Free Fear Street 5 - The Fire Game by R. L. Stine Page A

thing she saw was her algebra book, which she'd brought in from the car. It reminded her of Nick, and how he'd gone to set a fire instead of studying with her that night.
    "I give up!" she cried irritably, shutting the book.
    She decided to do yoga exercises to calm down. She switched on the little portable TV she kept on her dresser, then sat on the rug and stretched to the sounds of canned laughter as an old episode of "Three's Company" came to an end.
    She was doing a shoulder stand when the news came on. "The governor vetoes a capital punishment bill," said the anchorperson. "A homeless man dies in a suspicious fire. And more warm weather ahead. These stories and more coming up on 'Metro News Tonight.'"
    Jill continued to stretch, half-listening to the news. She was just starting a half-forward twist when the anchor said, "Police suspect arson in a fatal fire tonight in Shadyside. For more on the story, we go to Tip Teppler."
    Jill stopped stretching and sat up straight, her heart thudding.
    The TV showed a handsome man with styled blond hair holding a microphone.
    In the background could be seen a confusion of fire trucks and the blackened silhouette of a burned house. "Thank you, Heidi," said the reporter. "I'm reporting from Fear Street in Shadyside, where fire fighters struggled for nearly two hours to contain a fire in an abandoned house. Fire fighters arriving on the scene found a homeless man unconscious on the front porch. Efforts to revive him at the scene failed, and he was pronounced dead on arrival at Mercy Hospital, the apparent victim of a heart attack. With me is Lieutenant Ed Heasly, chief fire warden for the Shadyside Fire Department. Lieutenant, is it true that this fire was deliberately set?"
    The camera switched to another man, this one weary looking, with rumpled, thinning brown hair. "It looks that way, Tip," said Lieutenant Heasly.
    "We won't know until we complete our investigation, but the fire appears to have been deliberately set."
    "Isn't it true," Tip Teppler went on, "that there has been an increase in arson in Shadyside in the last few weeks?"
    "That's true also," said Heasly. "We're currently pursuing several leads, but we can't say more right now. I can tell you this. Since this fire involves a death, we aren't going to rest until we find the arsonists."
    "Thank you, Lieutenant Heasly," the reporter said. "This is Tip Teppler reporting live from Shadyside. Now back to you in the studio, Heidi."
    Feeling dizzy, Jill switched off the set.
    The reporter had been standing in front of the house she herself had visited earlier that evening. The house that Nick and Max had set on fire.
    The house that wasn't deserted at all, but had had a homeless man living in it.
    A homeless man who was now dead.
    The reporter said that the man had died of a heart attack, but firemen had found him unconscious. That meant that the fire had caused his death, directly or indirectly.

    And it meant that Max and Nick were murderers.
    And she was a witness.

Chapter 16
    For a long time Jill stared at the blank television screen. Then she picked up the phone and, her heart thudding, punched in Nick's number.
    "Hello?" He sounded sleepy but completely normal. Maybe he hadn't heard about the homeless man yet.
    "Hi, this is Jill," she said. "I--I was just calling to find out why you weren't home for our study date."
    "Oh!" said Nick, sounding surprised. Then he quickly went on. "I'm sorry, but Max got last-minute tickets to the basketball game in Waynesbridge. I tried to call you, but your line was busy."
    "That's really lame, Nick," she said.
    "Hey, I'm sorry," he said. "I'll make it up to you. I'll come over tomorrow and--"
    "I mean your lie is lame!" she interrupted. "You didn't go to any basketball game tonight, did you?"
    "Sure I did," Nick said. "Just ask Max."
    "It's bad enough hearing it from you. I don't want to hear the same lies from Max. You didn't go to the basketball game. You went to Fear Street."
    Nick