Don

by Carlene Thompson

  Now she was beginning to have doubts. The night was darker than the last time she and Jimmy had ventured out. Of course then there had been a full moon and now there was only a crescent slice that looked really pretty as it glowed through a fog coming in off the lake, but it didn't put out a lot of light. There were only a few stars, too. And somewhere an owl was hooting.

  "The Egyptians believed the owl meant death," Paige said.

  Jimmy stopped in his tracks. "What?"

  Paige felt silly. She hated it when things like that popped out of her mouth. "I read it."

  "You read too much," Jimmy declared.

  "But it makes sense. About the owl, I mean," Paige said defensively. "Somebody died here and now an owl is hooting."

  "Owls always hoot. It's all they know how to do."

  "I still think it's neat."

  Jimmy snorted. "I think it's dumb."

  Paige was crushed until the next time the owl hooted and

  Jimmy looked around uneasily. She smiled in satisfaction. He took her more seriously than he pretended.

  "Okay, here we are," Jimmy said. They both halted, staring wide-eyed at the mangled branch that had lain on Tamara Hunt's body. Yellow tape surrounded the area.

  "That's crime-scene tape," Jimmy informed her.

  "I know."

  "We can't go past it. We might mess up important evidence."

  "I know. Gee, Jimmy, my dad is a cop." Which was, Paige also knew, why Jimmy had befriended her even though she was younger and a girl. His dream was to become a detective like that guy on his favorite show, Street Life, Eddie Salva tore. Jimmy told Paige that Eddie was played by an actor named Paul Fiori who used to be married to some woman who lived right here in this very town? Jimmy was obsessed with Eddie Salvatore. Paige told him her dad said if any detective acted like Salvatore-always bossing around the other detectives, going off on hunches when his lieutenant ordered him not to-he'd get fired. "No way," Jimmy argued staunchly. "Eddie Salvatore is always right." Paige would roll her eyes, but she still thought Jimmy was basically wonderful.

  Jimmy had brought a flashlight and bounced the beam around the area. "I see blood."

  "Maybe it's blood. I'm not sure. Anything else?"

  "Well… no actual clues. But I've got a theory."

  Jimmy almost always had a theory. "What is it?"

  "I think the murderer is hiding in Ariel Saunders's house."

  "That big spooky house you're always talking about?"

  "Yeah. The one at the end of this road. Let's go check it out."

  "Wait a minute," Paige stalled. "What makes you think the murderer is hiding in that house?"

  "I've got a hunch."

  Oh, no. Jimmy was being Eddie Salvatore again. "How did you get your hunch?"

  "Hunches can't be explained," Jimmy said loftily. "They just are." Which meant he had no idea what he was talking about, Paige thought. "You coming?"

  "We've been gone an awful long time."

  "You're right. I guess little girls should be home in bed."

  "I am not a little girl," Paige answered hotly. "Everyone says I'm mature for my age."

  "Whatever. You play it safe and run home. I'm gonna investigate."

  He began guiding his bicycle around the crime-scene tape. Paige hesitated. It was late. It was dark. There was a murderer on the loose.

  And there was Jimmy who looked kind of like Angel on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Gosh, life was hard when you were eleven and had a strict father and a better-than-cute potential boyfriend who thought he was tough and grownup.

  "Okay, I'll come."

  "Let's leave our bikes here. We can move faster without them."

  They hid their bicycles in tall grass beside the road. Now that they were out of sight of other houses, Jimmy left the flashlight on. They walked in silence for a few moments. Somewhere close by frogs croaked and a dog barked.

  "Is that the dog you said was hanging around out here with the body?" Paige asked.

  "No, it's Old Man Harker's basset hound Malcolm. I think that woman took the other dog. The one I told you was with Tamara's sister. Your dad called her Dr. St. John."

  "Was she pretty?" Paige asked, wondering if her dad had been talking to the woman because she was pretty. She wasn't sure how she'd feel about that.

  "I don't know if she was pretty. She was older, but not as old as my mom. Maybe the same age as Tamara."

