Free Kiss of the Wolf by Jim Shepard Page B

head.
    Nina peered at him. “Did he just lose a son?” she asked. “What is it with you people today? Don’t start with me. We’re talking five minutes here.”
    â€œHe just came over,” Todd said.
    â€œWhat’s he, live two houses down?” Nina said, exasperated. “Get in the car. Put the dog in the house and get in the car.”
    Todd grabbed Audrey by the collar without calling her and dragged her toward the house. She thought she’d been bad and went limp, so she was harder to pull. Brendan watched him struggle, with a little smirk.
    â€œTake the helmet off,” Todd said, frustrated. “I gotta go.”
    â€œCan I keep it on till you get back?” Brendan said.
    Todd’s mother came out of the house. She looked grim. “Let’s go, if we’re going,” she said.
    â€œTake it off,” Todd said. “I gotta go.”
    â€œYou’re going?” Joanie said. “You don’t have to go.”
    â€œHe should go,” Nina said. “Don’t you start with me now. I just went through all of this with him.”
    â€œMa, what’s he have to go for?” Joanie said.
    Nina swore.
    â€œYou got the other one,” Brendan said. “Why can’t I keep this one till you get back? You ain’t gonna use it.”
    â€œMa, he can’t go,” Joanie said.
    â€œHe can’t?” Nina said. “Why can’t he?”
    Brendan was hitting his facemask with his palm from different angles. Audrey sniffed the air around him to try and sort out what he was doing.
    â€œGet in the car,” Joanie said, angry. “Grandma’s decided you have to go.”
    â€œI’m go ing,” Todd said. “I’m going.”
    â€œSo I can keep the helmet till then?” Brendan asked.
    â€œTake it off, ” Todd said.
    Brendan yanked it off his head like someone pulling taffy. When he got it off, his ears looked like he’d been out three hours in the dead of winter.
    â€œI’ll see you later,” Brendan said disgustedly.
    â€œYou can come back,” Todd said.
    â€œYeah. I’ll get right over here,” Brendan said.
    Todd got in the car. Nina put it into gear. They backed down the driveway. They passed Brendan, who didn’t look up. “Now he’s mad at me,” Todd complained.
    â€œDon’t worry about him,” Nina said. “Worry about me.”
    They drove without anybody saying anything. Todd rolled his window down.
    The Monteleones lived in Lordship, ten minutes away.
    Todd’s mother was looking out her window. He was dizzy and a little sick. He had a fantasy that they had the body there and they were going to make him touch it.
    Nina adjusted her side mirror, and he could see his eyes. He thought, What you’re doing now: this has to be some kind of sacrilege.
    â€œYou gotta move outta Milford,” Nina said. “You’re not near anybody. Milford. You know whose idea that was.”
    She meant it was Todd’s father’s idea.
    They went over the Devon bridge. The metal part in the middle made the noise under the tires he remembered from the Merritt Parkway bridge the night before.
    â€œLucia said they said he was dead before he hit the ground,” Nina said. “He wasn’t dragged or anything. Least he didn’t suffer.”
    â€œMa,” his mother said.
    Nina shrugged. Todd closed his eyes so tightly he saw lights behind them.
    â€œHow old was he?” his mother asked. She was still looking out her window.
    â€œHow old could he a been?” Nina said. “He was born five, six years after you. So what’s that make him? Twenty-eight? Twenty-nine?”
    They drove on. Bradlees’, Spada’s Blue Goose Restaurant, Avco-Lycoming Industries.
    â€œIt’s a sin,” Nina said.
    â€œHave they told Perry?” Joanie asked. Perry was Tommy’s younger brother. He was in the Navy.
    Todd’s