Once Upon a Halloween Read Online Free PDF Page A

excitement of being concealed, the fear of discovery... and then the thrill of spying on Shannon.
        She knew I was watching, but she took her robe off anyway. She wanted me to see her.
         Oh, God, what if they've killed her?
         What if they've killed Laura? She was awfully nice... They both were, and I've probably gotten them killed.
         Connie, too.
        Groaning, he stepped into the spill of light from Shannon's bedroom. And saw a white telephone on the nightstand beside her bed.
        He ran to the phone and snatched up its handset. As he raised it toward his ear, he reached down and jabbed 911. Then he listened for the ringing to start. "Come on, come on," he whispered.
        He didn't hear any ringing. All he heard was a quiet sound like wind.
        He tapped the plunger and released it.
        No dial tone.
        Just the same windy sound.
        Then the breathless voice of a woman said into his ear, "He's still in the house."
        Hunter gasped, "Ahh!" and slammed the phone down.
        

CHAPTER SEVEN
        
        "Come on, kids," Jeff said. "Let's go."
        "I know they're in there," Phyllis protested in her usual whiny voice. How his daughter could have such an annoying best friend puzzled Jeff. Not only was Phyllis annoying, but embarrassing. Thirteen years old, and she was going house to house as a pint-sized version of Elvira... complete with the heavy makeup and low-cut black gown. "I heard them," she said.
        "Yeah, Dad," Mandy said. "I did, too." Mandy, thank God, was dressed in an angora sweater, poodle skirt and saddle shoes.
        "Well," Jeff said, "they're obviously not coming to the door. Maybe they've had enough trick or treaters for one night."
        "Maybe they ran out of candy," suggested Bret, nodding his head in agreement with himself. "That's what I think. I might be wrong "
        Jeff, standing at the bottom of the porch, nodded and smiled. His eight year old son was dressed as Dennis the Menace in a red T-shirt, bib overalls with a slingshot sticking out of his seat pocket, and sneakers. After supper, Sue had used an eyebrow pencil to give him freckles across his checks and nose, but the shock of yellow ban was all his own. Though he always looked like Dennis the Menace, the resemblance was only on the outside. Inside, he was Eeyore.
        "Maybe they did run out of candy," Jeff said.
        "Or maybe they just hate kids," Phyllis said.
        Or maybe just you, Jeff thought. "Whatever," he said, "we don't want to bother them. Come on."
        Phyllis trotted down the stairs, looking peeved in spite of her vampirish makeup, her boobs bouncing in spite of having none.
        What the hell did Patsy put in there?
        No telling, Jeff thought. Sue wouldn't have allowed Mandy outside the house in such a costume, but Patsy had apparently never considered the idea that an Elvira costume might be wildly inappropriate for a child the age of Phyllis. The revealing gown had not only been Patsy's idea, but she'd made it by hand. No doubt, her fertile imagination had come up with an exotic solution to the breast problem.
        Jeff stepped aside. As Bret and the girls hurried past him, he caught a whiff of exotic perfume from Phyllis. Mandy's pony tail bounced and swished. So did the dangling rubber strip of Bret's slingshot.
        When they were a short distance ahead of Jeff, he followed them to the driveway.
        "Last year," Bret said, "they gave us Three Musketeers bars."
        "How do you know?" Phyllis asked.
        "I remember." A moment later, he asked, "Don't you?"
        "Sure," Phyllis muttered.
        "They're nice."
        "Three Musketeers bars?"
        "Them, too. Only I was meaning Shannon and Laura."
        Mandy looked back at him. "You know their names?" She sounded surprised.
        Though Jeff was used to Bret's remarkable memory, he found himself surprised, too.