But what if Laura comes upstairs and catches me?

She could just imagine the poor girl's shock. Shannon! What 're you doing?

Shaking her head, she returned to her bedroom. In the dresser mirror, she saw that she was not only flushed but had a rather glazed look in her eyes.

What am I doing? she wondered.

She shook her head at her reflection.

He's not even all that cute, she thought. Why in hell do I want him to see me naked?

"I don't," she muttered.

She slid open a drawer, searched through an assortment of panties and took out a skimpy black garment. She put it on. Except for the touch of the slender elastic band around her hips and the silken push against her groin and buttocks, she felt as if she still wore nothing.

From another drawer, she removed a bra made of the same lightweight, black material. After she put it on, her breasts looked nearly the same as before... their curves hardly altered at all, but their color transformed as if they'd been dipped in murky grey water.

Looking mighty fine, she thought.

She turned away from the dresser. On her bed was her costume for tonight's Halloween party. As she walked toward it, she heard a quiet groan.

Hinges.

She jerked her head toward the bedroom door. Wide open before, it was now slowly gliding shut. Pushed by the kid behind it.

He stood near the corner of the bedroom, his back to the wall, his left arm extended sideways and slowly easing the door shut. He never took his eyes off Shannon. He had a dazed, blank look on his face and his mouth hung open slightly. He was breathing through his mouth, taking quick breaths. His eyes flicked from Shannon's face to her chest too her groin, then up again to her face.

"There you are," Shannon said.

His head jerked up and down.

"Don't run off, okay?"

His head jerked from side to side.

"Good. What's your name?"

"Hunter." He glanced at her breasts, then darted his eyes to her face.

"What's your first name?"

"Hunter."

"Your name's Hunter Hunter?"

"Hunter Gordon."

"Huh?"

He spoke slowly and loudly. "Hunter. Gordon."

"Oh." Strange name, she thought, and saw him risk a glance in the direction of her breasts.

I'd better finish getting dressed, she thought.

On the other hand, she rather enjoyed the way Hunter couldn't take his eyes off her.

The kid's enthralled.

Looking her in the face, he said, "You're Shannon?"

"That's right."

"What're you going to do to me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Why'd you run up here and hide?"

"You opened the front door. I thought they'd be out there."

"They who?"

"The ones from the graveyard."

"People from the graveyard are after you?"

He nodded. His mouth twisted crooked. For a moment, he looked as if he might start crying again.

"Well, they haven't shown up yet." She thought of Laura alone on the front porch, waiting for trick or treats. "We'd better go down and let Laura know what's going on."

Hunter's gaze slid down her body.

"Guess I'll get into my costume first," Shannon said. "Stay put."

She went to the bed, picked up a white dress shirt and put it on. After fastening its buttons, she stepped into a pair of brown tweed trousers. She pulled them up, tucked in the shirt, and cinched her belt tightly to keep the baggy pants from falling down.

"What kind of costume is that supposed to be?" Hunter asked.

"Can't you tell?"

He shrugged.

Shannon put on a necktie and knotted it loosely around her neck. Then she put on a big brown suit coat that matched her trousers. "And this," she said. She jammed a battered old brown fedora onto her head and tilted its rim down over her brow.

Hunter scowled. "You're suppose to be a man?"

"Not just a man, a private dick."

"Huh?" He blushed.

Shannon laughed. "A sleuth, a private eye, a snoop, a gumshoe, a shamus. You know, Phillip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Duke Scanlon, Mike Hammer..."

"If you say so."

She shook her head. "You don't even know what I'm talking about, do you?" Sitting on the edge of her bed, she put on a pair of socks.

As she struggled into her brown wingtip shoes, Hunter said, " 'When a man's partner is killed, he's supposed to do something about it.' "

A laugh burst out of Shannon. "Hey, okay! Kid, I got a feeling you 'n me are gonna get along."

"The name's Hunter," he reminded her.

"Okay, Hunter. Let's go down and see how Laura's doing."

CHAPTER FOUR.

Shannon led the way downstairs, crossed the foyer and opened the front door. Laura, alone on the porch, turned around and smiled "Found him," Shannon said. "Great. Where was he?"

"Hiding behind my bedroom door. Where nobody ever in a million years would've thought to look for him. Any action out here?"

"Kids just keep on coming."

None seemed to be approaching at the moment. "Why don't you come inside?" Shannon said.

Laura stepped in, shut the door, and leaned back against it. "Our friend here is Hunter Gordon," Shannon explained.

"Hi," Laura said.

"Hi. I'm sorry I ran away from you."

"That's okay. So what's going on?"

His mouth twisted. "I was scared."

"He says someone from the graveyard's after him."

Laura made a face. "What?"

"Who?" Shannon asked the boy.

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"Just tell us what happened," Shannon said.

"Is the door locked?" Hunter asked.

"It's locked," Laura said.

"Okay. Well, we went to the graveyard right after supper tonight."

"We?" Shannon asked.

"Who's we?"

"Me and Connie."

"Who's Connie?"

"Sorta like my girlfriend."

"You took her to the cemetery?"

"Yeah. We just thought it'd be a neat place to go. You know, cause of this being Halloween. It'd be something kinda spooky to do."

"So what happened?" Laura asked.

"Well, it looked like nobody was there. We didn't see any lights or anything. So we just started wandering around. It was real quiet and nice. And you know that bench?"

Laura nodded.

"Bench?" Shannon asked.

"It's a concrete bench at one of the graves," Laura explained. "Across from the Kneeling Girl."

"Oh. The Kneeling Girl." Shannon didn't recall the bench, but she certainly remembered the Kneeling Girl: a life-size statue of a teenaged girl, down on both knees, a bowl of some sort in her hands, and her granite mouth wide open. What's this, the grave of Fellatio? she'd said to Laura.

Oh, real nice, Laura had said.

If you like that sort of thing.

You're awful.

"I know the statue," Shannon said. "So there's a bench there?"

"It's a few yards away. Don't you remember it?"

"Hey, I might've seen it once. I'm not big on bone orchards." To Hunter she said, "So what about the bench?"

"We sat down on it for a while. Me and Connie. And... you know." One of his shoulders hopped slightly. "Talked and stuff."

"And stuff huh?" Shannon said. Laura cast her a peeved look.