an old, weird house.' Kim's voice was excited now, the concept in full
bloom.
Steve snapped his fingers.
'I like it. I really do. You're right- it's kids' stuff, but it's
good.'
'A whole lot better than The Love Bug.'
That was the movie at the Colony tonight. Kim shivered.
'I'm spooked already.'
All of them turned to me.
'Clan?' said Casey.
I shrugged. 'Why not?'
She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. It was the kind of kiss
you get from grandmothers on your tenth birthday.
'It's settled then.'
She drained her chocolate egg cream. Steve's straw gurgled in the
bottom of his glass.
'When do we go?'
'What's wrong with tonight?'
'Sooner the better.'
Kim was hopping around in her seat by now. 'Okay, so what do wp
hrinrf?'
wA? Wl III.
'Despite what Casey says, I'd suggest flashlights,' I told them. She
started to object.
'We don't have to use them, Case. But just to be on the safe side.
That house is pretty old, you know. Floors start to go in old houses,
things fall down on you. I don't think if one of us got hurt we'd want
to depend on matches.'
Steve held up the bandaged hand. 'He's right.'
'I'd also suggest a couple six-packs. Apart from that, Ican'tthink of
anything.'
'limp?'
'Midnight, of course,' said Kimberley.
Casey nodded. 'We should meet say at Dan's place at eleven,
eleven-thirty.'
'Right'
There was a silence then. Everybody smiled at one another. I think we
all felt pretty silly. Kim started to giggle.
'You've had some dumb ideas, Casey. But this one ...'
'Thanks.'
'I mean really.'
'I appreciate it.'
'Ghosts, for god's sake!' She threw up her hands. For a moment there
was something very Old Testament about it. In Harmon's. A blond girl
in shorts. Praying.
There was a lot I had to tell them about the Crouch place, but I
waited.
My feeling was that telling them right away would only end in Casey's
finding some way around it. A few handy rationalizations here and
there and she'd have us going along with no trouble whatsoever.
It seemed my best chance would be to try throwing a scare into them at
the last minute and hope somebody balked. I wasn't crazy about The
Love Bug either, but it was preferable to something that could get me
arrested. None of them had ever been caught at anything. I had. I
knew it felt lousy. The old stories about Ben and Mary bothered me a
whole lot less than the off chance that some nosy local farmer would
drive by and realize there was somebody inside there and call the
police. I never really credited Rafferty's speculations about strange
disappearances, but I credited bad luck. I credited that, all right.
We met at my apartment.
Casey showed up in the same blue halter top and cream shorts, looking
like she was ready for a picnic. I told her that if the night turned
cold, she was going to freeze out there. She dipped into the green
book bag and pulled out the corner of an army shirt, looking at me as
if to say, no small objections, thanks. I made no more of them.
Kim wore overalls over a yellow cotton blouse. Both had seen some use.
It was a good choice, practical for the kind of thing we were doing.
Predictably Steven's shirt was bright with tropical colors -greens,
yellows and red-orange-worn over white linen slacks. The swathe of
bandage on his hand made him look like an injured tourist in a banana
republic. As usual he was last to arrive.
'You're gonna be a mess in that,' I told him.
He shrugged. 'I'll get clean again.'
There were three flashlights between us. Kim had found out hers was
broken. I told her she could have mine. It wasn't chivalry.
I still wasn't counting on anything to happen tonight. I still hoped
I could talk them out of it.
We got into the blue Le Baron, and Steven got behind the wheel, and we
started off through town.
I waited until we were out on the coast road, with all the houselights
and streetlights behind us for maximum effect, and then I spun my
little story for them.
I told them about the doctor being afraid and made it sound worse than
Rafferty had told it. I told them about the caves and about Ben and
Mary being imbeciles who were driven off their land through somebody's
greed and made them sound as vengeful as I dared.
Then I wrapped it up.
'Steve, you said there was a light in the house that night. I said
bullshit. But suppose you were right? Suppose it's them, in from the
caves? Are you folks absolutely sure you'd want to meet up with them
in the dark?'
For a while nobody talked, and the atmosphere got pretty strange inside
the car. I knew I'd done okay. If I was ever going to turn them back,
