Come Out Tonight 8 страница

Nothing to find, anyway, she thought.

Thanks for killing me, Duane.

She suddenly felt glad that she’d never made love with him.

Then she felt sick about thinking such a thing.

I got him killed, and I never even let him have me. Always put it off, made excuses…as if we had all the time in the world. And now he’s dead.

Is this his way of getting back at me? she wondered.

For what? For not making it with him? Or for sending him out to buy condoms? Or for bringing a homicidal lunatic stalker into his life and getting him murdered?

He’s got plenty of reasons to hate me, Sherry thought. But they had nothing to do with depriving her of the means to save her own life.

Blame that on dumb, misguided idealism. You didn’t believe in guns, Duane, so I pay the price.

She wished this was her Jeep Cherokee.

She carried a. 380 in the console. By now, she would have it in her hand…

It’s not in my Jeep now, she realized. She’d removed the automatic and left it in her apartment before taking her car in for the transmission repairs.

What if I can get Toby to take me there?

Earlier, not even thinking about her gun, she’d tried to talk him into it. The idea was so they could use the bed. For some reason, he’d been against going there.

Oh, yeah. Because I’m friendly with my neighbors.

Good old friendly me, she thought.

Using one of the napkins, she dabbed at the cut beneath her left breast. It no longer seemed to be bleeding. She wiped the area below it all the way down to the waistband of her skirt. Then she gently touched the wound with a fingertip. The sting made her wince, but she eased her finger along the length of it. The cut seemed to be a curving line about three inches long, but very shallow.

Wherever we go, she thought, I’d better try to put some antiseptic on it. And a bandage. He must have some first-aid supplies…

Sherry suddenly remembered that, during the same earlier discussion about where to find themselves a bed, Toby had spoken up against taking her to his place. But even earlier, he’d mentioned wanting to take her there.

Can’t make up his mind about that.

Probably has something to do with Sid. Whoever the hell Sid is.

Sid’s the guy who kills Toby for losing the car keys.

So he’s living with his mother and this Sid?

Maybe Sid’s his stepfather.

Keeping her eyes on the side mirror, Sherry picked up a fresh napkin and gently wiped her face. The soft paper’s dryness felt good, rubbing through the sweat and grime—and probably blood.

Whoever Sid is, she thought, it sounds as if he’s strict with Toby. Maybe he’ll take my side. Or maybe the mother will.

On the other hand, the gun’s at my apartment.

I know damn well it’ll take my side.

Toby’s reflection rushed across the side mirror. He was running up the alley, naked from the shoulders down, the beltless robe flowing behind him in the wind, the butcher knife waving in his right hand.

Chapter Twenty-two

Toby climbed into the van and closed the door. He was panting for breath. Lowering the knife against his bare thigh, he slumped low in the passenger seat.

“Did it, ” he gasped.

“Where’d you put him? ” Sherry asked.

Toby shook his head. “Just…Couldn’t pick him up. Too heavy. So I…hadda just drag him. ”

Though Sherry had seen him drag Duane past the rear of the van, she decided not to mention it. If she told about seeing the body, Toby might suspect she’d noticed Duane’s open, bloody shorts.

She didn’t want to go where that might lead.

“So you didn’t put him in a dumpster? ” she asked.

“Huh-uh. ”

At least Duane had been spared that.

“Where did you leave him? ”

“Found a…laundry room. Unlocked. Just off the alley. You know, like what they have…for apartment people. Dragged him in. ” Toby let out a couple of gaspy laughs. “Almost did a load. His stuff. Figured… we wait here till it’s clean. ” He shook his head. “Too much mess. I just…left him on the floor and got outa there. ”

Thank God, Sherry thought. She hated to think what Toby might’ve wanted to do if they’d had to wait for the clothes to get done.

“Are we ready to go? ” she asked him.

“Go where? ” he asked.

“It’s up to you. We can go to my place or yours. ”

“Why not…stay here a while? ”

Sherry cringed. “Here? ”

“We can go in the back of the van. You know? And lie down. There’s blankets. We can rest and stuff. ”

And stuff.

“Just for maybe like an hour, ” Toby added.

“Isn’t it messy back there? ”

“Sort of, ” he admitted. “But it’s nothing that won’t wash off. ”

“You ever try to wash blood out of clothes? ”

“We’ll leave our clothes here on the front seats. ”

Oh, this is getting better and better.

