After Midnight, Page 2

  My purse was with me on the sofa, so I didn’t need to go searching for it. I didn’t have to wander around the rest of the house to make sure all the doors were locked, either. I’d taken care of that before the sun went down. I’d also made sure that every light was off except for those that were supposed to stay on all night: the one in the foyer and a couple out in front of the house.

  Serena and Charlie never lit up the rear of the house—the deck or pool or yard—except when they were out there. (And sometimes not even then.) I never asked them why. If it was me, though, I would’ve kept them off because of the woods.

  Who knows what they might attract? There were things in the woods that might see the lights and come over to investigate. Nasty, wild things that belonged in the deep woods, not in your back yard. Not in your house.

  2

  THE STRANGER

  Midnight.

  I wished I was already back inside my safe little place above the garage.

  Before I could be there, though, I had to get there.

  Getting there was the bad thing about staying in Serena and Charlie’s house. It was the price that had to be paid. Not a terrible price, really. I’d always been willing to pay it for the luxury of using their house.

  I mean, it was my choice to stay after dark, to stay until midnight. I could’ve returned to my place before sundown, or even kept out of their house entirely and avoided the whole problem.

  Or, having stayed late, I could’ve avoided the return trip by remaining in the house.

  But here’s the deal.

  It only takes me two or three minutes to step outside, hurry over to the garage, climb the flight of stairs to my door, unlock it and get inside. If I’m really scared, I can probably do it in less than a minute.

  The trip always frightens me, but it doesn’t last long. If I avoid it by spending all night in the house, however, I end up being tormented for hours and hours, not a few minutes.

  It makes sense to me.

  I do things my own way, that’s the thing. If enjoying the luxuries of the house means I have to make a scary rush back to my own place in the middle of the night, so be it. I’ll pay the price.

  Anyway, it was time to go. Past time.

  So I shut off the television, then turned off all the lamps in the den. After that, there was only darkness except for a dim, gray glow of moonlight that seeped in through the curtains. I opened the curtains. The glow brightened a lot. I stepped up close to the glass door and looked out.

  With the den dark behind me and the area behind the house spread with moonlight, I felt invisible.

  I took my time, gazing out. I wanted to be completely sure it was safe before unlocking the door and stepping into the night.

  Impossible, of course.

  You can never be sure it’s safe.

  The full moon, that night, was very bright. It laid a dazzling silver path across the surface of the swimming pool. The concrete around the pool looked gray like dirty snow. The lawn beyond the concrete was as dark as the water. Like the water, it had a path of moonlight. The path on the grass was as dim as old iron, but led straight to the brilliant path that came over the pool toward me.

  At the far end of the lawn, the forest started. The tops of the trees looked as if they’d been misted with silver spraypaint. Below their tops, the trees were completely dark. So dark they looked gone. They cast a black shadow over part of the lawn.

  I saw nobody.

  But there was so much blackness.

  Someone might be lurking at the border of the woods, or even closer than that.

  In the pool, for instance.

  The water level is a foot or more below the rim, so the far wall casts a shadow along its entire length. A dozen faces—two dozen—might be hidden in that strip of blackness…all of them watching me. The near side of the pool could provide another hiding place, not because of any shadow but because the concrete edge, itself, blocked my view of whatever might be waiting beneath it.

  If he preferred to stay dry, an assailant might simply wait for me, nearby but out of sight, with his back pressed to the very wall of the house. I wouldn’t be able to spot him there until I’d opened the door and leaned out. And that might be the end of me.

  Or he might position himself around the corner to jump me in the space between the house and the garage.

  Do you see what I mean about safety?

  I stared out the door for a very long time. Even though I saw nobody, I couldn’t quite force myself to move. I kept thinking about all the places where someone might be.

  My breath kept fogging up the glass. I guess that’s because the air conditioner was on in the house. Every now and then, a milky white cloud would ruin my view. I had to sway to one side or another, or crouch, in order to find some clear glass. Sometimes, I wiped away the fog with my hand or forearm or the front of my robe.

  The way I’m telling it, you must think I was standing there forever and that I’m a hopeless coward.

  It sort of felt like forever, but it probably wasn’t more than fifteen or twenty minutes.

  And even though I’m not the bravest person in the world, it’s a fact that I’d made the trip from the house to the garage many times in the past, often at very late hours of the night. Serena and Charlie did a lot of traveling. I’d lived above their garage for three years, and I always came over when they were away.

  Sometimes, I hardly gave a glance out the door before sliding it open and walking out. That was rare, but it happened. More often, I spent five or ten minutes. A couple of times, I’d been so spooked that it had taken me more than an hour to work up my courage to leave.

  But I’d always gone, sooner or later.

  So I wouldn’t call myself a hopeless coward.

  I’m a hopeful one.

  Finally, you decide it’s time. You hope nobody’s out there waiting to jump you, because you can’t be sure. Then you take a deep breath, flip open the lock, roll open the door, and go for it.

  That night, the time finally came.

