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  Tiffany said nothing. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

  They drank beer and whiskey and passed the joint around as they watched the fire grow below them.

  “You think it was some kind of bomb?” Natalie said.

  Heidi said, “Why would someone want to blow up BioGenTech?”

  “Wow, what if it’s terrorists?” Alan said.

  “That would sure put Hope Valley on the map,” Rodney said.

  “Hey, look,” Alan said. “There’s a naked woman on the drive-in screen!”

  They all turned to the screen and saw a naked woman being attacked by a man with a knife.

  “That’s Thrill Killer,” Brandon said. “A slasher movie. I saw it a few nights ago.”

  “Any good?” Alan said.

  “Well, there’s lots of nudity,” Brandon said, smirking again.

  The six of them stood around talking as the fire burned below. Tiffany kept a small distance from the others, arms folded tightly across her chest as she stood at the edge of the embankment.

  Sirens rose from the town below and they stopped talking to watch the red pulsing lights of two fire trucks race through town down Center Street. That took them through the woods and would lead them to BioGenTech. By that time, the fire had grown considerably.

  “They’re probably going to need more than two trucks,” Rodney said.

  Natalie nodded and said, “They’ll call in trucks from Newbury and Ridgeton.” She took the whiskey from Alan and drank some more, then handed it off to Heidi, who took a swallow.

  As they watched the fire, they continued talking about movies and school and what they were doing on spring break, which had started yesterday, Monday.

  “I’m doing nothing all week,” Alan said. He took Natalie’s hand and added, “We’ve been doing nothing together.”

  Heidi handed the whiskey to Rodney, and he drank some, then handed it back to Brandon, saying, “What are you doing these days now that you’re not going to school?”

  Brandon shrugged. “I got a job bagging groceries at Riley’s. Sometimes I help my dad at the hardware store.” Brandon’s father owned Carr’s Hardware, the only hardware store in Hope Valley, and often employed teenagers. “Part-time minimum wage teenagers keep money in my pocket,” he often said.

  They talked about school, teachers and the principal Mrs. Kirtney, who was, unsurprisingly, not very popular with the students.

  Time passed as the fire burned below. Arcs of water shot up into the air from firemen’s hoses and came down on the flames. Sirens wailed in the night as more firebricks raced to the blaze.

  They started kissing, and after a while, Alan said, “We’re going back in the car, guys. See you later.”

  He and Natalie took the rest of the six-pack and got into the backseat of the Beetle.

  Brandon walked over to Tiffany and they talked quietly.

  Rodney turned to Heidi and smiled, put his arms around her. “Where were we?”

  “We were in the car, where it was a little warmer than it is out here. I’m getting kinda chilly.”

  Rodney turned and said, “Brandon, Tiffany, we’ll see you later.”

  Brandon tossed a wave their way, and Rodney and Heidi got back into the Mustang.

  Rodney turned the radio on again. Without speaking, they embraced and kissed. Rodney slid a hand up and cupped her breast, testing the waters. When she did not protest, he slid the hand beneath her shirt. She wore no bra and her nipple was hard as a pebble.

  After a while, he lifted her shirt and put his mouth on her breast, and Heidi moaned quietly as she smiled. She slipped a hand between his legs and massaged his erection.

  The Mustang’s windows clouded up.

  Outside the car, at the edge of the embankment, Brandon and Tiffany raised their voices as they spoke. They sounded contentious.

  Rodney and Heidi didn’t notice.

  Rodney felt as if his erection were about to burst through his jeans. Heidi wore jeans, too, and he reached down, slid his hand between her thighs. She pulled her legs apart a little to accommodate him.

  A scream rose above the music on the radio, sharp and piercing, then it cut off abruptly.

  Five

  Rodney and Heidi pulled apart when they heard the scream. The windows were fogged and they couldn’t see anything outside.

  “Tiffany!” Brandon cried, his voice hoarse, distressed. “Tiffanyyy!”

  “What the hell is going on?” Rodney said as he opened the door and got out of the car.

