HALLOWEEN HUNT by Richard Laymon

Author:Richard Laymon [Laymon, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

As they walked to the door of the funeral parlor, Linda glanced at Walt. “You didn’t set up any tricks here, did you?” she asked.

“No. Honest. I didn’t even know we’d be coming here. Dave might’ve decided to go to one of the other funeral parlors in town.”

“Okay.”

As Dave reached for the door handle, Linda grabbed his arm. “Wait,” she whispered.

“What is it?”

“Tom Simon and his family live here. Upstairs.”

“I know.”

“Well, they’ve probably got a buzzer to let them know when someone comes in.”

“Yeah, so?” Dave asked.

“So you’d better make it snappy,” Linda said.

“You worry too much.”

“Dave!”

“Give me your knife,” Gary said. A hand came out from under the sheet. “I’ll do the cutting.”

“Help yourself,” Dave said as he gave him the knife. “Better you than me. Ready?”

“Just a second. This has to be fast. I don’t want to trip over my sheet.” He removed the chain necklace, pulled the sheet off, and handed the bundle to Dave.

In spite of his mussed hair, he was very handsome. Linda stared at him. He looked a year or two older than she. He was slim. His plaid wool shirt and jeans gave him a rugged appearance, as if he would be at home in woods or mountains. The calm way he looked back at Linda took away some of her fear.

“All set,” he said.

With his free hand, Dave opened the door.

They rushed inside. The hall was dimly lighted. Linda heard quiet organ music, probably a recording.

Gary, in the lead, raced through an entryway. Linda followed, with Dave close beside her and Walt at the rear. Stopping, she watched Gary dash across the room. There was only one coffin. From where she stood with Dave and Walt, she couldn’t see the body inside it. She was glad.

Gary halted beside the coffin. He reached inside with both hands. His back blocked Linda’s view, but she saw his arm moving. Suddenly, he whirled around and raced toward them. “Got it!” he whispered, raising a clenched fist.

She heard Walt and Dave running for the door, but she waited until Gary was near before rushing after them. Then she was outside, sprinting for the street.

Nobody spoke as Dave sped the car to the end of the block. He turned a corner. “Beautiful,” he said. “Got away clean as a whistle. I bet we were out of there before Simon even got out of bed.” He pulled to the curb and stopped. Looking around at Gary, he said, “You got the hair okay, didn’t you?”

“Here’s your knife.” Gary handed it to him. Then he opened his left hand.

Dave opened the door to make the inside light come on.

Gary’s hand was full of brown hair.

“What did you do,” Dave asked, “scalp the guy?”

Gary grinned. “He won’t miss it.”

The hair was the same color as Gary’s. Linda saw a shaggy place above his ear.

“True enough,” she thought, “the corpse wouldn’t miss that hair.” For all she knew, the coffin may have been empty. “That’s great,” she told Gary. “Here, do you want your costume back?”

He thanked her when she handed the sheet and chain back to him.

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