minutes later, and a policeman showed up right after him. While they all talked in the kitchen, I sat in the living room with Dicky, chewing on my hangnail until it bled. I