‘Might be a little different at this hour of the night.’
‘Might be. Thanks for mentioning it.’
‘You’re welcome.’
Approaching the door, Warren dug a key case out of his pocket. ‘When I get it unlocked, I’ll have to make a run for the alarm.’
‘It won’t go off, will it?’
‘Not if I get there in time. But don’t worry. It’s no big deal. I just won’t be able to dally in the doorway.’
‘You don’t want me to clutch you to my bosom in a feverish embrace?’
He chuckled. ‘Did I say that? Never mind. Screw the alarm.’
At the door, Warren slipped a key into the lock. Dana stood behind him. ‘I feel like a lookout for a heist,’ she said.
‘Anybody coming?’
In both directions, the sidewalks looked deserted. A few cars were parked along the curbs. A van that had already passed them was heading away, its taillights glowing red.
‘Coast is clear,’ Dana reported.
‘Ever been in jail?’ Warren asked, and opened the door.
‘No.’
Pausing at the threshold, he smiled back at her. ‘Always a first time.’
‘Warren!’
Laughing, he hurried into the darkness.
Dana stepped inside, shut the door, and waited. Compared to the outside chill, the museum felt comfortable. And it smelled wonderful, air rich with pleasant scents from the candles and soaps in the gift area.
The neon CLOSED sign in the window gave everything nearby an eerie blue glow. It cast a dim shine along the top of the glass counter beside Dana, but it left most of the museum in darkness.
Off in the darkness, she heard footsteps.
‘Got it,’ Warren said.
‘So we won’t be going to jail?’
‘Hope not.’
Dana made out a vague shape coming toward her. ‘That better be you,’ she said.
The shape stopped in front of her and reached out. She felt a warm hand drift against the side of her face. ‘Maybe we should get away from the windows,’ Warren said. ‘Might be a slight bit embarrassing if we got caught in here.’
‘Maybe we’d better not be in here.’
‘We aren’t breaking any laws. I have a key.’ He took Dana by the hand and began leading her into the darkness. ‘I also have Janice’s permission to come and go whenever I want.’
‘Do you really?’
‘Yeah. Far as she’s concerned, I can do no wrong.’
‘Do you think she’d approve of this?’
‘Oh, yes. When she finds out . . .’
‘You’re not going to tell her?’
‘Well . . .’
‘You can’t tell her we snuck in here in the middle of the night.’
‘If you don’t want me to, I won’t.’
‘I’d rather you didn’t. Do you tell her everything?’
‘Pretty much.’
‘Wonderful.’
‘I can’t wait to tell her about you. She’s been . . . a little worried about me. Since the incident, you know? She’s been afraid I might . . . sort of cut myself off.’
They stopped walking.
They seemed to be somewhere near the back of the museum’s main room, near a corner. Looking toward the front, Dana glimpsed a few small mists of blue glow. Most of her view was blocked by tall shelving, shrouded by darkness. From where she stood, no windows were in sight.
She turned toward Warren, but could barely see him.
‘So anyway,’ he said, ‘Janice’ll be awfully glad to find out that I’ve . . . uh . . . found someone I really care about.’
‘You really care about me?’ Dana whispered.
‘More than . . . yeah. I sure do.’
‘More than what?’ she asked, her heart pounding faster.
‘More than anyone. Ever.’
She wrapped her arms around him.
Sprawled on top of Warren, breathless and sweaty, Dana pushed herself up to a sitting position.
He stayed in her.
Raising both hands toward her face, she pressed a button to light the numbers of her wristwatch.
11:47
‘What’s the bad news?’ Warren asked.
‘Quarter till twelve.’
He groaned.
‘I’d better get dressed.’
He took hold of her thighs. ‘No, wait.’
‘I promised Tuck.’
‘I know. But . . . five more minutes?’
Smiling in the darkness, Dana hunkered down over him. She placed her hands on the carpet and eased from side to side. Her breasts swung, nipples brushing across Warren’s chest. She felt him move inside her. Felt him grow.
‘You want me to miss the tour, don’t you?’ she asked.
