Read The Messenger: A Novel for Free Online

cousin Brad finished saying, “—are you doing?”
    “Brad! You scared me to death!”
    “Apparently not,” he said.
    Lights came on in the upper hallway. Rebecca came out of her room and peered over the railing. Rebecca, even suddenly roused from sleep, looked perfect—as always. Rebecca and Brad were both tall, slender, blond, and blue eyed. Both favored their late mother. The look worked a little better on Rebecca than Brad, Amanda thought, but that might have been because Brad tended to sulk.
    “Amanda? What is it?” Rebecca said. “Are you all right?” She saw Brad standing next to Amanda and frowned at him.
    “Not my fault, I swear,” Brad said, holding up his hands in mock surrender.
    “That’s a first,” Rebecca said dryly.
    “I heard someone prowling around outside,” Amanda said. “It scared me. I had just come out of my room when Brad said something and I’m afraid I—I overreacted. Sorry.”
    “Someone prowling around outside?” Brad said, looking nervous.
    “Yes. I left my window open, and just now I thought I heard someonemoving around out there.” She paused. “It might have been an animal, but I don’t think so.”
    “Brad,” Rebecca ordered, “go outside and look around.”
    “Me? Oh no. If it’s her imagination, I might catch a chill, and if it’s not, I don’t want to think about it.” He shuddered dramatically.
    “Is it your imagination?” Rebecca asked, starting down the stairs.
    Amanda blushed. “Don’t trouble yourself.”
    “Come on,” Rebecca said, “I’ll look with you.”
     
    Amanda turned on the outside lights, grabbed a baseball bat from the hall closet, and, looking down at her bare feet, hurriedly stepped into a pair of rain boots she found in the same hall closet.
    “Charming outfit, as usual,” Rebecca said, and opened the front door.
    The galoshes were loose on Amanda’s feet, and it took a bit of effort to keep from tripping or stepping out of them, but she followed Rebecca as quickly as she could.
    “I’m sure whoever it was is long gone by now,” Amanda said. “My scream probably scared him off. If not, then the sounds of everyone getting up out of bed and my turning the lights on—”
    “Probably. But let’s look around outside your window to see what we can see.”
    Amanda followed, thinking that these were the moments when she could actually be fond of Rebecca. She might grow tired of Rebecca’s bitchiness, her self-absorption, her moodiness—but Rebecca never sat still when action was needed. Rebecca, she had to admit, was bolder than she was.
    The scent of pine trees soothed Amanda’s own edgy nerves a bit. The house was situated in a canyon in the foothills above Los Angeles. The area was not wilderness, but many of the lots were large; the homes nearby were expensive. Most of the owners chose them for the seclusion the area afforded them.
    Amanda’s great-grandfather had been involved in the early movieindustry and built the oldest part of the house as a private retreat, reputedly his love nest, where he’d sneak away to be with his mistress. No wonder, Amanda thought, he had concealed it by planting trees.
    Right at this moment, Amanda wished the house was not surrounded by quite so many of them. Only one other house had even a partial view of her home. Standing on the front porch, she looked up the hill and saw that no lights were on at Derek and Ron’s place—no, she had to stop thinking of it in that way. Tyler Hawthorne’s house.
    “So,” Rebecca said, following her gaze. “He’s gone.”
    “What?”
    “Tyler. When we saw him the other day, he said he was driving to St. Louis.”
    “Driving? Not flying?”
    “Yes.” She moved fearlessly down the front steps.
    Amanda followed her, Tyler forgotten. She tried not to think of all the things baseball bats wouldn’t stop.
    “He seemed very interested in knowing if you’d be at the party,” Rebecca added, and Amanda heard the underlying message.
    “I’m not