Free Once Upon a Halloween by Richard Laymon Page B

his right hand, its point resting on the floor near his foot.
        In the doorway, Eleanor stopped. She casually leaned sideways Right shoulder against the door frame, she crossed her ankles, folded her arms beneath her breasts, and said, "Trading me isn't the best way to get 'em back, though. If you wanta play it really safe, we oughta gather up a few kids and take them along. Shouldn't be too hard to get our hands on some ankle-biters. I mean, it's Halloween." A smile spread across her face. "They're all over the place. I'll help you grab a few and we can take 'em out to the graveyard and trade 'em in for Connie and your other two friends."
        "Kids? Children?"
        "The younger the better," Eleanor said.
        "What do they want kids for? What the hell are they doing out there? Why do they want any one?"
        "You know, for the ceremony The midnight sacrifices."
        

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
        
        From the rear, Mandy said, "We might want to stand still till we figure out where we're going."
        Bret, a few paces in front of Jeff and Rhonda, raised an open hand and called out, "Halt."
        They stopped, spread apart on the sidewalk and turned toward Mandy and Phyllis.
        "Thank you," Mandy said. Looking into Rhonda's eyes, she-said, "Now here's what I think. I think we should go back to where you stopped to tie your shoe. We start from there and retrace your steps."
        "Sounds good to me," Jeff said.
        Frowning, Rhonda said, "I'm not sure I know where that was."
        "I know how to make you remember," Bret said. "I'll hypnotize you. You can always remember everything when you get hypnotized."
        "Get real," Phyllis told him.
        "It's true."
        "So what if it is true, you don't know how to hypnotize anyone."
        "Well, I sorta know how to try."
        "What do you remember about the house?" Mandy asked Rhonda.
        "Well, it had a really long driveway. It's the house where the woman told me about the kid who'd gotten chased."
        "What did she look like?"
        "Gosh... She was about my size, only older. I guess she was sort of pretty. She had light brown hair and it was cut short... pixie style, you know?"
        "Any distinguishing marks?"
        "Good one," Phyllis muttered.
        "I don't guess so," Rhonda said. "Not that I noticed."
        "What was she wearing?"
        "Oh, that I can tell you. A long-sleeved white blouse, open at the throat, and brown corduroy pants. I'm not sure about her shoes. She might've had sneakers on. Or maybe she was barefoot. I really don't know."
        "Doesn't ring any bells with me," Jeff admitted. Glancing around at the kids, he asked, "Does she sound like anyone we saw tonight?"
        Mandy shook her head. Phyllis shrugged, then reached into the open top of her gown and adjusted one of her fake breasts.
        "Oh, something else," Rhonda said. "She had paint on her. The woman. Like on her hands, and some on her blouse, and she even had a little smudge on one cheek, like she'd touched her face with a painty finger."
        "Laura does paintings," Bret pointed out.
        "Who?" Jeff asked.
        "Laura who lives in the old Witherspoon house," Mandy explained.
        "Yeah, her," Bret said. "Maybe she's the one."
        Mandy said, "Remember it, Dad? That was the big old house where we heard them inside but nobody came to the door. We thought maybe they'd run out of candy or gotten tired of trick or treaters, or something. Anyway, you made us leave."
        "It did have a really long driveway," Phyllis pointed out.
        Mandy turned to Rhonda. "The house where your shoe cam untied, was it like all by itself on a dead-end street?"
        "It was! It sure was! There was the dead-end over to one side. I remember it, the barricade? And woods all around. And the nearest other houses were maybe half a block away and across the street."
        Mandy nodded.