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“How long?” I asked.
Amy sat back in the seat. “Hours. Don’t really know how long. She’s never grown tired.”
That shut both me and Hansen up. This kid had the potential of torturing people if she so chose. No wonder her mother had started training her at a young age.
We followed the school bus all the way to the Boudreau home, a nice little blue house on the outskirts of town. We watched as Eloise exited the bus and went into the house. After that, we parked in the driveway and entered ourselves.
It was a nice house. Lovely, actually. With its warm, yet light colors, tidy décor, photos, children’s toys and drawings all around, it practically screamed family home at any who entered.
Eloise herself looked like the epitome of innocence up close. This smiling little girl with her pigtails that got a little shy as she noticed two strangers as well as her mother in the house.
“Do you work with Mama?” she asked us after establishing that her mother hadn’t been home as usual because she’d gotten a ride with us.
“Yes,” I lied, thinking that was a better explanation than the real reason for us being there.
“How many have you sold in the last month?” Eloise asked, quite serious.
It dawned on me I had no idea what Amy did for a living. Before I could make a fool of myself, though, she luckily stepped in.
“They’re part-time realtors, Elo. And it’s rude to be nosy,” she told her daughter.
“Sorry,” Eloise told me, looking down at the floor.
“It’s okay, kid,” I said, getting distracted as Amy took her trench coat off. A definite baby-bump made it clear Eloise would not be an only child for more than a few months.
“How far along are you?” I asked moments later after Amy had told her daughter to stay where she could be seen. We followed her into the kitchen where she gave us the offer of waiting for dinner or heating up leftover Chinese food. Lack of sleep and little food in the last twenty-four hours made us go for the latter. I had no shame in accepting food and drink from affiliates I was helping. If I didn’t, I would have starved ages ago. It was one of the few things I was allowed to accept in terms of favors. So, we ate kung pao chicken while Eloise remained in the living room, drawing or doing homework on the table. I couldn’t quite tell.
Her mother was twenty-two weeks along. Apparently, they’d never had more children because of Eloise’s difficulties. That wasn’t unheard of among affiliates with the more dangerous abilities. Now, with her daughter doing all right, and Amy’s age, it had been the last chance for one more. Her husband, who worked in Ashdale, was only an affiliate by marriage. Chances were that the new baby would end up with the same ability. Or perhaps not. Maybe it would be weaker. Hopefully not stronger than its sister. One could never know in advance.
“I don’t understand why this man is targeting my daughter,” Amy said, watching Eloise go into the backyard. We could see her all the time through the large windows connecting the outside garden with the living room as well as the kitchen. The kid had a cage with a black rabbit in it. I saw her picking dandelion leaves and feeding the little animal through the chicken wire. For a moment, as I watched her do this, it was very hard indeed to answer Amy’s question. It didn’t seem personal, though. This man was going after affiliates who could be threats to others. So far, there had been no indications they had ever done anything wrong in that manner.
“I understand that,” Amy said after I explained, holding her hands around a cup of lemon tea as she leaned back against the kitchen counter. “But Eloise is at least ten years younger than the others. How does he even know about her? It’s not like she’s been spending time with them.”
I nodded and then shrugged. “Don’t know that yet. It has to be connected to this guy’s ability, though.”
“How so?” Hansen asked, chewing around a piece of chicken.
“Not like any of them have been announcing what they can do, is it?”
“Unless it’s a local who knows about them?” Amy asked.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Surely Gerard, Annalise, or any of the other seniors would know. They would have told me.”
“Seniors?” Hansen asked.
“Not now.”
“Okay,” Amy said, putting her teacup down. “So how do we go about this?”
“I say we make it easy for him to break into the house when he comes.”
“And you’re sure he will?”
“Not a hundred percent, but pretty sure, yeah. We know his M.O., so we use the darkness to our advantage.”
“The best thing would be for you and your daughter to go to bed early. That way we can lure him into the house quicker,” Hansen chimed in. “He’s bound to be staking out the house for some time before he comes in.”
I could see Amy shiver at our words, but she kept it together.
