Read Death Rhythm for Free Online

said, “Hi. This is Andrew Byrd, and I was wondering - “
    “You've reached the Ellingston Auto Repair Shop. We’re closed right now, so please leave your - “
    Andy hung up.
    “They’re closed,” he said in disbelief. “It’s only a little after three, and they’re closed.”
    “They don’t always have a lot to do down there. They probably got bored and went home.”
    “But they’ve got my car to work on.”
    “This isn’t Milwaukee, Andy. They just don’t carry the kind of parts you need here. I’ll bet they have to order a windshield from Minneapolis.”
    “How long will that take?”
    “Who knows?” Mae stacked the sandwiches she made on a plate and brought them to the kitchen table. She sat down across from Andy and sighed. “You’re welcome to stay here if you’d like.”
    Andy took a sandwich from the plate and looked at it. Then he set it back down. “I guess I don’t have a choice.” He looked up at Mae. “What else can I do?”
    Mae watched him without answering. She sat down and bit into her sandwich. She continued to watch him as he sat there, staring at the top of the kitchen table.
     
     

 
    FOUR
     
    The binoculars bounced up and down on the dark blue windbreaker Andy borrowed from Mae. They hung around his neck by a tan leather strap stained dark from years of use. “You can’t make out the moons of Jupiter with them,” his aunt said, “but you sure as hell can hone in on a bird.” The weight of the strap dug comfortably into his neck as they bounced and jerked in time with his footsteps. He followed the overgrown trail behind Mae’s yard.
    He had to get out of Mae’s house for a while. He tried calling Cathy twice after lunch, but she didn’t answer the phone. The first time, he hung up without leaving a message, but when he tried again an hour later, he spoke into the answering machine.
    “Cathy, it’s me. I don’t know what to say, other than that I’m sorry. I’m at my aunt’s house.” He spoke quietly into the receiver, hoping Mae wasn’t listening. “I know you’re probably wondering ‘what Aunt?’ and believe me, I was surprised to find her myself, but I got in a car accident, and – ” He paused, realizing he was rambling. “Anyway, I’m sorry, and I’ll be home as soon as my car is fixed. Just know that I love you and I’m sorry.” He hung up. Felt that Mae was listening in the next room. Not that he had anything to hide, but -
    He just had to get out.
    The trail was narrow, only a foot across at its widest, and was covered with dead leaves. The shadows from the trees were long as the sun touched the horizon. It was the same sun that had illuminated blood on the hood of his car only twenty-four hours earlier. The same sun Cathy would wake up to tomorrow morning.
    What was she doing?
    The trees here were thick. Poplars, maples and pines. Up ahead a group of birch clustered together in a small clique. Many of the trees were already bare, like the ones in Mae’s yard, but the trees here had the advantage of a brotherhood, giving each other protection from the wind. Some of the smaller ones still held their leaves in colorful defiance.
    Most of the leaves were at Andy’s feet, though, and crunched as he walked. He took a deep breath.
    Here was that smell again, that fresh smell he'd noticed earlier sitting in Mae’s kitchen. Was this where it came from? These rotting leaves?
    About twenty feet into the woods, he looked back. The trail wound itself this way and that, parts of it missing from his line of vision, parts that lay hidden behind the trees and the brush. The view of Mae’s house was obscured from here. Splotches of its orange exterior peeked through the tangle of branches. The orange turned to gray as the sun disappeared below the horizon.
    Andy continued to follow the trail and soon couldn’t see Mae’s house at all, only a thick mess of trees. The grayness of twilight was replaced by the dark black-blue of night.
    Andy shook his