Free Hot Zone by Sandy Holden Page A

what to do.”
    He gave me a grin. “You know, I’ve always wanted to see the inside of your house. It’s the coolest one around here.”
    I considered him, shaking my head. He tried another tack. “I want to go,” he said baldly. “If you insist on staying here, I’ll stay as well. But I am asking you to help me move everyone to your parents’ house.”
    There it was. Put that way, I was able to let go gracefully. “If that’s what you want, then I’m in.” Now that we’d made the decision, there was suddenly a whole lot to do. We worked together, Tucker and I, and threw clothes into suitcases and a few bags, and Tucker loaded up his truck. It was snowing gently as I put my own suitcase in my car. It was around four in the afternoon now, and the clouds were hurrying dusk along.
    Tucker hadn’t wanted me to drive initially, but had given in on that. We really couldn’t fit everyone in his truck anyway. Meri was awake but obviously not feeling well. We had her sit and rest, so she could help us move Phil. Hopefully Phil wouldn’t make a fuss. If she did, we might have to put this whole thing off until tomorrow. It turned out not to be an issue. Phil was sound asleep, and refused to wake for more than a couple of minutes. I put her coat on over her pjs and Tucker carefully picked her up and put her in my car. He put Meri in the back seat of my little Civic, and she immediately lay down on the seat, her head on the covered bowl of veggies I’d so recently cut up.
    Tucker got into the truck, and we made the short trip over to Mom and Dad’s place. As I drove up the winding driveway, I felt a sense of peace, as if I had come home. And of course this had been my home for years before I officially moved out.
    I skipped out of the car and put in the numbers for the security system. We let ourselves in, and I turned up the heat. In the meantime, Meri and Phil (who was still playing possum) sat on the couch and kept their coats on.
    Tucker unloaded the truck and I opened the bedrooms. The house was too big for just Mom and Dad, and they didn’t use most of it. Dad did pretty well financially, and they both had fallen in love with this house to hear them tell it. Dad was pretty handy, and what he couldn’t do, he hired someone else to do, so the house had some touches that were a bit unusual, including a secret room in the basement off the laundry room that even had a safe room in it. Yeah, Dad had a fear of violence, and we’d always been prepared for the attacks that never came.
    I thought Meri and Phil could sleep in Mom and Dad’s room for now. The bed was big, and there was a couch in their room, so if they weren’t doing well, I could sleep in there and keep an eye on things. I turned on the electric blanket and the TV, then got the girls and herded them in. I helped them into bed (Phil was awake now but seemed quiet and subdued and was docile enough), and went off to help Tucker.
    An hour later, we were relatively snug. Meri was asleep, but Phil was sitting on the bed, not far from me on the couch, eating an English muffin. We were, as usual, watching the news. Tucker was absent, however. He had been prowling around the house ever since we arrived. I had no idea what he was finding—I’d lived here forever, and it was the same old place to me.
    We didn’t keep very well to a schedule since Meri and Phil were sick. Phil (I kept my fingers crossed as I said this, even to myself) seemed to be on the mend, but unlike me, she seemed changed. She was sitting near Meri, sometimes stroking her hair, and singing. Definitely not Phil behavior. And she didn’t talk much. Maybe she was just tired and would get better soon. I hoped so, ‘cause this new Phil was a little creepy.
    So it was midnight, and I’d fallen asleep in front of the TV (and what a gorgeous TV it was). Tucker had reset the motion detectors after finding a manual (good for him, I had thought. I could never understand that stuff), so they came on