Free The Night Visitor by Dianne Emley

The couple moved back in tandem to make way. Auburn stepped into the living room followed by Rodriguez. Auburn opened his mouth to speak.
    Sylvia began shaking her head, as if trying to stall what he had come there to say.
    Auburn put his hand on her shoulder. She stepped beneath his arm and hugged him around the waist. He patted her back. Her husband circled his arm around her. Auburn patted Elias’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he said.

20
    Sylvia sent her exhausted husband to bed and went with the detectives to her mother’s house to tell her about Danny.
    Thankfully, Fermina had gone to bed early, as usual, and hadn’t seen the TV reports. She took the news with remarkable serenity and expressed concern about the health of Rory Langtry. Fermina assured Sylvia that she was fine and sent her daughter home to get some sleep.
    Back at her house, Sylvia took Auburn and Rodriguez to Danny’s room in the garage. When she saw that Danny had left the padlock open on the walk-through door, she knew that he hadn’t planned to come back. When Danny had installed the padlock several weeks ago, it was physical proof of something that Sylvia had sensed for months: Danny had changed. He’d also put locks on the cabinets inside the garage.
    She’d asked him, “What’s up with the locks, Danny? We don’t lock things up from each other.”
    He’d said, “Guess we do now.”
    “Whatcha hidin’ in there, li’l bro?”
    “Snakes. Monsters. Don’t let ’em out.”
    “Show me.”
    “Can’t, Sylvie. Leave it be.”
    Something in his tone had made her step back, something different and disturbing.
    Forensic investigators and more police arrived to search the garage. They stayed until almost dawn.

    Sylvia went to bed after the police left. Her husband and two children were deeply asleep, but she was too rattled to even keep her eyes closed. She got up. Chiclets, the family’s terrier mix, rose from his bed in a corner of the master bedroom and followed her. In her robe and slippers, Sylvia went out the back door and across the backyard to the garage. When she opened the walk-through door, Chiclets ran inside past her legs. She felt for the light switch and turned it on. The concrete floor felt cool through the soles of her slippers.
    Chiclets hopped onto Danny’s unmade bed, which was a mattress and box spring on the floor in the middle of the garage. The dog lay there with his head against his paws, his furry eyebrows moving up and down as he watched Sylvia.
    Other than the bed, there were a few clothes hanging on a rolling rack and a handful of toiletries on an old table. An upended wooden crate served as a nightstand. On top were candles, an overflowing ashtray, an open pack of cigarettes, and a Bic lighter. Candles also circled the floor around the bed.
    Weeks ago Danny had started giving away his belongings, even things he could have sold. He had given his niece, Vanessa, his iPod and his nephew, Georgie, his guitar and his letterman jacket.
    Sylvia had asked him, “The kids love the presents, but why are you giving away your stuff?”
    He’d raised his hands. “Don’t need it.” He’d pointed to his collection of trophies and school yearbooks. “Take those or give them to Mom.”
    “Danny, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
    Detective Auburn had remarked on the dramatic change in Danny. “Sylvia, how did Danny go from being a regular guy, an athlete, to this?” He had indicated the room. “He dropped out of college. Got fired from his job. He looked sick. He was emaciated.”

    Sylvia had sighed and made a face showing she didn’t have a clue. She hadn’t told Auburn about other disturbing changes in Danny. Like how he’d hardly slept. He’d stopped going out with his friends. He’d rarely come out of this garage, and when he had, he’d spent all his time in Junior’s hospital room.
    Sylvia’s eyes were dry. She hadn’t cried over Danny’s death. She felt empty. Like they’d lost him long