“It sounds like a pret

ty neat idea, ” Sherry said. “But you know what? Wouldn’t you rather wait till we’re someplace safe? Where we’ll have privacy? ”

“We got privacy here. ”

“Right now, we do. But this is somebody’s regular parking stall, Toby. They might come back any minute. ”

“Well, yeah. ”

“Also, there’s no telling when somebody might go into the laundry room and find Duane. If that happened, we could have cops up the ying-yang. ”

“I guess, ” Toby muttered. “But I bet nobody’s gonna find him till morning. ”

“We shouldn’t take a chance like that. Not when it’d be so easy to drive somewhere else. ”

“I don’t mind staying here. ”

I do!

Sherry turned her head, feeling the soft rub of the belt against her neck, and looked at Toby. “Anyway, there’s no bed here. Didn’t we already agree that we wanted to wait and do it on a bed? ”

In the darkness, she saw the vague shape of his shoulders rise and fall. “I don’t know. ”

“And we wanted to take a shower first. Together. ”

“Yeah? ” He sounded a little confused, but pleased.

“Yeah. We agreed, didn’t we? To take a nice long shower together before we get in bed? We’ll soap each other all over till we’re squeaky clean. You want to do that, don’t you? ”

“Yeah. ”

“Well, we can’t do that here. ”

“We can do it at my house. ”

“Or at my apartment. If we go to your house, Sid might not let you take a shower with me. He might not let you do anything with me. At my place, there’d only be the two of us. ”

He moaned with indecision then said, “I don’t know. ”

“If we go to my place, ” Sherry said, “we can skip that stuff about crashing the van and…” An idea struck her. “I’ve got screwdrivers. ”

“Huh? ”

“If we need to take the license plates off the van, I have screwdrivers. Which means we won’t have to buy one at the Speed-D-Mart. ”

“We got money now, ” Toby pointed out.

“Yeah, but look at how we’re dressed. Neither of us can go in a store like this. Now we won’t have to. And we can change into some clothes so we don’t look…” She shook her head. “Face it, anybody who sees us is going to know something is wrong. ”

“That’s for sure, ” Toby muttered.

“At my place, we can put on some decent clothes. ”

“You got guy stuff? ”

“We’ll find you something to wear. I mean, just about anything would be better than that bloody robe, don’t you think? ”

“Guess so. ”

“And we can do whatever we want and we won’t need to worry about Sid bothering us. ”

“Yeah, okay. ” Toby put the key into her hand.

“Before we go, ” she said, “you’d better take this belt off me. If we happen to drive past a cop and he happens to look over this way…”

“Good idea. ” Toby clamped the knife between his teeth, then climbed through the space between the seats. Standing behind Sherry, he started to untie the belt.

She slid the key into the ignition.

“Don’t start it yet, ” Toby said.

“I won’t. ”

I could!

She saw herself twist the key and gun the engine and plow through the wall.

That’d sure catch somebody’s attention, she thought. But how’s it suppose to save me? I’d still be stuck in the van with Toby. He’d have plenty of time to kill me before anyone came along to see who’d wrecked the carport.

And then he might kill some of them.

Besides, she told herself, it’d be incredibly stupid to do anything risky at this point.

Save the risky stuff for when we get…

“Got it, ” Toby said. He slipped the cloth belt away from her neck.

But he didn’t come back to his seat. A few seconds after removing the belt, he reached down from behind Sherry with both hands. He spread her blouse wide open and cupped her breasts.

Sherry gripped the steering wheel.

Toby’s hands moved gently. She could feel them trembling. They caressed her slowly, lightly, as if studying the

texture of her skin. “So smooth, ” he whispered.

“Thanks. ”

“These’re my first. ”

Wonderful to hear it. “Really, ” she muttered. “Yeah. Nobody else has ever let me. Just…never mind. She doesn’t count. ”

Whose breasts don’t count? Sherry wondered. And why not?

“Oh, now they’re getting goosebumpy. ”

That’s ’cause you make my skin crawl.

“That’s because it feels so good, ” she said. “The way you’re touching them. ”

“Yeah? ”

“Yeah, ” she said.

His thumbs glided in circles around her nipples. The feel of them made her want to shudder.

Just take it easy, she told herself. Go along with it. Go along with everything. Let him do whatever he wants. The only thing that matters is getting out of this alive.

Unraped, if possible—but alive, that’s the main thing.

Behind her, Toby moaned.

Sherry began to writhe in her seat.

