Come Out Tonight

by Richard Laymon

  He supposed he could mess around some more with her clothes, but the idea of it didn’t seem very appealing.

  Been there, done that. Time to hold off for the real thing.

  He turned his eyes to her desk. She had her own computer.

  That might be pretty interesting. Maybe she keeps a diary or something.

  Then he noticed her bulletin board. The large cork board was attached to the wall just to the right of her desk. Pinned to it were post cards, notes, all sorts of—

  A calendar! It hung near the center of the bulletin board. The large kind of calendar that shows a month at a time. Its top half was an illustration of Winnie the Pooh, twig in hand, standing on a bridge over a creek.

  These gals sure like their Pooh, Toby thought.

  The bottom half of the calendar had rows of dates, a square for each day. Some of the squares were blank. From where he sat on the bed, however, Toby could see handwriting inside most of them. He stood up and went to the calendar.

  He found the square for today’s date.

  CAR WASH 9–5 was scribbled in red ink.

  “Ah-ha!”

  But what does it mean? he wondered. Is it just a reminder to get the car washed? Who in their right mind would put that on a calendar? If you wanta get your car washed, you just go…

  She’s working at it from nine till five!

  It’s probably some sort of fund-raiser, he realized. A bunch of kids get together and spend the day washing cars ’cause they need money for some dumb-ass project—like they want to buy a new set of hymnals for the church or maybe uniforms for the school marching band.

  He pictured Brenda stretching herself over the hood of a car, swabbing it with a sudsy sponge, her skin wet and glinting in the sunlight.

  Where the hell is this car wash? he wondered.

  Probably somewhere nearby.

  If I drive around, maybe I can find it.

  He left Brenda’s bedroom and hurried downstairs. In the foyer, he turned his gaze to the telephone answering machine.

  Maybe someone had left a message about the car wash. Might at least be some sort of clue about where she is.

  Couldn’t hurt to give it a try.

  He stepped over to the table and pressed the new messages button. After a couple of clicks, the tape began to rewind, quietly humming. More clicks. Then came a female voice.

  “Hi, it’s me. Anybody home? If you’re home, please pick up. It’s important. Mom? Dad? Brenda?”

  Holy shit, is that Sherry?

  Sure is.

  After a moment of alarm, he realized she must’ve made the call before he got his hands on her.

  Of course.

  Should be interesting, he thought.

  “I don’t want to upset anybody, but…there’s this guy who, uh…I made him mad and he threatened to go after my family.”

  That’s me! Oh, shit! When did she call?

  “…where you live. Probably followed me when I came over last Sunday. I don’t know if he’ll really try anything, or when, but…he’s very dangerous.”

  Legs going numb, Toby sank into the easy chair and kept on listening.

  After the message stopped, the machine beeped three times and went silent.

  She’s alive.

  How can she be alive? I killed her.

  Apparently not.

  Toby felt as if he’d been bludgeoned.

  I’ve gotta get out of here!

  He pushed himself out of the chair and staggered toward the kitchen.

  Hold it, he thought. If she’s alive—if?—how come this place isn’t crawling with cops? She figured I’d come after her family, so the cops would’ve been waiting for me.

  Wouldn’t they?

  And where’s Sherry? he wondered. Where did she make the call from, the police department? A hospital?

  She oughta be in a morgue!

  He returned to the answering machine.

  He stared at it for a few seconds, then picked up the handset.

  Busy signal.

  Why the hell…? Oh!

  He let out a wild laugh, ran into the kitchen and hung up the wall phone. Then he raced back into the living room. Again, he lifted the handset. This time, there was a dial tone. He tapped the star button, then six-nine.

  The feature was supposed to work just like redial, except that it called the last person who phoned you.

  Maybe they don’t have it, but if they do…

  He heard the quick beeps of a phone number being activated.

  Yes!

  From the earpiece came the sounds of a ringing telephone.

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Pete flinched when the telephone rang. He was confused for a moment, then saw the cordless remote phone on the table beside the radio.

  “Gonna get it?” Jeff asked.

  “Maybe I’d better.”

