Chapter 14
We got on the car and Mirth guided me to the road that led to her house. She told me that there was a shortcut in the woods, from which her place could be reached by foot in only fifteen minutes, while getting there by car required taking a number of detours up the hills.
“Does your mother know you walk out to the lake every night?”, I asked while we drove along a narrow street that seemed to lead nowhere.
It seemed strange to me that a kid her age was left alone at home like that. Mirth began to tell me that she had a baby-sitter coming over before and that they would always walk to the like after dinner, around this time. Billy had learned that they walked back home once it got dark, so he would walk to the lake, then wander around the woods for a while and join them when it was time to leave. Then she stopped talking and looked out the window, narrowing her eyes. I briefly turned around to see her expression, before shifting my attention back to the road. The asphalt ended and after about a kilometer of unpaved road we found Mirth’s house. I stopped the car.
“Your babysitter is gone now”, I stated, feeling that something had happened to her.
Mirth nodded. “Mom is a cop. Amy didn’t show up one day and then mom found her floating in the lake”.
This must have been on the local newspaper but I never took the time to read it, so I was completely unaware of the fact. The idea that a dead girl had been floating in the lake where I used to swim gave me the shivers. I imagined Mirth in the house alone with the ghost of her dead baby-sitter, and leaving her there seemed terribly wrong.
Mirth sensed my thoughts. “Someone is coming over in a short while, so don’t worry. I must go now, if the new nanny sees me out here in the car with you she’ll ask questions and I’ll get in trouble”, she said, opening the door and then letting the dog out.
I watched her walk to the door, with Billy trotting beside her. She turned around and waved, thanking me for the ride, then disappeared inside the house without waiting for my answer.