When his hands tightened on her breasts, she moaned as if lost in pleasure.

Don’t overdo it.

I’m his prisoner and I’ve gotta act like it or he’ll figure I’m up to something.

“We’d better stop now, ” she said.

Toby squeezed her right breast so hard she gasped and flinched rigid.

“We stop when I wanta stop, ” he said.

“I know. I wasn’t…I just meant…we don’t want to get caught here, do we? Don’t we want to go over to my place? ”

“Maybe, maybe not. ”

“I thought we agreed…Ow! ” She twitched with pain as he drew a fingernail along her cut.

“We didn’t agree on nothing. ” He took his hands away from her breasts and slapped her face, whapping the right side, then the left, then the right, then the left, his open hands taking turns, striking her just hard enough to make each side of her face sting, then burn.

Soon she began to cry, but she kept her own hands on the steering wheel, knowing she would only make matters worse if she tried to resist.

He’ll pay for this!

He’ll pay for everything!

He kept slapping the sides of her face.

Then, through her sobbing sounds and the quick claps of the blows, she heard Toby start to laugh.

Thinks this is funny?

Sherry suddenly realized that she was wrong about the strange, gaspy sounds. They weren’t laughter.

He’s crying!

He gasped and sobbed and choked as he smacked her.

Sherry twisted the ignition key. As the engine grumbled to life, Toby’s hands went still. “What’re you…doing? ” he blurted.

“Getting us out of here. ” She shoved the shift lever to reverse and backed the van out of the carport. “You’d better take your seat. ”

His two hands clutched her neck.

She swung the van into the middle of the alley and eased it to a halt.

He still had her by the throat, but he wasn’t squeezing very hard.

“I’m not trying to pull anything, Toby. But we’ll be in trouble if we don’t get away from here. ”

“What do you care? ”

“I don’t want to be caught in the middle. ” She put on the headlights, took her foot off the brake, and started driving slowly up the alley. “Why don’t you get back into your seat before you fall down? I’ll drive wherever you want me to. ”

“Promise? ”

“I promise. ”

“No tricks? ”

“No tricks. ”

“Better not be. ”

Sherry eased the van to a halt.

Toby took his hands away from her neck. When he climbed into the front and sank into his seat, his robe hung open. He held the kni

fe in his right hand. With his left hand, he wiped his eyes.

“Are you okay? ” Sherry asked.

“Yeah. ” He sniffed.

“What the hell were you crying about? I was the one getting hit. ”

“They were…tears of joy. ”

Chapter Twenty-three

“Did you decide we’ll go to my place? ” Sherry asked, starting the van forward again.

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess. ”

She stopped at the end of the alley, took a few seconds to pull her blouse shut, then turned onto the street. “We’re not very far away, ” she said.

“I know. I been there, remember? ”

“Oh, yeah. ”

“I been there a lot. ”

Obviously, he’d been there often enough to notice that Sherry was on friendly terms with quite a few of the other tenants.

But had he been inside?

Maybe not. He could’ve made those observations by catching glimpses of her through the courtyard gates. Or by watching her arrive or depart.

Her building didn’t have a subterranean parking lot like Duane’s: just rows of parking stalls at the front and back. Her space was in front. Toby might’ve easily watched her leave the building with a neighbor, chatting as they went to their cars.

“How we gonna get in? ” Toby asked.

Sherry felt a sudden collapse inside.

Oh, my God!

“You got keys? ” Toby asked.

“No. I…They’re in my purse. ”

“And where’s that? ”

“In your car, I guess. ”

“That’s where it’s at, all right. ” He laughed or sobbed quietly, sniffed and rubbed his eyes. “Looks like every damn thing you or me own is locked up someplace. ”

“Where’s your car? ”

“None of your business. ”

“All we have to do is go to your car and get my purse out. Then I’ll have my keys and we can drive on over…”

“How we gonna get into my car? I locked it up and took my keys with me—and you locked them up in Duane’s room. Which probably has cops in it by now. ”

“Can’t we get my purse, anyway? ”

“How? ”

“Maybe your car isn’t locked. Maybe one of the back doors, or something…”

“It’s locked, all right. It’s got one of those remote-control dealies where you push a button and it locks all the doors. Sets the alarm, too. ”

“Your car has an alarm? ”

“Sure does. So if we go fooling around trying to break in, we’ll set it off. ”

“Nobody pays attention to those things, anyway. Especially not on a night like this. They’ll just think the wind set it off. ”

“So what do you wanta do, bust a window? ”

“It’s an idea. ”

“Forget it, ” Toby said. “It’s Sid’s car. I take it home fucked up, he’ll kill me. ”

“He doesn’t have to know we did it. You can tell him a branch blew off a tree, or…”

“No way. ” Toby shook his head. “You think he’s gonna care how it got busted? He’ll say it’s my fault, no matter what. ”

“That doesn’t sound fair, ” Sherry said.

