A pair of socks were draped over the inside doorknob. I added them to
my collection.
'Okay, Kim,' I said.
I listened. Heard nothing.
There were a number of options. The closet, obviously. Under or
behind the night table. Under the bed. Under the bunched up throw
rug.
The rug looked just as it did before. I lifted it anyway and was glad
I did.
In the moonlight Kim's panties looked to be a very light shade of
blue.
I listened again. The room was silent. I walked to the closet and
flung open the door. Wire hangers rattled at me like budget wind
chimes.
I closed it again. I got on my hands and knees and peered under the
bed. That was empty too, except for thick gray waves of dust. There
was nobody under the dresser and no way to fit in behind it. So where
the hell was she?
There was nothing left in the room.
Steven's either wrong or she got by me, I thought. Damn.
I heard a rattling sound behind me. The distance was odd. It sounded
muted, like it was here in the room with me but not here, exactly. A
shadow fell across me. I whirled around.
It was the second time I'd jumped tonight. And much worse than the
first one. Much worse.
She was framed in the corner of the window from the waist up, at an
angle, right shoulder low and right arm dangling limp at her side. She
seemed to sway, brushed by the wind. Her head lolled off to the right,
thrown slightly back. Her mouth was open and her eyes stared blankly
into the room.
The stocking cut deep into the flesh of her neck. It ran taut behind
her head to some point out of sight.
I felt a jolt inside me that was somewhere between adrenaline and heart
attack. Then suddenly I was at the window, flinging it up and open.
I reached for her, touched cool flesh.
She smiled.
'Gotcha,' she said.
I looked down. She was standing on top of the woodshed. On tiptoe.
The end of the stocking was in her left hand. Both the outstretched
arm and the end of the stocking had been out of my line of vision. She
laughed and let the stocking fall, twirled it like a scarf, bumped at
me like a stripper.
I could easily have wrung her neck.
'
I settled for verbal abuse. It got pretty creative. All she did was
laugh. It was slightly hysterical sounding. I think she'd half scared
herself out there- it was that kind of laughter. Finally I ran out of
things to call her so I helped her back inside.
'I ought to leave you out there, you know that?'
'Poor Clan.'
^B
'I ought to tie you up and leave you there.'
'You wouldn't do that. It's chilly.'
I looked at her breasts. The nipples were tightly puckered. 'I can
see that. I suppose you'll want your clothes back too.'
'Please?'
'Why not.'
I handed them over. All except the panties. 'These I'm keeping
I watched her dress. In the moonlight it was an extremely pretty
body.
'You scared the shit out of me,' I told her. By now, though, I could
say it calmly.
'Sorry.'
'Sorry my ass. You loved it.'
'I did.'
'How do you feel about bondage?'
'I love bondage!'
She finished buttoning her blouse.
I told her to sit on the floor and put her hands behind her back. I
tied them together with one of the ropes, not too tightly, but enough
so that she wouldn't be working them free in a hurry. I wanted this
one to stay put, exactly where I placed her. Not like Steven. I
wanted her to pay a little. I bound her feet. Then I picked her up
under the armpits and dragged her to the closet.
'Hey! Where we going?'
'You'll like it here. Nice and spooky.' I opened the door. Then I
lifted her again and started moving her inside. She gave me some
trouble.
'Hey! Come on! Not in there. It's gonna be dark in there!'
'Sure is.'
IDE AND SEEK
'Come on, Danny, please?'
'Sorry, sweets.'
There was just enough room for her to stretch out a little. Standing
up was going to be tricky, though. Even if she did, she'd find that
the door locked from the outside.
'Danny! Daannnyyyyyy!'
I closed the door and threw the lock.
'Don't worry,' I told her. 'The mice are in the other closet,
remember? At least I think they are. Bye now.'
I walked away. She could curse pretty well herself. I heard her
practicing all the way down the stairs.