  I was trembling quite a lot by then. Also, my robe was hanging open because I’d been using it to wipe the glass. I pulled it shut, tightened the silk belt, took a deep breath that trembled on its way in, and unfastened the lock.

  I pulled, and the door rolled away to my right.

  Things looked so much clearer, suddenly.

  Just at that moment, before I’d even had a chance to step outside, someone crept out of the blackness at the edge of the woods.

  I almost made a sudden break for the garage. But I held back.

  If I darted out and ran, he would see me for sure.

  And do what? Chase me down?

  Holding my breath, staying absolutely motionless except for my right arm, I slowly reached sideways and found the door handle. I pulled gently, easing the door along its tracks. It made a soft rumbling sound, which the stranger didn’t seem to hear.

  As I slid the door shut in front of me, I kept my eyes on him.

  If he noticed me, he gave no sign of it. His head didn’t seem to be fixed in my direction. It turned this way and that. A few times, he even glanced over one shoulder or the other.

  The full moon lit his hair and shoulders, but not his face. Most of his front was vague with shadow. I could make out his silhouette clearly, though. He was wearing shorts, but no shirt. When I caught a side view, he didn’t seem to have breasts.

  That was my big clue as to his gender.

  The stranger still might’ve been a girl—maybe a thin and shapeless tomboy—but I doubted it.

  This was a guy.

  A guy who’d come sneaking out of the woods and was making his way closer and closer to the house.

  Soon, the door bumped softly shut in front of me. I fastened its lock, then took one step backward and stopped.

  I knew exactly what to do.

  Hurry over to the telephone and call the police.

  It’s what I intended to do.

  But the telephone wa
s out of reach. To put my hands on it, I would need to abandon the glass door and make my way through the darkness to the other end of the couch.

  That couldn’t be done without losing sight of the intruder.

  So I stood where I was, and watched him.

  He still seemed unaware of my presence. Maybe that was an act, but I doubted it. Though he was stealthy about the way he approached the house, he didn’t seem to be in any hurry.

  Maybe he cut the phone line and knows I can’t call for help.

  Don’t be ridiculous, I told myself. That’s movie stuff, cutting phone lines. Nobody does it in real life.

  Do they?

  More than likely, he didn’t even know I was in the house: I’d turned off the lights fifteen or twenty minutes before he put in his appearance. For all he knew, nobody was home.

  But how long had he been watching?

  What if he’d started watching before the lights went out?

  Suppose he’s been watching me all day?

  When that thought shoved its way into my mind, I suddenly felt sick with fear.

  What does he want?

  Maybe nothing. Maybe he’s just a guy who happens to enjoy wandering around in the middle of the night. Maybe just someone who got lost in the woods and only now has managed to find his way out.

  Or a harmless nut of some kind.

  Or…

  A burglar. A rapist. A killer.

  Trembling, I watched him step onto the concrete directly across the pool from where I stood.

  He had no weapons or tools that I could see.

  But his shorts had pockets.

  Near the edge of the pool, he stopped. He seemed to stare straight at me.

  He can’t see me, I told myself. The room’s completely dark. The moon is probably glaring on the door glass.

  His head swiveled slowly from side to side. He turned around in a complete circle as if to make sure he wasn’t being observed. Then he took off his shorts.

  They appeared to be cut-off jeans. First he had to unbuckle his belt. After the belt was open, he unfastened a button or snap at his waist and lowered the zipper. Bending over, he drew the shorts down his legs. Then he stepped out of them and stood up straight.

  The moon, high in the sky behind him, rimmed his body with white so I could see right away that he didn’t have on a stitch of clothing.

  Though his front was poorly lighted, I could see the general gray of his bare skin all the way from his face down to his feet. His eyes and mouth looked like dim smudges. His nipples were like an extra set of eyes spaced wide apart on his chest. His navel was just a small, dark dot. Down from there was more skin, then a nest of hair and his penis.

  He stood there for a while as if he wanted me to take a good, long look at him—even though I know he couldn’t see me standing on the other side of the glass door.

  Then he looked around, turning his head and body. When he turned, I got a side view.

  It made me feel a little sick.

  And very frightened.

  He wants to shove that into me.

  No, he doesn’t, I told myself. He doesn’t even know I’m here.

  He’d better not. If he knows, he won’t quit till he nails me with that thing.

  The prowler sat down on the concrete, swung his legs over the edge of the pool, scooted forward and slid down into the water.

  3

  IN THE WATER

  You suddenly couldn’t see him at all. He’d vanished. I stared at where he’d been, but he was gone as if he’d turned invisible.

  Not invisible, but black.

  The pool looked empty. I knew it wasn’t, though.

  I pictured him swimming underwater for a few more seconds, then bursting out, hurling himself onto the pool’s edge and dashing at my door.

  The door might slow him down, but it wouldn’t stop him.

  I mean, it was glass.

  I tried to prepare myself for the shock of a sudden assault.

  Don’t scream, just turn around and run like hell.

  Go for the kitchen.

  Grab one of the butcher knives.

  I saw him.