“Nothing fair about Sid. ”

“Why do you put up with him? ”

“I got no choice. ”

“There’s always a choice. ”

“Think so, huh? That shows how much you know. Teacher or not. ”

“Is Sid your father? ” she asked.

Toby shook his head.

“Stepfather? ”

“Brother. ”

“He’s just your brother? The way you talk about him, I thought he must be your mean old stepfather or something. ”

“He’s my older brother. ”

“And you let him run your life like—? ”

Toby punched her in the upper arm. Yelping, she grabbed it with her left hand.

“He don’t run my life, ” Toby said. “I run my life. ”

“Sorry. ”

“Just shut the fuck up. ”

Clutching her arm, she steered with her right hand, blinked tears out of her eyes and kept her mouth shut.

“I guess we don’t go to your place after all, ” Toby said. He sounded disappointed. “Fuck. I been wanting to see what it’s like inside. See your stuff, you know. I’ve tried to look through your windows, only the curtains are always shut too tight. ”

“What windows? ”

“The big ones in front. ”

Her apartment, on the second story, could only be reached by climbing stairs to the balcony that overlooked the courtyard and swimming pool. Her front door faced the balcony—and so did the two big windows of her living room and bedroom.

“You’ve gotten into the courtyard? ” she asked.

“Oh, sure. It’s not so hard. Know what? I’ve even used the pool a few times. Know what else? You’ve seen me down at the pool. ”

“You’re kidding, ” she muttered, feeling her gooseflesh return.

“Yep. You even said hi to me once. I was down by the pool in my swimming suit and sunglasses and hat and everything. Had a towel with me, and I was pretending to read a book. I looked just like I belonged there. ” He chuckled. “Everybody thought I belonged there. ”

“Terrific, ” she muttered.

“You can get away with all kinds of stuff if you play it right. ”

“Could you get us inside the courtyard tonight? ” she asked.

“Yeah, but so what? ”

“If you can get us that far, I can probably get us into my apartment. ”

“Yeah? How? Bust a window? ”

“The bedroom window’s just an old piece of crap with a broken lock. And there isn’t any screen on it. ”

“You kidding me? ” Toby asked.

“I’m surprised you never noticed—what with all your snooping and peeping. ”

“I never tried to bust in, ” he said, sounding offended. “All I wanted to do was look. ”

“Oh really? ”

“Yeah. I never wanted to do anything to you. ”

“I guess that changed tonight, ” Sherry muttered.

“Yeah. Well. What can I say? Opportunity knocked. ”

That was me sending Duane to the store. I triggered the whole damn thing. Sent him to his death.

We get into my apartment, she thought, and I’ll trigger Toby.

“Should we go ahead and give my place a try? ” she asked.

“Yeah. Why not? If you think you can get us in. ”

“I’m pretty sure I can. ”

“Okay, then. We’ll give it a try. But you better remember a couple of things. Like how you gave me your word you’d cooperate. ”

“I’m cooperating, aren’t I? ”

“So far. But you better remember something else, too. Remember what I do to people. If you don’t want to get anyone else killed, you better do everything I tell you. ”

“Everything, ” she said. “I promise. ”

Midway down the next block, they came to her apartment building. Sherry slowed down, then turned onto the broad driveway.

“What’re you doing?

“We might as well park in my stall, ” she said.

“I don’t know if that’s such a hot idea. ”

“This is Duane’s van, ” she reminded him, steering into the sheltered slot. “People are used to seeing it around here. Not that anybody’s likely to be up and around at this hour, anyway. ”

Toby nodded and mumbled something.

Sherry stopped. She shut off the lights and engine, then pulled out the ignition key.

“Put it on the floor. We don’t wanta be losing that, too. ”

She unfastened her seat belt, eased the straps out of her way, reached down between her legs and dropped the key to the floor.

“Stay put, ” Toby said. “I’ll come around to your side. ” He threw open the passenger door, eased it shut and walked toward the rear of the van.

Is this a test? Sherry wondered.