  Brandon and Tiffany were gone. Rodney thought they’d gotten back into the Toyota until he heard bushes rustling just below the edge of the embankment. He frowned and walked over to the edge.

  “Tiffany! Tiffany!” Brandon was screaming the name now with great urgency, and he was somewhere down the embankment in the bushes.

  “Brandon?” Rodney called. “What’re you doing down there?”

  Brandon continued to call Tiffany’s name. There was a sudden rustle of bushes, then Brandon yelped in pain and said, “Shit!”

  “Brandon?”

  In the dark, Rodney saw a shape climbing back up the embankment. It was Brandon. Rodney offered a hand and said, “Let me help you.” He noticed Brandon’s hand was wet as he pulled him up over the edge. “What happened? Where’s Tiffany?”

  Brandon breathed hard as he limped in a frantic circle for a moment, looking lost. Then he returned to the edge, bent forward and leaned his hands on his thighs as he looked down the slope.

  Rodney looked at his right hand and saw a dark smudge between his thumb and forefinger.

  “It carried her off,” Brandon said, his voice hoarse. “God, it just, it-it fucking carried her away!”

  “Is this blood?” Rodney said, looking at his hand.

  “It hurt her, it stabbed her with those, those ... they were like these big fangs, these big fucking fangs, it closed ‘em on her and dragged her down there.” Brandon paced back and forth along the edge of the embankment, clenching and unclenching his fists.

  Heidi got out of the car and came to Rodney’s side. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not sure.” Rodney turned to Brandon. “What are you talking about, Brandon? What dragged her down there?”

  “I don’t know, I don’t fucking know, but it was big, and it had a lot of legs, and it knocked me over with one of them. Her blood spluh ... splattered on me. Didn’t you hear her scream? Didn’t you fucking hear her?”

  The doors opened on the Beetle and Alan and Natalie got out and joined them, straightening their clothes.

  “What’s going on?” Alan said.

  Rodney asked Brandon, “Where is Tiffany now?”

  “God dammit, aren’t you listening?” Brandon shouted. He pointed down the embankment and said, “She’s down there somewhere! It dragged her down there. I tried to follow but it was too fast. Even though it was carrying her, it was just too fucking fast.”

  “Are you talking about some kind of animal?” Heidi said.

  Brandon nodded rapidly. “Yeah, yeah, it was some kind of animal, but it was nothing I ever saw before. It was like – I don’t know, it had all these fucking legs, and those fang things, they were huge.”

  “Fang things?” Heidi said with a tremble in her voice.

  “We gotta get help!” Brandon shouted. “We need guns, we need – something!”

  “I’ll drive down to the Sheriff’s Department and get somebody,” Rodney said.

  “Not without me, you aren’t!” Heidi said.

  “What happened?” Alan said.

  “Some kind of animal dragged Tiffany down the slope,” Rodney said.

  “No shit?” Alan said. “Is she okay?”

  “No, she’s not okay, you fucking moron!” Brandon shouted, fists clenched.

  “Hey, I’m just asking,” Alan said. “I’ve been busy.”

  “Come on, Heidi, let’s go,” Rodney said, taking her hand. “I’ll be back with some help.”

&nbs
p; They got into the Mustang. Rodney started the engine and backed out of his parking spot and headed back down Creasey Hill Road.

  Six

  The Sheriff of Pearce County, Anthony Harker, had been busy in the last hour. He’d been directing deputies to the massive BioGenTech building, half of which was now in flames, and he’d called a few off-duty deputies to come to work and take up the slack. He’d called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and asked that a bomb expert be sent to Hope Valley as soon as possible. Not much happened in Pearce County, and the explosion and fire were big.

  Now, he was on the phone with the Fire Department’s arson expert, Hugh Davis.

  “When did you say this happened?” Davis said. He sounded groggy.

  “About an hour ago,” Harker said. “I need you to get out there as soon as you can.”

  Davis yawned and said, “I’m a pretty early riser, so I was in bed asleep.”

