Alarums (14 page)

    Bodie unbuttoned his shirt. 'Can you see the house from here?' he asked, and turned his back to the women. No, he couldn't see the house through the bushes and trees. More important, the girls couldn't see his front. As he took off his shirt, he glanced down. His suit was sticking out badly.

    He wished he'd picked the other trunks.

    He turned around, holding the shirt low, and casually started to fold it as he climbed the stairs. He kept folding it as he looked into the water and spotted the three submerged steps. Fortunately, Pen turned away to reach for the wine bottle. He tossed the shirt onto Melanie's pile of clothes, and hurried down. The hot water covered him to the belly.

    He squatted. Moving backward, he found the tile bench with his rump. He reclined and stretched out his legs in Melanie's direction. His feet touched hers. She was sitting off to his right. Pen was straight across from him.

    'How do you like it?' Melanie asked.

    'Fantastic.'

    Pen handed a glass of wine to Melanie, then lifted a beer bottle off the ledge and leaned toward Bodie. Her bikini was the kind that tied behind the neck. Its cords looked pale against the wet glossy skin of her chest. Her breasts were below the surface, blurred by the bubbling water. Bodie took the beer bottle and thanked her.

    Easing back against the wall, he took a sip. The beer was cold and good. The hot water caressed him. His suit was so skimpy and thin that he felt naked.

    'The beer's great,' he said.

    Pen nodded. Her blond hair was damp and straggly from the steam, and Bodie liked the way a few tendrils curled over her forehead and in front of her ears. She took a sip of wine. She was sitting up fairly straight to drink it. Her wet arm looked sleek. The tops of her breasts were just above the surface, now, lapped by moving water. Through the swirl, Bodie could see the rest of her bikini top, her tawny skin below it, the patch of pink-tinted fabric between her legs with cords stretched to her hips, the length of her legs. But the bubbling water distorted all he saw to vague, shifting blurs.

    'Dad wanted to put in a swimming pool,' Melanie said. 'There wasn't room with all the trees. He didn't want any of them taken out, so he settled for this.'

    'This is nice,' Bodie said.

    'Especially when the weather's a little chilly,' Pen added. 'And it almost always is, at night.'

    'We're only a couple of miles from the ocean,' Melanie said. She lifted her wine glass to her lips and sat up a bit more. Her breasts came out of the water. They shimmered wet in the red glow and their dark nipples stood erect.

    If she's trying to steal my attention from Pen, Bodie thought, she's succeeding.

    He scooted across the slick tile bench until he was directly across from her.

    'Maybe you should take Bodie to the beach tomorrow,' Pen suggested. 'Over by Venice, it's a real carnival on the weekends. On Ocean Front Walk? Have you ever been there?' she asked Bodie.

    'A couple of years ago. I wouldn't mind seeing it again.'

    'It's a thought,' Melanie said. She looked at Pen. 'Would you like to come along if we go?'

    'I think I'll start looking for a new apartment.'

    'You're really going to move?'

    'Probably.' Pen turned to give herself a refill.

    Melanie shook her head. 'That's pretty drastic.' She lowered her wine glass. The edge of its base bent her right nipple downward. The glass eased lower. Her nipple, released, sprang up straight.

    Bodie squirmed and took a drink of beer.

    'I'm not sure I can stay at that place of mine any more.' Pen took a drink. Then she tilted back her head and stared at the sky. 'Would anyone mind if I turn off the lights?'

    'Fine,' Melanie said.

    There goes my view, Bodie thought. 'All right.'

    Pen reached over the edge of the platform, and the red glow died.

    The half moon was almost straight overhead. An airliner passed near it. Bodie could only see a few stars.

    He looked down. The women were indistinct, pale shapes of faces and shoulders, invisible below the water's surface.

    'It's peaceful this way,' Pen said.

    'Dark, too,' said Bodie.

