Night Show Read Online Free PDF Page B

plastic fangs and licked the glass.
    Jack reached for him, but he jumped back, whirled around and ran.
    Jack dashed after him. They sprinted up the street. The boy had given up his weird, hunched gait. He ran, now , with amazing speed, his head tucked down, his arms pumping, his legs whipping out in long, quick strides. The gap between him and Jack slowly widened. He cut to the right and raced up a lawn. As he vanished behind the corner of a dark house, Jack wheeled around and ran back.
    Leaning across the seat, Dani opened the door for him.
    But he didn’t get in. He rushed by. Twisting around, Dani saw him crouch beside a front tire of the hearse. He removed something, flicked it away. The air cap? His hand shoved into a pocket and came out with a small object Dani couldn’t see. He pressed it to the tire.
    She looked toward the house, studied the darkness at both sides. The boy was nowhere to be seen.
    She turned around. Jack still crouched by the tire.
    ‘Hurry,’ she whispered.
    Then she realised that she could help. She shoved the shift into first, swung the car into a driveway on the left, and backed out.
    She stopped beside the hearse.
    Jack stood up. He stepped away from the flat tire and slipped his key case into his pocket. Then he climbed in beside Dani.
    In the dome light, she saw speckles of sweat on his forehead. He grinned at her, looking both angry and gleeful. ‘That’ll fix the little asshole,’ he said, and swung the door shut.
    Dani sped toward the rushing headlights of traffic on Laurel Canyon.

5
     
    D RIVING UP Asher Lane, Dani kept her eyes on the rearview mirror. Headlights pushed through the darkness on Laurel Canyon, but none swept onto the narrow road.
    As a precaution, she killed her own headlights. The arc lamps along the lane were spaced far apart with dark gaps separating their pools of light, but they gave enough brightness to steer by.
    ‘I think we’re okay,’ Jack said. ‘Even if he had an air can, we got a big enough jump on him.’
    ‘Hope so,’ Dani muttered.
    She pulled into her driveway and stopped beside Jack’s Mustang. She turned off the engine. Leaning against the steering wheel, she let out a shaky sigh. Jack’s hand stroked her back.
    ‘It’s all right now,’ he said.
    ‘Will you come in with me?’
    ‘Sure.’
    ‘I’m just . . . it really shook me up a bit.’
    ‘I know. Me, too. But I’m sure . . . the guy was probably harmless, just doing what he was paid for. Al or Michael – whoever’s behind this – probably dug him up at central casting.’
    ‘Or Forest Lawn.’
    Jack laughed softly. His big, warm hand continued to rub her back. ‘I . . .’
    Dani waited. ‘What?’
    ‘Well,’ he sighed. ‘I do think we’ve lost the guy, but we ought to play it safe.’
    Dani raised her head off the backs of her hands and looked at him. His face was a pale smudge, his familiar features masked by darkness. Only the feel of his hand assured Dani that this was Jack and not a stranger.
    ‘What do you mean?’ she asked.
    ‘He might . . . I don’t think we should leave your car here.’
    ‘Oh Jack,’ she said.
    ‘Maybe I’m over-reacting, but we don’t want this guy to find out where you live. If we leave it here, it’s like a name tag.’
    Her mind fought against the suggestion. Couldn’t she even park in front of her own house? What about tomorrow and the next day? ‘You could’ve gone all night without saying that.’
    ‘I’m sorry.’
    ‘He doesn’t know which street we’re on.’
    ‘He’s only one away.’
    ‘Al knows my address. If he hired the guy . . .’
    ‘What if he didn’t?’
    ‘Oh shit. Then who is he?’
    Jack shook his head. ‘Maybe we can get it into the garage.’
    The garage was her workshop, crowded with shelves, a workbench and tables, lamps and stools, all the tools of her craft and the make-up appliances she’d created for a dozen different films. She considered trying to clear a space. ‘That’d take . . . no,