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I walked back to the bulletin board, which was covered with index cards
advertising gaming groups. I took a few moments to scan them, but the teenager
had been right, there were none for Prophecies of the Night. Oh well. It was a
long shot anyway.
I was about to thank the teenager and leave, but something stopped me.
Okay, all I'd found was a tiny little piece of card stuck to my jeans. But
unless it was already in the ditch, it had to have got there when the killer
was moving me, and so there was a good chance that he was a player. And I'd
read a few mystery novels, enough to know that it was usually the
insignificant clue that solved the case.
I returned to the counter. "Actually, I'd like a deck of those cards, if
you don't mind."
"No problem." The teenager left the counter and returned an instant later
holding a small deck. He punched some keys on the cash register. "That'll be
eighteen eighty."
"Say what?"
"Eighteen dollars and eighty cents, including tax."
"For a deck of cards?"
"Yeah."
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"No, no, no, cards don't cost eighteen dollars and eighty cents,"
Iexplained."Cardsa buck or two. A little more if they have naked women on
them."
"You're not a seasoned gamer, are you?"
"Obviously not."
"I can give you a ten percent discount if you joinourGamer's Castle
frequent buyer club. It costs ten dollars and is good for a full year."
"No, thanks, I'll pay retail." I dug out my wallet and grudgingly handed
him a twenty, hoping that these damn cards at least came with bubble gum. "By
the way, you wouldn't happen to know a Michael Ashcraft, would you?"
The teenager thought for amoment."Nope."
"Jennifer Ashcraft?"
"Nope."
"Okay. Thanks for your help."
NOT BEING Sherlock Holmes has its disadvantages. While Sherlock would
have been able to solve the whole mystery based on the composition of the dirt
on the jeans I wore last night, I managed to pretty much bumble around for the
next couple hours without learning anything of interest. I stopped at
Michael's house, a fairly nice one-story deal in the suburbs, but the
neighbors on one side were having a yard sale, and the neighbor on the other
side was out mowing his lawn, so I decided it would be best to postpone any
serious investigating.
I returned home to find that my mother-in-law had just brought the kids
back, so we sat down to a soup and sandwich lunch. I tried to be a cheerful
daddy, but with everything that was on my mind it was difficult to be as
immature as my kids would have liked, even while listening to Kyle's vivid
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description of yesterday's activities.
"An' we played Squish the Bug an' we "
"It's Stomp the Bug, stupid," Theresa corrected in that special way big
sisters have.
"An' we played Stomp the Bug an' Theresa was the bug six times an' I was
only the bug four times an' then Aunt Marcia came an' she took us to get
frozen yogurt an' I got chocolate vanilla swirl an' Theresa got regular
chocolate an' she dropped her cone in Aunt Marcia's car an' Aunt Marcia got
mad an' said not to drop her cone again or she wouldn't be allowed to have
food in the car an' Theresa said okay."
"Wow, busy night," I said.
"Yeah.An'wewatchedTheElrodMcBugleShow. Elrod drank a whole swimming pool
an' everyone who was swimming got mad."
"Will you take us swimming, Daddy?" asked Theresa.
"I can't today, sweetie. Daddy has stuff to do. But I promise I'll take
you pretty soon. Just play outside today, but remember what I said about
staying away from the boy next door. Anyone who tries to feed you kitty litter
is not a true friend."
"Are you going off to be a freeloader?" Kyle inquired.
Helen nearly choked on a spoonful of soup. "Where did you hear that?" she
asked.
"Aunt Marcia. What does `freeloader' mean?"
I decided to field that one. "It means your Aunt Marcia needs to keep her
enormous mouth "
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Helen cut me off. "It means Daddy is currently testing various career
opportunities."
"Oh," said Kyle, nodding with understanding.
Rogergrinned."Testingvarious career opportunities. That's exactly the way
I would have phrased it."
"Shut up," I said.
"Daddy, you're not supposed to tell people to shut up," Theresa informed
me.
"Roger doesn't count. You can tell him to shut up all you want."
"Shut up, shut up, shut up," sang Kyle.
"Andrew, please don't talk to our children any more than is absolutely
necessary," said Helen.
Chapter 6
AROUND ONE, I called again.
"Hello,GhoulishDelights, where we make your nightmares areality.Rachel
speaking. How may I help you?"
"Hi," I said. "I'm calling for Michael Ashcraft."
"Oh, I'm sorry. He's out of town. Is this something I can help you with?"
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"Possibly.Iwas given one of your business cards, and I have to admit that
the name sounds very intriguing. What exactly do you do there?"
"Do you like horror movies?"
"Love `em."
"Then you'll probably like what we do. You know, if you want to stop on
by, we'd be more than happy to give you a tour."
"Sure, why not?" I said. "I've got some spare time. When should I be
there?"
"We should be hanging around until about five, so any time before that. Do
you need directions?"
"Nope.I'llsee you soon, then. Thanks!"
After putting on a new watch and assuring Helen about sixty-eight times
that we were both feeling fine and that it wasn't necessary for us to stay at
home to recuperate, Roger and I drove to the address on the card. Ghoulish
Delights looked like somebody's house that had been converted into a business,
bearing only a small sign in the same oozing letters as on the card.
After narrowly avoiding a serious crutch mishap, we stepped onto the porch
and rang the doorbell. It was answered by a tall, athletically-built,
dark-haired woman who wore a t-shirt with the Ghoulish Delights logo.
"Hi, I'm Rachel Mallory," she said, extending her hand. I noticed that she
wore black fingernail polish, with a little eyeball drawn on each nail. It was
pretty cool.
"Andrew Mayhem. This is my friend Roger."
"Pleased to meetyou.Welcome to our lair."
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We walked inside. The waiting room had a couch, a couple of chairs, a
small table, and a wall that had every square inch covered with horror movie
posters. One of the chairs was currently occupied by a skeleton wearing a pair
of bunny ears and smoking a cigarette.
"That's our mascot, Calcium," said Rachel. "Have a seat on the couch and
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