Companions Of The Night Part 8

She nodded, still afraid that he just wanted to get her out of there quietly He finally let go of her- Somebody on the next block was having a party. Cars were parked on front lawns of houses on either side of the road for a four- or five-house stretch Ethan just pulled in, the last in line on the right-hand sideIf he could hear heartbeats from inside houses, he must be able to hear hers now, Kerry knew. He must be able to tell it was going at a rrantic rate, he kept giving her anxious looks, perhaps concerned that she would panic and get hys- terical or do something desperate and stupid.

They walked back to 147, right up the front walk, to the front door Ethan pulled his lock-picking tools out of his pocket as calmly and malter-of-factly as an accountant going for pen and calculator, the image reinforced by his clean-cut good looks and white s.h.i.+rt. He had a pair of thin gloves in the pocket with his tools, and he pulled these on before setting to work- She heard the click of the lock opening. "Don't touch anything," Ethan warned as though she were too dumb to know about leaving fingerprints, and in a moment they were in the dark entryway. The house turned out to be a raised ranch, so that they were faced immediately with a decision between two sets of stairs, one going up to the living area, the other leading to the bas.e.m.e.nt.

Ethan pushed the door shut behind them. Standing there, 142.

waiting for her eyes to adjust themselves to the dark-which they never would, not to the extent that his already had- he said, 'They're not here."

"Could they be"-she'd had the thought so long, she was able to say it-"dead^"

"Not here," Ethan repeated He'd told her before that he could smell a quant.i.ty of spilled blood. How much const.i.tuted "a quant.i.ty"? On second thought, she didn't want to think about that He took her hand, leading her through the house, prob- ably just as much to acquaint himself with the setup as to rea.s.sure her.The bas.e.m.e.nt, the first place they looked, was empty compared to Regina's. There were neatly stacked boxes, whose labels she could read from the glow of the neigh- bor's driveway floodlight HALLOWEEN, CHRISTMAS, EASTER, THANKSGIVING Even, way down at the bottom, one marked ST. PATRICK'S DAY, though "Marsala" certainly didn't sound Irish "No Valentine's Day," Kerry observed "No Mrs Marsala?"

"I think she ran off to Tahiti or something two or three years ago Before I came to Brockport"

Kerry was distracted by the realization that the Nowickis and the Marsalas had something in common She thought of her own mother, somewhere in Florida. Had the police con- tacted her to tell her that her family was missing^ Did she care' "There is a Marsala Junior though?"

"Not - ," Ethan started, but then he spotted what she was looking at, a child's Bigwheel, parked on top of a stack of boxes all marked JOE or JOEY JOE'S BOOKS, JOE'S TROPHIES, JOEY'S SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT, JOEY'S SCHOOL PAPERS,.

CLOTHES-JOE'S " that I ever heard of," Ethan finished.

(43.

He ran his gloved finger across the top box. The light wasn't bright enough for Kerry to be able to see, but the way he rubbed his fingers afterward told her there was dust.

"What's the matter?" she asked because he seemed to be spending a lot of energy thinking about something.

He shook his head and finished the circuit around the bas.e.m.e.nt laundry area, including what looked to be a sauna room; window screens leaning against the wall, four dusty bicycles, then the furnace, and so back to the -stairs, where Ethan nudged her.

"What?" she demanded. "I can't see a thing.""Do you see the shelves under the stairs?"

"Yeah ?"

"Do you see the spray can of red paint?"

Kerry stepped forward, trying to make it out in the dark, but she knew enough not to get her fingerprints on it- "Lots of people use red paint," she pointed out But she was convinced "We don't even have to plant evidence," Ethan said, ob- viously pleased with himself and the world. "Shall we check upstairs?"

Upstairs revealed nothing that seemed important to Kerry. There were three bedrooms The master bedroom had a huge walk-in closet, which was practically empty-just four or five s.h.i.+ns, a couple pairs of pants, a tweed sports jacket, and one pair of dress shoes Apparently Professor Marsala hadn't adjusted very well to his wife's leaving- The second bedroom seemed to be a library-a lot of books, mostly nonfiction The third bedroom, whose door had been closed, was empty- A rug and drapes, but absolutely nothing else- not even a light.

The kitchen had what looked to be breakfast dishes in 144.

the sink and a package of chicken b.r.e.a.s.t.s on the counter The package had leaked, and when Kerry poked at it. she discovered it was not only thawed out, it was room temperature Looking exasperated with her, Ethan used his glove to rub at the spot she had touched Fingerprints, she remembered "He didn't come home last night," she said.

