The Blood Kiss by Dennis Etchison

Author:Dennis Etchison [Etchison, Dennis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2014-05-14T04:00:00+00:00

"Well, I'll be gonged," said Marty, as he rushed to lock the sound booth and get out. "Did you see that? It was like watching an accident happen."

"I don't want to be here when the shit hits the fan," said Chuck, mopping his forehead.

They tiptoed downstairs, glancing nervously over their shoulders.

"What was that all about, anyway?"

"Better not to ask," suggested Chuck. "We'll be lucky to get paid as it is."

"Whew. Well, that's life inside the cackle factory, I guess."

They came out into the sunlight.

"Over there," said Marty. "See her? Climbing into her car."

By the time they got to Cheryl's VW, the six contestants had emerged from the back door of the theater and surrounded her. She was handing out envelopes from her purse. The contestants took them and wandered away, looking satisfied as they counted the crisp bills.

"Aha," Chuck said to her. "The picture clears. Who put you up to it?"

She faced them, her emerald eyes sharp as chipped ice.

"Don't you know who I am?" she said cheerfully.

"You really want to know?" said Chuck. He exchanged glances with Marty. "Well, right at the moment, I'd say you look a hell of a lot like Jerry's number one gal Friday doing a pretty goddamn good imitation of Mata Hari. That is, if I really saw what I thought I just saw. Or am I jumping to conclusions?"

"You might as well cop out, Cheryl," said Marty. "Just to satisfy our sick curiosity."

"Well," she said, "you're half-right. It's me, good old Cheryl. But the last name's really Van Dornan. If that means anything to you."

They looked at her blankly.

"Jerry didn't know, either, when he hired me," she said. "He still doesn't. But you're right. There's no reason to hide it now. I'm proud of it."

"I don't get it," said Chuck.

"Wait a minute," said Marty. "That rings a bell. Doesn't that ring a bell, Chuck? There was a guy with that name on one of the big quiz shows, must have been a dozen years ago. He was famous. There was a scandal or something. The $75,000 Risk. Remember? He was the one—"

"He was the one who was subpoenaed to testify before the FCC, back when the Senate was investigating payola and fraud in the industry," she finished for him. "The contestant who was a college professor. His name was Morton Van Dornan. He was my father."

She scanned their eyes to see if they understood.

"Jerry produced that one, too. He rigged it. The contestants didn't know, of course. But they were the ones who took the rap, who got dumped on. Because of Jerry Maisley. My father lost tenure at the University, and he was never the same. The summer I was ten, he stuck a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger."

Chuck and Marty lowered their gazes to the sidewalk, to the gum wrappers and grease stains in the shimmering gutter.

"I've waited a long, long time for this day," she said.

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