“Sit down, Elfrieda.”
She did.
The three intruders stepped into her bedroom, her private place, uninvited.
“Are you real?” she asked.
He tilted his head and smiled again. “We no longer need you to watch the boy. Do you remember when I asked you to watch the boy, all those years ago? I was a child myself then. They made me phone you, so impersonal.”
“Yes. I remember.”
“You knew my parents.”
“Yes.”
“What were their names?”
“Keith and Jaquelyn Pickford.”
“And my name?”
“David. You’re David Pickford. You’re a beautiful man, David Pickford.”
He smiled again. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Elfrieda Leech stared past him.
Weno longer need you to watch the boy. Notthey. Charter had told her the Pickford boy would never leave his room. Could never leave his room. Held against his will. He should hate them,despisethem. There should only bethey, notwe.
How could he be standing in her bedroom?
Elfrieda Leech eyed the butt of the .38 on the edge of the dresser. She wanted to push past these people, take the gun in her hand, kill them all. She couldn’t move, though. Her body wouldn’t obey her. “Why aren’t you wearing white?”
Unlike the other two intruders, David Pickford wore a black leather jacket over a deep red tee-shirt and denim jeans. If he carried a gun, she didn’t see one. Nothing clipped to his belt, no shoulder holster.
“I don’t like white,” he replied. “White is a non-color, the absence of color. A canvas waiting for a stain.”
“All the monsters wear white.” She found the words difficult to speak. Like movement, they fought her, but she got them out.
“Not all the monsters.”
“Your parents…what you…”
“Shh.” He knelt down in front of her and took her hand in his. “We’re not here to talk about my parents.”
She tried to respond, but her lips, her mouth, wouldn’t move.
“I’m sorry, you may speak,” David said.
Whatever spell,his spell, broke.
“Why are you here?” she was able to get out.
“Charter dropped the ball, I’m afraid. I’ve decided to step in, to correct the matter, clean up the mess.”
“Okay.”
He went on, “You’re a part of that mess.”
