Silent Night

  But why?

  As a warning?

  As a warning that even worse things were in store?

  She sighed out loud as she turned into her driveway. A few more seconds and she’d be in back of the house, in the safety of the garage. A few more seconds and she’d be inside the kitchen. She could call the police and—

  The Taurus pulled into the drive right behind her.

  “I don’t believe this!”

  Reva hit the brakes hard. She’d forgotten her garage door opener, and the garage door was closed!

  The Volvo slid to a halt. The Taurus squealed over the asphalt drive, stopping inches behind her.

  I’m trapped now, Reva thought. I can’t get into the garage. But I can’t just sit here in the car.

  Her only hope, she decided, was to make a run for the house.

  If she could get to it and get inside . . .

  She grabbed her house key, flung open the car door and, breathing heavily, leapt out of the car and started running around it toward the house.

  Her legs felt heavy, as if they were weighted down.

  Her chest felt ready to explode.

  Glancing to the drive, she saw that the man in the cap was out of his car. He was big and tough looking and was running after her.

  Chapter 14

  LOSING IT

  “Hey—” he called, stumbling after her.

  Reva was almost to the door.

  “Hey—” The man was waving wildly to her.

  She pulled open the glass storm door, jammed her key in the lock, and pushed hard.

  It didn’t budge.

  Wrong key.

  “Hey—” He was only a few yards behind now.

  Reva spun around to face him, her mouth open, about to scream, her features stretched wide.

  Breathing hard, her pursuer stopped at the bottom of the stoop. “Your taillight—it’s broken,” he said between gulps of air.

  “What?” Reva remained frozen in place, her back pressed against the glass storm door.

  “Your taillight. I accidentally bumped into it back in Dalby’s parking lot,” the man said, struggling to regain his breath.

  Reva stared at him, not understanding, still waiting for him to make his move, to spring his plan of terror on her.

  “I accidentally smashed into your taillight. I’m really sorry,” the man said, taking off his cap and wiping perspiration off his broad forehead. “Come here. I’ll show you.”

  He started back toward her car.

  “My taillight?” Reva cried, not recognizing her own terror-tight voice. “You followed me all the way here because of my taillight?”

  Still feeling shaky and uncertain, she followed him back to the driveway. Sure enough, her left taillight was exposed, the plastic over the bulb knocked off and gone.

  “I hate it when people bump your car and then just drive off,” the man explained, replacing his cap. “So I followed you. I was trying to signal you. Didn’t you see me?”

  “Uh . . . no,” Reva replied, feeling very foolish.

  “Here.” The man shoved a small white card into her hand. “That’s my insurance agent. Let me write my name and number on the other side. The insurance company will take care of everything. I’m sorry about it. Just careless, I guess.”

  Reva’s hand was still trembling as she took the card from the man. She felt weak, totally drained.

  How could I have let myself get so scared over nothing? she asked herself.

  She thanked the man for being so thoughtful.

  What a waste of time, she thought. Daddy’ll just have the car fixed at his garage. Why bother involving an insurance company over a stupid taillight?

  “Thanks again!” she called as the man climbed into his car and backed down the long drive.

  I’m losing it. I’m really losing it, Reva thought, slowly making her way up to the house.

  This man was being a good citizen, and I acted like a paranoid nut-case!

  Oh, well, she told herself, unlocking the kitchen door and calling out “hello.” Her call hung unanswered in the silent house, and she knew Yvonne and Michael must be out. I do have reason to be paranoid, though.

  She tossed her coat down and pulled off the blood-soaked sweater.

  Whoever’s trying to scare me is doing a really good job, Reva decided.

  First my cut lip. Then the hideous bottle of blood.

  She opened the cabinet under the sink and shoved the sweater into the wastebasket.

  What’s next? she wondered with a cold shudder.

  What’s next?

  PART TWO

  SILENT NIGHTS

  Chapter 15

  NOTHING TO BE NERVOUS ABOUT

  “I’m so nervous, I can hardly breathe,” Pam said.