She sat still and waited for him.

With the point of his knife, he tapped against the window of her door.

She opened the door and climbed out.

“You go first, ” Toby said.

Walking through the narrow space between Duane’s van and the Mazda parked beside it, Sherry pulled her blouse shut and tucked it under the waistband of her skirt. She felt bare skin down there where her underpants should’ve been.

“Front gate? ” she asked, stepping out into the light and wind behind the parking spaces.

“Yeah. ”

She turned toward the main entrance. The wind huffed in her face, flapped her blouse and skirt, tossed leaves against her legs. She clenched her blouse shut with one hand. With the other, she pressed her skirt against her thigh.

Toby, walking beside her, leaned into the wind and tried to keep his robe from flying open. He could use only his left hand; his right was hidden inside the robe, keeping his knife out of sight.

Sherry saw no cars coming. She saw nobody out for a stroll or a jog, nobody walking a dog. No bums were skulking about or trudging along behind shopping carts.

Fine, Sherry told herself. It’s just as well. I might be tempted to make a break, yell for help…

It would be nice, she thought, for a cop car to come along right about now.

That happens, I’ll take the risk.

She stepped into the recessed area of her building’s entryway. Sheltered from the wind, she leaned back against the stucco wall.

Toby walked past her. At the gate, he tried the handle.

“It locks automatically, ” Sherry said.

“I know. Just thought I’d check. ”

He came over and stood in front of her. “Hold this, ” he said. He took off his robe and handed it to her. But he kept the butcher knife.

“What are you going to do? ” Sherry asked.

“Go over the top. ”

She frowned at the double doors of the gate. Between the iron top rails and the ceiling of the entryway, she saw a narrow space. “You can’t get through that, ” she said.

“Wanta bet? ”

“Is that how you sneak in? ”

“Sometimes. When nobody’s around. I’ve got lots of ways. ”

Up on top, it would be a tight fit for Toby. Sherry supposed it was possible for him to squeeze through—if he really sucked in his gut—but the struggle was bound to take him a while.

r /> If she waited till just the right moment, she could probably make a clean getaway.

Run like hell for the van. I know right where the key is.

“Let’s see you do it, ” she said.

Toby grinned strangely. “You know what? ” he said. “When I’m up top trying to get through, I bet you’ll try and run off. ”

“I won’t, ” she said. “I promise. ”

“Know what? ”

“What? ”

“Two-eight-three-two Clifton. ”

Once again, she felt herself collapsing inside.

“Know who lives there? ”

She nodded.

“So do I. ”

“My God, ” she muttered.

“What do you guess I might do to your mommy and daddy and little sister if you run off and leave me? ”

Stunned, she muttered, “I won’t go anywhere. ”

“I almost hope you do, ” Toby said. “Your mom’s almost as pretty as you, and Brenda…Mmmm, Brenda. ” Still grinning, he spread his arms and looked down at himself. “Look at that! That’s what happens just thinking about her. ”

You’ll never get the chance, you sick fuck.

“Just shut up and climb the damn gate, ” Sherry said.

Chapter Twenty-four

Here came his left hand. It clutched Sherry’s throat and shoved her head against the stucco wall. Down low, the knife punched through the front of her skirt then hit the stucco. He pulled it straight upward between her legs, the point scraping the wall, her skirt rising.

Sherry flinched and dropped the robe when the steel edge touched her.

“Say you’re sorry, ” Toby whispered.

“I’m sorry. ”

“How sorry? ”

“Very sorry. ”

The knife moved upward. Gasping, Sherry tried to rise to her tiptoes but the hand at her throat kept her pinned to the wall.

“Are you ever gonna tell me to shut up again? ” Toby asked, grinning.

“No. ”

“You ever gonna try and order me around? ”

“No. ”

“You ever gonna try and run away? ”

“No. ”

“How would you like me to give it to you with my knife? ”

“I wish you wouldn’t. But…whatever you want. ”

“Good! You get an A-plus! ” He lowered the knife away from her flesh. Then he jerked downward. Sherry felt a tug at her waistband, heard the rip of fabric, felt another tug as the knife tore through the hem of her skirt. Still clutching her throat, Toby said, “What’re you gonna do when I climb the gate? ”

“Whatever you want. ”

“I want you to just stand here. Don’t move a muscle. ”

“Okay. ”

He released her throat, then turned away and walked to the gate. Squatting, he reached between two of the horizontal bars and set down his knife on the concrete.

