Home Invasion Read Online Free Page A

understand?”
    “I understand.”
    “Good.” The man tugged at the rope around Kathy’s wrists. Soon Kathy could slip her hands free.
    She rubbed her sore wrists. “Can we turn on a light?” she asked. She hoped the light would let a neighbour see into her kitchen. Seeing a man in a ski mask, the neighbour would surely call the police.
    “Do you think I’m stupid?” the thin man asked. He pushed Kathy against the kitchen counter. “I want the sandwich on rye bread,” he told her. “You must have some of that left.”
    How did the man know what kind of bread she had? Kathy wondered. When had he been here? Who was he?
    “What are you waiting for?” the man asked.
    Kathy pulled a tin of tuna from one of the cupboards. She opened it with the electric can opener that sat beside the toaster. Then she got the rye bread from the breadbox and some butter from the fridge. “I’ll need to use a knife and fork to make the sandwich,” Kathy told the man.
    “Just don’t do anything stupid,” the man warned.
    Kathy took a butter knife from the drawer and spread some butter on the bread. She thought of hurling the small knife at the thin man’s head. In the next second she decided this was a bad idea. Her hands were shaking, and the knife wasn’t sharp enough to hurt him. Kathy also knew she wasn’t fast enough to outrun the man. She knew that if she tried anything, the man would kill her for sure.
    And then he’d kill Jack.
    And then he’d come back for Lisa.
    And he’d kill Lisa, too.
    The thin man smiled at Kathy. “You got any beer?” he asked.
    “No,” Kathy said.
    “No?” the man repeated, as if he didn’t believe her.
    “No. My husband doesn’t like beer.”
    The thin man laughed behind his ski mask. “I should shoot him just for that,” he said.
    “I have milk,” Kathy offered.
    “Milk?”
    “Nice cold milk,” Kathy said.
    “Okay,” the man said. “I guess I’ll have a glass of nice cold milk with my sandwich.” He plopped into one of the four chairs at the round glass table.
    Kathy poured the man a tall glass of cold milk. She put the tuna sandwich on a plate, then put the plate and the glass of milk on the table in front of him. She couldn’t imagine how he would eat and drink without taking off his ski mask.
    “Sit down, Mrs. Brown,” the man told her. “Keep me company.”
    How does he know my name? Kathy wondered. Who is he? Is he one of Lisa’s friends?Is that why he calls me by my last name? “I’d like to see if my husband is okay,” she said.
    “Your husband can wait. Trust me, he’s not going anywhere. Sit down,” the thin man said again. He patted the seat of the chair beside him, and Kathy sank into it.
    The man tried to take a bite of his sandwich, but his ski mask got in the way. Bits of tuna stuck to the mask around his mouth and chin. “What are you looking at?” he snapped.
    “Nothing,” Kathy said. “I’m sorry.”
    “You think this is funny?”
    Kathy could tell that the man was getting mad. She didn’t want him to take his anger out on her and Jack. “No, of course not,” she said.
    The man grunted. He pushed up the bottom of his ski mask and pulled it away from his mouth. He had narrow lips, and one of his front teeth was chipped. She watched as he bit into the sandwich.
    “I could use a drink,” the man said as he chewed. “And I don’t mean milk,” he said as he reached for his glass. But his leather gloves were thick, and the glass of milk almost slipped from his hands. “Aw, the hell with it!” he swore. Heripped his gloves off and slapped them down on the glass table.
    The first thing Kathy noticed was the man’s long, thin fingers. The second thing she noticed was that his fingernails were chewed right down to the skin. The third thing she noticed was the spider tattoo on the back of his left hand.
    Kathy gasped. Her eyes shot to the eyes of the man behind the ski mask.
    “What?” the man said. He looked from his glass of milk to