"Doesn't look like," Ethan agreed"Is that good news or bad for my family?"

"! don't know "

"Do you think he was injured in the accident''" An awful thought struck her "What if he has them someplace and he's died and they can't get out, and they're running out of food, maybe they're running out of air-"

"Kerry " Ethan shook his head 'There was nothing in the paper about his being injured"

"Then where is he? And where is he keeping Dad and lan?"

"I don't know "

The living room had more books No tapes, records, or CDs, but a piano, with its cover closed and pictures where the sheet music would go Kerry guessed that whoever used to play the piano no longer did, or no longer lived there Ethan picked up one of the framed pictures Kerry looked at it over his shoulder A man who might be Professor Marsala stood with his arm around a young man who looked enough like him that Kerry suspected he was Marsala's son-Joe, she supposed Joe wore a T-s.h.i.+rt that read BROCKPORT HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY TEAM and he was holding aloft a trophy Bo'th men were smiling Joe, especially, had an in- fectious smile Elhan put that one down and picked up another that was f45 lying face down on top of the piano Joe again, this time weahng huge white rabbit ears, a waistcoat, and a pocket watch Behind him was a poster that said Alice Kerry remem- bered going to the student production with her cla.s.s three years ago. It took her several seconds to realize that the woman holding possessively on to Joe's arm-the one wear-ing the sweats.h.i.+rt proclaiming, BECAUSE I'M THE DIRECTOR, THAT'S WHY-was Regina Ethan studied the picture silently for several long seconds, then suddenly brought it down sharply against the edge of the piano.

"Sorry," he said, seeing her jump The momentary flash of rage on his face disappeared, and he tossed the smashed frame to the floor "You know him?" Kerry asked. The young man?"

"Never saw him before," Ethan answered with a straight face She felt her own flash of rage She was furious about all Ethan's evasions and lies But what were her options? Her dependency on his goodwill, her inability to survive on her own-were driving her into a fury. And what about Dad and !anf she wanted to scream at him What about what YOU firom- istd ME'

Ethan said, "Come. Surely after yesterday Marsala suspects that we. or the police, have guessed who he is He won't be back There's nothing for us here."

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

IN THE CAR once more, Ethan sat back in the seat, staring straight ahead, without turning on the engine When she could stand it no longer, Kerry asked, "Now what?"

"I don't know," he admitted.

It was a terrifying thought. She expected him to lie and to not tell her things But at the same time, she a.s.sumed he'd know what to do in every situation. Ethan? At a loss?After a long moment, she said, "Somebody's going to start wondering about us just sitting here- Where should we go next?"

He shook his head Enough was enough "Where would he be?" Kerry i4?

demanded from between clenched teeth "Obviously he wants me to find him. That's why he took my family to get to me What good does it do him to hold my family hostage if !

can't give myself up to him?"

Ethan mbbed his forehead as if she were giving him a headache. "I don't know."

"Maybe we should go back to my house," she suggested- "Maybc he's left another message there."

Ethan considered. "All right," he said in a since-we-don't- have-anything-better-to-try tone They drove to Fawn Meadow Circle, where Kerry found her house surrounded by yellow plastic Crime Scene tape "n.o.body here," Ethan said, and in the next breath, before she could protest, "We'll circle around to the back Under the circ.u.mstances, your neighbors would be sure to report a strange car parked in the circle"

He parked instead on Frandee Lane, a block away from the Hill family's house, whose yard they cut through to get into her own backyard.

"My key's only good for the front door," Kerry said, but by the time she'd finished saying it, Ethan had jimmied open the sliding-gla.s.s door and was ducking under the police tape that blocked this entry, tooIt was a strange sensation, sneaking through her own house- Distracted, she took several moments to register the state of the rooms They were perfectly normal Family room, kitchen, dining room-nothing was out of the ordinary in any of them. It was only in the living room that she found what she remembered and expected, the furniture toppled and slashed, the broken lamps on the floor.

"He only ransacked this room," she pointed out in a whis- per, as though Ethan could have missed it.

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"Ransacked implies he was looking for something," Ethan said, whispering, as she had "I can't think what he could have been looking for More likely he was just trying to get your attention, prove that he meant business "

She put her hand out to touch the wall spray-painted with the words, VAMPIRE, WE HAVE YOUR FAMILY Ethan caught her wrist and shook his head- Fingerprinting powder, she realized The walls, the furniture, everything was thick with black dust where the police had checked for fingerprints. She didn't need to touch the wall, anyway The message was just as she had remembered it.