  As Jeff reached over to pick it up, Pete wondered who might be calling.

  What if it’s Mom and Dad and they’re coming home early?

  Jeff handed the phone to him.

  Pete put it to his ear, but it sounded dead. It rang again. Then he realized he needed to push the on/off button. Embarrassed, he smiled at Sherry and said, “Woops.” Then he thumbed the button and said, “Hello?”

  “Hey, man, how’s it going?”

  Pete didn’t recognize the voice, but it sounded like a kid about his own age.

  And the kid seemed to know him.

  “Pretty good,” Pete said. “How about you?”

  “Can’t complain.”

  Who is this?

  “What’re you up to?” the kid asked.

  “Not much.”

  “Me either.”

  Gonna tell me who you are?

  He looked at Sherry and shook his head.

  “Who is it?” Jeff whispered.

  He looked at Jeff and shrugged. Then he asked into the phone, “Who is this, anyway?”

  The kid laughed. “It’s me, man.”

  “Me who?”

  “John.”

  John? Oh, that narrows it down.

  “Which John?”

  “Give me a break. You don’t remember me?”

  “I don’t know if I remember you. I don’t exactly know who you are.”

  Frowning, Sherry lowered her glass and rested it on the arm of her chair.

  “John from the eighth grade.”

  “Eighth grade?”

  “Yeah. I looked you up, man. I’m in town for the weekend and figured maybe we could get together, talk about the old days.”

  “I still don’t—”

  “You still living at the same place?”

  “No, huh-uh, we moved the year I started high school.”

  “Really? What’s the new address?”

  Pete felt his stomach tighten.

  Sherry and Jeff were both staring at him, looking worried.

  “I’m not gonna be around,” Pete said into the phone. “I’m leaving in a few minutes. For the day.”

  “Well, maybe I can drop in tomorrow. It’d be really cool to see you again, know what I mean? Anyway, I’ve got that money I owe you.”

  “You owe me money?”

  “Yeah. Fifty bucks.”

  “Why do you owe me fifty bucks?”

  “The bet, man. The bet. Don’t you remember?”

  “I don’t remember any bet.”

  “You don’t have much of a memory, do you?” He laughed. “Anyway, you want the money, don’t you?”

  “I’m not gonna be around the house, so…”

  “Guess I can always mail it to you.”

  “That might be better.”

  “Really like to see you, though.”

  “But I’m leaving in a few minutes. You’d better just go ahead and mail it to me.”

  “Okay. If you’re sure. Wanta give me your address?”

  “My address?”

  “Don’t give it to him,” Sherry whispered.

  “Maybe you oughta hang up,”
Jeff whispered.

  “Just a second,” Pete said. “Can you hang on? Someone’s at the door.” He leaned forward, rose out of his chair, took a step toward Sherry and handed the phone to her.

  She raised it to her ear. Then she sat motionless, listening.

  Pete watched her.

  She was breathing hard. Her shoulders and chest were moist, shiny in the sunlight. He stared at the tops of her breasts. They were bruised and scratched like the rest of her, but so…She looked up at him and shook her head.

  Pete bent down. With his face close to the side of Sherry’s face—so close he thought he could feel her heat—he said toward the phone, “Back. Sorry about that.” Then he stepped away.

  A moment later, Sherry’s face seemed to go slack. She reached toward Pete with the phone.

  As he took it, she whispered, “It’s Toby.”

  “Holy shit,” Jeff muttered.

  Pete pressed his hand against the mouthpiece. “What’ll I do?”

  Sherry just looked at him. “I…I don’t…You said he’d been caught!”

  Pete grimaced.

  “That was a little fib,” Jeff explained. “Sorry.”

  “A fib. Great.”

  “I’m sorry,” Pete said. “We wanted to know his name, that’s all. It was a dirty trick, but…”

  “Tell him to come over,” Jeff said. “We’ll waste his fuckin’ ass.”

  “No!” Sherry gasped.

  Pete took his hand away from the mouthpiece. “Sorry about that,” he said. “My ride’s here, so I guess I’ve gotta get going.”

