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Dragging back the curtains let loose a thick cloud of dust visible in the yellow light coming through the one window not covered with cardboard and piled junk. From the outside, the house was a shack compared to its elegant and expensive neighbors. Still, she wouldn’t have suspected that the interior was covered in black putrid goo, like the inside of an old dumpster. Trash went up to the ceiling. It appeared that her poor aunt had been a hoarder.
Penny’s stomach was churning, her chest tight. Aunt Elsie had refused to see anyone for the last few years and had been paranoid about people spying on her. She hadn’t been an entirely sane person.
Blinking, Penny stared at a pile of empty cookie boxes on the ground. The isolation of Aunt Elsie’s life was staggering. It was too late to help her.
Aunt Elsie’s last wish, that she’d written to Penny, was she hadn’t wanted her brother and sister-in-law, Penny’s parents, to see how she’d lived. Penny blew out a breath—she wouldn’t fail another person in her life. She would do everything she could to honor her aunt’s last wishes.
She squinted, light-headed, wondering if the haziness in the room was partially the smell floating around in goopy particles. With the electricity off, and spiderwebs hanging from the ceiling corners, it had the ambiance of a haunted house—filled with narrow paths through eight-foot piles of garbage.
Penny pulled her phone out and clicked on the flashlight app. Something moved in the corner, shifting a pile of rotting cardboard on the floor.
“Kitty?”
A long form scurried over the rippled and crackedflooring of the kitchen area. It turned its long nose and hissed at her.
Taking a quick step back, Penny bumped into a heavy chair balanced on a table. It tumbled off, clipping her knee before landing in a pile of clothing on the floor. Gus barked frantically outside.
“Penny?” Kat shouted into the house. “Are you okay?”
Penny managed to straighten up, grimacing from pain. “Yes. Gus, calm down.”
“What happened?”
“The rat renting out the kitchen said hello.”
“Rats?” Kat warbled. “Get out of there.”
“It’s fine. I’m going to finish looking for the cat.”
She limped toward the back of the house and glanced over the two small bedrooms. The smell from the main room followed her. Her stomach pumped acid into her throat. She had to get outside fast.
Her phone rang. She groaned—every time she injured herself, her mother mysteriously knew. If Penny didn’t take the call her mother would worry, and keep calling.
“Hi, Mom,” she said, with forced cheerfulness. “Hey, can I call you back a little later? Kat’s waiting for me.”
“Honey, are you okay? What’s happening?”
“I’m fine, everything is fine.” She gagged, with the phone covered.
“Are you injured?”
“I bumped my knee,” she said, fanning her face. “Are you murdering small animals to find out these things? I couldn’t live with that.”
“Penny, be serious. How bad is the house?”
“It’s messy.” She yanked open the back door and took in a lungful of outside air. “Kat’s already making lists of things for me to do. I’m set.”
Her mom made doubtful sounds. “Your poor father feelsawful about his sister. We don’t understand why Elsie kept everyone away.”
Penny stumbled down the cracked concrete steps to the grass behind the house. “Mom, I’ll call you later—all right, love you, bye.”
Penny hung up and bent over, taking in deep breaths of air. Her mouth filled with saliva and her throat burned. She closed her eyes and focused on breathing. Ocean air blew across her face. Having a weak stomach was going to make cleaning out Aunt Elsie’s house really challenging.
Someone with a deep masculine voice cleared his throat.
Maddox walked beside the fence line of his property, along the forested slope that bordered the back of his house. The vacant shack, his closest neighbor, came into view. His right eyelid started twitching.
He stepped onto his deceased neighbor’s weed-infested field. The young women bumbling around over there were a change from the squatters and gangs he normally patrolled for. Parked in the driveway was a dirty aluminum can on wheels, pulled by an old, exhausted station wagon.