VAMPIRE, WE HAVE YOUR FAMILY And, beneath that, LEV 1710 She realized what she had subconsciously been hoping for was that a second message would have been added Come (o tbt Newman Chapel at midnight, or Meet us by the cemetery gate, or We'll be at the laundry where it all started. "Do you think there's really more than one of them?" she asked. "Or is the 'we' only to throw us off?"

"I thought there were only five of them to begin with,"

Ethan said, by which she took him to mean he didn't have any idea.

She spotted lan's bear, Footy, on the floor, half under a couch cus.h.i.+on, and all the courage and resolve ran out of her She knell on the floor to pick him up and began to cry,rocking back and forth, unable to stop Ethan gave her about fifteen seconds. "Kerry Kerry, there's nothing here" He took the bear from her and set it back down. "If the police return, we don't want them to know somebody's been in here." He forced her to get up, walked her through the house to the back door But he gave her another few seconds to stop crying, so that her noise wouldn't attract the neighbors' attention.

i49 Back in his car once again, he handed her a handkerchief, and she asked, "Do you think they could have left a message at your house?"

He hesitated "No "

"Well, we know they can't have left one at Regma's," she snapped, remembering all the gasoline and seeing again the dark smoke rising in the night sky No answer "You each had more than one house, didn't you'?' she asked "Different places bought under different names so that if you felt one was unsafe, you could go to another d.a.m.n vampire caginess "

Still no answer "And you're afraid to let me in on your secrets "

He didn't like her use of the word afraul. she could tell "You're afraid that if somehow I get away from you, I know too much already, and 111 be a threat"

He didn't deny it He didn't even deny the implication that her < p="">

"Do you want out?" he asked very, very softly, so that she could have no doubt exactly what he was asking "1 want to find my family " Her voice came as a frightened squeak "And I want to find Marsala," he said "Help me get to him, and well find your family "

"Where do we look?" she repeated yet again "Where would you go," he asked, "if you were a vampire hunter whose plans were going awry, whose companions had *50.

been killed, who knew there was a good chance the vampires knew who you were-where would you go at nigh?"

"You make it sound tike he isn't looking for us "

"! don't think he is, not at this point I think he's hiding"

"Then we'll never find him'" she cned in dismay "Depends Vampires have a tot of experience hiding This guy hasn't He'll stay in Brockport rather than go to Rochester, where he'd have more options-"

"Why?"

"Why will he stay in Brockport, or why would he have more options in Rochester"?"

"Both"

Ethan started the car, which she thought meant she'd asked one question too many and he wasn't going to answerany But he Just must have been getting nervous about hanging around her neighborhood too long and attracting the atten- tion of someone who might recognize her "He'll want to be with people He'll figure. rightly, that a vampire wouldn't walk into a crowded room, grab hold of him, and kill him in front of witnesses A vampire's main defense is the general public's lack of belief in vampires "

"A vampire could shoot a person," she said, speaking in a general sort of way and trying very hard not to think of spe- cific vampires hurting specific people, even if those specific people had hurt her family, "or run him over, or push him out a window, or kill him in some other nonvampire way so that witnesses-"

"And get away and elude the police, also in some non- vampire way It's possible But, still, his best chance is going to be in a crowd"

"All right," Kerry conceded The trouble is-for him, of course-that vampires are t5i used to hunting in the night, and most humans live in the daylight In a big city like Rochester, he could have his choice of well-populated nightspots"

"But you don't think he's gone to Rochester"

"One," Ethan said, "he knows Brockport better than he knows Rochester Two, he has friends in Brockport They may not be good-enough friends to trust with his suspicions that there are vampires, but if we do come after him, he'll be more inclined to trust his life with people who know him than with strangers in a city, who might just turn their backs at the first sign of trouble Three, if he's to have any chance at all to catch us, he knows you won't leave Brockport, because of your family Four, I can't have been the only person to recognize him-""More reason to lose himself in Rochester," Kerry inter- rupted "He won't have run Not if he ever expects to come back to Brockport The police have already questioned him He's pointed out that he has no motive at all to harm your family or the pa.s.sengers on the school bus-and, in fact, he doesn't even know any of you; he's a respected member of the com- munity, he wasn't anywhere near the school-bus crash Right?"

he asked.

