Page 83 of Night Falls on Predicament Avenue
Norah tentatively touched the woman’s shoulder. She couldn’t be older than Harper or older than Naomi had been. “It’s okay,”she tried to reassure through the shakiness of her voice. “Let’s just get out of here. We’ll figure it out.”
The woman nodded.
“What’s your name?” Naomi whispered.
“Lyla,” she answered.
A door slammed open, and the two women huddled together against the lawn mower as a beam of light swept over them.
“Norah?” Otto’s exclamation of disbelief broke through the night. He cursed. “What’n the heck are you doin’ in my shed?”
He stepped closer. Norah held up her hand to shield her eyes from the flashlight’s beam he aimed in their faces.
Lyla pressed into Norah’s side, and Norah wrapped her arm around the teenager. “Otto, turn off the light. You’re blinding me!”
Otto flicked it off, but there was bite to his question, “Why’re you here?”
Fury began to fill Norah. Astonishment too. “I’m here because yourfriendcame to me for help.”
“How’d you—?” He bit off his words, switching the flashlight back on and sweeping it around his shed. Otto noted the boards missing in the back wall. He cursed again.
“Otto, tell me what’s going on!” Norah demanded. She had never doubted him, never questioned his innocence in Naomi’s case. But now? More questions flooded her mind, accusations she wanted to make. Naomi. Had he ... had it truly beenOtto?
Otto waved the flashlight beam as he flexed his wrist. His voice sounded weary when he answered. “Norah, let’s go inside my place, and we’ll talk.”
“No! I’m taking Lyla, and we’re going back tomyplace. And then I’m calling the cops.”
“Don’t...” Otto’s elderly voice was wobbly but firm. “No, we’ve been family for a long time. We can get through this.”
Norah almost believed him because she’d always believedhim before. The part of her that craved a logical explanation spilled out into words. “Otto, tell me the truth. What’s going on?”
Lyla shifted against Norah, reminding her of the frightened girl who had terrified her less than an hour ago.
Otto shifted his feet. “I’m old, and I’m tired. We need some coffee, an’ then we’ll figure this thing out.”
“Does Ralph know?” Norah spat.
“Kiddo, you could rob my brother and clean out his house an’ he wouldn’t notice a dad-blamed thing. ’Course he don’t know.” Otto gestured toward Lyla. “Poor kid like that needing some TLC? Ralph ain’t good at that. You know I’m the sensitive one!” He gave a little laugh, one that sounded not a little shocked that Norah would think less of him.
Norah turned to Lyla and asked, “Were you here of your own free will?”
Lyla hesitated. She looked at Otto, whose features remained kind and soft.
“Tell her, girl,” he urged Lyla. “Tell her I ain’t done nothin’ to ya!”
Lyla glanced at the trapdoor in the shed’s floor.
Norah followed her gaze. “Then why don’t you have her in the house?” she challenged as she moved to stand up. “Why not bring her to me so I could help if she’s in need? Why the secrets, Otto? Why?”
“You sure ask a lot of questions. Why this? Why that? You’ve always pestered and not just been willin’ to trust people.”
“I trust people!” Norah argued.
“Do ya now?”
Norah’s mind began spinning as she tried to make sense of the chaos, to see the truth amidst what her heart refused to believe. And then... “Did you take Naomi from me?” Her words sent the toolshed into sudden silence. “Did you kill Naomi?”
EFFIE