    Melanie put down her glass and slipped forward. She came over to Bodie's side of the pool and eased onto the bench. Her arm slid against his. She was covered to the shoulders. The pale mounds of her breasts were barely visible through the water, and Bodie couldn't see anything below them. He put a hand on her leg.

    'I'm glad we decided to come out with you,' she told Pen. 'I'd forgotten how glorious this feels.'

    Bodie felt his hand being lifted off her thigh. Something was pushed against his palm. He closed his fingers around it. A small cloth of some… Melanie's panties.

    She took them away from him and guided his hand up her leg.

    'Do you still stay away from the jacuzzi at your apartment?' Melanie asked in a calm voice.

    'Still do,' Pen said.

    'When I was staying with her, she never went in the pool or sunbathed or anything.'

    'I didn't like the idea of strangers looking at me.'

    Bodie nodded. He didn't trust his voice. His hand was taken to its destination and released. His fingers slid against Melanie. His heart raced. He tried to breathe normally. He felt as if his erection might split the front of his swimsuit.

    Melanie squirmed slightly against his fingers.

    And suddenly it was all wrong.

    What the hell was he doing?

    He moved his hand to Melanie's leg. She gripped his wrist and gently urged it back, but he pulled his hand free and stood up. 'I think I'll go back in, now,' he said, trying to keep his voice steady. 'I'm starting to feel a little sick. It's probably the heat and the beer, I don't know. I'll see you two later.'

    He climbed out, wrapped the towel around his shoulders, picked up his shirt, and hurried down to the concrete slab.

    'So long,' Pen said. Her voice sounded strange.

    'See you later,' Melanie said.

    Bodie shivered all the way back to the house - but it was Melanie that made him grit his teeth.

    What in God's name went on in that mind of hers!

    
Be fair,
he told himself.
Maybe she just got horny and lost control. That'd be perfectly understandable. Hell, yes.

    But he knew that wasn't it.

    Handing her panties to him. Like a dog dropping a ball at his feet. Come on, play with me.

    
Play with me in front of my sister.

    
It'll be our little secret.

    Unless, of course, she happens to notice. And that would be even better, wouldn't it?

    Bodie stopped at the door, quickly wiped his legs to make sure he wouldn't drip on the floor, then entered the house.

    

    

    Groggy and hot after the wine and the long time in the spa, Pen stepped into the shower. The cool water pelted her, slid down her body. She wore her bikini to rinse the chlorine from it. Then she took it off, wrung it out and draped it over the shower door.

    She wondered at Melanie. The girl had actually gone into the spa topless.

    
No big deal,
Pen thought.
I would've been naked in there, myself, except for them.

    
Well, that's the point, isn't it? If Melanie had gone in just with Bodie, or just with me… but we were both in there. That's what makes it so strange.

    
Like she was trying to prove something. To Bodie or to me? Maybe to herself.

    Pen wondered if Bodie's abrupt departure had anything to do with Melanie's behavior. She'd been sitting right next to him. Maybe put a hand inside his trunks?

    Thinking about it, Pen felt a warm, trembling stir. She stopped sliding the soap over her body, set it in the dish, and turned to face the spray.

    
Give the girl a break,
she told herself.
Melanie's only trying to protect her interests - keep Bodie for herself.

    It's probably worse because of Dad. Something like that throws your emotions out of whack, distorts your perspective.

    
I should let her know I don't have designs on Bodie.

    
Sure. She wouldn't believe it, though.

    Pen shampooed her hair. When she was done in the shower, she stepped out and dried herself. She brushed her teeth. She used the toilet.

    The cool shower hadn't been enough to take away the heat from the spa and wine, and a light film of moisture made her robe cling to her skin when she put it on.

    In the hallway, she turned off the overhead lights and stepped quickly past the closed door of Joyce's room. Melanie's door was also shut. A strip of light showed through the space beneath it. Passing the door, Pen heard a radio. And Melanie.

