'Do you care what it is?'
'No. Just how much does it pay?'
'Five hundred a job.'
I lost a little bit of the rosy fog that encased me. Something was
wrong here. I didn't like the way he used the word 'job'.
'Who do I have to kill?' I asked with a humorless smile.
'You don't'. But before I can tell you what it is, you'll have to talk
with Mister Weinbaum.'
'Who's he?'
'A scientist.'
More fog evaporated. I got up.
'Uh-uh. No making a human guinea pig out of yours truly. Get
yourself another boy.'
'Don't be silly,' he said, 'No harm will come to you.'
Against my better judgement, I said, 'Okay, let's go.'
CHAPTER 3
Weinbaum approached the subject of my duties after a tour of the
house, including the laboratory. He wore a white smock and there
was something about him that made me crawl inside. He sat down
in the living room and motioned me into a seat. Rankin had
disappeared. Weinbaum stared at me with fixed eyes and once
again I felt a blast of icy coldness sweep over me.
'I'll put it to you bluntly,' he said, 'my experiments are too
complicated to explain in any detail, but they concern human flesh.
Dead human flesh.'
I was becoming intensely aware that his eyes burnt with flickering
fires. He looked like a spider ready to engulf a fly, and this whole
house was his web. The sun was striking fire to the west and deep
pools of shadows were spreading across the room, hiding his face,
but leaving the glittering eyes as they shifted in the creeping
darkness.
He was still speaking. 'Often, people bequeath their bodies to
scientific institutes for study. Unfortunately, I'm only one man, so
I have to resort to other methods.'
Horror leapt grinning from the shadows and across my mind there
flitted the black picture of two men digging by the light of an
uncertain moon. A shovel struck wood the noise chilled my soul.
I rose quickly.
'I think I can find my own way out, Mr. Weinbaum.'
He laughed softly. 'Did Rankin tell you how much this job pays?'
'I'm not interested.'
'Too bad. I was hoping you could see it my way. It wouldn't take a
year before you would make enough money to return to college.'
I started, and got the uncanny feeling that this man was searching
my soul.
'How much do you know about me? How did you find out?'
'I have my ways.' He chuckled again. 'Will you reconsider?'
I hesitated.
'Shall we put it on a trial basis?' he asked softly. 'I'm quite sure
