the kitchen wall phone, he saw that Abra was already up. She was still in her pajamas. Her hair was every whichway, her eyes were red, and her face was pale. She was clutching Hoppy, her old stuffed rabbit.
“Abba-Doo? Honey? Are you sick?”
Yes. No. I don’t know. But you will be, when you hear what I’m going to tell you.
“I need to talk to you, Daddy. And I don’t want to go to school today. Tomorrow, either. Maybe not for awhile.” She hesitated. “I’m in trouble.”
The first thing that phrase brought to mind was so awful that he pushed it away at once, but not before Abra caught it.
She smiled wanly. “No, I’m not pregnant.”
He stopped on his way to her, halfway across the kitchen, his mouth falling open. “You . . . did you just—”
“Yes,” she said. “I just read your mind. Although anyone could have guessed what you were thinking that time, Daddy—it was all over your face. And it’s called shining, not mind-reading. I can still do most of the things that used to scare you when I was little. Not all, but most.”
He spoke very slowly. “I know you still sometimes have premonitions. Your mom and I both know.”
“It’s a lot more than that. I have a friend. His name is Dan. He and Dr. John have been in Iowa—”
“John Dalton?”
“Yes—”
“Who’s this Dan? Is he a kid Dr. John treats?”
“No, he’s a grown-up.” She took his hand and led him to the kitchen table. There they sat down, Abra still holding Hoppy. “But when he was a kid, he was like me.”
“Abs, I’m not understanding any of this.”
“There are bad people, Daddy.” She knew she couldn’t tell him they were more than people, worse than people, until Dan and John were here to help her explain. “They might want to hurt me.”
“Why would anyone want to hurt you? You’re not making sense. As for all those things you used to do, if you could still do them, we’d kn—”
The drawer below the hanging pots flew open, then shut, then opened again. She could no longer lift the spoons, but the drawer was enough to get his attention.
“Once I understood how much it worried you guys—how much it scared you—I hid it. But I can’t hide it anymore. Dan says I have to tell.”
She pressed her face against Hoppy’s threadbare fur and began to cry.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THEY CALL IT STEAM
1
John turned on his cell as soon as he and Dan emerged from the jetway at Logan Airport late Thursday afternoon. He had no more than registered the fact that he had well over a dozen missed calls when the phone rang in his hand. He glanced down at the window.
“Stone?” Dan asked.
“I’ve got a lot of missed calls from the same number, so I’d say it has to be.”
“Don’t answer. Call him back when we’re on the expressway north and tell him we’ll be there by—” Dan glanced at his watch, which he had never changed from Eastern Time. “By six. When we get there, we’ll tell him everything.”
John reluctantly pocketed his cell. “I spent the flight back hoping I’m not going to lose my license to practice over this. Now I’m just hoping the cops don’t grab us as soon as we park in front of Dave Stone’s house.”
Dan, who had consulted several times with Abra on their way back across the country, shook his head. “She’s convinced him to wait, but there’s a lot going on in that family just now, and Mr. Stone is one confused American.”
To this, John offered a smile of singular bleakness. “He’s not the only one.”
2
Abra was sitting on the front step with her father when Dan swung into the Stones’ driveway. They had made good time; it was only five thirty.
Abra was up before Dave could grab her and came running down the walk with her hair flying out behind her. Dan saw she was heading for him, and handed the towel-wrapped fielder’s mitt to John. She threw herself into his arms. She was trembling all over.
(you found him you found him and you found the glove give it to me)
“Not yet,” Dan said, setting her down. “We need to thrash this out with your dad first.”
“Thrash what out?” Dave asked. He took Abra by the wrist and pulled her away from Dan. “Who are these bad people she’s talking about? And who the hell are you?” His gaze shifted to John, and there was nothing friendly in his eyes.