Blood Games

    And awfully damn visible.

    If I can see it this well, Abilene thought, anyone can.

    Including Hank.

    That outfit could blow us all out of the water.

    Why the hell didn’t she change her clothes!

    Too late for that. Way too late for that. Shit!

    Oughta make her take ’em off.

    Calm down, she told herself. It’s not like Viv did it on purpose. It simply hadn’t occurred to her that she would stand out like this.

    Hadn’t occurred to the rest of us, either.

    Any of us might’ve ended up dressed in white. The whole idea of trying to blend in with the darkness simply hadn’t come up.

    She’d blend in a lot better if she did take off those clothes.

    They’re a hell of a lot brighter than her skin.

    Abilene considered suggesting it.

    Oh yeah, she thought. Right. Ask her to strip down. Sure thing. We’re up here waiting for a Goddamn homicidal sex pervert to show up and I calmly ask Viv to get naked. Brilliant. Forget it.

    Too bad Finley isn’t the one in white. She’d be delighted to shuck off every stitch.

    Abilene looked down at herself. Her own plaid blouse was dark, her skirt as black as the night. But the short skirt was rucked up high because of how she sat. She saw that she, too, was wearing white.

    I’m not taking off my panties.

    Besides, nobody down below could possibly be in a position to see the small bit of pale fabric.

    For that matter, she realized, Vivian was far enough from the railing that no one on the ground floor should be able to see her white clothes, either.

    Only if Hank were actually up here…

    Abilene peered into the darkness beyond Vivian. She saw nothing.

    He could be right there, right now.

    We would’ve heard him, she told herself. You can’t take a step in this old place without a floorboard creaking.

    But maybe he can.

    We should’ve prepared better, she thought. Why didn’t we bring the trash box with us? If we’d set up empty cans and bottles across the balcony floor, they’d be kicked over by anyone sneaking toward us.

    Or we could’ve strung a rope across it to trip him.

    We don’t have enough rope for that, she realized. But we could’ve used belts or something. Anything to make him trip or at least make noise.

    Too late for that kind of thing, now.

    Unless a couple of us want to hurry back to the car.

    And that’s exactly when Hank would show up.

    If he’s not already here.

    Standing just on the other side of Vivian. Wearing something dark. A knife in his hand.

    I’d be able to see his eyes, she thought. Without lids, they must look huge. There’d be big white orbs…

    No, they’re red. Jim had said they’re red.

    Cora’s shorts were red, and you can’t see them.

    Abilene reached down, fumbled in the fold of denim on her lap, and wrapped her hand around the flashlight. She raised it and aimed it past Vivian.

    Before she could thumb the switch, her left arm was grabbed. She flinched and gasped.

    ‘What’re you doing?’ Finley whispered.

    ‘I’ve got to see.'

    ‘Shhhh,’ came from her other side.

    ‘He might be here,’ Finley warned, ignoring the shush. ‘Keep that light off.’

    ‘Shit.’

    ‘Shhhh.’

    Abilene lowered the flashlight to her lap. She sighed.

    He probably isn’t up here, anyway. Probably. We probably would’ve heard him. And he probably wouldn’t just stand there, watching us. He’d have done something by now. Like plunge his knife into Vivian’s chest and slash Cora’s throat.

    So he’s not here.

    Not yet.

    Probably.

    Abilene finally calmed down.

    As time passed, she saw others shifting their positions. Cora lowered her knee, stretching out her leg. She sat up and hooked an arm around a baluster and peered down. Vivian’s tilted shirt sank down until its back met the floor. Her knees rose like a couple of dim peaks. Finley stood up for a while, then squatted like a baseball umpire.

    Abilene realized that her own rump and legs had become numb. She scooted away from the railing, uncrossed her legs and pushed herself backward. Instead of meeting the wall, she was stopped by a door. She slumped against it and stretched out her legs.

    Much better.

    For a while, she suffered pins and needles. But the hot tingly sensations soon passed.

    From here, she had no view of the ground floor.

    Neither did Vivian, lying down the way she was.

    But Cora and Finley were keeping watch on the area below. And Jim was down there.

    Hope he’s not asleep, she thought.

    But even if he’s wide awake, he’ll be the last to know if Hank comes in up here.

    The whole plan falls apart if Hank decides to climb the outside stairs to the second-story porch. He might enter through the door at the end of the corridor. Or he might use the broken window and get into that room, just as Abilene had done yesterday. The squirrel room.

    He could come out of it, sneak into one of the rooms on this side of the hallway, and open one of these doors. Then he’d be right here with us on the balcony.

    Abilene wished she hadn’t thought of that.

    All the doors are locked, she reminded herself.

    What if he has a key?

    He doesn’t. He probably doesn’t.

    And he sure couldn’t break into one of these rooms without us hearing him.

    He might be in the one right behind me.

    No way.

    But now that the idea had come to her, she found herself waiting for the door at her back to swing inward, dropping her across the threshold. She saw herself falling, saw Hank crouch out of the darkness and grab her arms, felt him pulling, dragging her into the room. Before the others even knew what was happening, he would slam the door. Locking them out. Locking her inside the black room with him.

    Crazy.

    Don’t think about it.

    She couldn’t not think about it, so she leaned forward to get her weight off the door, then scooted sideways until her back found the safety of the wall. One of her feet accidentally nudged Finley’s rump. Finley let out a quick gasp, popped up from her squat as if springs had been triggered, and glanced around at her.

    She’s jumpy, too, Abilene thought.