When Night Falls Read Online Free Page A

out at the world, a boy too young to handle life’s raw patch. “I’m glad you called my house today. Is this time good for you?”
    Mitchell nodded and opened the door wider. “Yes, of course. Come in. Or would you rather look at Lauren’s things when I’m not here?”
    Lauren . Uma moved into the house, standing in the foyer. In the living room, she noted the red stain on the cream berber carpeting, and it reminded her of Lauren’s blood seeping through her dress. Had Billy hired someone to kill her? “Now is good for me. Did you get your business done today?”
    “Just the usual, filing deeds on the old place, the garage and this house—setting up telephone, electricity, whatever, just paperwork.”
    Small talk filled big uneasy spaces, she thought, aware of him standing and studying her with the light at his back. She accepted her ordinary appearance, well settled into the security of it. A plain, brown-haired, ordinary woman with gray eyes, of small bust and boyish hips, whom people would term “willowy.” She preferred her long hair on top of her head, though a few tendrils escaped in the summer heat, curling at her face and nape. With only a light moisturizer and a little lip balm, long cool dresses and colors that were soft and soothing, she just wanted to cruise easily through life.
    The deep line between Mitchell’s brows marked a lurking sadness, shifted and changed now from hatred and frustration; it lay in the shadows of his eyes, the hard slashes beside his mouth. She ached for young Mitchell and what he must have faced.
    In turn, he studied her face, just an ordinary face, she thought—a little too wide and Nordic to be called pretty.
    “You’re just the same. Soft and sweet and caring.”
    “No, I’m not the same. No one is. I’m a realist now, not a girl. I’ve been married and had a child, a sweet little baby. Crib death, they said.” She tensed, closing her eyes as the familiar pain squeezed her heart. Christina . So soft and tiny and sweet, snuggling warm in her arms one night, and gone the next morning.
    She smoothed a light spot on the wall where a picture of Shelly, Pearl, Lauren, and her as girls had hung. They had had such bright dreams…
    She felt an embrace, just the brush of a kiss on her cheek, and caught a scent. She could feel Lauren here—waiting. Waiting for what?
    The old tomcat eased through the hole in the screen door and tail high wound around her legs. Then he strolled to Mitchell and nudged and purred loudly. While Lauren had petted and coddled the old cat, Mitchell bent to scratch the gray tom’s ears roughly and the animal leaned into the favor.He crossed back to Uma and strolled across her shoes and then leaped through the screen door hole, back outside.
    Only Lauren had touched that cat .
    Aware that Mitchell studied her, Uma struggled to maintain the conversation. “I’m a freelance graphic artist now. I’m divorced, living with my father, and I’ve lost Lauren.”
    Uma held her breath. She could feel Lauren, sense her needing something…
    Mitchell nodded slowly as the memories stirred between them. “I liked Lauren. I’m sorry.”
    “I am, too. It was absolutely senseless—without reason. I guess these things happen in the city, but Madrid has always been so safe. You look so tired, Mitchell. I hope you find the peace you need here.” She glanced at the clutter, a broom and vacuum resting in one corner. In the hallway beside her rested a pile of cardboard boxes that had held dishes, silverware, a toaster; plastic that had covered a mattress and box springs set all stuffed into a refrigerator box large enough for a child’s clubhouse.
    “How do you know that I need peace, Uma?” he asked quietly.
    “Because everyone does,” she said and wondered if she would ever find peace and safety again.
    He frowned and hesitated, then he took a folded note from his pocket and gave it to her. “It was a long day. I’ll put this casserole—smells good—in