Sherry felt warm dribbles trickling down her inner thighs.

Blood?

Toby straightened up. Head tilted back, he seemed to be studying the top of the gate.

Sherry slipped a hand through the slit in her skirt. Though she felt no cut between her legs, wetness smeared her fingertips.

Reaching high, Toby grabbed the top rail with both hands. He jumped, pulling himself up, and slammed against the gate. It clanked with the impact. The fat of his naked body shimmied. He jerked up his left leg and managed to plant his foot on the knob.

Sherry took her hand out and looked at it. Her fingers were shiny, but not red. Just perspiration, she supposed.

With the knob as a foothold, Toby pulled himself up. He ducked headfirst through the narrow opening above the gate. His shoulders followed. Then all Sherry could see of him were his thick legs and a pair of sweaty, jiggling buttocks.

He squirmed sideways and swung his right leg up and hooked his thigh over the top.

He’s gonna make it, Sherry thought.

She latched her eyes on the butcher knife.

Though on the other side of the gate, it was near enough to grab if she crouched and reached through the bars.

Toby now had one leg on each side of the gate, his belly and chest pressing into the top rail, his back against the stucco ceiling of the passageway. He groaned and squirmed, struggling to squeeze through.

Do it! Grab the knife…

Or run and get the hell away from him!

Then he goes after Brenda?

Just stay put, she told herself. Don’t move a muscle. Not unless you’re sure you can kill him.

In her mind, she saw herself make a mad dash for the gate as Toby, straddling its top, squirmed in a frenzy and shouted curses and threats. She ducked and reached through the bars and grabbed the knife. Then she sprang up. But even as she drove the blade toward Toby’s bare flank, he dropped out of reach. He fell to the pavement on the other side of the gate and yelled, “Now you’re gonna get it! Now you’re all gonna get it! You and your whole fucking family! ”

“Easy as pie, ” Toby said.

The chance was gone.

He’d made it over the top of the gate and now stood on the other side, arms stretched high, hands still clutching the top rail. He was panting hard for breath. His body ran with so much sweat that he looked as if he’d just stepped out of a shower. But he seemed very pleased. His face, between two bars, grinned at Sherry. Lower, his penis jutted out, rigid and pointing at her face.

“Don’t forget my robe, ” he said. He let go and backed away from the gate. “You were a very good girl, Sherry. ” He squatted and picked up his knife. Then, swinging open the gate, he said, “Come on in. ”

She followed his orders.

After easing the gate shut, Toby took the robe from her. He put it on, but allowed it to hang open. “You go first, ” he said.

She headed for the stairway. In front of her, the swimming pool was dark but its surface shimmered with the reflections of several porch lights. She saw no one. She saw no lighted windows.

Is everybody asleep? she wondered. That hardly seemed possible. Even on a good night, some people probably had trouble sleeping, got out of bed to use the toilet or watch some television or read a book—or look out the windows. Tonight, with the wind moaning and squealing and slamming things about, plenty of people must be wide awake.

But she saw no evidence of it.

Let’s keep it that way, she thought. The last thing I need is anyone else getting involved.

She walked to the stairway. With Toby just behind her, she began to climb. The steps felt rock-hard under her bare right foot, soft and springy through the shoe on her left. Neither footfall made any sound that might be heard through the raging wind.

The surrounding walls sheltered her from the wind until she reached the balcony. There, she felt it swoop down and muss her hair and huff against her face. It fluttered the front of her blouse. It spread her ripped skirt and flew in, hot and dry against her wet skin.

She didn’t bother trying to hold her clothes together. There was nobody to see, and the wind felt good.

Every window she walked past was dark.

And shut.

The doors were all shut, too.

She heard no sound from inside any of the apartments.

Everybody must be asleep, she thought.

And then she walked past a picture window and saw deep into a moonlit living room.

The curtains are open!

She glimpsed the dim shapes of furniture and a few tiny bright red numbers at the far side of the room. A clock or VCR, she supposed.

She looked away quickly.

Was anyone in there? she wondered.

Ronnie, maybe? Or Chris?

They were both flight attendants and worked unusual hours. One or the other of them might very well be awake.

Sitting in the dark, looking out, seeing us walk by?

What a sight we’d be, she thought. We must look like something from a nightmare.

If you saw us, just stay out of it. Please.

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Maybe they’re not even home, Sherry told herself. They might be away on flights, or on overnight dates, or on vacation somewhere.

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