Free Perfect Nightmare by John Saul Page A

can still be a chill in the air.) But most important, rain means the house will be gloomier and I will feel more at home.
    More at home.
    Now why did I say that? After all, I already feel at home in that house.
    In that bedroom.
    That sweet, virginal bedroom.
    I can’t wait. . . .

Chapter Thirteen
    “P lease?” Lindsay pleaded. “I went with you last weekend and it was awful. And I was awful! I was rude to that real estate lady, and I hated everything, and I almost threw up in the lobby of that one building. Why would you even want me to go?” She saw her father glance uncertainly at her mother, and decided to play another card. “Besides, I have cheerleading practice.”
    Kara shook her head. “We want to make sure we buy something we can all live with, honey. That’s why we want you with us when we look—you need to help us decide.”
    “But it was all so awful last week,” Lindsay repeated.
    “I know it was, but today it will be better, and we really want you to spend the day with us in the city.”
    “With you and the Raven.”
    “C'mon, kitten,” Steve said. “It’ll be fun.” He wrapped his toast around two pieces of bacon and bit off half of it, washing it down with coffee.
    “You think that’s fun?” Lindsay asked incredulously. “Well, it isn’t. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be looking at in those places—all they look like to me is a bunch of empty rooms that don’t seem like anyone could ever live in them. Can’t you guys choose?”
    Kara shook her head again. “We are not going to buy a place without you seeing it first. We’re a family, remember? And I’m afraid I don’t really see the point of you going to practice, either, since you’re not going to be on the squad here next year.”
    “You don’t know that,” Lindsay said, a note of desperation coming into her voice. “I mean—not for sure. Maybe the house won’t sell, and I’ll at least get to graduate with my friends. Or maybe you can move to the city right away, and I’ll move in with Dawn or something.”
    Kara looked at Steve, and he could see that she was wavering. “What about that nightmare you had the other night?” he said to his daughter. “I’m not sure what time we’ll be back, and you don’t want to come home to an empty house this afternoon, do you?”
    “I’ll go to Dawn’s after practice and hang out until you get home,” Lindsay said, speaking so quickly that her parents both knew it wasn’t an idea she’d come up with on the spur of the moment.
    Simultaneously, both Steve and Kara sighed in surrender, neither willing to have the argument expand into a full-fledged fight that would ruin the day for all of them. “I guess that works,” Kara finally said.
    “If it’s okay with your mom, it’s okay with me,” Steve agreed, shrugging. “But I still wish—”
    “The open house here is from one to four,” Kara interjected, cutting Steve off before he could rekindle the argument. “We should be back by five—six at the latest.”
    Not if we find a place and decide to write an offer, Steve thought, but refrained from saying it, certain that the idea of buying a place today would only upset Lindsay even more. “If we’re going to be later than that, we’ll call. Okay?”
    Lindsay nodded, feeling better now that she realized she’d won the argument. But then she saw her mother’s eyes cloud.
    “Oh, Lord,” Kara groaned. “I forgot—we’re having dinner with the Bennetts.”
    Steve’s brows arched as he turned to Lindsay, seizing the dinner as one last chance to convince her to change her mind. “C'mon, kitten. We’re having dinner at Café des Artistes. You’ll love it—come with us.”
    For a moment she seemed to waver. “Who else is going to be there?” she asked.
    “Mitch Bennett and his wife.”
    Lindsay’s eyes rolled. “Ooh, that sounds like a lot of fun. A whole evening of watching an old man grope his trophy wife. I think I’ll