  “Sorry to wake you, but you’re the only arson expert we’ve got.”

  “Yeah, I’ll get out there right away. But I’m probably not going to be able to tell you anything until they’ve got the fire down to a – “

  ”I know, but you can at least question the employees.”

  “True, true. You going out there?”

  “As soon as I can get out of here, I am.”

  “All right. See you out there.”

  Harker hung up the phone on his desk, leaned back in his chair, and joined his hands behind his head, and sighed. His shift had ended over two hours ago, but as usual, he’d lingered at the station. There wasn’t much to go home to – his beagle, Boo, and a TV dinner, maybe a little television if there was anything interesting on.

  His wife Trish had left him a little over a year ago, and she had taken their two children – twelve-year-old Peter, and Della, sixteen – with her. They’d been married for eighteen years when she’d left him. She’d claimed he loved his job more than he loved her. While that was not true, he did love his job and it had kept him away from home more than it should have. Two years ago, Trish had taken a computer class at the junior college in Newbury, and she’d ended up having an affair with her instructor. Harker had been surprised by how unsurprised he’d been. But it had hurt. He’d tried to be home more after that, tried to make it work, but Trish’s affair had done some damage, and they were unable to recover from it. More accurately, he was unable to recover from it. After that, he’d become suspicious of her every time she left the house, every time he left the house. No matter how hard he tried to spend more time at home with her and the kids, he found he was unable to look at her without feeling pangs of jealousy and betrayal in his chest. So he’d ended up spending more time at work. By the time she’d told him she wanted a divorce, he’d been feeling the same way, so they’d parted rather amicably. She lived in Newbury now, still seeing her college teacher boyfriend. Harker saw the kids every other weekend.

  He stood and stretched his arms above his head. He was forty-two, a tall man – six feet, three inches – with a slight paunch. His dark-brown hair was streaked with grey, as was his mustache. He left his office, went out into the station’s main room, which contained four desks. It was empty. He was waiting for Deputy Leland Ross to come in. He was late, as usual. As soon as Ross arrived, Harker planned to go out to BioGenTech.

  He went into the dispatch room where Anna Huff was just ending a call. Her red hair fell to the top of the chair’s back. She wore a sleeveless blouse and he looked at the smooth, pale skin of her arms. She glanced over her shoulder at him and smiled. He waited till she was done with her call, then stepped forward and said, “How’s it going?”

  “We’re still getting calls reporting the fire,” she said.

  “Anything else?”

  “No, besides the fire, it’s been pretty quiet.”

  He bent down and kissed her on the mouth.

  She pulled away and smiled. “You know, Leland could walk in any second.”

  “I wish he would. He’s fifteen minutes late as it is.”

  “Well, we agreed we’d keep this to ourselves, right?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. But I could sure use a little sugar.”

  “Not at work.”

  He nodded again.

  She reached out and took his hand, pulled it to her mouth, and kissed the back of it.

  He smiled down at her. He wanted to undress her, hold her, feel her smooth skin under his hands. They seldom had the chance to be alone together. Anna was married and very cautious. She had no intention of damaging her marriage and had already told him their relationship would go no further than it had already. Harker reminded himself he was doing the same thing Trish’s computer instructor had done – having an affair with a married woman. But when he looked at Anna, he found it difficult to care.

  They’d made love twice in the back seat of his cruiser like a couple of fumbling teenagers, once in a motel on the outskirts of Ridgeton. It was frustrating, but at the same time exciting. It made him feel young again.

  A sound came from the rear of the building and Harker knew Leland Ross had finally arrived.

  “See you later,” Harker said as he left the dispatch room. He found Ross standing by a desk eating a Slim Jim.

  “Do you even have a clock that works?” Harker said.

  “Sorry,” Ross said. “I got a call from a guy who’s helping me with research, and I had to take it.”

  Ross was trying his hand at writing and had been working on a novel called Cop Killer for several months. Harker had read some of Ross’s writing and didn’t think he was going to get anywhere with it, but he kept his opinion to himself. Ross enjoyed it.

