Shocking Pink

“Scarves.”

Raven moved to pick one up; Andie caught her hand. “Don’t touch it.”

“Why not? I’ll put them back the way I found them.” She shook off Andie’s hand and picked one up. It was long and narrow and semisheer. “It’s so soft. Feel it.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Andie did. The fabric slithered through her fingers, as soft as butterfly wings. “My mom has a scarf that feels like this. It’s silk.”

“Silk,” Raven repeated. “Why did he bring these here? What are they for?” She met Andie’s eyes. “Who is he, Andie? What’s he doing here?”

Andie searched her friend’s gaze. “I don’t know. But I don’t think we need to find out.”

Julie came up behind them, white as a sheet. “I don’t feel so good. I want to go.”

Andie nodded, then nudged Raven who had turned her attention back to the scarf. She seemed almost mesmerized by it and her own questions. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“They’re for a woman, that’s for sure. But who? Why did he bring them here? And why two of them?”

Julie moaned and bent slightly at the waist. Andie put an arm around her. “Come on, Raven,” she said again. “Julie’s sick.”

As if only just realizing Andie had spoken, Raven looked blankly at her. “What?”

“Julie’s sick. We’ve got to get out of here.”

Raven nodded, refolded the scarf, then the three of them left the way they had come in. As they did, Andie glanced back at the dark house. She was never coming back here, she promised herself. Never.

6

For the next few days, all Andie and her friends could talk about was the mystery man and their brush with danger. They were certain Mr. X, as they had begun to call him, was up to no good, but they could only speculate as to what kind. Which, for Andie and Julie, was enough. Neither girl had any desire to get that close to Mr. X or that house again.

Raven, on the other hand, wanted to find out exactly what Mr. X was doing. “Aren’t you guys even curious?” she asked her two friends. They sat in Andie’s front yard, drinking Cokes. Even in the shade, the midday air was stifling.

“Nope. Not that curious, anyway.” Andie brought her cold, damp can to her forehead. “I just want to forget it.”

“Me, too,” Julie added. “I’ve never been so scared in my whole life.”

“Listen to yourselves, guys. You say you want to forget it, but it’s all you can talk about. Besides,” Raven persisted, “how can we forget it? We were in that house. We know something’s wrong with that guy.”

“I don’t know that.” Andie flopped back onto the grass, cursing the heat. “Neither do you. We were the ones who were wrong. We didn’t belong in there.”

“He didn’t either.” Raven leaned toward Andie. “That house is supposed to be empty.” She turned to Julie. “Be honest, you thought something about him was wrong. Didn’t you?”

“Well … he was pretty creepy.” Julie rubbed her arms.

“And Rave’s right, Andie. He wasn’t supposed to be in there.”

“You guys are nuts.” Andie sat back up, looking at the two in disbelief. “We weren’t supposed to be in there. We broke in, for Pete’s sake. Get real.”

“You get real.” Raven drew her knees to her chest. “This is our neighborhood. It’s Julie’s street. What if he’s some sort of freak? A murderer or a … a child molester?”

“A murderer? A child molester?” Andie rolled her eyes. “The guy drank a beer in a house we think is supposed to be empty. Come on, Rave, you’re taking this too far.”

“I don’t think so. Read the newspaper any day of the week. Those freaks are everywhere.” Raven lowered her voice. “You don’t want that kind of person in our neighborhood, do you? Around Julie’s little brothers? Around yours?”

“No, but—”

“Geez, Andie—” Raven made a sound of disgust “—you used to be the one who looked out for everybody. Remember? You used to care about right and wrong. You used to do something about it.”

“I still care. But I’m not sure this guy’s doing anything wrong. I mean, of course we were scared. We should have been, look what we were doing. Maybe he’s perfectly innocent. He probably has every right to be in that house.”

“Be honest, Andie. You don’t believe that.” Raven faced her. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn’t think the way he came in and sat in the dark drinking a beer was weird? Tell me you don’t think there’s something strange about a partially filled house that’s supposed to be empty?”

“And don’t forget those icky black scarves,” Julie piped in, making a face. “That was so creepy.”

Andie closed her eyes and recalled the quiet way the man had moved around the kitchen, the measured sound of his breathing, how he had made her feel, and she shuddered, gooseflesh racing up her arms. She rubbed them, feeling chilled despite the heat of the day. “Okay, okay. He was creepy. The whole thing was weird. So what?”

Raven turned to Julie. “Tell her what you found out.”

Julie leaned conspiratorially toward them, lowering her voice to a dramatic whisper. “I asked my mom about the house again, you know, just to be sure. I asked if it had been sold or rented or anything, and she said she didn’t think so. She said she had even mentioned that house to Mrs. Butcher, the real estate agent.” Julie dragged in a deep breath. “Mrs. Butcher told her all four houses were still owned by the builder.”

Andie shuddered again, her chill going clear to her bones. “So, what do we do?” she asked, looking from one friend to the other. “Go to our folks?”

Raven pursed her lips. “And what do we tell them? That when we broke into the house we discovered someone living there?”

“My dad would kick my butt for even looking in a window.” Julie shook her head. “If he ever found out what I did …”

She let the thought trail off, but all three knew that the Good Reverend Cooper was capable of any number of horrible punishments, including splitting the three of them up. For good.

“We could say we heard music,” Andie offered, rolling her Coke can between her palms, staring at the grass. “We could say we thought we saw someone go into the—”

“Andie!” Julie grabbed her arm. “Look, it’s your dad.”

He was turning into the driveway. The way he had countless times before. He was coming home. “I knew it,” she whispered, turning to her friends. “I knew he couldn’t do it. He’s coming back, you guys.”

Raven and Julie exchanged glances. Raven cleared her throat. “Andie, don’t get your hopes up.”

“Why else would he be here? In the middle of the day?”

He opened the car door, and she jumped to her feet and ran toward him. “Hey, Dad!”

He turned and looked at her, his face white with rage. Andie stopped in her tracks, her pleasure evaporating. “Dad? What’s wrong?”

“Where’s your mother?” He slammed the car door. “Is she inside?”

“I think so. I—”

“You stay here, Andie. This is between me and your mother.”

Andie watched him head for the house, then scurried after him, despite his order that she not. He reached the front door and opened it without knocking. “Marge,” he called, stepping inside. Then louder, “Marge!”