  “Wait, man. You want the fifty bucks, don’t you?”

  Heart suddenly thudding wildly, Pete said, “Yeah, go ahead and send it to me. Got a pen and paper?”

  “Hang on.”

  “Don’t!” Sherry whispered, leaning forward and looking frantic. “Are you nuts?”

  “Okay,” Pete said into the phone. “You can send it to 835 Chandler Court.”

  “Oh, my God,” Sherry muttered.

  “That’s LA.” As Pete gave the zip code, he turned his head and saw Jeff grinning at him like a maniac.

  “All right there, man,” Toby said. “I’ll get that check in the mail to you right away. Oughta be showing up in a couple of days.”

  “No hurry,” Pete said.

  “Hey, it’s been great talking to you. Too bad we can’t get together.”

  “Maybe some other time.”

  “Right. Next time I’m in town, I’ll look you up.”

  “Great. Good talking to you.”

  “Same here.”

  “So long.” He thumbed the on/off button and the phone went dead.

  Jeff chuckled and shook his head.

  Sherry, gazing at Pete with shock and disappointment, muttered, “I can’t believe it! First you guys lie through your teeth and say the cops got him…”

  “That was so we could go after him,” Jeff said.

  “Now you told him where we are. He knows I’m here. Somehow, he figured it out and now he’ll be coming over.”

  “Fuckin’-A,” Jeff said, grinning.

  “I gave Toby the wrong address,” Pete explained.

  “You’re kidding!” She looked appalled. “That’s even worse! He’ll go to that house looking for me and…God help whoever’s there.”

  “Nobody’s there,” Pete said.

  “It’s the house next door,” Jeff explained. “It’s up for sale, been empty for months.” Beaming at Pete, he said, “Brilliant work, dude. We’ll fuckin’ ambush his ass!”

  Sherry slumped back in her chair. Looking exhausted, she said, “We’d better call the cops right now.”

  “No cops,” Jeff said. “No way. We’ll take care of him. Me and Pete.”

  “Or he’ll take care of you,” Sherry muttered. “And after he gets done with you guys, he’ll take care of me.”

  “That isn’t gonna happen,” Pete said.

  “You just hope not.”

  “Just in case, you shouldn’t be around. I’ll give you the car keys, and…”

  She let out a soft, tired laugh.

  “Are you okay to drive?”

  “I’m not going to drive. God! How could you give him that address?”

  “It’s next door,” Jeff reminded her.

  “I know it’s next door, but Toby isn’t stupid. If you think he’ll walk into some kind of trap…”

  “I had to tell him something.” Pete said.

  “No you didn’t.”

  “He didn’t just call here by accident, you know.”

  Sherry stared at him. “I know that.”

  “How do you think he found out you’re still alive? How did he know where to call?”

  “Oh, God,” Sherry murmured. “He’s at my parents’ house. He heard me on their answering machine…and they’ve got some kinda call return thing on their phone.”

  “Star sixty-nine?” Jeff asked.

  “Yeah, that’s it. That’s how he called here.”

  “Oh, man.”

  “We’ve gotta get over there,” Sherry said.

  “He’ll be on his way here,” Jeff said.

  “But my mom and dad…Brenda…”

  “Maybe they’re okay,” Pete said. “Maybe they weren’t home.”

  “I’ve gotta find out.”

  “One of us could drive over and look around,” Pete suggested.

  “Not me,” Jeff said. “I’m not gonna go off ’n leave you guys here. He’s gonna show up. Anyhow, I’m a little tanked. I’d problee get pulled over by the cops.”

  “I guess we could all go,” Pete said.

  “Who drives?” Jeff asked. “We all been boozin’ it up.”

  “I’m okay to drive,” Sherry said.

  “You’re hardly okay to stand,” Pete told her.

  “My head’s pretty clear. I can manage.”

  “We’ll miss our chance at Toby,” he said.

  “How long’ll it take to get there?” Jeff asked.

  Turning her head, Sherry stared up at the bluff beyond the back wall. “That’s Mulholland?”

  “Yeah,” Pete said. “About a mile from Coldwater.”

