"The car might attract notice."

"Are they really going in Beast House?" Sandy asked, as if it were a joke everyone was in on except her.

"I guess so," Donna answered.

"That's crazy."

"It certainly is," Larry agreed. "I concur 100 percent."

"You don't have to come," Jud said.

"Oh, but I do. You are planning to rid the world of Lilly's beast, I take it?"

"I'm planning to."

"Well, if I'm to bear the expense of the operation, I certainly want to see it carried out. Besides, you may need a hand with our friend here."

"Are you taking Daddy in there, too?"

"Yes," Jud said, and didn't explain.

"What for?"

"Punishment."

"Oh. You're gonna give him to the beast?"

"That's right."

"Wow! Can we go in too?" she asked Donna. "I want to see."

"No, we can't."

"Why not?"

"It's dangerous."

"But Jud and Larry are going in."

"That's different."

"I want to. I want to see the beast get Daddy in its claws and rip him up."

"Sandy!"

"I want to see it!"

"Take my word for it," Larry said. "You don't want to see the beast do that to a man. I know."

"We're almost there," Donna said.

"Okay. Drive on past it, then hang a U."

"Here?"

"Go a bit farther, so we're past the bend."

Donna slowed.

"This'll be fine."

She tried to swing the big car into a U-turn, saw that she couldn't make it, and had to back up before finishing the turn.

"Okay," Jud said. "Now kill the lights."

She pushed the headlight knob, and the road ahead went dark except for patches of moonlight. The road was less dark than the woods on either side, so she had little trouble staying on it. Around the curve, the woods ended. The moon spread pale, creamy light over the road.

"Pull up in front of the ticket booth," Jud said, his voice a tense whisper.

Donna stopped.

"I'll need the keys for a second."

She switched off the ignition. Turning in her seat, she handed the key case to him. "Jud?" she said.

His features were barely visible.

"Shouldn't we just take him to the police?"

"No."

"It's not that I...Can't we shoot him, or something?"

"That'd be murder."

"It'll be murder giving him to the beast."

"Then the beast is the perpetrator, not us."

"I don't want you going in that house again. Not at night. Christ, Jud!"

"It's all right," Jud said quietly.

"It's not all right. You could get killed. It's not fair. We've only had two days."

"We'll have plenty more," he said, and climbed from the car. He dragged out Roy, who stumbled and dropped to his knees. "Keep him here," Jud told Larry.

Donna followed Jud to the trunk.

"Please," he said, "get in the car."

"One kiss."

"All right."

She pressed herself tightly against him, squeezing him hard, hoping that somehow their bodies might fuse and she could stop him from leaving. But after a moment, he forced her gently away.

She watched him take his torn parka from the trunk and put it on. He picked up two flashlights and a road flare. Then he quietly shut the trunk and handed the keys to her.

"What time does your watch say?" he asked.

"Ten forty-three."

He set his. "Okay. Meet us here at eleven-fifteen."

"Jud?"

"Go. Please. I want to get this done."

She went back to the car, started it, and drove away without looking back at the three men she'd left along the roadside.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.

"It's a turnstile," Jud said. "Climb over it."

Roy shook his head.

Jud prodded him with the knife, and Roy swung a leg up. Larry, on the other side, helped him over by pulling one of his tied arms. Jud heard an approaching car. He vaulted the turnstile, grabbed Roy, and pulled the big man to the ground. The three of them lay close to the ticket-booth wall.

Jud heard the car slow. Its tires crunched gravel. Crawling forward, he peered around the corner of the ticket booth.

A police car.

It was stopped across the road, but Jud could hear the quiet idle of its engine. A few moments passed. Then it made a U-turn, drove slowly by the ticket booth, and headed off.

They dragged Roy to his feet and led him up the lawn. They hurried alongside the house to the back. There, they climbed the porch stairs.

The broken glass in the back door had neither been replaced nor boarded over. Sliding the knife into his pocket, Jud reached through the opening. He lowered his fingers down the door crack until he found a bolt. He tried to draw it back. It was stuck. He jerked. It snapped back with a clatter that filled the silence.

"That probably woke it up," Larry whispered.

Jud pushed open the door. He stepped inside, pulling the hooded man. Larry, following, shut the door without a sound.

"Where to?" he whispered.

"Let's take this off, first." Jud removed the belt from Roy's neck, then pulled off the pillowcase. The man's head jerked as he looked quickly around.

"This is Beast House," Jud told him.

He made noises through his nose.

"I'll take off the gag. You'll live a bit longer, though, if you stay quiet."

Roy nodded.

Jud tore the adhesive tape off Roy's mouth, and pocketed it. He strapped the spare belt around his waist, and tucked in the pillowcase so it hung at his side like a white sash. He planned to leave nothing behind.

Nothing but Roy.

"Let's go upstairs," he whispered.

"That where the monster lives?" Roy asked, and laughed.

"That's where it usually attacks," Jud said.

"Yeah? You believe that shit?"

"Shhhh."

Jud stepped out of the kitchen. He flicked on his flashlight. Ahead was the entrance hall, its stuffed-monkey umbrella holder guarding the front door like a grotesque sentry. He put his light away. With his left hand, he reached under the back of his shirt and pulled the Colt automatic from his belt.

"What're you guys, trying to scare me?"

"Shhh," Larry repeated.

"Shit."

At the foot of the stairs, Roy said, "I smell gas."

"That's from last night," Jud whispered.

"Yeah?"

"A woman was killed," Larry said.

"No shit? You guys do this all the time?"

"Shut up," said Jud.

"I was only making conversation."

They started up the stairs, and last night's horrors filled Jud's mind: Mary Ziegler, dead, diving down at him; the liquid sounds she made rolling across his back; the awful stench of the beast. He looked toward the top of the stairs, half afraid he would see her there again.