Hells put in a skating rink, Shane said. This is actually edible, Eve.
Again, Claire had the impulse to claim creditand managed not to, mostly because that would have required her to stop shoveling pasta into her mouth.
Claire, Eve said. Shes the cook, not me. I just, you know, supervised. Which gave Claire a pleasant little spurt of gratitude and surprise.
See? I knew that.
Eve flipped him off and noisily sucked some spaghetti into her mouth.
Claire got to the bottom of the bowl firsteven before Michael or Shaneand sat back with a sigh of utter contentment. Nap, she thought. I could take a nap.
Guys, Michael said. Were still in trouble. You know that, right?
Yeah, Eve said. But now we have catered trouble.
He ignored her, except for a brief little quirk of a smile, and focused on Shane. You need to tell me everything, Michael said.
No bullshit, man. Every last thing, from the time you left Morganville.
Shane seemed to lose his appetite.
Which, for Shane, was not a good sign at all.
The vampires had offered them money. Cash compensation. It was Morganvilles version of Allstate, only it wasnt insuranceit was blood money for a dead child.
And the Collins familyDad, Mom, and Shanehad packed up whatever had survived the fire that had taken Alyssa, and left town in the middle of the night. Running. That probably would have been that, Shane explained; people did leave town from time to time, and it was rarely any trouble. Michaels own parents had taken off. Butsomething went wrong with Molly Collins.
At first, shed just space, Shane said. Hed drained his beer, and now he was just rolling the bottle between his palms. Stare at things, like she was trying to remember something. Dad didnt notice. He was drinking a lot. We ended up in Odessa, and Dad got a job at the recycling plant. He wasnt home much.