‘You don’t have to miss it. Five or ten more minutes . . .’
He pushed up slightly, sliding himself deeper.
Dana moaned. ‘You don’t make it easy.’
‘Sorry.’
‘Sure.’
‘You’d better get going,’ Warren said.
‘Yeah. I’d better.’
She sank down on him, mashing herself against him, sucking his tongue into her mouth. His tongue slurped out as she pushed herself up. Gasping for air, she guided his hands to her breasts, then clutched him by the shoulders. ‘I think I can spare a minute or two,’ she said.
By 11:55, they were both dressed and standing just inside the museum’s front door.
Dana gave Warren a quick hug and kiss. ‘I’ve got to run,’ she said. ‘Maybe you’d better stay here, make sure we didn’t lose anything in the dark.’
‘You didn’t lose your pistol, did you?’
She had felt the weight of the .380 in her pocket as she’d pulled up her shorts, had felt it bump against her thigh with each step she took on her way to the door. She could feel it now like a hand trying to tug down her shorts. ‘Still there, all right.’
‘I hope you don’t need it.’
‘If I do, should I save the last bullet for myself?’
‘Don’t even joke about that.’
‘I’ve gotta go.’
‘I’ll come along.’
She shook her head. ‘No, really. You should stay here and clean the place up. We don’t want to leave a mess behind.’
‘You’re probably right.’
‘See you tomorrow?’
Warren nodded.
Dana pulled him against herself and gave him one long, hard kiss. Then she eased him away, turned around and opened the door.
‘Be careful,’ he called after her.
‘Bye-bye, honey,’ she said, and hurried to the curb.
The fog was much thicker than before.
She could hardly see to the other side of the road. The street lights looked as if they’d been muffled with cotton. A block away, the marquee of The Haunted Palace was a shapeless, fuzzy red blur.
Shivering, Dana rubbed her arms.
She glanced both ways, looking for headlights. Then she dashed across Front Street. At the other side, she leaped the curb, swerved to the right, and sprinted up the sidewalk toward Beast House in a race to beat the midnight deadline.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Warnings
‘I know you’re all freezing,’ Lynn called, walking backwards at the front of the group. ‘So I’ll spare you my usual twenty-minute speech in front of the porch, and we’ll go straight in.’
‘Hear hear!’ bellowed the professor.
As they hurried along, Vein zipped up her leather jacket.
Darke let go of Owen’s hand and huddled against his side. He put an arm around her back. Through the thin silk of her shirt, he felt her shaking.
‘Hang on,’ he said. He pulled off his Crawford Junior High School windbreaker. ‘Here, put this on.’ He held it open while Darke slipped her arms into the sleeves.
Though her black blouse was still unbuttoned, exposing bare skin all the way down to her waist, she drew the windbreaker
shut and fastened its snaps. Trembling, she smiled up at Owen. ‘Thanks,’ she said, then once again tucked herself in against his side.
Again, he put his arm around her back.
Turning his head, he pushed his face into her soft hair.
‘Oh, how sweet,’ came Monica’s voice from somewhere behind him. ‘Owie’s got a boyfriend.’
As she spoke the last word, Darke reached back and slipped a hand down inside the seat pocket of Owen’s jeans.
‘If you look to your left,’ Lynn announced, ‘you may note that something seems to be missing.’
Owen looked. Through the iron bars of the front fence, he saw the lawn dissolve into fog. There was no trace at all of Beast House.
‘We may have to rethink our plans for the tour,’ Lynn said.
‘This is so cool,’ Darke said quietly to Owen.
‘Yeah.’
‘I just love the fog.’
‘Me, too,’ he said. ‘Do you get much of it where you live?’
‘Not much.’
Somewhere in the fog ahead of them, Lynn said, ‘Go all the way up to the house.’
‘Where do you live?’ Owen asked.
‘Tucson.’
‘Arizona?’
Darke nodded. ‘I’m in grad school at the university.’
‘What’re you working on?’
‘Go on up to the house,’ Lynn said, closer now. ‘I’ll be along in a minute.’