    Breathless, quick moans from Melanie not quite hidden by the smooth voice of Kenny Rogers.

    Pen rushed into her room and shut the door. Wiped her sweaty face with a sleeve of her robe. The sound of music came faintly through the wall. She stood motionless, listening, but didn't hear Melanie.

    Tossing her robe onto the bed, she stepped to the window and opened it. The night breeze came in, chilling her damp body.

    The radio voice now sounded like Way Ion Jennings and she heard a muffled outcry that gave her stomach a flip.

    She hurried to her suitcase, took out her hair drier, sat at the dressing table, and turned it on. The noise of the blower obliterated the sounds of the music and Melanie.

    

    

    She entered the hospital room, and the bed was empty. 'Where's Dad?' she asked. 'Did he go home?'

    'Wouldn't you like to know?' the doctor said, grinning. He was short and skinny, with black hair.

    'Where's Dad?' she asked.

    'First show me your tits.'

    'Go to hell.'

    'Don't be a tease. I know you want me.' He tugged her bikini top.

    
I knew I should've dressed up before coming here.

    The bikini tore away. She crossed her arms over her breasts.

    'It's all right, I'm a doctor.' He twirled his stethoscope. 'Let me just see about your ticker.'

    Pen wasn't at all sure about this. Probably a trick of some kind. But he could tell her where Dad was. She lowered her arms.

    The doctor bent over and pressed the metal disk to her nipple. 'Cough,' he said.

    
He's no doctor. My heart isn't there. A real doctor would know that.

    'I don't hear it. You'd better lie down.'

    'What for?'

    'So I can fuck your brains out.'

    'You're him!'

    She rammed a knife into his belly so hard it doubled him over and lifted him off his feet. He hit the floor with his hands and knees. 'Where's Dad?'

    'You didn't have to kill me.'

    'You're not dead, you're talking.'

    'I'm gonna get you!'

    She ran from the room and looked back when she heard rushing footsteps behind her. The man was chasing her, pulling the knife from his belly as he ran. Blood flew from his wound, spraying out, painting the floor and wall in front of him.

    Pen jabbed the elevator button.

    He ran closer and closer, waving the knife overhead.

    
Come on, elevator!

    
Oh shit oh shit!

    Pen hopped from foot to foot. She pounded on the elevator door.

    The man wore a wild grin. He started to laugh, blood exploding from his mouth and nostrils.

    The elevator doors slid open. Pen jumped inside. He lunged for her, but the doors shut in time, trapping his arm at the elbow.

    The elevator started down. His arm glided up to the ceiling, broke off and dropped to the floor. He kept his grip on the knife. His arm rolled. The blade lifted, pointed at Pen, made little circles. Pen backed away from it. The elevator gained speed. Plummeted.

    
Where is it going?

    
Why doesn't it slow down?

    
It'll stop suddenly and I'm supposed to fall on the knife, but I won't.

    She sat on the elevator floor.

    
Outfoxed you, you bastard.

    The elevator stopped smoothly without the expected jolt.

    The doors parted.

    Beyond them was darkness.

    The lighted indicator above the elevator door read 'B'.

    This is the basement. Somebody turned off the lights, that's all.

    Oddly, the severed arm on the floor with the knife twirling in its hand didn't worry Pen half so much as the darkness outside the elevator.

    The basement. That's where the corpses are kept. The patients who didn't make it. Stored in drawers.

    She sidestepped around the arm and stopped at the edge of the elevator floor. She peered into the pitch black.

    She didn't want to go out there.

    Her heart pounded with terror, and she struggled for breath.

    'Hello?' she called. 'Anyone there?'

    No answer came.

    Of course not. The dead don't talk.

    She called out again. 'Hello?'

    'Help me,' came the distant, muffled voice of her father.

    'I'll be right there!'

    If she could just find a light switch. She reached outside the elevator, felt along the wall, and a cold hand grabbed her wrist.

    'Yyeee-ahh!!!'