Friday Night in Beast House Read Free Page B

wouldn’t.’ She told him.
    ‘I won’t. Thanks.’
    She gave him another nod, then drove slowly away.
    Standing up straight, Mark watched her car move down the road, watched it turn right and disappear.
    ‘Wow,’ he whispered.

 
    Chapter Five
     
     
    When mark resumed walking, his legs felt soft and shaky. He seemed to be trembling all over.
    He could hardly believe that he’d actually been stopped by Officer Eve Chaney, that he’d gotten such a good look at her. It was almost like something too good to be true. But even better—and more unbelievable—she hadn’t balled him out, hadn’t lectured him, hadn’t busted him or driven him back to school or back to his house. She’d not only been friendly, but she had let him go.
    Let him go with the caution, ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.’
    What was that supposed to mean?
    He knew it was just a saying. But it didn’t really make a lot of sense when you considered that he didn’t know enough about Officer Chaney to judge what she might or might not do. All he knew for sure was that she was a local legend. Since coming to Malcasa Point about three years ago, she’d made a lot of arrests and she’d even been in gunfights. She’d shot half a dozen bad guys, killing a couple of them.
    Don’t do anything I wouldn’t?
    ‘Good one,’ he said quietly, and grinned.
    Still shocked and amazed but feeling somewhat more calm, Mark came to the corner. He turned his head and looked toward Front Street, hoping to see Officer Chaney’s car again. But it was gone.
    He Shook his head.
    Continuing across the street, he found himself wishing that she hadn’t let him go. If she’d busted him, he would’ve gotten to sit in the car with her. he would’ve had a lot more time to be with her.
    Maybe she would’ve frisked me.
    ‘Oh, man,’ he murmured.
    But he supposed it was just as well that she’d let him go. Nice as it might’ve been, it would’ve wrecked his plans for sneaking into Beast House. He still wanted to go through with that, or at least give it a good try—even though Alison suddenly seemed a little less special than usual.
    It’s just temporary, he thought. Like sun blindness. After I’ve been away from Officer Chaney for a while, it’ll all go back to normal.
    ‘Eve,’ he said quietly. ‘Eve Chaney.’
    He sighed.
    Hell, he thought. If Alison’s out of my league (and she is), then what’s Eve? Like a grown-up, improved version of Alison, and probably at least ten years older than me. Not a chance, not a chance. The best I can ever hope for is a little look and a little talk. With Eve, it’ll probably never be better than what just happened.
    Forget about her.
    Yeah, sure.
    He suddenly found himself only a few strides away from the dead-end barricade. A little surprised, he turned around. Nobody seemed to be nearby, so he waded into the weeds, descended one side of a shallow ditch, climbed the other side, and trudged through more weeds until he stood at the black iron fence.
    Beyond it were the rear grounds: the snack stand; the outdoor eating area with chairs upside-down on table tops; the restroom/gift-shop building; and the back of Beast House itself.
    He saw nobody.
    The parking lot, off in the distance, looked empty.
    Now or never, he thought.
    After another quick look around, he leapt, caught the fence’s upper crossbar with both hands and pulled himself up. The effort suddenly reminded him of gym class.
    He struggled high enough to chin the crossbar, then hung there, wondering what to do next. He tried to go higher, couldn’t. He tried to swing a leg up high enough to catch the crossbar with his foot, couldn’t.
    Muttering a curse, he lowered himself to the ground.
    There’s gotta be a way!
    The rear side of the fence, extending along the eastern border of the lawn at the base of a hillside, was overhung in a few places by the limbs of trees outside the fence. Maybe he could climb one of the trees, crawl out on a limb to get past