The Midnight Tour

“If you really want me to.”

“Sure. It’ll be great.” To Dana, she said, The guests love it when Eve’s on the tour. You’ve seen her in uniform She started to fill a glass. “We make like she bas to come...You know, for safety reasons. In case the beast shows up.”

“But so far it hasn’t?” Dana asked.

“So far.” Tuck handed the glass to Eve, then filled her own. “But who knows? Maybe one of these nights...”

“That’s what Warren’s afraid of,” Dana said.

They both looked at her.

Oh, no! What’d I say?

“Maybe I’ll have a little wine, after all.”

“Glass?” Tuck asked.

Dana shook her head. “That’s all right.” She accepted the bottle and took a swig from it. The wine was cold and not too sweet. “He just thinks the Midnight Tour is dangerous. He’s afraid somebody’ll get hurt one of these times.”

Tuck sat down, the bubbly water rising to her shoulders.

“He’s been spooked,” she said, “ever since he got jumped that time.”

“What’s that?” Eve asked. “Warren got jumped? When?”

“A couple of years ago.” Eve shrugged, then sipped wine from her glass. “He got beaten up one night by some teenagers.”

“Inside Beast House?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you report it?”

“To the police? Nah. It was no big deal. He got some bruises and cuts, that’s all. He didn’t even need a doctor.”

“What else. has happened in the house?”

“Nothing much,” Tuck said.

“Such as?”

“Just little stuff.”

“Such as?” Eve repeated.

“You know. The usual. Cassette players not getting returned. Kids trying to stay overnight.”

“Assaults? Murders?”

“Nah, nothing like that.”

“Disappearances?”

“Not really,” Tuck said. “They just turn out to be false alarms. Like that kid today.” She nodded at Dam.

“Some mother flew off the handle this afternoon,” Dana explained. “She thought her kid had vanished.”

“turned out to be a false alarm,” Tuck said.

“He’d gone sneaking up into the attic.”

“You got him back all right?” Eve asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Dana chuckled, then took a sip from the wine bottle. “I wasn’t halfway up the stairs before he let out a scream and came running down in a panic. He claimed something was up there...and chasing him.”

“Was anything up there?”

Dana shrugged. “I never got to...”

“I went up and checked it out,” Tuck interrupted.

“You obviously didn’t run into a beast,” Eve said.

“Nope. But I did find something interesting.” Leaning forward, she looked at Dana. “Remember Thursday morning? How Ethel’s gown was all torn up?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s that about?” Eve asked.

“Somebody’d gotten into the parlor overnight and messed around with the Ethel dummy. Her gown was tom. More so than usual. I mean, everything. was showing. I think the guy must’ve been a pervert or something. Fooled around with her, you know? Anyway, when I was searching the attic this afternoon because of the kid, I found a piece of Ethel’s gown.”

Dana stared at her. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

“What was it doing in the attic?”

“Not much. Just lying on the floor.”

“Are you sure it was fabric from Ethel’s gown?” Eve asked.

“Oh, yeah, pretty sure.”

“When you found the tampering with Ethel, did you look for signs of forced entry?”

Tuck grinned. “Into Ethel?”

“Into the house.”

“Weren’t any,” she said. “But you know how it goes. Somebody hides while we’re open for the tours.”

“And this kid today claimed someone else was in the attic with him?”

“Yeah, but nobody was.”

“Are you sure?”

“I looked.”

“Everywhere?” Eve asked.

Tuck shrugged. “You’ve been in the attic. It’s a huge mess. Would’ve taken me an hour to look everywhere.”

“Has anything else happened in the past few days?”

“A couple of disappearing cassette players.”

“And there was that car on Front Street,” Dana pointed out. “It’s been there since Thursday.”

“What sort of car?” Eve asked.

“An old blue Ford Granada.”

“Is it still there?” Tuck asked.

“I think so,” Dana said. “I’m not sure. It was still there this morning, but...”

“I’ll stop by and take a look tonight. Where exactly was it parked?”

Dana thought for a moment, then said, “On the east side of Front Street, just about half a block north of Beast House.”

“If it’s still there, I’ll run a check on the plates and see what I can find out about the owner.”

“If you find out he vanished without a trace,” Tuck said, “make sure and let us know.”

“You can bet on it.”

Standing on the wooded slope with his back against the tree, Owen didn’t think he could wait much longer.

He was getting too scared.

He wished he had the courage to call out John’s name. But he was afraid of who might hear him—who might come looking for him in the darkness.

Anyway, calling out for John wouldn’t do any good.

Owen had already figured out the possibilities.

John might be playing a trick on him—ditching him or hiding nearby to enjoy Owen’s torment.

Or maybe he’d returned to the pool to spy on the gals for a while longer.

Or somehow, he’d gotten lost and wandered out of earshot.

Or maybe he’d had a bad accident, rendering him unconscious or dead.

Or he’d gotten attacked—abducted or killed.

Owen hadn’t been able to think of any other alternatives.