‘An M.A. in literature. Vein, too. We’re roomies.’
Following those in front of them, they turned to the left just before the ticket booth. They passed Lynn, who was holding the gate open.
‘Go all the way up to the house,’ she told them. ‘I’ll be along in a minute.’
As they headed up the walkway, Lynn repeated the instructions to those behind them.
‘Is Darke your real name?’ Owen asked.
‘Of course not,’ she said.
Soon, the black shape of Beast House began to emerge through the fog. Somehow, it made Owen think of a ghost ship bearing down on them.
‘Look at that,’ he said. ‘It’s like something out of William Hope Hodgson.’
The hand in his back pocket squeezed his rump. ‘You been talking to Vein?’
‘Huh?’
‘I just love Hodgson.’
‘You’re kidding,’ Owen said. ‘Most people have never even heard of him.’
‘You meet the coolest people on a Beast House tour.’ She squeezed his butt again. ‘Who else do you like?’
‘Herbert.’
‘Herbert who?’ Darke asked.
‘James.’
‘Herbert James? Any relation to Henry?’
‘I hate Henry,’ Owen said.
‘I love Herbert,’ said Darke. ‘And you’re right about Henry. He’s a bore. And he don’t know shit about rats.’
They climbed the porch stairs. In the midst of the other tourists, they turned around and waited. A few more people, down on the walkway, were materializing out of the fog.
Then Lynn appeared. ‘Is everybody ready for the Midnight Tour?’ she called.
A few scattered voices replied, ‘Ready,’ and ‘All set,’ and ‘Any time.’
‘It’s terribly cold out here,’ complained the woman in the tennis outfit. Since the last time Owen had noticed her, she’d put her sweater on.
‘Colder than a witch’s tit,’ said Arnold.
‘Colder than a zombie’s dick,’ said Dennis.
‘Colder than . . .’
Raising a hand, Lynn said, ‘Guys, guys, guys.’
‘Morons.’ The quiet mutter came from Monica. She sounded as if she were standing directly behind Owen.
‘There are ladies present,’ Clive proclaimed.
‘It’s an unexpurgated tour, dude,’ Dennis said.
‘Right on,’ said Arnold. Stopping at the foot of the porch stairs, Lynn said, ‘I’m sure everyone would appreciate . . .’
A dark, running shape raced out of the fog behind her.
‘Look out!’ someone shouted.
She whirled around.
‘It’s me, it’s me!’
Owen recognized the voice and the tall, shapely figure.
Dana.
He felt as if an old friend had shown up. Strangely, however, he didn’t find himself excited or even very interested in her arrival.
The lack of interest made him feel as if he’d somehow let her down.
That’s crazy, he told himself. She never cared about me. We’re strangers.
But I wanted her so badly!
He tried to picture how she’d looked last night, naked by the Jacuzzi. But the image that entered his mind and made him start to stiffen was Darke in the men’s restroom earlier tonight when she first pulled open her shirt.
‘You made it,’ Lynn said.
‘Hi, everyone!’ Dana called out.
‘Dana!’ Dennis yelled, waving furiously.
‘The main babe!’ yelled Arnold.
‘Lynn’s the main babe,’ Dana told him. ‘I’m just here to help out. I hope I didn’t delay things.’
‘We were just about to start,’ Lynn told her. ‘Tell you what. I’ll lead the way. Why don’t you do me a favor and take up the rear? Keep an eye out for stragglers.’ Facing the group, Lynn said, ‘We should all stay close together after we enter the house. That way, everyone’ll be able to see and hear what’s going on. Also, we’ll be less likely to lose any of you. Every now and then, stragglers get picked off.’
Owen heard a few quiet laughs.
‘I assume she’s kidding,’ Eleanor muttered.
‘Anybody has any questions, wait till we’re inside. It is a little nippy out here.’
With that, Lynn rushed up the porch stairs. Several people moved quickly to let her by. Owen heard keys jangle.
He and Darke turned around to face the door.
Darke pulled her hand out of his pocket. Taking hold of his hand, she looked up at him. ‘I’ve been wanting to do this for so long.’
