“You look worried,” Dana told her.
“I was just inside. I thought everybody’d cleared out. If three people are still in there, they must be hiding.”
“Doesn’t this sort of thing happen all the time?”
“Not exactly all the time. And I’m particularly not thrilled that it’s happening on top of the Ethel situation.”
For a moment, Dana didn’t know what Tuck meant. Then she remembered how they’d found the Ethel that morning—the gown ripped where it wasn’t supposed to be ripped, the mannequin’s breasts and vagina exposed.
“You think there might be a connection?” she asked.
“Hope not.” She frowned. “I suppose Clyde’s long gone.”
“He took off at five.”
“Yeah, he does that. Times like this, I sort of wish we had a whole staff full of tough guys.”
“I shouldn’t have let Warren leave.”
“That’s okay. He wouldn’t have been much help, anyway. Who is still here?”
“Just us and Rhonda, I guess. Maybe the girl who works with Warren at the snack counter...”
“Windy? She would’ve left by now. Same with Betty.”
“Who’s Betty?”
“Runs the gift shop. You haven’t met her yet?”
Dana shook her head.
“Sweet little white-haired gal.”
“Oh, her. I think I might’ve seen her leaving. She went through the side gate.”
“Probably with Windy. They ride together.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Guess it’s just the three of us,” Tuck said. She pulled the walkie-talkie off her belt, raised it to her face and thumbed the talk button. “Rhonda? Do you read me?” She released the button.
For a few seconds, her speaker buzzed and crackled. Then Rhonda’s voice came out. “I’m here.”
“What’s your location?”
After a long pause, she said, “The restroom.”
“Are you going to be long?”
“Well...Son of. What’s going on?”
“We’ve got three no-shows.”
“Three.”
“Yeah. Anyone there in the John with you?”
“Of course not! Cripes!”
“I didn’t mean that.” Grinning, she added, “You’ve got a dirty mind, Rhonda.”
“I do not!”
Tuck laughed. Then her grin faded and she said, “When you’re done, take a look around for our stragglers. Check both restrooms, the eating area, the gift shop. I’ll come around and lock up later, but we need to find our missing customers. Okay?”
“I can’t go into the men’s restroom,” Rhonda said.
“Sure you can. Just knock first. Nobody’s supposed to be in there, anyway. Dana and I will be going on into the house.”
“Do you want to wait for me?”
“Negative on that. Tell you what. When you get done there, come on out to the front of the house but don’t go in. Just keep your eyes and ears open and get ready to call for help.”
Rhonda didn’t respond.
“Did you get that?” Tuck asked.
“Maybe you oughta not go in,” Rhonda said. Even through the static, Dana could hear the tension in her voice.
“We’ll be fine. Just do what I asked, okay?”
“Okay. Well, be very careful.”
“That’s a big ten-four, darlin’.” Smiling, she gave Dana a nervous glance and returned the walkie-talkie to her belt. “Probably nothing to worry about,” she said.
“If there’s nothing to worry about, how come you’re so damn worried?”
“Me? Ha ha! I laugh at danger!”
Dana laughed and shook her head.
“Let’s go,” Tuck said. “It is a good day to die.”
“Very amusing.”
Side by side, they started walking toward Beast House.
“Probably just some kids screwing around,” Tuck muttered.
“But they didn’t return their players,” Dana said. “So they must know we’ll come in and look for them.”
“Maybe that’s what they want. A little game of hide and seek.”
“You don’t suppose...” Not wanting to go where the sentence was leading, she ended it.
“What?” Tuck asked.
She shrugged. “Never mind.”
“Come on. Give.”
“Well...They won’t, you know, try to jump us?”
“That’s why I’m bringing you along, Bullwinkle.”
Dana lurched sideways, ramming Tuck off the walkway. Tuck stumbled through the grass, but didn’t fall. “Hey! Hey! Take it easy on the kid, huh?”
“I’ll pound your butt for you.”
Laughing, Tuck returned to the walkway. “You’re such a hard-ass.”
“What do we do really?”
“If we get jumped?”
“Yeah?”
They started to climb the porch stairs. Dana glanced at the dangling body of Gus Goucher. Swaying and turning ever so slightly in the breeze, it made quiet, creaking sounds.
“Probably won’t happen,” Tuck said.
“But what if it does?”
“You fight them off, and I’ll run for it.”
“Seriously. I mean, what if it’s three guys, and they’re just waiting for us?”
“Are they cute guys?”
“Oh, very funny.”
Tuck hurried across the porch. As she pulled the door open, she said, “It’ll be fine. Probably. You go first.”
“Me?”
“Size before beauty.”
“Bitch,” Dana said, but she was smiling as she stepped over the threshold. She felt strange: amused, jittery, excited, but not terribly frightened.
Tuck came in. Instead of shutting the door, she swung it wide open and kicked a doorstop under its edge. “In case we need to get out fast.”
“Great.”
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.