'Have some?'
I squatted down beside him. 'Don't mind if I do.'
'Nice and easy, right?'
'Very easy.' I tasted the beer. It was half-empty.
'Good.'
'I didn't think you were into this much.'
'Well, the idea's better in principle than it is in execution. Who
wants to spend half an hour under a dusty old bed or something?'
'Casey might.'
He snorted. 'Casey would.
He looked up at the sky. 'This is not bad, though.'
'Not at all.' I handed him back the beer. 'I'm supposed to tie
y U ''Yeah.'
'It feels ... pretty dumb.'
'Of course it does. How did you think it was going to feel? Hell,
Clan , you're all grown-up now.'
'Yeah.'
'You'd better do it, though.' He sighed. 'Who knows. Maybe the girls
are really getting a kick out of this. Maybe they like dust.' He
looked up at the sky again. 'It shouldn't be too bad out here.'
'Or too nervous-making.' He slugged down the rest of the beer and
glanced back over his shoulder. 'Everything's strange back down that
way.'
There was no point in telling him what I'd seen on the lawn. No sense
worrying the guy. No animal was going to bother him out here unless it
sprouted wings.
I took two of the nylon cords off my belt and he pressed his wrists
together obligingly. I ran two loops around them and two between them
and knotted it off. Then I tied his feet together just above the
ankles. If he wanted to, I guessed he'd be able to untie his legs
easily enough. I didn't care. With a little luck it would be over
soon anyhow.
IDE AND SEEK
'Not too tight, is it?'
'No, it's fine. Do me a favor, though?'
'What's that.'
'Play this smart, Clan. If you find everybody as fast as you found me
it's going to be over in five minutes- and you know Casey. She'll want
another round. So if it looks that easy, play it a little stupid, will
you?' I nodded. 'I'll give you a hint, though. Kim's up here
somewhere.'
'Any ideas?'
'Not really. I just heard her follow me up the stairs. I think she
got rid of her shoes on the landing, because then I couldn't hear her
anymore.' <<T. Thanks.
'Don't mention it. And I mean that literally. Kim would kill me.'
'Don't worry.'
'Casey too.'
'Jesus, Steve.'
'Okay, okay.'
I walked out and closed the door behind me. First I tried the empty
room, though I didn't think that very likely. Steve would have heard
her if she'd come that far. Besides, there was nowhere to go but the
closet.
I was right. It was empty.
I walked down the hall, my footsteps sounding very big to me. For once
my habits paid off. I was staring down ahead of me. And there were
her sneakers right by the landing, off to one side. I'd walked right
by them before while my eyes were adjusting to the light. I picked
them up. So she was barefoot now.
I heard two sets of sounds just then. One set came from below, from
the first floor or the cellar. A voice. And then something metallic,
like something falling. Casey. Probably stumbling over something or
other.
The other sound was nearer. A scuffling in the master bedroom. It
could have been Kim, and then again it could have been mice. I opened
the door quietly and looked inside.
Something was different.
I couldn't figure what at first, but something. I listened. The
sounds had stopped.
With windows to the front and back the light was pretty good here. I
walked in. I still couldn't figure what it was that bothered me about
the room. I walked over to the box spring and looked behind the frame,
even though you couldn't have hidden a bag of groceries back there. I
was looking for what bothered me.
Then I saw it. The ceramic table lamp, sitting on the floor. It had a
shade now. Some droopy kind of thing. There had been no shade
Kim's beer-stained blouse.
I think I smelled it before I recognized it. I lifted it off the
works. Very cute, Kim, I thought. I bet you look just dandy in your
overalls.
I walked to the closet and opened the door, fully expecting to see her
crouching there. There was a scuttling in the darkness near the
floorboards. Just the mouse again, only this time he'd brought a
friend. They froze, waiting for me to do something.
I did.
I took Kim's overalls off the wire hanger.
I couldn't help laughing. Somewhere there was a naked woman running
around in socks and panties. Leaving me a trail to follow. It
seemed that Kim was making up her own game. ,. ^.... Meantime I was
piling up quite a wardrobe.
I shut the door and left the mice to whatever they were up to in there,
and walked out into the hall. There was only one room left, so that
had to be it. If Steven was right about her being upstairs, this was
where I'd find her.
