Tuck grinned. Then she shouted, “HELLO, EVERYONE! ITS PAST CLOSING TIME! ITS TIME FOR YOU TO LEAVE! PLEASE COME OUT NOW FROM WHEREVER YOU’RE HIDING, AND EXIT THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR.”
After her shouting, the house seemed very quiet.
Dana and Tuck stood in the foyer. They didn’t move. They didn’t talk. Dana barely breathed.
She wished she could see.
The sunlight coming through the doorway was so bright that she could hardly make out anything in the shadowy areas beyond its reach.
“Can you see?” she whispered.
“Not very well.”
“I feel like I’m half blind. Maybe we oughta shut the door.”
“And cut off our escape route?” Tuck asked.
“I’ll protect you.”
“Oh. In that case...” Tuck turned around, kicked the block clear and eased the door shut, squeezing out the sunlight.
Murky gloom swallowed them.
“Fine,” Tuck whispered. “Now we can really see.”
“It’ll be okay. We just need to wait for our eyes to adjust.”
“In the meantime...WE KNOW YOU THREE ARE IN HERE. NOW, PLEASE COME OUT. WE’RE NOT GOING TO LEAVE UNTIL YOU COME OUT. OR UNTIL WE FIND YOU. WE WILL FIND YOU. WE’LL BE CONDUCTING A ROOM TO ROOM SEARCH—AND I KNOW ALL THE GOOD HIDING PLACES. SO MAKE IT EASY ON EVERYONE AND JUST COME OUT NOW.”
For a while, they listened.
“At what point do we call for the police?” Dana whispered.
“At no point, if we can help it. This is probably just a prank. But if it turns into something worse...”
“Hi!”
They both jumped.
Suddenly, laughter came pouring down from the same direction as the voice. A couple of vague, blurry figures were visible at the top of the stairs.
The laughing stopped.
“Very funny, fellows,” Tuck said. She sounded more cheerful than annoyed.
She’s probably too relieved to be angry, Dana thought.
I sure am.
“Come on down, now,” Tuck said. “It’s time to leave.”
“Yes, ma’am,” one said.
“Are we, like, in trouble?” asked the other.
“Not so far,” Tuck told them.
They started down the stairs. They were about halfway to the bottom when Dana recognized them.
“My buddies,” she said.
“Yeah,” said the one in the Howard Stem T-shirt. “Hi, Dana.”
“We’re really sorry,” said the Beavis and Butt-head fan. “We didn’t mean to, like, cause any trouble.”
“What did you mean to do?” Tuck asked.
“You’re both such a couple of babes...”
“Yeah,” the other agreed. “Real babes. We just thought, you know, like we’d sort of hang out in here.”
“We were hoping maybe you’d show up.”
“So we’d have a chance to, like, pop out and scare you half to death.”
“Maybe get you to scream.”
“Real nice,” Dana said.
“We weren’t gonna do anything.”
“Nothing bad.”
“Figured it’d be cool to scare you, you know?”
“And, like, maybe you’d get a kick out of it?”
“It’s fun to get scared.”
“Up to a point,” said the other.
“Yeah. Not too scared. Just fun scared.”
Dana shook her head.
“Like when you go in a spookhouse?”
“Only we thought it’d be better not to.”
“Sort of.”
“Yeah.”
“What you said about three people.”
“Freaked us out.”
“Cause there’s only like two of us?”
“So that’s when we figured we’d better come out, you know?”
“Like, who’s Number Three?”
“Creeped us out.”
“Big time.”
“Freaky.”
“So that’s how come we quit and came down.”
“We appreciate it,” Tuck said. “Thanks for not making us hunt high and low for you.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Dana said.
“You’re welcome. But it was like, shit, you know? Who else is in here?”
“And what if he’s hiding where we are?”
“Like, same room, different corner.”
“Did you see or hear anything?” Tuck asked.
“just you.”
“We didn’t see Number Three.”
“Or hear him.”
“Or smell him.”
“Or her.”
“Or it.”
“But we, like, felt the ambiance of a third party.”
“Creeped us out.”
“But, not, like, that much. I mean, we hereby volunteer to help you search for the missing party.”
“Right. We’re scared, but we’re not chicken.”
“We’ll be your body guards.”
“Thanks,” Tuck said. “If you want to be a real help, though, why don’t you go on outside? Rhonda’ll be coming along pretty soon and she might be worried about us. Just tell her everything’s all right. Then you can either take off, or stick around for a while if you want to see who we turn up.”
“Rhonda?”
“She’s another guide,” Tuck explained.
“She a babe?”
“A major babe,” Tuck said, grinning. “She has a tendency to get nervous, though. So it’ll be really nice if you keep her company till we come out.”
“We can do that.”
“Sure. Happy to.”
“Okay,” Tuck said. “Thanks. One other thing.”
“Anything you say.”
“We’re, like, at your service.”
“Stick close enough to the house so you can hear us if we call for help.”
“You gonna be calling for help?”
“Probably not. But you never know.”
“Sounds to me like you definitely need body guards.”
“We’d be happy to oblige.”
“We’d guard your bodies with our lives.”
