I should, she thought. I really should.
“I can’t have people knowing what happened to me in there,” Warren said.
“You told me.”
“Because I...I had to. I couldn’t let there be any lies between us.” He tried to smile. “Besides, you wanted to know my deepest, darkest secret, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So I told you. But it has to stay a secret. if it ever gets out...that’d be it for me. You know? I’d have to leave.”
“Leave?”
“I couldn’t stay in a town where people knew that about me. I’d probably just drive away and nobody would ever see me again.”
“Can’t have you doing that,” Dana said.
“Then don’t tell on me.”
“I won’t tell,” Dana said, “but I’ll be on the Midnight Tour tomorrow night.”
Warren shook his head.
Trembling, Dana leaned close to him. “If the place isn’t safe for me, it isn’t safe for Tuck, either. Or for the thirteen guests. So I have to go in with them.”
“You wouldn’t be much help...”
“I’d have to try. I’m a lifeguard, remember?” She kissed him lightly, quickly, then leaned away and swung open her door.
“Tell you what,” she said. “You don’t have to walk me to the door. Just wait here. I’ll take a peek inside and let you know if everything’s okay.”
She grabbed her purse and climbed out. On her way around the front of Warren’s car, she slipped the strap onto her shoulder. She stuffed his underwear into a front pocket of her shorts.
“I’ll be right back,” she called over her shoulder. “If I’m not, you’d better come running and rescue me.”
Chapter Forty-One
SPIES
Earlier, Owen and John had been sitting in the car behind the ice cream stand, still working on the stumps of their cones, when John said, “How about going for a little drive in the hills?”
“Are you kidding? I know where you want to go.”
“What do you wanta do, go back to the motel and sit in our room till bedtime?”
“I don’t...”
“Watch television?”
“I just don’t think we should...”
“Play footsie with me?”
“No.”
“Suck my dick?”
“Shut up!”
“Beat me up some more?”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Hey, man, you owe me. You really hurt me and you busted my glasses.”
“You’ve got your contacts.”
“I like my glasses, man. They make me look smart.”
“Sure they do.”
“Anyway, I’m going for a drive. You’re too chicken to come with me, that’s your prerogative.” He stuffed the dripping end of the cone into his mouth, wiped his hand on the leg of his Bermuda shorts, then started the car. Headlights on, he drove onto Front Street. “What’s it gonna be?” he asked, his mouth full, his words mushy. “Just say the word, I’ll drop you off at the motel and go without you.”
“You’re never gonna find their house, anyway. Just because you’ve got the address...”
“Good point.”
A block later, John swung his old car onto the lot of a gas station, parked beside the mini-mart, and hurried inside. He came out carrying a map. Grinning, he dropped onto the driver’s seat, rocking the car. “Malcasa Point and vicinity,” he said. “Still think I’ll never find their house?”
“Even if you can, you shouldn’t.”
“That’s okay, I’ll drop you off. God knows, I don’t wanta make you do anything against your principles. No sweat off my nuts if you wanta miss out on the chance of a lifetime.”
“If you go, I go.”
A big grin blossomed on John’s face. “Why am I not surprised?”
“But it’s not so I can spy on anyone. It’s to keep an eye on you.”
Laughing, John said, “We know.”
We know.
Sure that’s why.
He ached to spy on Dana.
But he didn’t do such things.
Ever.
We’ll never find the house anyway, he told himself as they drove past the Welcome Inn and headed up Pacific Coast Highway.
“That’s it!” John blurted, stopping his car at the foot of a driveway. The rural mail box beside the driveway not only showed the address they wanted, but bore the names Tucker and Crogan.
The sight of the names gave Owen a sudden sickish feeling down low inside.
Dusk had already deepened into night. The driveway curved uphill into dark, heavy woods. There was no sign of a house, or any light.
“Let’s just get out of here,” Owen said.
“Good idea.”
John sped forward, leaving the driveway behind. But just up the road, just around a curve, he stopped his car and shut off its headlights. “We’ll walk from here.”
“Let’s just leave,” Owen said. “Let’s go back to town. Come on. We’ll think of something else to do.”
“I know what I’m gonna do. Gonna find the fuckin’ house and see what the babes are up to. You don’t wanta come, stay here.”
“We’re gonna get in trouble.”
“Not if we don’t get caught.” John opened his door. “You coming?”
“I don’t know.”
“Live a little, man. Don’t be a loser all your life.”
“I’m not a loser.”
“I’m going. With our without you.” John climbed out, eased his door shut, then hurried around to the trunk.
Owen followed and found him twisting a telephoto lens onto his camera.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t.”
“We’ll get doubles made. That’s if we get lucky and find anyone worth shooting.”
“You can’t do this.”
“Sure I can. That’s the difference between me and you, buddy. You wanta do shit, I do it.” Laughing, John slammed the trunk shut. “Come if you’re coming.”
“You asshole.”
“I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”
“Bullshit.”
Together, they left the road and started climbing the dark, wooded hillside.
John gasped and huffed for breath.
Owen smiled. He said, “Hope you don’t have a heart attack, you fat piece of shit.”
“Eat me,” John said.
It took some hard work and searching, but at last they found the house.
Then they crept around its perimiter, staying in the shadows of the forest, and came upon a swimming pool behind the house. Though the pool was deserted, its lights were on. It shimmered, clear and blue. Steam was drifting off the surface of the hot spa over at the pool’s far corner.
“Let’s...stick around,” John whispered, out of breath. “See what happens.”
“We oughta just go.”
“Not me, man. This is perfect.” He panted for air, then continued. “You wanta chicken out, go ahead. I’m staying. I’m not gonna miss this.”
“We’re trespassing.”
“Big fucking deal.”
“If we get thrown in jail, we could miss the Midnight Tour.”
“Hey, man, that’s a chance I’ll take...You know what we got here? Lynn’s gonna come outa the house...any minute...and take herself a swim. Maybe go in the jacuzzi.” After pausing for air, he went on. “And who knows what the fuck she’ll be wearing? Maybe nothing!... No neighbors, man...She might go skinny-dipping...Dana, too.”