  Out near the middle of the pool, the back of his head and then his buttocks slid across the moonlight’s silver path. He seemed to be on his way to the shallow end, doing a leisurely breast stroke.

  Not coming for me, after all.

  Not yet.

  But the pool had tile stairs underwater at a corner of the shallow end. When he came to them, he might climb out.

  I stepped a little closer to the glass door.

  He didn’t swim toward the stairs. Instead, he kept to the center. At the end of the pool, he stood up. His wet skin gleamed in the moonlight, but only down to his waist. There, the black water cut him off. He looked as if he’d lost his lower body—legs, ass, and the all the rest—as if whacked apart by a terrible sword.

  The saber.

  I suddenly remembered Charlie’s saber. It hung on hooks above the fireplace in the living room, along with a framed citation that had something to do with the Civil War service of his great-great-grandfather.

  The saber was an actual relic of the war.

  It hadn’t belonged to Charlie’s ancestor, though; Serena had bought it for him as a Christmas present.

  We’d all fooled around with it, now and then.

  It was about four feet long, and sharp.

  Out in the pool, the stranger turned around. He eased down into the water, his body disappearing until nothing was left except his face. Then he started swimming again, apparently on his way to the deep end.

  I stepped backward, turned away from the glass door and went to get the saber.

  I’d forgotten that the foyer light was on. It was halfway down the long corridor, too far away for its brightness to reach the doorway of the den. But I saw it the moment I stepped out. Seeing the foyer light, I also remembered that the living room curtains were wide open.

  The wall out there was mostly glass from one end to the other, from floor to ceiling. Like the wall of an aquarium.

  From anywhere near the deep end of the pool, the stranger would have a fine view in.

  I muttered a curse.

  To be honest about it, I said “Shit.”

  I hated my stupidity for not remembering to shut the curtains before dark. Bad enough that I’d missed out on popcorn because they were open, but now I couldn’t even go for the saber.

  Obviously, I could go for it if I wanted to.

  But I’m not that stupid.

  Suppose, so far, the guy had no idea that anyone was in the house? He sees me sneaking through the living room, trying to get the saber, and he’ll know I’m here.

  He’ll assume I’m alone.

  Maybe he’ll like the looks of me. Even though I’m no glamour queen, I’ve got a great figure and I am wearing a clingy, revealing robe.

  And he is already naked and aroused.

  Maybe, so far, he’d only been interested in a little midnight skinny-dipping. But seeing me…

  No way.

  I wasn’t going to risk it.

  I’ll wait till he tries to break in.

  And maybe he won’t, I thought. Maybe he really did come here only to use the swimming pool. He might do a few laps, then walk back into the woods and that’ll be the end of it.

  He might be breaking in right now.

  I stepped back into the den. This time, I shut the door behind me to make sure no light could possibly sneak in from the foyer.

  It had already dimmed my night vision. Except for the outside glow coming through the glass door, everything in the den looked much darker than before.

  From where I stood, I could only see a small section of the pool. The stranger wasn’t in sight, and that worried me. So I hurried.

  My bare left foot kicked a leg of the coffee table. From the sound, you’d think I’d struck the table with a hammer. My toes crumpled. Pain rushed up my leg. Tears flooded my eyes. My mouth flew open to let out
a cry of agony, but I kept quiet and hobbled sideways and fell backward onto the couch. The couch scooted and bumped the wall. Flinging my leg up, I clutched my ruined foot.

  From the feel of things, I figured two or three toes might be broken.

  But the pain subsided after a couple of minutes.

  Wet-faced and breathless, I fingered my toes. I wiggled them. They felt sore and kind of tired, but they seemed okay otherwise.

  I wondered what the stranger was up to.

  But I no longer wanted to look. I wanted to remain right where I was. The couch felt good under my back, even though my rear end was hanging off the cushion and I had to keep at least one foot planted on the floor to stop myself from sliding off.

  Maybe I should swing my legs up, make myself comfortable, and stay put.

  I wasn’t required to stand at the door and watch the stranger swim his laps.

  He would go away, sooner or later.

  Go away, or break in.

  If he tries to break in, I’ll go for the saber. If he doesn’t, I’ll just…

  What if I don’t hear him?

  Such a huge house, he could make almost any kind of noise at the other end and I’d be none the wiser. Especially now that I’d shut the den door.

  Also, there was the air conditioner.

  The house had central air.

  I couldn’t hear its machinery. The compressor, or whatever, was outside and pretty far away. But the den had a couple of vents and an air intake. They didn’t make enough noise to notice, usually. Just soft, breezy, breathy sounds. But now they seemed as loud as a gale.

  The stranger could hurl a brick through the living-room window and I probably wouldn’t hear it.

  Turn off the air.

  The control box was mounted on the hallway wall, not far from the den. Only minutes ago, I’d been standing within reach of it. Too bad I hadn’t thought to reach out and flick it off. But my mind had been on the saber, not on the quiet noise of the air conditioner.

  So, do it now.

  I pushed myself off the couch and stood up. My toes ached, but not badly. I hardly limped at all on my way to the door. I wrapped my hand around its knob.