Read Even Steven for Free Online Page A

pocket of her jacket right now. How close would she have let that kid on the sliding board approach before drawing down and threatening him? And once drawing, how much closer still before she pulled the trigger?
    Sometimes, the world seemed bleak as hell.
    Finally, she arrived at her apartment door, relieved to find it locked. Usually, that meant that William was reasonably sober, and there'd be no fight. There'd be sex instead. William liked getting laid in the mornings, after a good night's sleep for him, and an endless workday for her. Her friends called his demands a power play - lofty psychological analyses from the Oprah school of medicine - and they were probably right, but what the hell? Five minutes of grunting and sweating beat the hell out of the whining and yelling that were the only alternative. Jesus, it wasn't even a contest.
    April had to turn all three dead bolts, and as the door swung open, she nearly screamed. William was waiting for her on the other side, sitting in the La-Z-Boy opposite the door. In the blue light of the television he looked like somebody's ghost.
    "My God, William," she exclaimed. "You scared me to death."
    He didn't seem startled at all. "Sorry," he grunted. "I've been waiting up for you."
    What's wrong?" Call it woman's intuition or a premonition or whatever, but she knew that something terrible had happened. She felt it in the pit of her stomach.
    He didn't say anything. He just pivoted his head, and then she saw the bruises. Mottled shades of black and red marred the whole left side of his face, swelling his eye shut, and drooping his lower lip.
    "Jesus, William, what-" She took a half-step closer, then froze. "Justin," she breathed.
    Dropping her purse to the floor, scattering keys and change everywhere, she bolted down the short hallway toward the baby's room. She slapped at the light switch, missing it twice before the single, dangling sixty-watt bulb jumped to life and bathed everything in a dim yellow light.
    Justin didn't sleep on a bed per se, but rather on a mattress on the floor, and that mattress looked for all the world to be empty. "Justin?" she said, first at a whisper, and then as her panic grew, she shouted it. "Justin! Where are you!" Frantic, she fell to her hands and knees and tore at the covers, trying to convince herself that her son was under that mess somewhere. He'd just rolled off, that was all. He just was lost somewhere among the covers.
    But he wasn't lost. He was gone.
    "William!" she screamed. "William, where's Justin?" She bolted back into the living room, panic boiling hot in her belly.
    William hadn't moved. He still stared at the blue light, studiously avoiding eye contact.
    "Goddamn you, William, talk to me. Where is Justin?" She reached out to strike him, but quickly retracted her hand. She'd never seen him like this before. She worried what emotions might accompany the stare.
    As his eyes finally came around - only one of them would open all the way - she noticed the tears, and her legs buckled. Sagging to the floor, she covered her mouth with her hands and gasped, "Oh, God, is he dead? Please tell me he's not dead."
    William shook his head, just a barely perceptible movement, but she understood it for what it was. "He's not dead. At least, I don't think he is."
    "Tell me!"
    William winced against her scream, looked as if he might cry. He waved his hands in an odd, circular motion, as if to draw the words out of his body, but nothing came.
    April changed tacks. She put her hand on his forearm and gently squeezed it. "Tell me," she said again, much softer this time. "Just tell me what happened. Don't worry about the right words, just tell me what happened to Justin."
    He took a deep breath and finally made that subtle nodding movement again. "They took him."
    The words cut like razors. "Who took him? What are you talking about? Who would take Justin?"
    "Two men. Cops. They beat me up really bad."
    "Why! Goddammit, William, stop with the mystery and