Free Cry For Tomorrow by Dianna Hunter Page A

said softly. Letting the cloth drop, I moved on to the largest mass in the center of the room. “Rosa, Jake,” I sobbed, and looked back at the police officer. “They were the best people I ever knew—they were more loving and concerned for me than my own mother ever was.”
    I was nearly choking on the sobs caught in my throat and it was getting hard to see through the tears running from my eyes but I had to do this. On fear-stiff legs, I slowly moved from one sheet to the next, identifying each of the slain children from six-year old Keven to fourteen-year old Mandie. The slaughter of these innocent children was devastating, but my mind clutched at a single thought. Some of the younger children were missing—and Kelly wasn’t among the dead.
    Trying not to get my hopes too high, I dropped the cloth over the face of the last body and stood up. I let my gaze flash across the room—there had to be some kind of clue. I spotted a splash of bright red lying near the door to the kitchen beyond. I was holding the hat with its floppy red flower to my chest, sobbing softly when an argument erupted in the doorway behind me. A moment later Jennie burst past the policemen and charged across the room.
    “Halie, I’m so sorry,” Jennie whispered as she pulled me close and held me.
    “Shshsh,” I whispered through the tangle of our hair. “I don’t want them to know. Kelly’s not here, but I think I know where to look for her.”
    The big police lieutenant crossed the room and patted my shoulder. “Hey, I’m really sorry you kids had to walk in on this. They’ll be loading, hurrummff ,” he coughed into his handkerchief and shook his head sympathetically, “loading the bodies up now and taking them to the morgue. As soon as the coroner is done with his examination, you and whatever family you have can claim them.”
    “Thanks f-for everything,” I managed to stammer through my tears. I didn’t protest when he led Jennie and me back out to the front porch and away from the bloody room.
    A hard-faced police woman came out after a few minutes and took down all the names and information I could give her. She never noticed that none of the names she wrote down matched mine.
    It didn’t take very long for the police to finish loading the black body bags into the ambulance and seal off the entrances to the house with strips of yellow tape. It was a battle to keep my anxiety under control. I needed to find Kelly, but I forced myself to stay huddled in Jennie’s arms until the last hover-cruiser disappeared around the corner.
    “Come on, I think I know where Kelly would hide if there was trouble!” I pulled away from Jennie’s arms and charged off the porch. Running so fast that I stumbled in the thick grass a couple of times, I raced around the end of the porch and through a narrow gap in the hedge that hid the rest of the house and yards from the street. Jennie and Dusty were right behind me.
    The yards behind the big old house were a maze of small vegetable and flower gardens interspersed with trellised berry bushes and grapes and fruit trees, all standing gaunt and naked in the winter sun. And in the midst of this stood a large shed sided with wood that had turned silver with age. A lean-to covered in wire-mesh hung off one side and housed Rosa’s prized flock of chickens. I’d spent many pleasant hours wandering the stone-paved paths, enjoying the flowers and nibbling on fresh-picked fruit but today that was all forgotten as I trampled through the dead flowers and brittle remains of the gardens to reach the door of the shed.
    The rusty hinges squealed in protest when I threw the door wide but I stopped there, frozen in the doorway. What if I’m wrong?
    “K-Kelly? Kelly are you there?” I called in a voice raspy with fear as I tried to see through the dusty half-light that was all that filtered through the one small, dirty window.
    My call was answered by the crash of cans toppling and breaking glass and the