Funhouse Read Free Page B

dark and I couldn’t see very well. But there was something …” A lack of conviction forced her words to trail off weakly.
    No one said anything for a moment. They think I imagined it, she thought resentfully. I never should have said anything.
    Then Doss surprised her by asking calmly, “Who did it look like, Tess? Was it someone we know?” He seemed to be assuming that she hadn’t imagined the shadow.
    Sending him a grateful glance, she admitted reluctantly, “No, not really. But I thought … well, I thought there was something familiar about the way it moved.”
    “The way what moved?” Beak asked as he joined them. Sweat from his work with the cleanup crew streaked his thin, intense face. Swiping at it with the sleeve of his navy blue sweatshirt, he sank down beside Gina.
    “Tess thinks she saw someone running away from The Devil’s Elbow,” Gina told him. Although she said thinks, Tess felt that Gina, too, believed her, and she sent her best friend a warm smile.
    “Running away?” Beak asked, leaning back against the booth. “Why would someone be running away? Are you hinting that you think someone did something to The Devil’s Elbow? Deliberately caused the accident?”
    That thought hadn’t even crossed Tess’s mind. Wide-eyed she stared at Beak. “No, I …”
    Sam interrupted her. “Maybe you should talk to the police. Tell them what you saw.”
    Tess looked doubtful. What could she possibly tell them? That she’d seen a shadow? Wouldn’t they laugh at her?
    “Relax,” Doss said lazily. “Chalmers will look into it. That’s his job. If he finds even a hint of tampering, then Tess can go to him with what she saw.”
    Sam laughed. “Chalmers? Our distinguished police chief? He couldn’t find his own nose without a mirror. Besides, the board got him elected in the first place, to make sure their precious Boardwalk was protected. If he does find anything, whether it was faulty equipment or actual tampering, he’s not going to announce it publicly. Either way, it’d be bad for business.”
    “Oh, Sam,” Gina scolded, “you’re so cynical! The board wouldn’t hide something like that. And the police would never cover it up.”
    Sam shrugged. “We’ll see.”
    An uncomfortable silence followed. Then Tess asked, “Anyone know who called the paramedics?” Maybe it had been the shadow she’d seen. That would explain why it had been there and she could forget about it.
    Doss nodded. “Martha did,” he said, referring to an elderly woman who ran the shooting gallery. “I never knew she could move so fast. The minute that thing took off, Martha raced for the nearest phone.”
    Of course, Tess told herself. Because that was what you did in an emergency. You ran toward the phone, not away from it.
    Unless you weren’t interested in getting help.
    Unless you were only interested in running away. Because you had good reason to run away.
    Telling herself she was letting her imagination do some pretty fancy running, Tess pushed all thought of the shadow out of her tired, aching mind. All she wanted to do now was go home and crawl under the covers and sleep, and forget about this dreadful, horrible night.
    As if it could ever be forgotten!

Chapter 4
    I FOUND IT IN the attic. I was looking for ski clothes. Found no ski clothes. Found the book, instead. A journal. A little red book, hidden in the bottom of an old trunk. The name on the front, in cheap gold letters, was LILA O ’ HARE.
    O’Hare? No O’Hares in this family. None in Santa Luisa, for that matter.
    I read that journal. Took me all day, but I read it. Every page. Hot day, stuffy attic with its tiny windows and sloping walls and smells of cedar and mothballs. Sat there all day, sweating and reading.
    Glad I read it. Even though it changed everything. When I finished reading it, I knew that nothing would ever be the same again.
    But I’m not sorry I read it.
    The journal was written by this woman named Lila, who was married to a