  “Nothing to be nervous about,” Clay said, slumped down in the passenger seat beside her, his knees on the dashboard, his eyes focused straight ahead on the red taillights of the traffic outside the window.

  “You talked to Maywood today?” Mickey asked from the backseat, clearing his throat, his voice sounding choked and scared.

  “No. Not today,” Clay replied tensely. “But I told you, it’s all worked out. Every detail. We lucked out too—the new video security system hasn’t been hooked up yet. They were using some kid to set it up, and he blew it.”

  The big Pontiac rolled to a stop at a traffic light. The front seat was suddenly flooded with light from a street lamp above the intersection.

  Pam glanced over at Clay, who was dressed in black denims and a black turtleneck. No coat despite the temperature in the twenties outside.

  “We want to be able to move fast,” he had explained as they were preparing for the robbery, going over the plan one last time in Mickey’s living room. “Got to stay light, stay agile.” Clay smiled as he talked.

  He really isn’t nervous, Pam had realized, struggling to tie her sneakers with trembling hands. He’s excited, terribly excited. He’s . . . eager.

  She wished she could have Clay’s confidence.

  No. She wished she had never agreed to be in on this robbery in the first place. It was too frightening. Too dangerous.

  Sure, Clay told them repeatedly that it wasn’t a real robbery. That there was no danger. No risk. No chance of a slipup.

  But how reliable was Clay?

  Going over the plan in Mickey’s living room, Pam had wanted to disappear. Run away. Move into someone else’s life till this was all over.

  “Don’t you have a darker sweater than that?” Clay complained, taking in the butter-colored pullover Mickey was wearing.

  “I’ll check,” Mickey said, hurrying to his room. He returned a few minutes later in a black T-shirt.

  Mr. Wakely was out. They had the house to themselves.

  “I feel sick,” Pam told Clay. “Really. I do.”

  His expression hardened. “You just have to drive,” he had said, his steel-gray eyes narrowing as he studied her face.

  Now, here they were, half an hour later, a little past eleven-thirty on a Friday night, driving to Dalby’s.

  The light changed to green. Pam pushed down on the gas, and the big, old Pontiac rumbled forward.

  “Wow, man, not many cars on the road for a Friday night,” Mickey said quietly from the backseat.

  “We don’t need a traffic report,” Clay snapped.

  “I really feel sick,” Pam said. “My whole body is shaking.”

  “Maybe you should pull over till you feel better,” Mickey suggested.

  “Just drive,” Clay insisted. “Concentrate on driving and you won’t feel sick.”

  “Thanks, Doc,” Pam said sarcastically.

  Clay groaned, plainly annoyed at both of them. “Are you two wimps going to be any help or not?”

  “Come on, man. Chill,” Mickey said, reaching up to the front seat to pat Clay on the shoulder. “We’re fine. We’re all fine, aren’t we, Pam?”

  A police black-and-white pulled up behind them.

&n
bsp; “Slow down!” Clay shouted to Pam, ducking low in the seat.

  “I’m only going thirty-five,” Pam said, staring into the rearview mirror.

  The police car seemed to hesitate for a moment on their tail, then passed them on the left and sped on ahead.

  All three of them burst out laughing as the black-and-white moved out of sight. Nervous, relieved laughter.

  “Did my hair turn white?” Pam asked.

  “You were cool,” Mickey congratulated her, flopping back against his seat. “Man, you were cool.”

  “Now, remember, we go to electronics first,” Clay said, turning around in the seat to talk to Mickey.

  “I remember,” Mickey told him. “We go to electronics first because it’s farthest from the back door. We go to the farthest place first, then work our way back to the door.”

  “Right. Score one for Mickey,” Clay said dryly.

  “I want to get one of those bomber jackets,” Mickey said with enthusiasm. “You know, the leather ones with the neat patches?”

