Free The Dark: A Collection (Point Horror) by Linda Cargill

about
Harry's family having a hard time. She had no idea that his
financial problems were this bad.
    He shrugged as he
started down Old Church Road toward the Churchyard Oaks Subdivision,
where Bianca lived next to Christ's Church. He didn't have to ask
where to go. Everybody on the island knew where everybody else lived.
    She heard an engine
starting up behind them. Bianca didn't see anybody. It must just be
the police car heading home for the night.
    "St. Simons Island
is too small to have an employment agency, so my mom signed up with
one of those temporary agencies in Brunswick. That's why she isn't
home most days until late. She has to drive a long way to work. They
assign her jobs all over the place, from St. Simons to Jekyll to
Brunswick, sometimes as far down the highway as Jacksonville,
Florida."
    Harry turned and
looked over his shoulder into the darkness, as if he heard something,
too.
    "What job is she
working at now?" Bianca asked. The warm night air blew in the
windows, which were rolled all the way down. The car didn't have
any air-conditioning.
    "Last I heard Mom
was manning the cash register at a paint store in Brunswick."
    "What do you mean
the last you heard!"
    "She keeps on
getting fired. Word gets around that she's Mike's mother. The
store owners don't feel safe with her on the premises. Afraid Mike
will pop up. Think he'll escape like he finally did this afternoon.
Sometimes Mom changes jobs a couple times a week. Each time the job
gets farther away — where they haven't heard about Mike yet."
    "That's not
fair!"
    "Truth is, the
agency's thinking of dropping her. Too much bad publicity."
    "What will your
mother do?"
    "Promised her I'd
support her. I'm not doing a very good job of it. I can't tell
her I got fired. She'll have a fit. I'll have to find another job
real quick."
    Bianca had imagined
she had it bad. At least she had a roof over her head. Her parents
were employed. No one had fired them.
    Bianca had an idea.
"I'm almost eighteen. My birthday's right after graduation. I'm
coming into some money in a few weeks."
    Up until now she'd
never liked to think about that money, let alone talk about it. It
had always made her feel so mixed up, depressed and guilty, as if she
were stealing the Shipleys' money under the false pretenses of
being a hero. Sharing it with somebody who really needed it made her
feel so much better.
    "I could loan some
money to you and your mom. There's supposed to be a money market
cash fund that I can draw upon right away for emergency expenses. I
certainly don't need it all and—"
    Harry screeched to a
stop along the side of the road. She put her hands out only just in
time to keep herself from being thrown against the dash.
    "Folks can badmouth
me all they want. There's no way anybody will ever say that Harry
Fellini took money from you!"
    "You could pay it
back when you wanted to and—
    He grasped her
shoulders. "Can't you see what people are going to say about you
and me? They'll gossip that I stole you from Rick so I could take
your money. They'll claim that I was the killer. They'll say that
I counted on the Shipleys giving you loads of money because they're
so rich. That's why I killed the Shipleys' maid and let you and
Little Katie escape."
    "No!"
    "Remember what I
said about how people will eat you alive if you let them? We can't
give them ammunition by doing something so stupid as having you give
me money. Remember, people think a Fellini would do anything."
    She nodded. "You've
been so nice to me. Nobody's ever been so nice to me since. . ."
    He gave her a kiss in
the middle of the forehead. "You're so sweet!" His voice was a
little hoarse.
    Shyly, she gave him a
little kiss back. It felt so good the way they were sharing their
innermost fears and feelings. Her arms went around his waist. She
wanted him to make her feel better now that Doc had made her so sad.
The more Harry kissed her as they fell to the seat together, the
better she felt. One thing led to another