  “Guess it’d take twenty minutes, half an hour. To get there.”

  “Then the whole thing’ll take like an hour,” Jeff said. “We’re gonna miss him.”

  “We’d better do it,” Pete said, meeting Sherry’s eyes. “Make sure your family’s okay. We can worry about Toby later.”

  “Thanks.” She handed her half-finished Bloody Mary to Jeff.

  “Done?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Had enough for now.”

  He set her glass on the table.

  Sherry grabbed the arms of her chair, leaned forward and started to push herself up.

  Pete lurched out of his chair and hurried to her side. He gently took hold of her left upper arm.

  “Thanks,” she said as he helped her up. On her feet, she said, “Let me see if I can get along on my own. I’d better, huh?”

  “Okay.” He let go of her arm, then watched her. She swayed slightly, but stayed up.

  “Might be a good idea to put away all this stuff,” she said. “Toby might come snooping while we’re gone.”

  “Snoopin’ at the house next door,” Jeff pointed out.

  “For five minutes, maybe,” Sherry said. “Then he’ll notice it’s empty and figure out somebody pulled a fast one. Then maybe he’ll come looking over here.”

  “Let’s get everything inside,” Pete said.

  “I’ll go on in,” Sherry said, and started hobbling toward the glass door.

  “Y’all right?” Jeff asked her.

  “Peachy.”

  She made it into the house.

  It took two trips for Pete and Jeff to carry everything in from the table. Then Jeff picked up his clothes and brought them inside. While he stepped into his jeans, Pete shut and locked the sliding door.

  “You going like that?” Jeff asked.

  Pe
te closed the curtains. “Guess I’d better get dressed.”

  “How about me?” Sherry asked from where she waited by the front door.

  Pete hurried over to her.

  “Maybe you can find me a shirt to wear.”

  “You wanta come along and pick something?”

  “I’d better wait here. Just grab me anything. We’ve gotta hurry.”

  “Yeah.” He gave his trunks a pull, then started down the hallway toward his bedroom.

  “Do you have any guns in the house?” Sherry called.

  “Yeah.”

  “We’d better take something with us, ’cause I know Toby’s armed.”

  Chapter Fifty

  Standing in the kitchen to put on his shoes, Toby noticed a pink sheet of paper fixed by an Eeyore magnet to the refrigerator door. In both top corners were cartoonish drawings of cars. The car on the left looked filthy, while the car on the right seemed to sparkle—lines like sunshine rays radiating off it.

  Toby stepped into his shoes, then rushed to the refrigerator. The message was hand-lettered, large and bold:

  DIRTY CAR? YOU WANT A CLEAN CAR WE WANT A NEW COMPUTER FOR THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER! COME TO US! IT’S A WIN WIN SITUATION!!! WHEN: SATURDAY, 9 AM TO 5 PM WHERE: PARKING LOT, FAIRVIEW HIGH SCHOOL 8321 FAIRVIEW BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES HOW MUCH: $5.00 DONATION IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISFIED, WE’LL REFUND YOUR DIRT!

  In blue ink, someone had scrawled, “Too cute!” underneath the comment about refunding dirt.

  Did Brenda do that? Toby wondered. Probably.

  He liked the idea that she’d scribbled a smart remark on the thing.

  Perky kid. She’ll be a scrapper. It’ll be great.

  Toby plucked the paper off the refrigerator, sending Eeyore flying. He watched the magnet hit the floor. It bounced but didn’t break.

  He read the announcement again.

  Fairview High. That won’t be hard to find. Can’t be too far away, either.

  But should he go for Brenda? Or forget about her and go after Sherry?

  A hard choice.

  There’d been no choice before listening to Sherry’s message. It had been simple then; take down the parents, grab Brenda and drive her to his house for fun and games.

  But he’d given up that plan after hearing Sherry on the answering machine. For one thing, there was no guarantee he’d be able to find Brenda at all. The car wash might be miles away in any direction. He could spend hours searching for it and maybe never find it. For another thing, it’d be crazy to go chasing after Brenda now that Sherry was alive.