  “Where is everybody?” Ross said.

  “Where the hell have you been? There was an explosion at BioGenTech. It’s in flames. I need you to hold things down here. I’m going over there.”

  “No problem.”

  “Leland, you’ve really got to start showing up on time, or I’m going to have to take some kind of action. Understand?”

  The deputy nodded. “Yeah. I will. It won’t happen again.”

  Harker was skeptical.

  Seven

  Rodney parked in the front lot of the Sheriff’s Department. He and Heidi had put Listerine Breath Strips on their tongues to mask the smell of alcohol. Before getting out of the car, they checked each other’s breath.

  The night had grown a little cooler and Heidi folded her arms over her chest as they went to the glass door in front of the building.

  Inside, there was a row of chairs up against the wall to the left, a drinking fountain in a small alcove on the right. In front of them, a long counter separated the waiting area from a large room with four desks in it. Sheriff Harker stood talking with a deputy between two of the desks.

  “Sheriff?” Rodney said.

  Harker turned to them, then came over to the counter. “What can I do for you?”

  “We need help,” Rodney said. “A friend of ours was attacked by some kind of animal and carried off.”

  “Some kind of animal?” Harker said, squinting a little.

  “We didn’t actually see it happen,” Rodney said, “but another guy did, a guy who was there with her. We were at Lovers’ Lookout, and he said some kind of animal came up from the embankment, grabbed her and carried down the slope.”

  “What kind of animal around here carries people off?” Harker said.

  “I don’t know,” Rodney said.

  “There was blood,” Heidi said.

  Rodney held up his hand – a streak of blood was drying on it.

  Harker frowned, then sighed. “How long ago?”

  “About as long as it took us to drive here from Lovers’ Lookout,” Rodney said.

  “Who’s this friend of yours that was allegedly carried away?”

  “Tiffany Huff,” Rodney said.

  The sheriff’s eyes widened slightly and he tossed a glance over his shoulder at a window in the wall that looked into another r
oom.

  Rodney had forgotten that Tiffany’s mother worked dispatch in the Sheriff’s Department.

  “Where is she now?” Harker said.

  “I don’t know,” Rodney said. “Brandon went down the embankment a ways, but he couldn’t find anything.”

  “Brandon? Brandon who?”

  “Carr.”

  “Brandon Carr,” Harker said, frowning. He nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll head up there right away. You want to meet me there?”

  “Sure,” Rodney said.

  Rodney and Heidi left the building and got back in the car. Rodney pulled out of the parking lot and got back on the road.

  “Rodney, I don’t think there are any animals around here that could carry someone off,” Heidi said.

  “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that, too. Maybe a bear?”

  “Possibly. But I think a bear would just attack, you know? They’re not too big on carrying people away. Are there any zoos around here?”

  “No.”

  “He said it had a lot of legs.”

  “Yeah, but what could that be? I mean, something with a lot of legs that would carry somebody off like that? It was dark. He couldn’t have gotten a very good look at it.”

  “True.”

  As he turned onto Creasey Hill Road, Rodney noticed a pair of headlights closing in behind them and assumed it was Sheriff Harker. Halfway up the hill, he pulled into the turnout and parked.

  Brandon was still pacing along the edge of the embankment, limping slightly, with Alan and Natalie standing nearby.

  Dark smoke still rose from the fire down below.

  “Have you seen her?” Rodney said as he and Heidi got out of the Mustang.

  “No,” Alan said.

  The sheriff pulled his cruiser in beside Rodney’s car, killed the engine, and got out. “Brandon Carr,” he said with a cold smile. He held a flashlight in his right hand. He walked over to Brandon, who stopped pacing. “You want to tell me what happened here tonight?”

  Brandon took a deep breath. “I was standing right over there – “ He pointed to a spot by the edge of the bank. “ – with Tiffany. Then this thing, it came up from the embankment and it was on her, just like that. It knocked her down, and it drove these, I don’t know, these, like, fangs into her, and it turned around and dragged her back down the embankment.”