“Or die trying.”
Dana laughed softly. “You guys are okay.”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah.”
“What’re your names?”
“I’m Arnold Anderson,” said the boy in the Howard Stem T-shirt.
“I’m Dennis Dexter?” said the Beavis and Butt-head fan, lifting his voice at the end as if asking whether this was his name.
“A.A. ’n D.D.,” said Arnold. “That’s what we call ourselves.”
“And you’re Dana and Lynn,” said Arnold.
“That’s us,” Tuck said. “Big D, Little L Anyway, nice to meet you guys.”
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” said Dennis.
“A great pleasure,” said Arnold.
“You’re, like, sure you want us to leave?”
“Yeah. Keep Rhonda company and stand watch outside.” Tuck stepped over to the door and opened it for them. Looking out, she said, “I don’t see Rhonda yet, but she’ll probably be along any minute. See you later, guys.”
They headed for the doorway.
“Just shout if you need us,” Arnold said.
“We’ll come and save you,” said Dennis. “We’ll, like, kick ass.”
“Sounds good,” Tuck said.
“Bye, guys,” Dana called after them.
Chapter Eighteen
THE SEARCH
As Arnold and Dennis trotted down the porch stairs, Tuck shut the door. “Okay! That’s two down, one to go. Now we’ve got the odds on our side.”
“I liked it better the other way,” Dana said. “What sort of person would want to hide out alone in a place like this?”
“Maybe he isn’t hiding,” Tuck suggested.
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe he dropped.”
“Oh, terrific.”
“Passed out, tossed
a heart attack, popped an aneurism...Let’s start upstairs and work our way down.”
Dana nodded and followed Tuck to the foot of the stairs.
Staying close to each other, they started to climb. “I won’t shout any more,” Tuck said.
“Glad to hear it.”
“Unless we hit trouble. But if it’s BIG trouble, let’s just run like hell. Know what I mean?”
“sure.”
“Like if a psycho starts coming down the stairs at us with a chain saw? We run. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Or if a big white beast tries to nail us...”
“We run.”
“Right.”
“I get the picture. Thanks.”
When they reached the top of the stairs, they stopped and looked both ways. In each direction, the dim, shadowy hall looked deserted.
“You go that way,” Tuck said, “I’ll go this.”
“Bite me.”
“Don’t you want to split up?”
“Sure. We’ll split up and I’ll wait for you outside.”
“Ah. Well.Never mind.”
Staying together, they turned to the left, walked in silence to the end of the corridor, and entered Lilly Thorn’s bedroom. Dana waited just inside the doorway, keeping watch while Tuck hurried through the room, glanced here and there, checked inside the armoir and finally sprawled on the floor for a look under the bed.
Getting up, Tuck brushed her hands off against each other and shook her head.
They crossed the hall to the bedroom Maggie Kutch had shared with her husband. It contained Maggie’s original furniture. But there were no wax figures of Maggie or any other member of her family. The exhibit showed a twelve year old boy, Larry Maywood, raising the window and looking over his shoulder in horror. His pal, Tom Bagley, lay mangled and bloody on the floor. Dana knew their story well. These two local boys had been avid fans of the tour. And they’d grown too curious. Late one night in 1951, they’d broken into the house to search for the beast. And they’d supposedly found it. Or it had found them.
Larry had escaped through the window, but poor Tom...
Dana glanced at Tom’s severed head. It rested on the floor near his shoulder. Facing her. Staring up at her.
She looked away from it.
For a few seconds, she watched Tuck performing the search. Then she just bad to look at Tom again.
He was still staring at her.
Of course he is. If he stops staring at me, that’s when I’d better start worrying.
He gave her the creeps.
She kept trying to look away, but Tom’s gaze kept pulling at her.
At last, Tuck finished the search. As she came toward the door, Dana quickly stepped out into the hallway.
Tuck frowned at her. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Not getting nauseous or anything?”
“So far, so good. I just didn’t like the way Tom was staring at me.”
Tuck grinned. “He loves the pretty girls.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Has great eyes, doesn’t he?”
“They’re awful.”
“That’s what I mean,” Tuck said. “He upsets lots of people. They always get the idea he’s staring at them. So, are you ready for the attic?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Dana followed Tuck down the hallway.
Arriving at the entrance to the attic, Tuck unhooked one end of the plush red cordon and eased it down gently against the door frame.
“Chances are,”she whispered, “we’ll find our missing tourist up here.”
“Oh, good.”
“They love to hide in the attic.” Tuck reached up and clutched Dana’s shoulder. Holding on, she raised a knee and pulled off her shoe. After taking off the other, she whispered, “Lose your shoes. We want to take him by surprise.”
“How’ll I kick his ass if I’m barefoot?”
“Toe his ass.”
Shaking her head, Dana grabbed Tuck’s shoulder. As she pulled off her shoes, she noticed that she was trembling. And sweaty. Her blouse clinged to her back. Her panties were sticking to her buttocks and groin. The feet of her socks were soaking wet.
“You all right?” Tuck whispered.
“A little scared.”
“I can take care of this if you wanta wait here for me.”
“No. We stay together.”
