Last Light

  But Brad surprised him. “I was young once, man. I remember how it is.”

  “You do?” He breathed out his relief. “Great. Then you won’t tell my dad?”

  “Not unless he asks. Have fun, Jeff. Don’t get into any trouble. I don’t want to regret giving you a break.”

  Jeff couldn’t believe his luck. As he walked around Zach’s house to the gate, he realized he hadn’t asked Brad what he was doing prowling around at night with a rifle. Maybe he was doing the neighborhood watch thing.

  Jeff opened the creaking gate and saw his friends sitting around the pool in the glow of a fire burning in the barbecue pit.

  “Hey, Jeff! Come on in, man. We thought you weren’t gonna show!”

  “I had some stuff I had to do.” He pulled up a chair and took off his shoes. “Man, I can’t wait to get into that pool.”

  Someone tossed him a beer, and he caught it in the air. “Where’d you get these?”

  “My old man always has beer around. Don’t worry about it.”

  Jeff looked at the can for a moment, trying to decide if he should open it. It wasn’t as if he’d never had a beer before. After baseball games, he and his buddies sometimes went out to the Tower, their favorite place. It was in a cow pasture a few miles away, where a cell phone tower had been built. It was fun to just sit on the trunks of their cars, drinking beer and horsing around, with no worries about parents showing up.

  But for some reason, he didn’t feel quite that free tonight. So he left his can unopened and stripped off his shirt. “So where’s Mandy? I thought you said the girls were coming.”

  “We thought they were, man, but they haven’t shown up yet.”

  Great. So he’d gone to the trouble of sneaking out for nothing. Biting back his disappointment, he dove into the water. He swam deep, low, washing the sweat from his skin. When he came up, Zach’s parents were coming out of the house.

  Zach’s mother, who had to be at least fifty—and looked every bit of it—was wearing a bikini and walking barefoot, a cigarette dangling from her fingers. He tried not to cringe. He expected her to blow a gasket and snatch the beer cans from Zach and his buddies, but instead she went to the stash and got herself one.

  Zach sat on the edge of the pool, the moonlight painting his skin a pale blue. Kyle, Jeff’s best friend, kept doing cannonballs off of the diving board, splashing everyone. Chad, the tallest player on the basketball team, sat by the pool, a beer can in his hand. Ali, Jeff’s Pakistani friend, had gotten out and dropped into a chair. Jeff watched him for a moment, wondering if he was drinking tonight. His family was Muslim, and Ali usually toed the line to avoid his dad’s anger.

  Josh and Nat, both college-aged friends of Zach’s brother, Gary, looked like they’d had a few too many beers already. They went to the diving board, laughing hysterically, planning to perform a triple cannonball—both of them pounding in at the same time to see how much water they could splash.

  Apparently that crossed some line, because Zach’s mother stopped them. “Cut it out, guys. Don’t waste the water!”

  Jeff got out of the water and sat down in the chair where he’d left his beer. He popped the top and took a swig.

  Just then, the gate swung open, and he heard a girl’s voice. “Can you guys hold it down? I could hear you all the way up the street.” Lilty laughter followed.

  “Hey, where’ve you been?” Zach yelled. “We almost gave up on you.”

  Amy pranced up in her one-piece suit, followed by Stacy and Mandy. Jeff grinned. Mandy was here at last. The risk had been worth it, after all.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Amy shouted back. “We had places to go, people to see.”

  “Yeah, right,” Jeff said as Mandy and Stacy followed her in. “They probably had to wait for their parents to go to bed so they could sneak out.”

  Stacy laughed and shoved at him. “How did you know?”

  Zach handed them each a beer, and as Amy opened hers, she said, “We were all sleeping over at my house. My dad’s like a crazy man, scared we’ll get murdered.”

  “I was scared, too.” Mandy’s voice was softer. “I didn’t want to come.”

  “Well, no one jumped out and got us,” Amy said. “We ran all the way.”

  “Somebody has to walk us home, though.” Mandy looked at Jeff. “I mean it. I’m too scared.”

  Jeff couldn’t believe his luck. “I will. Don’t worry, I won’t let anybody get you.”

  The guys all laughed, and Josh and Nat came and picked Amy and Stacy up to throw them into the water. The girls squealed and splashed in. Jeff grabbed Mandy, laughing and tugging her to the edge of the water. Finally he pulled her in, falling in with her.

  This was perfect. He’d had his eye on Mandy for the last six months, and had wanted to do cartwheels when she agreed to go out with him. The stupid outage had ruined his plans. But now he could see that it wasn’t too late.

  She splashed him, and he grabbed her arms and dunked her. Giggling, she came up and tried to get even. He loved the way she flirted.

