The Beast House (25 page)

“No noise,” she warned. “If I hear anything out of you, I’ll come over and knock you senseless.”

The groaning stopped. The only sound was air hissing through Sandy’s nose.

Janice put the T-shirt on again. She draped the girl’s pants over her back, and crawled away slowly, one hand gliding over the carpet in search of the lightbulb. She found it. Its jagged edge pricked her palm. Carefully, she picked it up. Near the door she came upon the can Sandy had dropped.

She left the pants and bulb and can against the wall where she could find them easily, then tried the door knob. It didn’t move. The door had locked on shutting, just as Sandy had claimed. Though she was fairly sure the key had fallen in the corridor, she spent a long time searching for it.

Finally, she gave up. She sat beside the door, her back against the wall. She spread the pants across her lap and placed the bulb on them, base up. Then she picked up the can. It felt cold and heavy. It sloshed when she shook it.

Some kind of soda.

Her tongue rasped against the roof of her mouth, touched the dry blocks of her teeth.

Sandy had used the can as a weapon, bludgeoning her with it. Janice could use it that way, too, when the door opens.

But not if she drank its contents.

She licked the condensation off the can, and waited.

“Suppose we go along,” Nora said, “and wait in the car?”

“Okay by me,” Jack said. He hitched up his sweatshirt and slid his Colt .45 semi-automatic under the waistband at the back of his jeans.

“I think it’d be better,” Abe said, “if you and Tyler stayed behind. I don’t know where we’ll be leaving the car, but if a cop goes by and sees you two waiting, he might get suspicious.”

“Yeah,” Tyler agreed. “That makes sense.”

“Why don’t you wait at the Carriage House?” Jack suggested. “Have a couple of drinks. We’ll be back before you know it.”

Abe finished folding the thick blue blanket from his bed.

Jack slung the strap of Hardy’s camera case over his shoulder.

“Go on out,” Abe told him. “I’ll be right with you.”

When they were alone, Tyler stepped into his arms. He held her gently against him. “Just try not to think about it too much,” he said.

“Oh, sure.”

“Go over and have a couple of cocktails with Nora. Tell her about our plans for tomorrow. If you don’t gulp your drinks, we’ll be on our way back by the time you finish your second.”

“You’d better be.”

“Count on it.” He kissed Tyler, and she pressed herself fiercely against him. Slipping his hands under her sweater, he caressed the warm smoothness of her back. “I love you so much,” he whispered.

“I love you, Abe.” She looked up at him. Her eyes were glossy with tears.

“Don’t let some guy pick you up while you’re waiting, or I’ll be really ticked.”

She almost smiled.

With a last, brief kiss, he eased out of her arms. He picked up the blanket and opened the door. Jack was standing by the Mustang, his hands on Nora’s hips.

“Let’s get,” Abe said. He opened the driver’s door, dropped the blanket onto the backseat and turned to Tyler. “See you in a while,” he said.

She nodded. With the back of one hand, she rubbed her nose. Nora went over to her. They stood side by side, silhouetted by the porch light behind them.

“If you’re not back in an hour,” Nora said, “we’ll call in the Marines.”

“Dipshit,” Jack called. “We are the Marines.”

She gave them a thumbs-up and Tyler waved as Abe backed the car away. He waved out the window, then turned on the headlights and steered up the center of the courtyard.

“This is gonna be good,” Jack said.

“I just wish we could’ve done it without the girls knowing.”

“No chance of that with Gory-babes popping the question in front of everyone.”

“He’s such an asshole.”

“Gutless, too. Shit, if I was gonna write a book about that joint, I’d want to get in there at night and see what it’s like. Catch the ambience, you know?”

“He’ll probably want to interview us about that,” Abe said, and turned left onto the road.

“If he does, let’s charge him for it. He throws around money like confetti.” Jack rolled down a window and stuck his elbow out. “His check better be good.”

“He wouldn’t dare stiff you.”

“I oughta hang onto him till I can get to a bank tomorrow.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“You’d better. It’s half yours, you know.”

“I’m just along for the ride.”

“Bullshit. It’s fifty-fifty.”

“Just buy me a drink when we get back to the inn, and we’ll call it even.”

“You’re an easy guy to please.”

