you know? And about the city now, and how we all have to learn to like each other, whether we’re Jewish or witches or whatever. Nobody uses it after the first of the year. Nobody cares about it. I was going to put it back, honest, just as soon as Halloween is over.”
“And that’s it? The costume was convenient?”
“It is a scary costume. Please-scary, huh?”
“What else?” Jenna asked.
He looked away again.
She shook his arm. “I can and will call the police!” she warned.
He let out a long sigh of surrender and aggravation. “Okay, I wanted to be a big shot. I wanted to tell the kids at school that I’d made you pass out or something.”
“How long have you been chasing me?”
He looked puzzled. “What do you mean-how long?”
“How many days?”
His frown of confusion deepened. “Just…just now. I saw when you left that shop-I followed you after that, and barely no one was in the cemetery, and…I just meant to scare you and disappear, that’s it, I swear it!”
“How long have you had the costume?”
He shook his head. “I just slipped it out of the drama room today, honest. I told the kids what I was going to do. You can ask-they just finished their like once-a-year cleanup thing yesterday. I wouldn’t have taken it before then. I’da been caught.”
She stared at him long and hard. He was starting to shake.
She was glad that he was afraid of her. He might be a couple of inches shorter, but she wondered how she’d make out in a brawl with him. He was an adolescent starting to gain broad shoulders and a frame.
“Are you on the football team?” she asked him.
“Uh, yeah-junior varsity.”
“So you were trying to impress the seniors, huh?” He squirmed.
“Like David Yates and Joshua Abbott.”
“Hey, that kid hurt David Yates. He really hurt him!” Marty protested.
“And you’d be big man on the field if you scared the FBI agent, huh?”
He lowered his head. “Please don’t get me in trouble. Please.”
“You are in trouble. Give me the costume. Get out of it.”
“Here? In the cemetery?”
“You bet. Now. It’s not getting out of my sight. It’s a cape and cowl, kid. You’ve got to have something on beneath it.”
“Boxers and a T-shirt.”
“Then you’re going home in boxers and a T-shirt.”
“What are you going to do?” he asked, his voice almost a whisper.
“Find out if what you’re telling me is the truth. And I’m going to have this costume inspected.”
“For what?”
“For blood, Marty, for blood,” she said.
“But-”
“If it’s clean, I’ll see that it gets back where it’s supposed to be without anyone knowing. And if I find out that you’ve told me the truth, then this whole event will be our little secret.
“But, Marty, if this was ever used to hurt anyone, there won’t be anything I can do about telling the truth.”
“I didn’t hurt anyone!” he protested, sliding out of the cape and handing it to her. At least, he was wearing decent boxers. On a beach, he might have looked ready for a swim.
“Jenna!”
She whirled around at the sound of her name.
Marty was going to use it as a chance to bolt. With her free hand, she caught his wrist again.
Sam leaped the little fence from the street side of the cemetery and came striding in.
“What the hell…?”
He looked as if he wanted to pull her into his arms.
And shake her.
He eyed her hold on Marty, the costume in her hands.
“Marty wanted to scare me,” she said.
Sam seemed to tower over the boy. His shoulders were far broader, and he just had that look of
She thought that Marty would cry any minute.
“We’ll call the police,” Sam said, reaching for his phone.
“No,” Jenna said softly. “We’ve already been through this. Marty and I have an agreement. I’m going to get this costume to our lab, and find out if there is anything on it. Marty has apologized to me. He just borrowed the costume from the drama department today because he’s heard how much we’re loathed for what we’re doing, Sam. Seems that most people believe that Malachi is guilty, and they want us to stop doing what we’re doing.”
Sam stared at Marty. “Why
“Because,” Marty said, his voice filled with exasperation and fear. “It was
Marty was shaking. Jenna was certain that he was repeating what he had heard the adults around him say over and over.
She almost felt sorry for him. And she was surprised when Sam spoke sternly but evenly.
“Marty, think about it. What if Malachi is just
“But-but he did do it,” Marty said.
“How do you know? How do you know that for a fact?”
“I’ve seen the TV. Hey, I know they all thought that he killed old man Andres-and that Covington guy, too,” Marty said. “And then his crazy dad-hey, we don’t even blame him for killing his crazy dad, but he could kill us!”
“We know that he didn’t kill Mr. Covington,” Sam said flatly.
Marty shook his head. “No, no-David and Josh, they said that he killed Covington.”
“Marty, David Yates is afraid of Malachi. Don’t you think that he might make up a story-or that maybe he even thought that he saw Malachi?”
Marty’s eyes darted from Sam to Jenna. “He-he’s afraid of him for a good reason!”
“Oh, come on, Marty! You’re a smart kid. You don’t believe in the ‘evil eye,’ do you?” Sam asked him.
Marty was confused and still very scared. “I-I…I don’t know…”
“Let him go for now,” Jenna said softly. “Marty needs to learn that everything he hears isn’t true. Come on, Sam. Let’s let him go.”
“How am I going to explain going home in my underwear?” Marty asked.
“How were you going to explain going home in a stolen costume?” Sam asked him in return.
Marty looked at them both. Jenna was no longer holding him.
He turned and ran.
They watched him for a moment, and then Sam turned to Jenna. She thought for a minute that he was going to put his hands on her and shake her. He looked as if he wanted to do that, but with supreme effort refrained.
“Why the hell didn’t you answer your phone?” he demanded. “I thought that something serious had happened to you. Your uncle is in a panic. Your uncle!”
Without another word, he pulled out his own phone. He dialed Jamie, staring at Jenna.
“Found her.”
She could hear Jamie’s reply. “Where?”