  The thought of her college boyfriend flashed through his mind, and he wondered if she gave him the same attention. He’d heard there was trouble in that relationship, and he was happy to step in and heal the wounds.

  twenty-one

  Doug rubbed his aching eyes as he tried to focus on the words he read in James 1.

  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

  He sat back in his chair, staring beyond the light into darkness. They were all going to need perseverance.

  He closed his Bible. His eyes were too tired to read any further. He pulled out the windup watch he’d dug out of his dresser drawer and held it under the light. He’d had to guess at the time to set it today, but if the watch was right, it was only one-thirty in the morning. He’d let Jeff sleep for thirty more minutes.

  He got up, stretched, then carried the rifle and the light into the great room. Maybe some night air would invigorate him. He left the lamp on the table and slipped out the back door, his Remington in hand.

  The moon was bright, and the stars had never looked more glorious. The absence of streetlights made the heavens seem deeper, more vast, stars upon stars that almost made him catch his breath. He felt so small, so insignificant, just a speck in the universe. Yet he knew he was more than that. He was precious in God’s sight.

  At that thought, something stirred inside him. He looked up at the skies again, trying to grasp the truth that was running through his mind . . . the truth that this outage had to do with exactly that.

  How precious he was.

  How precious every human on earth was.

  His heart began to pound as he got closer to that truth.

  What if this was all some kind of divine wake-up call, a loving reminder that there was more to life than hurry and busyness and stress and work? A reminder that God was the only One to be trusted, the only constant in life.

  The only sure thing.

  He sat down, weighted by a sense of profound loss—and an even more profound gain. It would be all right. God would see to it. This wasn’t meant to break those affected. It was only to make them stronger.

  That truth seeped into him, settled into his bones, calming and relaxing him. And with that relaxation came a deep fatigue. He could sleep now, knowing that God was in control.

  The quiet assurance settled into his bones, making him see the night with new eyes. It seemed less threatening, but he knew better than to let his guard down. The neighborhood seemed to sleep soundly, but it had seemed that way last night, too. And all the while a killer had taken over the Abernathys’ house.

  That peace he’d had for a moment faded, as he remembered those bodies he’d seen on the floor.

  He glanced around once more, then went back inside, locked the door
, and got a cup of water. Instead of drinking it, he went to the sink and splashed it on his face, trying to stay awake.

  It was all he could do to keep his eyes open until two, but finally the hour came. He went upstairs to Jeff’s room. The door was closed, so he opened it and stepped into the darkness.

  “Jeff, time to get up, buddy.”

  There was no sound, so Doug felt his way to the bed, reached down to shake Jeff awake.

  No one was there.

  “Jeff, where are you?” He went to Jeff’s bathroom door. It was open, but Jeff wasn’t there.

  Doug went back to the living room, got the flashlight he’d put on the mantel, and took it back upstairs. He shone it from one room to another, looking to see if Jeff was sleeping with Logan or somewhere else in the house. But Jeff was nowhere to be found.

  Anger flashed through him. Racing back down the stairs, Doug headed into his own bedroom and woke Kay. She sat up, squinting at him.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s Jeff. He’s gone.”

  “Gone? What do you mean, gone?”

  “He must have gone to Zach’s after we told him he couldn’t. It’s two a.m. and he’s not home.”

  “Oh, Doug!” Fully awake, she got out of bed and pulled on her robe. “You’ve got to go after him.”

  “I’m going,” he said, “but I don’t want to leave you alone.”

  “It’ll be all right,” she said. “Just give me a gun.”

  Doug led her into the study, where he pulled out their .22 and loaded it. “I didn’t see Jeff’s gun. Maybe he at least had sense enough to take it with him.”

  He helped Kay check all the windows and doors, making sure they were locked. Deni had opened hers, and she protested as he closed them, but he told her to go back to sleep and leave them locked. She was too tired to argue.

  When Doug was sure the home was secure, he left Kay sitting alone in the great room and walked to Zach’s. What would make Jeff defy his authority this way? Had he forgotten about the murders?

  He walked a block in the opaque darkness, his flashlight off to save the batteries, and wished for more moonlight to help him on his way. Then again . . . it was probably better for it to be so dark. Less chance someone would see him and suspect him of being the killer. Anger burned inside him that his son had put both of them in such a position.

  As he grew closer to Zach’s house, he heard the sound of loud laughter, which made him even angrier. He’d forbidden Jeff to hang around with Zach for the last couple of years, ever since Doug and Kay determined that Zach’s parents were too “cool” for their own kids’ good. Zach was always acting out in school and getting suspended, and his parents blamed the principal and the teachers for his behavior. When Zach and Jeff were in eighth grade, Zach had been caught bringing alcohol to the Valentine’s Day dance. That had been the final straw. Kay and Doug forbade the friendship to continue.