She nodded "But still, he looks remarkably like the man who did it The police have questioned him, they've told him to stick around, so if he suddenly starts taking off for Rochester every night, they're going to get suspicious."

Kerry sighed "Docs all of this bring us any closer to knowing where he is?"

"Well, we've just eliminated Rochester"

152.

"Wonderful"

"And the Brockport possibilities will reduce drastically as the night wears on stores in the plazas will shut at nine, most restaurants around midnight, bars at two "Some restaurants are open twenty-four hours," Kerry said "And both supermarkets"

Ethan nodded "The Student Union stops serving alcohol at two, but the cafeteria is open all night The dorm lobbies always have somebody around"

The college clinic." she added "Where do we start?"

"None of them It's not even seven-thirty He isn't goingto hang around just one place between sunset and dawn- that's more than twelve hours That would raise too many questions At this point, he could be anywhere We'll start looking as it gets later"

"What about my family?" she asked, then pointed out, "People would surely notice if he was dragging two prisoners around with him He can't have them with him"

Ethan briefly closed his eyes, as though weary of hearing about her family "Obviously not," he agreed And that was all he said HE thinks' they're dead. she thought She refused to be- lieve it, as though her hope alone could prevent it from being so "Well, then," she said calmly and evenly, so as not to nie him, "where will we go until it's time to start looking?"

"My house " He gave her a sidelong glance The one you know. 1 might have been wrong there might be a message there"

She raised her eyebrows .First an apology for not telling her about Marsala, then an acknowledgment-that he might f53 be wrong, both in the same night She went from pleasantly surprised to alarmed as the thought occurred to her that he might have given in for some reason she couldn't guess, some reason that would mean no good for her THEY DROVE AROUND his block twice, to make sure no one was parked or hanging around nearby watching "No heartbeats?" Kerry asked "No heartbeats." Ethan acknowledged Also no messagesAt least, none in the living room, which was where Ethan led her and which, presumably, was the only part of the house he was willing to have Kerry see It was the same room she'd been peeking into the night she'd first come here, the night this had alt started It was hard to believe that was Thursday and this was only Sat.u.r.day The decor" was elegant-rich, but much more subdued than at Regina's OU money was the phrase that came to Kerry's mind She wondered if the house reflected Ethan's tastes or those of the previous owner Was there an uncle, vampire or not? Or had Ethan himself owned the house all along, coming and going every generation or so, staying only so long as it wouldn't be apparent that he wasn't aging? That would be a shorter time for him than it would have been for Regina, who could have pa.s.sed-stretching just a bit-anywhere from late twenties to early forties Ethan probably wouldn't be safe for more than five years in any one location, which had to be a serious inconvenience. She found herself wondering, not for the first time, whether he had somehow chosen to become a vampire, or had the choice thrust upon him by someone else Either way. she thought, they should have waited. What was 154.

it like to pull up roots every five years, to have to get used to a new place, make new friends?

She realized she was thinking like a human rather than a vampire His friends were all vampires, for whom he didn't have to pretend The humans of his acquaintance would be nothing more to him than potential meals Thinking of his meals made her uncomfortable, here, alone with him, as he sat on a chair across from her, watching her silently Was that why he had brought her here?

She stood, and his gaze followed her as she walked ner- vously around the room, stopping, eventually, at the pianoNo dust, but no music on the rack, either "Do you play?"

she asked "Yes"

Her mother had taken her to Suzuki piano lessons from the time she was five till, worn out from fighting about prac- tice, Mom had let her drop it at age eight How much would it have hurt, Kerry asked herself, to practice fifteen minutes a day?

Would Mom have run off to Florida if Kerry had been a better daughter" Kerry positioned her right hand over the keys and played the first thing she had learned and the only thing she remembered 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," each note played six times to the beat of the phrase "Mississippi hot dog"

"It'll be a long night if I'm in charge of entertainment,"

she said Ethan came and sat on the piano stool He played a cla.s.sical piece, something very lively and complicated that sounded vaguely familiar, as though it had possibly been used as part of a movie's soundtrack "Beethoven?" she asked, which was the only cla.s.sical com- poser who came to mind 155.

Ethan winced "Mozart "

She couldn't guess if he didn't like Beethoven or if he just thought she should have known the difference "Was he from your time?" she asked "Mozart's timeless" He began playing something differ- ent "This is Beethoven"