Page 63

CHAPTER 63

ARTHUR FUSSED OVER BABY all the way back to the house. There was blood running down her left leg, enough to leave a row of bare footprints on the sidewalk. The kids she rescued had disappeared into the crowd, seemingly unharmed. Firefighters had finally shown up.

The front door was hanging open and Mouse was standing at the gate barking when they arrived back at the house. The old man and the girl froze at the sight of the hall light spilling out onto the path.

“Did you ... ?” Baby said.

“No,” Arthur said.

They went in through the gate, closed it behind them. The dog snuffled at Baby’s fingertips, whimpering, as she and Arthur went inside. At least it was clear they were alone. If there had been someone else around, Mouse’s focus would have been on the intruder.

In the kitchen, every cabinet door was hanging open. Arthur strode forward but Baby stopped him. “Don’t touch anything,” she said.

“We better turn the power off, I guess, in case something’s wired up again.” He sighed. Baby went back out, opened the fuse box, and shut the electricity off. The relief she felt was minuscule. When she returned, she found Arthur lighting candles and placing them around the kitchen. The air seemed changed, somehow tainted.

Baby took her phone from the coffee table in the living room and opened the security-camera app. She rolled the footage from the hidden cameras and found what she was looking for. At the front of the house, a small female figure in a black hoodie appeared, walking with confidence, hands thrust deep into her pockets. She slipped silently through the gate, shut it behind her, then went and pushed the unlocked front door open. Instead of going into the house, she bolted around the side. Mouse appeared, rushing out the front door, his attention immediately captured by the crowd in the street. The figure in the hoodie went around the back of the house, disappeared inside, came out again in mere seconds, and jogged off into the dusk.

Arthur joined Baby and the two of them stood in the candlelight and watched the footage a few times in silence. Baby could hear firefighters at the property on the corner of Waterway Street trying to disperse the crowds. She could hear Mouse in the kitchen munching kibble from his bowl.

“She was in the house for only a few seconds,” Arthur said. “Maybe she was just getting the lay of the land.”

“No, that’s Su Lim Marshall, and she’s done something,” Baby said. “Look at the way she walks. Look at the purpose. She lured Mouse away, then came in and did something. And we have no idea what. She might have sprayed contact poison on our pillows or towels. She might have put something in the food. We need to throw out everything, Arthur. Empty the cabinets. We’ll have to wash all the plates and glasses and cutlery. Better yet, throw them out too. Throw out everything from the bathroom. All the medications. The soap and shampoo.”

“Wait, wait, wait. We don’t know for sure it’s Marshall,” Arthur said. “Could have been some kid from the street looking for our wallets while we were out.”

“It’s her,” Baby said. She had watched the footage a dozen times. “I saw her at the Enorme offices. I recognize her size and her shape. But it’s more than that. I told you she made a mistake when she hired Chris Tutti to take you out, Arthur. She’s not gonna make the same dumb move twice. Su Lim Marshall came here herself. She lit the fire down on the corner as a distraction and then came in here. We’ve just gotta make sure that whatever trap she set for us, we don’t fall into it.”

Baby went into the kitchen and grabbed a garbage bag. She tugged open the fridge and started loading items into the bag. Arthur opened the cabinets and began doing the same.

They both turned when Mouse gave a retching cough.