“You sure?”
“Sure I’m sure.”
“Well, I’ll go up first.”
“Okay.”
Tuck started climbing the stairs. Danafollowed close behind her. The stairway was narrowand steep. Dana had seen plenty of it, that morning.
It was Station Seven.
Every tourist had stopped in the corridor and gazed up the dim stairway while listening to the story of Maggie Kutch’s flight for safety with her kids, the beast in hot pursuit.
Dana must’ve explained, at least twenty times, that the attic was off limits for reasons of safety.
But not off limits for us.
At the top of the stairs, Tuck reached out and turned the knob. Dana heard the latch click its release. The door creaked as Tuck pushed it open.
On the other side was darkness.
Instead of entering, Tuck reached around the corner. Her hand came back holding a flashlight. She showed it to Dana.
With a smile, she gave it a twirl. Then she thumbed its switch.
As a beam of bright light shot out, she stepped through the doorway.
Wait!
Dana rushed up the last few stairs and into the attic. She lurched to a stop behind Tuck, bumping her gently, then putting a hand on her shoulder.
Breathing hard, heart pounding, she watched the pale tube of light swing across the darkness. It lit galaxies of floating, swirling motes. It lit support beams, a sofa, chests of drawers, steamer trunks, chairs, lamps, tables...
A man.
Dana gasped.
“Just a dummy,” Tuck whispered.
With the flashlight, she quickly pointed out a couple of other mannequins. “They used to be exhibits,” she explained. “Stay here a minute.”
Dana nodded and stayed.
Tuck started roaming the attic, playing the beam of light this way and that, making shadows leap and spread.“Doesn’t look like our missing tourist is up here,” she said. “Gotta make sure, though. When we leave, I’ll lock the door. If he’s in here, he’ll be trapped. All night long.”
“That’d be pleasant,” Dana said.
“Yeah. Wouldn’t it be? This place even gives me the creeps. I guess because the beast killed Maggie’s little girls up here.”
“You come here with the Midnight Tour, don’t you?”
“Sure do. It scares the crap out of everyone.” She laughed softly. “I guess that about does it,” she said, and started wandering back toward the door.
Dana watched her approach.
And watched the attic behind her.
Half expecting a shape to come lurching suddenly out of the darkness.
Hurry up!
“I don’t know which is scarier,” Tuck said, “the attic or the cellar,.”
“Let’s just get out of here”
Almost back to Dana, Tuck switched off the flashlight. Dana stepped sideways through the doorway and climbed down a couple of stairs. Head up, she watched her friend return the flashlight to its place just inside the attic.
Tuck stepped out and pulled the door shut.
Its latch clicked.
Dana watched her.
“Let’s go,” Tuck said.
“Don’t forget to lock it.”
“Oh, it doesn’t lock.”
“You said...”
“That was just a fib in case our friend was listening.”
“You aren’t going to lock it for the night?”
“Can’t. The lock’s broken. Has been for years.”
“Maybe you should get it fixed.”
“
Maybe.” Tuck laughed softly, then started down the stairs.
Dana turned around and hurried to the bottom, glad to be putting distance between herself and the attic.
At the bottom, she picked up her shoes and stepped out of the way.
Tuck hooked the cordon in place.
They both started putting on their shoes.
“Sorry I forgot to warn you about the dummies,” Tuck said.
“That’s all right. What’re they doing up there?”
“Just hanging out.” Finished putting on her shoes, Tuck stood up. “Actually,” she said, “they’re former exhibits. One’s the cop...”
“Dan Jenson?”
“Right. He was moved to the attic back in ’79 after they busted him up. Then when Janice bought the place, she put the Zieglers up there with him. She needed to get them out of the middle of the hallway. Caused too much traffic conjestion. Ready to go?”
“All set.”
“Next stop,” Tuck said, “the nursery.”
This time, Dana waited just outside the door while Tuck ducked under the cordon and hurried through the room.
Tuck found nobody.
They continued down the corridor to the room where Lilly’s boys had been slain. Again, Dana waited while Tuck did a quick search.
“So that’s it for up here?” Dana asked as they returned to the stairway.
“That’s about it. The other doors are all kept shut and locked. Nobody can get into any of them without a key. So, I guess our boy must be downstairs.”
“Or girl.”
“It’ll be a guy,” Tuck told her. “Girls never pull this sort of crap. Not by themselves.”
“Never?”
“Hardly ever.”
“You saying girls are chicken?”
Tuck grinned. “Maybe not chicken. Maybe just smarter.”
“I’ll go along with that.”
Laughing, they started to descend the stairs.
“How often do you have to go through all this?” Dana asked.
“Pain in the ass, huh?”
“A major pain.”
“It gets easier the more often you do it.”
“I hope it’s not every afternoon.”
“It varies. We’ll sometimes go two or three weeks without a problem. Then again, sometimes it might be two or three days in a row.”
“I could do without it completely,” Dana said as they reached the bottom of the stairway.
“Rhonda’s probably right outside. I can get her to finish up with me, if you’d rather...”
“Trying to get rid of me?”
“It’s your first day. You’ve done plenty.”