  “Yeah. Get one for me too,” Pam said. Then, without warning, she hit the brakes, pulling the car to the curb across from an empty lot.

  “Hey—” Clay cried angrily. “What are you doing?”

  “I can’t do this,” Pam said, gripping the steering wheel tightly with both hands, staring straight ahead through the dark windshield.

  “Come on, Pam,” Clay said, softening his tone a little, turning to face her. “You just have to drive—remember?”

  “That’s right,” Mickey chimed in, leaning forward. “You just sit in the car and wait for us, Pam. That’s all.”

  He stared at Clay as if seeking Clay’s approval for what he had just said. But Clay was concentrating all his attention on Pam.

  “I don’t think I can do that,” Pam said, not meeting either of their eyes. Her hands began to ache. She loosened her grip on the wheel. “I don’t think I can just sit there and wait. I’ll go crazy. I won’t be able to take it.”

  “Well, what do you want?” Clay asked, unable to hide his impatience. “You want to come in with us?”

  Pam considered it for a long moment. “Yeah,” she finally answered. “Yeah. I guess so.” She turned to Clay. “I’ll go in with you—but I won’t take anything.”

  “Huh?”

  “I’ll go in with you. I think I’d be less nervous that way. But I won’t take anything. I’ll just wait inside for you two.”

  “Okay. Swell.” Clay settled back in the seat. “If it’ll make you feel better.”

  “That way, if something goes wrong,” Pam conjectured, “I won’t be sitting in the car all night, worried sick, wondering what happened.”

  “Nothing will go wrong,” Clay said sharply. “How many times have I got to tell you?”

  Pam took her foot off the brake, and the big car started to roll forward again. To her surprise, she realized that Dalby’s was only a few blocks away.

  “The plan. Go over it once again,” she said, her throat tightening, her entire body going cold. “You know. Since it’s different now.”

  Clay sighed noisily, acting out his exasperation.

  He really is treating Mickey and me horribly, Pam thought. After all, it’s not like any of us are hardened criminals. It’s only natural that we’re scared.

  Maybe being angry at us is Clay’s way of working off his nervousness, she decided.

  “Look. The plan is exactly the same, even if you come into the store,” Clay said, exasperated. “There are three loading docks in the back of the store. We drive past the first two and park the car in front of the third one. We leave the trunk down but unlatched. Maywood said he’d have the loading dock door open for us after eleven o’clock. We go in through that door, through the receiving room, along the employees’ hall that leads to the main floor. We walk past all the perfume and cosmetics counters to the front of the first floor. Up a few steps, then down a few steps and into the electronics department.”

  “And Maywood is meeting us there?” Mickey asked.

  “Yeah. He’s meeting us there. He’ll help us carry some stuff. We take what we want. We get it back to the loading dock and shove it into the trunk. Then we tie Maywood up and make it look like we overpowered him or something. Then we drive slowly and safely to my place.”

  “And stash the stuff in your garage,” Mickey finished the plan for him.

  Clay nodded. “No sweat. No big deal.”

  Pam turned sharply into the empty Dalby’s parking lot. The glass-and-steel store loomed up ahead of them, brightly lighted with red and green Christmas lights streaming six stories down, as if the entire store had been gift wrapped.

  “Do you hear me?” Clay was saying.

  Pam realized that he’d been talking to her, telling her something. Her fear had drowned out his words.

  “Pull around there,” he instructed, pointing. “Not too fast. We don’t want to draw attention from any cars on the street.”

  Feeling numb all over, feeling as if someone else were driving the car, someone else were turning the wheel, someone else were guiding them through the empty lot and around to the back, Pam followed Clay’s instructions.

  They rolled silently past the first concrete loading dock. Then past the second. It was dark back there, except for solitary, dim yellow lights, one over every door.

  Pam pulled the car up even with the third loading dock, shifted into Park, and turned off the ignition. She peered out into the darkness. It was like being on the moon, she decided. The empty, silent employees’ parking lot just beyond them, the darkened truck garage to her left.

