Fatal Bargain Read Free Page A

rockets and fireworks would fill her mind and soul and body.
    And when the phone finally did ring, and it was Randy, she felt so guilty for dreaming about somebody better that she was ready to do anything Randy asked.
    It took some serious planning to be able to arrange for a Saturday night without parental knowledge of her whereabouts. Lacey was always hearing about unsupervised teens whose parents hadn’t seen them in days and didn’t care where they were or what they were doing, but she, personally, had never encountered such a parent. All the parents she knew foamed at the mouth and confiscated car keys if anybody vanished for even an hour.
    It was agreed that Lacey would say she was at Roxanne’s and Roxanne would say she was at Sherree’s. If there were phone calls from parents, they all had their cell phones and could fake it, and nobody would get in trouble.
    Lacey had never been in trouble, or even close to trouble, and found herself strangely attracted to the idea. But if they checked on her, she would be in the Mall House and they would never know.
    Lacey’s family lived on the far side of town and usually didn’t have occasion to drive on this road. Her mother was not of the shop-till-you-drop persuasion and would not have kept up to date on the possibility of a new mall going up where once a decrepit house had stood.
    Nobody had called it the Mall House when it still had a family living there.
    It got the name Mall House when the zoning committee decreed that nobody could rip the place down because it was a “Historic Building” and the would-be builders said, “No, it’s a piece of junk.” For months people argued the pros and cons of this situation, and the old boarded-up mansion had gotten its nickname.
    Wrong nickname, thought Lacey. It’s the Vampire House.
    The vampire sifted slowly out of sight. Not because he left, but because he ceased to be. She felt his molecules still drifting around the room, like an evaporating perfume. She did not even want to breathe, for fear that vampire threads would clog her lungs.
    Sherree had never had a phone call from Randy before. She had to stop and think who on earth this could be. Randy, she had pondered. Do I know a Randy?
    Luckily Randy expected her to be confused and he added, “You know. Bobby’s friend. You came to my house to see a movie last month.”
    “Ooooh, yes! You have that fabulous media room, with the carpeted levels and the big soft floor pillows and the little kitchenette full of snacks and sodas right downstairs. I never saw a TV that big in somebody’s house! Sure, I remember your house, Randy.”
    Sherree did not hear her own sentence. (She never did quite hear what she was saying out loud.) She did not realize how hurtful it was to be told your TV room was easier to remember than you were.
    “A sleepover?” said Sherree dubiously. “I don’t know, Randy. My parents are pretty strict.”
    She paid attention to his offer because she paid close attention to anything a boy said. Sherree did not believe there was much worth thinking about except boys. Luckily there were so many of them. Sherree knew perfectly well that Bobby was dating Roxanne at the same time, but Sherree had learned that what boys wanted most was what other boys already had. Going with Bobby was increasing Sherree’s desirability, and pretty soon Sherree would extricate herself from Bobby and take advantage of the boys who envied him. She had pretty well decided to wait until after Christmas because a girl who had dated Bobby last year said that Bobby was really a big spender in December.
    Sherree could not bring Randy’s face to mind. Normally her brain was like a huge yearbook of available boys. Why hadn’t she registered Randy? Was there something wrong with him, or had the rented movies been especially good?
    Randy wanted Sherree to pretend that she was really spending the night at a girlfriend’s house, but he would pick her up and they were going to stay