  Paige heard the little catch in his voice when he said Tamara. She also thought he looked like he'd been crying when he came to her house earlier to tell her about the murdered woman. She considered being jealous, but Jimmy couldn't possibly have thought of Mrs. Hunt as a girlfriend. He'd just liked her and he was sad that she was dead.

  "Hey, there's the house!" Jimmy said.

  Paige frowned. She couldn't see much except for a hulking shape in the dull moonlight. "What's so great about this place?"

  "It's over two hundred years old for one thing. And there was a shipwreck right down the beach and Ariel saved three guys including Zebediah Winthrop, the captain. He was her lover. Anyway, the place is really big and there's this really cool little walkway that goes all around the roof-"

  "A widow's walk!"

  "Yeah. Ariel was up there watching for Zebediah when she saw the shipwreck. It's an awesome house, but the woman who owns it now is letting it fall apart and Ariel's mad so she's coming back to haunt it."

  Paige grinned. "You believe this place is haunted by a ghost?"

  "No, not me!" Jimmy answered quickly. "But people are scared of it so they stay away. That makes it the perfect place for a murderer to hide out. And just look how close it is to the Hunt house. Tamara must have come out for a walk and-" He drew a finger across his throat, made a slashing sound and a horrible face.

  Paige cringed. "Why would somebody kill her?"

  "Murderers don't need reasons," Jimmy explained in a worldly-wise tone. "They just enjoy murdering people. Take your serial killers like… um… Ted Bundy who killed hundreds of girls and Jeffrey something who cut off people's heads and kept them in jars so they'd never leave him!"

  Paige's eyes flew wide. "And you think somebody like that is in Ariel's house?"

  "Maybe. And I'm gonna catch him."

  "You are?" Paige asked incredulously. "Jimmy, you're twelve!"

  "I can still find a killer. I'd probably be even better at it than the police because nobody would ever suspect me. They'd think I was just a dumb kid." Paige frowned. This was pretty good reasoning. "Now are you gonna help or are you gonna stand here and act like a baby?"

  "I'll help," Paige said resignedly, fearing that if she didn't add her own-common sense to this project, disaster could result. Jimmy might get murdered, too. She shuddered at the thought. Losing Jimmy would be like seeing a shining star blink out of the sky forever. "What do we do now?"

  "Stakeout."

  "But that could take hours. I can only stay for a little while."

  "Fair enough. Let's get closer. We'll hide behind those bushes in front of the house."

  Jimmy darted across the ragged lawn of the Saunders house, Paige hot on his heels. They dived behind the bushes, both panting. "Jimmy," she hissed, "what if the killer comes out? We don't have a gun or knife or anything."

  Jimmy blinked at her for a moment. Apparently he hadn't considered this wrinkle in his plan. "Well… uh… we'll just have to make sure he doesn't see us. For now."

  "What do you mean for now?'

  "Shhh!"

  Paige subsided unhappily. She had a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling.

  She peered between the bushes, trying to see the house more clearly. She couldn't. Even the crescent moon had vanished behind a drifting cloud. Shadows pooled around Ariel Saunders's long-deserted home. Jimmy said she haunted it. Paige believed in ghosts, this would certainly be the place for one. The big, old, musty house loomed over them, and Paige had the persistent feeling of being watched.

  Something screeched not far away. S
he nearly leaped from behind the bushes. Jimmy restrained her. "That owl got a mouse," he whispered.

  "I told you owls mean death."

  They sat quietly on the ground for what seemed like an hour. When Paige looked at the luminous hands of her watch, though, she saw that it had only been fifteen minutes. Time seemed suspended. She smacked at a mosquito. Another bite to add to the five others that itched maddeningly. And she needed the bathroom. Bad.

  Horror shot through her. What if her bladder gave way and she wet her pants in front of Jimmy? She'd die. Right on the spot her heart would stop from pure mortification and she'd keel over. Paige pictured herself lying pale and motionless on the dew-laden grass, her hair spread in a halo around her head, her white eyelids tragically shut forever… and a big wet circle on her jeans.

  "Jimmy, I have to go home."

  "Wow?"