  So dark and empty.

  It made her feel a little better.

  Who could ever find them back here on the moon?

  For some reason, her mom and dad flashed into her mind. They were home, watching some TV Christmas special when Pam had gone out. She’d told them she was going to the movies with some friends.

  Some movie.

  They were good parents, she decided. They were good to her. Proud of her. They even approved of Foxy.

  She reached for the door handle and thought about Foxy.

  Foxy would never believe she was doing this.

  He was such a nice person, such a kind person. It would be hard for Foxy to understand how you can hate a person so much that you’d even rob to get back at them. That you could hate being poor so much—especially when the rest of your family was so rich.

  She had wanted to tell Foxy about the robbery. She had even started to tell him a few nights before, but she stopped herself in time.

  He wouldn’t understand.

  Pam wasn’t sure that she understood.

  Taking a deep breath, she pushed the car door open and stepped out into the cold.

  “The lights,” Clay whispered loudly, tapping the car’s broad hood to get her attention. “Cut the lights.”

  It took Pam a while to realize she had forgotten to switch off the headlights. She reached back into the car, her hand fumbling over the dashboard until she pushed the right button.

  It immediately grew much darker. Her two companions appeared as black shadows on black.

  Pam unlatched the trunk, making sure the lid stayed down. Her hand was shaking as she struggled to shove the keys into her jeans pocket.

  Then she followed the boys up the shallow concrete steps to the loading dock.

  As they stepped into the faint glow from the small yellow bulb above the loading dock door, their breath smoking up above their heads, Pam hesitated.

  Would the door be unlocked as promised?

  And then she saw it—something gleamed in Clay’s right hand.

  “Clay—” she whispered, even though there was no one around.

  He had one hand on the door, ready to turn the knob.

  “Clay!” she called a little louder, not sure he had heard her.

  He turned around as she moved past Mickey, who was shivering in his thin black T-shirt.

  “Clay, what?
??s that?” Pam asked.

  Clay raised his right hand to reveal a small automatic pistol.

  “Hey, man—” Mickey cried, staring stonily at his friend. “You didn’t say anything about a gun.”

  “Come on, Clay—what do we need that for?” Pam asked, her eyes fixed on the small pistol, unable to conceal her horror.

  “You never know,” Clay said softly. He started to pull open the door.

  Chapter 16

  THIS WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN

  The door opened easily and they each slipped into the dark receiving area.

  Silence.

  It’s so quiet, Pam thought, I can hear the boys breathing. I can practically hear them thinking!

  Her eyes adjusted quickly to the dark. The receiving area, she could see, was just a long, empty space with a concrete floor, the place where cartons were stacked when they came off the trucks.

  She crept up beside Clay, who stood stiffly, the pistol down at his side. “Didn’t Maywood say he’d meet us here?” she whispered.

  Clay shook his head. “No, he said he’d leave the door unlocked. He’ll meet us in electronics.” He pulled her arm gently. “Come on. Let’s move.”

  “I wish you’d put that gun away,” she whispered, following him.

  He pretended not to hear her and continued walking quickly, taking long strides across the wide, empty area to the corridor. Pam hurried to keep up with him, glancing nervously back at Mickey, who lagged behind.

  They reached the narrow hallway, which was also dark. The hallway was used by store employees only. It led to the employees’ lounge, the stockrooms and, beyond those, the main selling floor.

  “Hey—wait up!” Mickey called in a loud whisper.

  “This way,” Clay instructed, starting a slow jog down the corridor despite Mickey’s plea.

  He stopped at the edge of the main floor. Several ceiling lights had been left on. The store was about half as bright as normal.

  Pam took a deep breath. The fragrances of a dozen different perfumes floated through the air. The store at night smelled sweet and stale at the same time. Across the vast room, the huge Christmas tree loomed, a towering, dark shape that rose up past the first of five balconies.