“Why then?”
“He won?t say so, but I think it has something to do with the equinox.” Weezy glanced toward Mrs. Clevenger?s place up the street. “Did you get the
warning?”
“About staying out of the Pines? Yeah, Walt told me all sorts of weird things can
happen in there. What do you think?”
Weezy smiled. “I think we?re obligated to check it out.”
“I thought you?d say that.”
“We?re on?”
“Of course. I?m not letting you have all the fun.”
Jack felt a little uneasy about ignoring Mrs. C?s warning, but he couldn?t back out
and leave Weezy to go on her own.
But really … they knew the woods. What could happen?
5
I must be crazy, Jack thought as he slipped along the hedge separating Mr. Rosen?s yard from the Vivinos?.
After dinner, he?d picked up the video camera at USED, then ridden out here. His bike now was leaning against the far side of Mr. Rosen?s trailer and the camera hung by its strap from his shoulder.
He found a spot behind a big spirea. Its dense tangle of fine branches offered good cover. It sat within earshot of the house, so he settled down to wait.
Alarms kept ringing in his brain, warning him about how much trouble he?d be in if he ever got caught. He knew they were right but he ignored them. He had to. He?d committed himself to this.
For Sally and her mother.
Yeah, and for Tony too.
A spotlight from the house shone on the pool area. The gate on the chain-link fence was closed.
A pink beach ball sat between a pair of lounge chairs.
In the house, all quiet except for voices from the TV filtering through the window screens. He tried to identify the show but couldn?t.
He?d skimmed through the camera manual and reviewed what he?d read. Not much to operating the thing: turn it on, sight through the viewfinder, and press the little red REC button.
He felt torn as he sat and listened. Part of him hoped for peace and quiet in the Vivino house hold to night, and another knew that if he didn?t expose the mistreatment, it would go on and on.
But how to expose it? Assuming he did capture something damning on the tape, what to do with it? Send it to a newspaper?
Nah. That wouldn?t work. They?d probably give it to the police, and without Mrs. V?s cooperation he?d be back to square one.
He had a brief fantasy about sneaking into the cable-TV company?s studio and running it on the local access channel. Hardly anybody watched it, but enough would see the tape to start talking about it, spread the word about what was going on in the Vivino house, and pretty soon everyone would know. And if everyone knew, Mr. Vivino would have to change his ways.
But that was a no go. Even if Jack could sneak into the studio or the control booth, he wouldn?t know how to put the tape on air.
The Freeholders? Maybe send the tape to the Board of Freeholders and let them know what they were allowing into their midst. But was that enough?
Jack decided to shelve it for now. First he had to capture something. If he didn?t do that, the other questions didn?t matter.
As he waited in silence, he noticed a flicker of light near the western horizon.
Lightning?
The sky was clear except for clouds to the far west, and the moon hadn?t risen yet. The murky glitter of the Milky Way arched overhead. Didn?t look like rain, but he hadn?t listened for the weather before going out, so he didn?t—
Another flicker. No question—lightning. Another storm on the way. Weren?t they ever going to stop?
He thought he saw movement in the front yard, beyond the glow from the lit windows. He squinted through the darkness but didn?t see anything out of place or that shouldn?t be there.
Then he caught the stench.
He knew that stink. The hulking shadow they?d seen in the Pines last month had smelled just like this. The odor seemed to be all around him, like an invisible cloud. He couldn?t tell where it was coming from, because the air was so still. That meant it could be close. Very close.
Then Mr. Vivino?s voice broke the silence. “What on God?s Earth is
The stench must have drifted inside. The front door opened then and Mr. Vivino stepped out on his steps and looked around.
“God! Did something die out here?”
“Is it a skunk?” Mrs. V called from inside.
“No. I?ve smelled skunk and this is no skunk.”
Jack shrank back as the man came down the steps and began walking around his yard.
But he did just that.
As Mr. Vivino approached, Jack looked frantically about for an escape route but
had none. Couldn?t go through the hedge—too much noise. Couldn?t run—no cover. No choice but to stay put.
So he crouched in the deep shadow at the base of the bush and wished he
had a hole to duck into. He tried to make himself as small as possible, curling into a tight fetal position with his forehead down against his knees. The starshine didn?t offer much light and Mr.
Vivino had just come from indoors. His eyes wouldn?t be adjusted yet.
Jack tensed as he heard footsteps approach. His bladder wanted to empty. If Mr. Vivino found him here, no telling what he?d do. He outweighed Jack by an easy hundred pounds. If he lost that temper of his …
But worse than a beating would be what would come after: caught with a camera outside someone?s home. Everyone would think he was a Peeping Tom, he?d be labeled a perv—
The footsteps stopped on the other side of the bush, not two feet away. Jack held his breath and watched the shoes turn this way and that.
He heard Mr. Vivino sniffing the air. The odor had faded.
“I?ll be damned,” he muttered.
“Did you find anything?” Mrs. V said from a second-floor window.
“No, not a thing. Maybe just a cloud of stink passing through from the highway.”
“Do you think it was dangerous? I mean, toxic?”
“Nah. Didn?t smell chemical, it just smelled …
After a couple of seconds, Mr. Vivino did just that.
But Jack didn?t move. Even after he heard the front door slam he remained curled up.
And while he hid there he thought about the exchange he had just heard between Mr. and Mrs.
Vivino. They?d sounded so normal, so much like a regular couple that Jack wondered if he?d imagined the violence he?d seen.
No, he hadn?t imagined anything.