‘Me, too,’ he said.
‘I can’t believe I’m finally here.’
Neither can I, Owen thought.
She’s here, all right. Here with me. And it’s not a dream.
Better not be.
Holding Darke’s small, warm hand, he stepped over the threshold.
Lynn must’ve turned on a light as she entered; a chandelier cast a murky glow through the foyer.
She made her way forward to the main stairway, climbed to the third stair, then turned around. ‘Welcome to Beast House,’ she said.
Dana shut the door.
‘Now, I know you’ve all seen The Horror. I’m going to assume that you’ve already taken the self-guided audio tour, and that some of you have read one or both of Janice Crogan’s books. If you haven’t, you’ve put the cart before the horse. The Midnight Tour is like an advanced class. We’re really not here to rehash the basic stuff. But it’s not exactly a class, either. We’re here to have a good time, and we hope to give you an experience that you’ll always remember and look back on with pleasure.
‘During the next two hours, we’ll be exploring the entire house. You’ll see places that aren’t shown during the regular tours. And you’ll hear things that aren’t said on the tapes. I want to give you a few warnings along those lines. In the course of the tour, we’ll be visiting both the attic and the cellar. There are a couple of fairly steep stairways involved. If any of you have problems with climbing stairs, you might want to bow out before we get started. The same with anyone who is easily offended. This tour isn’t meant for prudes. I’ll be telling you things that any normal person would find shocking and revolting. That’s the point of the tour – to give the uncensored truth. You probably knew that before you shelled out your hundred bucks, but in case you weren’t paying attention, I’m warning you now. It gets nasty. I don’t hold back. So you’d better bow out if you’re afraid of what I might say.
‘If you do quit the tour now, we??
?ll refund a hundred per cent of your admission price.’
‘A hundred per cent?’ asked the man with the mustache and camel sweater. He sounded surprised.
‘I know,’ Lynn said. ‘You’ve already had the picnic and seen the movie. But we don’t want anyone on the tour who shouldn’t be here. It can ruin it for everyone.’
‘That’s certainly generous,’ said the man’s wife – the one with the great eyes.
‘It might sound generous. The thing is, nobody has ever taken us up on it. By the time we get this far, nobody can stand to back out.’
Tourists chuckled and nodded.
‘One final warning. Some people find the tour to be extremely stressful. Since you’re here, I figure you enjoy being a little frightened. You should prepare yourselves to be very frightened. Anybody pregnant?’
Owen saw several of the females shake their heads.
Beside him, Darke’s head shook.
He heard a snigger, probably from Monica.
‘We’re no doubt all pregnant with expectation,’ said Bixby.
‘Oh, duuuude,’ Dennis said. It came out like a moan of despair.
‘Bail out, Boxboy,’ Arnold suggested.
‘Bugger off,’ Bixby responded.
‘Huh huh.’
‘Booger off.’
Lynn raised her hand. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I take it that nobody is pregnant – with child. That’s good. We had a gal one time who got so excited on the tour that she went into early labor. We’ve also had a couple of heart attacks. If you have any history of high blood pressure or heart disease, you’d be better off not taking the tour. Anybody with trouble along those lines?’
She waited. Heads shook. No arms were raised and nobody spoke up.
‘Are you sure? I don’t want anybody pitching over on us.’
‘Looks like we’re all fine ’n dandy,’ said the stocky guy who was married to the woman in the tennis costume.
‘Okay. One last thing before we start. If any of you do experience physical or emotional trouble during the course of the tour, please speak up. I’m sure Dana will be happy to escort you outside.’
‘What sort of refund then?’ asked the man in the camel sweater.
‘After the tour has actually started,’ Lynn said, ‘there will be no refunds at all.’
‘When does it start?’ asked Clive.
‘I’ll count to five. While I’m counting, you can all decide if you really want to go through with this. One.’ She paused for a second, then said, ‘Two.’ A few moments later, ‘Three.’ As she said, ‘Four,’ quick thumps erupted in the darkness behind her.