Night Mask Read Online Free PDF Page B

broke the silence.
    â€œYeah. And that Jim Longwood left right after the murders.”
    â€œI wonder if the bedroom ... ?” She trailed that off.
    â€œYou know as well as I do it’s just as the cops left it.”
    â€œWonderful,” she said drily. “Who goes first?”
    Leo smiled. “Ladies first, dear.”
    â€œYou’re such a gentleman.”
    â€œI do try.”
    She started up the dark stairway, and Leo closed a hand around her forearm and stepped in front of her. “No way, kid. Stay three steps behind me and to my left. You know the drill.”
    â€œWhat the hell do you think is up there, Leo?”
    â€œI don’t know. Probably nothing. But this place is giving me the creeps.”
    â€œYou’re not alone.”
    They made their way cautiously up to the second floor of the home, and stood for a moment on the thick and dusty carpet.
    â€œThis stuff must have cost seventy-five dollars a square foot,” Lani remarked.
    â€œAnd speaking of feet,” Leo said, lowering his beam of light to the carpet.
    After all the years, the stains left by bloody feet were plain in the carpet. Lani used her narrow beam of light to backtrack the stains. They led to a room at the end of the hall. The yellow tape with the black lettering was still in place. CRIME SCENE—DO NOT CROSS.
    â€œMy God,” Leo said. “To leave that much blood ...”
    â€œYeah,” Lani agreed. “He must have wallowed in the gore. Look.” She lifted the light to the hall wall. Bloody handprints were still staining the wallpaper. Huge handprints.
    â€œHe wore gloves,” Leo said, kneeling down to more closely inspect the stains on the carpet. “Five will get you ten he wore rubber boots. Interesting. The prints stop right here.” He stood up.
    â€œHe took off his boots right where we’re standing, and probably walked off in his stocking feet.”
    â€œYeah. This is one cold bastard.”
    Together, they walked down the hall to the bedroom and stood for a moment, shining their lights into the room. As the beams touched the walls, both of them were thankful that they had not been the ones to work this when it was fresh.
    It was carnage.
    Bloodstains spattered the walls, and there were even bloodstains on the ten-foot-high ceiling. The sheets had been stripped from the bed as evidence, but long before the local cops had arrived, the blood had seeped through and stained the entire top of the king-sized mattress. There were handprints all over the walls, matching those in the hall.
    â€œHe played in the blood,” Lani whispered.
    â€œYeah. Look over there.” Leo shone the light.
    â€œWhat is that?”
    â€œI don’t know. Some sort of a symbol. Did you remember to load the camera?”
    She gave him a dirty look, and before shooting some film of the strange symbols, checked to see if the drapes in the room were all closed. They were. The flash would not be seen outside. Lani took several shots, then moved closer. “I know what these are. They’re music notes.”
    â€œIs it a song?”
    She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve got a tin ear when it comes to music. You’re looking at a kid who failed music appreciation.”
    â€œBack up and get the whole sequence, will you?”
    That done, the cops moved out of the bedroom and opened the first door past the landing. It was like stepping back in time. The posters were all of musicians and songs of the nineteen thirties, forties, and fifties; movie stars of the same periods. Lani pointed to a stereo and records beside it. They were both wearing gloves, so she thumbed through the albums. There was no rock music. Everything was smooth ballads and big band.
    â€œThis was, is a very weird kid,” Lani said.
    â€œIn more ways than one,” Leo said, shining his light on a bookshelf filled with paperbacks and magazines. Cross-dressing, homosexuality,