The Piper by Lynn Hightower

Lee
.’
    â€˜Who the hell is Duncan Lee?’
    â€˜The one that texted me. At Aunt Charlotte’s house, you remember, that day in Janet’s room. He talks to me now since you took the phone away. He likes to sit on my bed. But he doesn’t like Winston. He says that Winston can’t come in my room anymore.’
    â€˜
Teddy
.’
    The tears came suddenly, a downpour, and Teddy sobbed hard as Olivia wrapped her in her arms.
    â€˜He said something bad would happen if I let Winston come in anymore. He said I had to lie in bed and be still and very quiet and I wasn’t allowed to wake you up, or tell you. He said if I didn’t do what he said that he would hang Winston from the attic fan with a red leather belt.
Oh, Mommy, I was so afraid.
How did you know? How did you know to come?’

SEVENTEEN
    O livia told herself that she was humoring Teddy when she agreed to take Winston to work the next morning. Her daughter had seemed happy when Olivia picked her up from school, checking carefully that Winston was safe in the car. She had news of Mr Ogden, who had brought in an aquarium and introduced them to a gecko named Eduardo. It would appear that geckos ate crickets and worms, loved honey, communicated with chirps and had special toe pads to help them walk across ceiling tiles. Mr Ogden was very hands on when it came to science.
    â€˜Because,’ Teddy said, ‘Mr Ogden says that science is how you understand the world.’
    Olivia looked up from her computer screen at her daughter, who was curled up reading. Teddy’s color was good, there was no fever and she seemed her usual self except that she had refused her after school snack. Even McNuggets from McDonald’s didn’t tempt her.
    Olivia’s office was shaping up. It was good to have her own desk, photos of Teddy on the wall, and the special client chair that Teddy helped pick out in the far left corner of the room.
    Teddy had seemed so afraid, in the night, but back to her usual self today. Was it possible that once her cousin Janet planted the ghost stories in Teddy’s mind, she was using them to get attention from her dad?
    Olivia knew the attention seeking was fallout from the divorce, but she missed the old Teddy, the quiet child who entertained herself. When she was little she had spent hours quietly coloring, using two crayons only, pink and yellow. Olivia herself had gone through a pink and yellow phase at the same age – she wondered if that kind of thing could be genetic.
    She did not like not trusting Teddy, did not like wondering if Teddy was sliding away into lies and drama. Olivia reminded herself that Teddy was only eight years old. That this was the third time she had changed schools. It was the adults who were having the drama. Teddy needed structure, patience, and a firm but loving hand. She needed stability in her life.
    Robbie gave them a cold glance from the hallway as she headed toward the shredder in the back.
    The figures on the screen began to waver and jump, which always happened when Olivia got tired or stressed. ‘Shut the door, will you, Teddy?’
    Teddy folded a page of the book and set it on the floor. ‘Good idea. That person doesn’t like me.’
    â€˜What person?’
    â€˜Mrs Arliss. She gives me funny looks.’
    â€˜If she doesn’t like it, too bad.’
    â€˜Yeah, ’cause you’re the boss.’
    Olivia smiled but her stomach was tight. She was on very shaky ground. Kids at work were questionable enough, but dogs were strictly against corporate policy, and Olivia wondered if having Winston in the office could get her fired. Robbie had been very unhappy when Winston had chugged through the back door with her that morning, though he had been good as gold and only barked once. Robbie did not seem to be an animal lover. Admittedly, there was a certain amount of shedding, but that was what vacuum cleaners were for. Olivia wondered if putting