Only then…
She saw the movement again. And this time, she really saw it. Over by the window on the south side of Katie Hollister’s home. If Annie wasn’t mistaken, and she knew she wasn’t, it was at Katie’s bedroom window. Someone was climbing out. Straightening up. Looking around furtively before heading down the street.
Someone who’d crawled in that window twenty minutes before, when Annie had thought she’d seen something?
Someone who looked alarmingly like Becky’s son, Shane.
SHE WAS WRONG. She had to be wrong. She was definitely wrong. But just to be sure, Annie grabbed her phone and dialed Becky’s cell phone. Her friend always had it with her at night, in case of emergency. She turned it to Vibrate, so it wouldn’t wake her father or Shane if it rang.
“Annie? Are you…?” Becky sounded wide-awake.Much more so than Annie felt. “What?”
“You were getting up at six to do the test. Was it positive?”
She’d actually forgotten, for the moment. “I haven’t done it yet.”
“You need a pep talk, first? You want me to come over and sit with you, while you wait for the results?”
“I need you to go check Shane’s bedroom.”
“Why?” Becky’s entire tone changed.
“Just do it, please?”
There were shuffling sounds in the background—Becky taking her phone with her down the hall to her son’s bedroom. Annie counted to ten. And then again. Please let him be there, she prayed. Let him—
“He’s in his bed—” Becky’s whisper broke off. “No he’s not. His pillows are tucked under the covers, to make it look like a body’s there.”
Damn.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
“What do you know, Ann?” Becky asked, all business and strength for the moment.
“I just saw him climb out of Katie Hollister’s bedroom window.”
“You think he’s sleeping with her? He’s only fifteen years old!”
“I don’t know what to think,” Annie said quickly, more worried about a drug buy than sex at the moment. “What are you going to do now?”
“Sit right here and wait for him to sneak back in.”
Annie would like to be a fly on the wall for that one. “And then what?”
“I have no idea. I’m hoping something comes to me between now and then.”
“Be firm with him, Bec. Don’t go feeling sorry for him because he doesn’t have a father there with him.”
“I know. I won’t.”
“And don’t let him give you any guff. He might have grown taller than you this past year, but you’re still the boss there.”
“I know.”
“You going to tell your dad?”
“Who knows? Probably. But not until after I hear what Shane has to sa
y.”