He slowed down as they entered the business area. The coffee shop where they’d eaten lunch was still open. So was a liquor store across the road from it, and a bar on the next block. Otherwise, the town seemed closed up for the night. The road was deserted except for a few cars and pickup trucks parked along its curbs.

“By the way,” Abe said, “how do you feel about the girls coming along with us tomorrow?”

“To the lodge, you mean?”

“That’s what I mean.”

“Well, all right!”

“No objections?”

“You kidding me?”

“Tyler’ll check with Nora about it tonight.”

“Nora will come. She’s hot for my bod. Who can blame her? It’s magnificent. So’s hers, by the way.”

“I’ve noticed.”

He laughed. “Yeah? How’d you manage that? You haven’t taken your eyes off Tyler since we got here. You two are really in it deep. Man, I’ve seen the way you look at each other. When’s the wedding?”

“We haven’t quite gone that far yet.”

“Really? That’s a surprise.”

“I want to spend a few more days with her before…”

“That’s it. Let her stew. Don’t wait too long, though, or she’ll propose to you.”

“I might enjoy that. What about you and Nora?”

“That gal’s a real kick in the ass, but I’m not gonna even think about getting tied down. Shit, I been married to the Corps for twelve years. I need to hang loose, you know? But I sure don’t mind hanging loose with her for a while. I’ve never had it so good, I’ll tell you that right now.”

Abe slowed down and turned his head to the left as they passed Beast House. The ticket booth was shuttered, the lawn beyond the fence dark. No light came from any of the windows. “Looks deserted,” he said.

“Wonder if Bobo’s in there.”

“I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”

The road curved and slanted upward into the wooded hills. Abe eased off the gas pedal. He searched the roadsides for a place to pull off, soon found a wide shoulder and swung over. He killed the headlights and engine.

In the silence, Jack said, “Do you think there is such a thing?”

“As Bobo?”

“Yeah.”

“Doesn’t seem likely. But you never know.” He reached in front of Jack, opened the glove compartment, and took out his .44 caliber Ruger Blackhawk. He removed a box of cartridges and stuffed it into a pocket of his nylon windbreaker. On the floor under his seat, he found his flashlight.

They climbed from the car.

Abe lifted the blanket off the backseat and clamped it under one arm. He pushed the barrel of his revolver down the back of his jeans. He held onto the flashlight, but didn’t turn it on.

They walked straight across the road, stepped through undergrowth on the far side, and leaped over a ditch. They made their way up the slope until Abe could no longer see the road through the trees. Then they traversed the hillside, following it downward. The foliage and dead pine needles crunched loudly under their shoes.

In a hushed voice, Jack said. “You know me, I’m not your superstitious type.”

“Except you carried a rabbit’s foot through three tours in Nam.”

“Well, that’s different. What I’m saying is, I’m the last guy who’s gonna believe in shit like ghosts and monsters, right?”

“So you say.”

“But, you know, this Bobo’s supposed to come from that island near Australia. Look at Australia. They’ve got animals there that look like jokes: kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, platypuses. Who’s to say Captain Frank’s old man couldn’t have run into some weirdo species and brought one back with him?”

“He could’ve.”

“We oughta keep an eye out for it.”

“I intend to.”

“We oughta try and bag the fucker.”

“We oughta try and get in, take the pictures as fast as we can, and get back to the girls. I don’t know about Nora, but Tyler’s so worried she can hardly keep herself together.”

“Gory’s paying a thousand for a few snapshots of the place, figure what he’d pay for that thing’s carcass.” Jack laughed quietly. “He’d probably get the damn thing stuffed and take it on Johnny with him.”

“Why don’t we get it stuffed and stand it up in the lobby of the lodge?” Abe suggested.

“Yeah! We can say it’s Bigfoot.”

“On second thought, Tyler wouldn’t go for that.”

“See? She’s already got you by the short hairs, and you’re not even married yet.”

Abe elbowed him. Then, through the trees ahead, he saw the side fence of Beast House. He pointed to the right. They started across the hillside, well above the fence and parallel to it.

“We’ll just sell the thing to Gory,” Jack whispered. “For a bundle. We’ll buy a beauty of a Chriscraft for the lodge.”

“A deal,” Abe said. “If it exists and if it shows up.”

“Just our luck, it won’t.”