  "Yes, now." She couldn't tell him the truth. "If I get caught, I'll never be able to sneak out again-"

  The sound of electric guitars tore through the black tunnel of night. Jimmy and Paige both jumped. Drumbeats seemed to shake the ground. Their gazes met. Music! Rock music crashed inside Ariel Saunders's dark, deserted wreck of a house.

  Paige clutched Jimmy's arm as a young male voice sang with rock's intensity:

  When night falls And the shadows call He hovers in the dark Hungering for your heart. Don't close your eyes He's watching for you.

  Paige's grip on Jimmy's arm tightened. "Let's go," she quavered as the air vibrated around them.

  He longs to take your soul And put it in the hole Deep down inside Where now the devil hides. Don't close your eyes…

  Don't close your eyes? All Paige wanted to do was close her eyes. But she didn't. She stared, mesmerized, as light suddenly flared from a window beside the door. It glowed and flickered. Candlelight.

  She began to shiver. She didn't need the bathroom anymore. She just wanted to be someplace else, anyplace else. She looked at Jimmy, who stared intensely at the light, his lips pressed together in a tight line of fear and excitement.

  Piercing electric guitar chords raced frantically up and down the scale, pulsating through the warm summer night, striking deep within Paige's stomach. The young man sang feelingly, menacingly, seeming to be right next to her, singing only to Paige:

  And you try to escape

  From the one who wears the cape

  But he's stealthy as a cat

  And silent as a bat.

  Silent as a bat? Paige looked nervously over her shoulder. Nothing she could see, but she felt something. "Jimmy, what'll we do?" she almost sobbed.

  Jimmy seemed frozen in place. His face was rigid as the song started again.

  The light grew brighter, flickering from the windows. Paige knew another candle had been lit. More light. Another candle. What was this? Some kind of ceremony? Maybe a pagan ceremony? A Satanic ritual? The music grew even louder. Couldn't the whole world hear it? Paige wondered as it shook and shuddered its way up to the black sky. Would that loving but also fearsome God everyone talked about now retaliate, sending down a lightning bolt, destroying the house and everything around it, including her and Jimmy?

  Don't close your eyes, He's reaching for you…

  The night. The mist. The music. The dancing candlelight. Paige's chest tightened. Each breath was an effort. She'd been worried about what her mother would think of her sneaking around at night. Her mother was a spirit now. They said this place was haunted but it couldn't be her mother's spirit inside. Meagan Meredith wouldn't scare her little girl this much, even if she were angry with Paige for sneaking out. Could it be Ariel? Could a furious Ariel Saunders be laying claim to her house invaded by two kids? The scene began to swirl and Paige shut her eyes tight, trying to stop the spinning. If she fainted she couldn't get away from this awful place.

  "I'm gonna look in the window."

  Paige's eyes snapped open. "No!" she rasped.

  "I have to, Paige. The killer's inside."

  "Don't be crazy!" Paige said frantically, but Jimmy looked determined. She forced down her fear. This was getting serious and even if her adored Jimmy wanted to live in a fantasy world, she didn't and she wouldn't let him, either.

  "Jimmy, no!" she said firmly. "You could get killed-"

  The music shot a notch higher. The shadows around the house shifted and ebbed in the candle flames, seeming to dance along with the heart-thumping music. The night was chilly but sweat trickled down Paige's sides and dampened the nape of her neck. "Jimmy, I'm going. You're going too if I have to drag you-"

  The front door flew open, slamming into the side of the house so hard Paige thought she heard wood splintering. The music soared. A hulking shape appeared in silhouette against the candlelight. Paige stopped breathing as a scream rose in her throat. The shape dipped and drifted toward them, snickering, muttering, "Don't close your eyes… He's reaching for you…"

  Closer.

  Closer…

  A shadow fell over them. Paige and Jimmy screamed simultaneously. Paige's bladder let go as they leaped from behind the bushes and ran blindly from the terrible throbbing house, ran heedless of grasping vines and wet grass and animal holes, ran until they felt as if their hearts would burst.

