The Traveling Vampire Show

“It’s not that far. Lee and I left Janks Field—must’ve been a couple of hours ago.”

“Hour and a half?”

“Whatever, Slim had more than enough time to get home.”

“Maybe we just haven’t looked in the right place yet.”

“She’d be looking for us! And she would’ve found us a long time ago if she’d made it back to town. Which means she didn’t.”

“So what do you think happened?” Rusty asked.

Shaking my head, I told him, “Somehow, she’s out of commission.”

“Huh?”

“Too weak to travel. Passed out. Trapped somehow. Maybe even a prisoner. Or worse.”

“Worse like what?”

“Do I have to spell it out?”

“You mean like raped and murdered?”

Hearing him speak the words, I cringed. “Yeah. Like that.”

We walked in silence for a while. Then Rusty said, “I bet it’ll turn out that she’s fine.”

“She’d better be.”

Chapter Sixteen

We’re going to the cops,” I said, and turned a corner toward the police station.

“Do we have to?” Rusty asked.

“Yeah.”

“Your dad’ll find out we went to Janks Field.”

“I don’t care,” I said. I did care, but getting in trouble with my parents didn’t seem like much of a big deal just then.

“He’ll ground you,” Rusty warned.

“Maybe.”

“What about the show?”

“I’m not gonna be allowed to go to that no matter what. And at this point, I don’t give a hot crap about that stupid Vampire Show. I just want to find Slim. The best way to do that is to tell Dad everything that happened.”

Rusty looked shocked. “Not about Slim’s house.”

“We can say we rang the doorbell, but didn’t go in.”

“No! That’ll be admitting we were there!”

“We were there.”

It went on like that for a couple more minutes, but we both shut up as we approached the front doors of the police station.

I went in first. Right away, I regretted it.

With everything else going on, I hadn’t given any thought to Dolly.

The Grandville Police Department was comprised of six cops, my dad included. Two cops per shift, all of whom could be brought into action in case of an emergency.

Since there were no actual police to spare for desk duty, civilians had been hired to act as receptionist/clerk/dispatchers. Dolly worked the day watch.

She was a skinny, bloodless prude. Pushing forty, she lived with her older sister. She disapproved of men in general, and me in particular. The only times she ever seemed happy were when she got to gloat over someone else’s misery.

When I walked through the door, she looked at me from behind the front desk. The comers of her lips curled upward. “Dwight,” she said.

“Hello, Dolly.”

One of her thin, black eyebrows climbed her forehead to show how much she didn’t appreciate any hint of a reference to the Broadway musical.

“Russell,” she said and gave him a curt nod.

“Good afternoon, Miss Desmond.”

She eyed both of us as we approached her. Mostly, she eyed our bare chests. Even though the office was air- conditioned, heat was suddenly rushing to my skin. “Let me guess,” she said. “You’ve come to report the theft of your shirts.”

Rusty laughed politely. It sounded very fake. On purpose, I’m sure.

“We’ve been mowing lawns,” I explained. Not quite a lie. I had been mowing the lawn, Rusty participating as an observer. “Is Dad here?”

“I’m afraid not,” she said, obviously pleased by her announcement. “What seems to be the trouble?”