They followed the hillside in silence. Abe studied the house and its grounds as he walked. The yard looked deserted. The windows at the house’s side and rear were dark. He was certain that lights would be on if anyone was inside either cleaning the rooms or standing guard.

“If we find it occupied,” he said, “we’ll abort.”

“Right,” Jack agreed.

“As of last summer, at least, they apparently didn’t have an alarm system or guard…”

“Just the beast.”

“So unless they’ve tightened up security since then, we shouldn’t have any trouble along those lines.” The slope eased downward into a ravine. At its bottom, Abe trudged through the low brush to the rear corner of the fence. He followed the fence, watching the distant road until the house blocked it from his view. Glancing over his shoulder at Jack, he said, “Any cops show up, we ditch our weapons. If we can’t pull a disappearing act, let them take us for breaking and entering. That’s a minor charge next to resisting arrest or firearms possession.”

“We can always pick them up later,” Jack said.

Abe stopped near the center of the fence. He tossed his blanket over the spikes. It dropped silently to the grass on the other side.

“Watch out for those points,” Jack said. “You’ll be singing soprano.”

They both hit the fence at once, grabbing the crossbar, leaping, bracing themselves with stiff arms, planting a foot on the bar between the sharp uprights and springing down. Abe snatched the blanket from the ground and dashed across the yard, past a ghostly white gazebo, into the dark moon-shadow cast by the house. With Jack close behind him, he climbed the porch stairs.

The floor creaked under his weight as he stepped to the back door. He peered through one of its glass panes. Except for murky light from the windows, the interior looked dark. He moved aside. “This is your game,” he whispered. “You want to do the honors?”

Jack rammed an elbow through the lower right pane. A burst of shattering glass broke the stillness. Shards rained down on the other side of the door, clattering and tinkling as they smashed against the floor.

“Such finesse,” Abe said.

“Got the job done,” Jack told him, and started to reach through the opening.

“Wait. Let’s give it a couple of minutes, see if anyone shows up.”

Abe watched the door windows. He listened carefully. No lights appeared inside the house, and he heard only the night sounds of the breeze and crickets and a few distant birds. He also heard his own heartbeat. It was loud and fast. He licked his lips. His stomach felt knotted and there was a slight tremor in his leg muscles. He didn’t like waiting.

“Okay,” he said finally.

Jack put an arm through the broken pane. He felt around for a few seconds. Then Abe heard the dry snap of a clacking bolt. Jack withdrew his arm, turned the knob, and opened the door. Its lower edge pushed through fallen glass as it swung wide. Jack twisted his hand on the knob to smear his fingerprints, and let go.

Abe followed him into the room. Turning on his flashlight, he swept its beam over cupboards, a long counter and sink, an old wood-burning stove.

Jack whispered, “Should I get a shot of the kitchen?”

“Let’s start upstairs and work our way down. Grab one of here on the way out, if you feel like it.” Abe shut off the flashlight and led the way down a corridor between the staircase and wall. Stopping in the foyer, he glanced at the parlor, at the hall leading to the gift shop. Both were dark and silent.

Fighting an urge to hold the banister, he started up the stairs. No matter how softly he put his feet down, every riser creaked and groaned in the silence. If nobody heard the window break, he told himself, nobody will hear this. The thought stole into his mind that perhaps the smashing glass had been heard. Instead of coming to investigate, it had decided to lie in wait.

It.

This place is getting to you.

At the top of the stairs, he looked to the left. Moonlight from a casement window cast a pale glow into the corridor. He saw no movement. To the right, the hall was black. He remembered a window at its far end, but the curtains of the Jenson display blocked out any light from that direction.

“Let’s do the kids’ room first,” he said. “Work our way toward the front.”

With a nod, Jack walked quickly up the hall. Abe followed, watching his friend shove the curtains aside as he passed close to the wall. The motion of the fabric forced an image into Abe’s mind of something alive hidden within the enclosure. His skin prickled when the velvety folds swung against him. He rushed through the gap.

On the other side, he looked over his shoulder. The curtains still swayed as if stirred by a wind. He switched the flashlight to his left hand, reached behind his back, and drew out his revolver. The walnut grips were slippery with his sweat, but the weight of the weapon felt good. He held it at his side as he entered the bedroom.