  And somewhere in the distance an owl hooted…

  7

  MONDAY MORNING

  Music. Mist. A hulking, dancing figure swooping down on them!

  Paige screamed and jerked upward. Her father caught her in his big, hard arms. "Just a nightmare, honey."

  Paige took a deep breath and blinked several times. Yes, here she was in her twin bed with the pretty peach-and-green puffy quilt, her lacy curtains, her stuffed animal collection, her black-and-white cat Ripley lying by her side studying her with calm, green eyes.

  "I came in because you were whimpering in your sleep. What were you dreaming?" Nick Meredith asked.

  "It was all mixed up," Paige lied. "But it was scary. Something about Mrs. Hunt's murder." Paige hated lying to her father. "I dreamed about the person who killed that poor woman. So awful!" she added, imitating Mrs. Collins's voice when she'd spent the afternoon calling her friends to tell them about the murder.

  "I see," Nick said slowly. "In your dream did you see that person?"

  "No. Just somebody big and mean." Who likes candlelight and loud rock music, she thought with a shudder. "Did you catch him yet, Daddy?"

  "No, but I will." Nick smiled and kissed Paige on the forehead. "You get ready for school, kid."

  "Daddy, it's summer." Boy, he was tired, Paige thought. "Jimmy and I might hang out."

  "Doesn't he know any guys?" Nick asked querulously.

  "Yeah, but they swim all day. Or play baseball. Jimmy is more intellectual."

  Her father's lips twitched. "Intellectual, huh? I never thought of Jimmy Jenkins as intellectual."

  "Oh, but he is, Daddy. He's really smart."

  "I'd still like to see you play with Barbie dolls for a change."

  "I hate Barbie dolls!"

  "Don't the other girls play with them?"

  "I guess, but I don't have any friends that are girls."

  "Make some."

  Mrs. Collins hovered in the doorway. "I know some lovely young girls I could introduce her to."

  Wonderful, Paige thought. If Mrs. Collins liked them, they'd probably be a dull as she was. They'd want to have tea parties rather than solve murders.

  "Hey, Dad," Paige said quickly to change the subject, "Jimmy said out where Mrs. Hunt got killed yesterday there was a woman with black hair."

  "Yes." Nick stood up, straightening his tie. "Natalie St. John. Her father is Andrew St. John who took out your tonsils in February."

  "Pretty?"

  "Andrew St. John? Not especially."

  "Daddy! I mean his daughter. Is she pretty?"

  "I guess. I really didn't notice."

  Too casual, Paige observed. He'd noticed and he thought she was pretty. She didn't like thinking of him with any woman except her
mother, but she didn't want him to be lonely, either. And she could tell he was really lonely in spite of her efforts to entertain him. "Jimmy said she probably took that lost dog home with her."

  "She did. She's a veterinarian."

  Paige's interest soared. "She likes animals!"

  "Just like another young lady I know." He looked at the shining black-and-white cat. "I think Ripley is getting fat."

  "Daddy, you'll hurt his feelings!"

  "He looks devastated."

  "If you think he's too fat, maybe he should go see Natalie St. John."

  "She's not in practice here. Besides, there is nothing wrong with the cat except a few extra pounds."

  "And he does have that annoying habit of jumping off the newel post on the stairs," Mrs. Collins put in. "He startles the life out of me when he comes springing out of nowhere."

  "See, Daddy, that proves he's not too fat or he couldn't jump so well. But he does scratch his ears a lot." Paige assumed a distressed look. "I'm worried."

  "You're curious, Paige Meredith," Nick laughed. "For some reason you want to get a look at Natalie St. John." He shrugged. "If I see her, I'll ask her about checking out Ripley. She'll probably say no."

  "Not if she's nice she won't," Paige muttered to Ripley when her father left the room. She lovingly touched the small black spot on the end of his pink nose. "That's how we'll know if she might be the right girl for Daddy."

  After Nick went to headquarters and Mrs. Collins drifted back downstairs to her knitting and her morning talk shows, the phone rang. Paige grabbed up her extension before Mrs. Collins could rouse herself from the couch. It was Jimmy. "Get in trouble?" he asked abruptly.