  So . . . had Jeff been defying them all along?

  Doug went up the sidewalk to the front door and knocked hard. No one answered. He went around to the side of the house, opened the gate, and stepped into the backyard. He saw his son sitting in the light of the fire blazing in a makeshift pit. Jeff had a girl in his lap and a beer in his hand. The pungent odor of marijuana wafted on the breeze.

  Rage launched Doug across the grass. His son didn’t see him coming until he was right in front of him.

  “Dad!”

  “Excuse me, dear”—Doug took the girl’s hand and pulled her up—“but Jeff has to come home.” He fixed his son with a glare. “Now, Jeff.”

  “But, Dad!”

  “Just tell me one thing,” Doug said through his teeth. “Did you bring your shotgun with you or not?”

  “Yeah, I did. It’s—” Jeff looked around, eyes suddenly wide, as if he’d forgotten where he’d put it.

  Doug smelled the alcohol on his son’s breath.

  “Oh, there it is.” Jeff’s attempt to walk straight was overdone.

  He wondered how many beers the boy’d had. And where were Zach’s parents?

  Jeff retrieved his gun from where he’d left it on the patio, then hung it over his shoulder like a soldier marching off to war. Doug jerked the weapon out of his hand and opened the action to see if it was loaded. It was. Just what he needed. A drunk son with a loaded gun.

  “We’re going home,” Doug said.

  Jeff looked back at the girl and shrugged. A few of his so-called friends muttered disappointed good-byes.

  Thankfully, Jeff kept his mouth shut as he followed Doug out the gate and into the street.

  “Dad, look, I’m sorry. I jus’ wanted—”

  “Your best bet is to not insult me with your explanations,” Doug said through his teeth. “I counted on you to take over for me tonight, but I should have known you weren’t mature enough to take that responsibility.”

  “Dad, you can count on me.”

  “How?” he shouted. “How can I count on you when you’re drunk?”

  “I’m not drunk. I jus’ hadda few beers.” The assertion would have been far more convincing were it not slurred. “No big deal. I jus’ wanted something fun to do. It’s been a real drag around that house.”

  “It’s a drag everywhere. You think I’m having fun?” Doug asked. “You think your mother’s having fun? Do you think anybody out here is having fun?”

  “Does it have to be that way? What’s wrong with having a few hours of fun?” Jeff asked. “It’s not like we were drinking and driving. It was no big deal. Just a bunch of guys horsing around.”

  Doug swung around, putting his face inches from his son’s. The smell of alcohol almost knocked him back. “There is a killer in this neighborhood, Jeff. Two people were murdered last night. Don’t you understand how serious this is? I had to leave our family vulnerable and come looking for you tonight. Your mother is keeping guard. Is that all right with you? Because it’s sure not all right with me.”

  Jeff’s face paled. “I’m sorry, Dad.”

  “Oh, you’ll be sorry, all right.”

  Jeff was quiet as they finished the trek home.

  Kay was waiting, and she took one whiff of Jeff and ground her teeth. “How dare you?”

  “Mom, I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re sorry. You’re one of the men of this house. You’re supposed to help your father. He needs you. He can’t do this by himself.”

  “I’m here now! I’ll keep watch for the rest of the night.”

  “No, you won’t.” Kay started to cry as she pointed toward the stairs. “You go to your room and go to bed. Sleep it off. We’ll deal with you in the morning.”

  Jeff just stood there. “Mom, please don’t cry. I didn’t do anything that bad.”

  “You’ve been drinking,” she said. “You’re sixteen years old and you’ve been drinking. You know that’s forbidden in even the best of times. Why in the world would you do it now, when things are so scary? Why would you do that to your father? Why would you do it to yourself?”

  “I didn’t mean to.”

  “Didn’t mean to?” Kay grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her. “Did someone force you to drink?”

  “No.”

  Doug heard footsteps on the stairs, and he turned to see Deni come into the doorway. “Mom, what’s going on? What happened?”

  “Your brother snuck out,” she said, keeping her eyes on Jeff. “That’s what.”

  Deni looked disgusted. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Shut up, Miss Perfect,” he said. “I didn’t do anything you haven’t done a million times before.” He stormed past her and marched up the stairs.

  “That’s not true!” Deni turned back to her parents. “Mom and Dad, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

  “I don’t want to hear it.” Kay sounded as weary as Doug felt. “Just go back to bed.”

  Deni opened her mouth to argue, but Doug pointed at her.

  “Deni, do it!”

&nbsp
; She huffed out a breath, but slowly headed for the stairs. He leaned against the wall rubbing his eyes. Doug was exhausted, but he couldn’t even consider going to sleep.

  Kay eased one of the guns out of his hand. “Honey, you go to bed. I’ll stay up and keep watch.”