"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. You don't need me hanging around all the time."

"Okay. See you later, then."

"See you, pal."

Owen drove on. In the side mirror, he saw John standing on the sidewalk, watching him.

Not such a bad guy.

The beeping alarm on his wristwatch woke Owen up. He was lying on top of a bed. The room was almost dark, but a strip of sunlight came in through a gap where the curtains didn't quite meet.

Still on his back, he raised his arm.

The luminous numbers on his wristwatch showed 4:30.

He shut off the alarm.

But he didn't get up.

No big hurry, he thought. It'll only take five or ten minutes to drive over to the photo shop.

I could even skip it.

No law says I have to go and pick up the pictures. I can just stay here. That'd be the end of my troubles with John, at least for today. Deal with him tomorrow.

Besides, what if Dana calls while I'm gone?

Turning his head, Owen looked at the telephone.

She might call any second.

She probably won't call at all, he thought. She wouldn't go out with a guy like me. Her date's with somebody else. A strong, handsome, suntanned jock.

Anyway, if she does call, the front desk will take a message.

Maybe she'll just drop in.

He imagined her stepping up to the door of his motel room and knocking on it. In his mind, she was wearing her guide uniform. A couple of the top buttons were unfastened. "Just thought I'd drop by and see how you're doing, Owen."

"Would you like to come in?"

"Thought you'd never ask." She stepped into his room and wrapped her arms around him and pulled him against her body. "I know we just met," she said, "but I haven't been able to stop thinking about..."

Someone knocked on the door of Owen's room.

He bolted upright, his heart suddenly thudding.

It can't be Dana, he thought as he scurried off the bed.

No way. That sort of thing just doesn't happen. Not to me.

Maybe this once...

He jerked open the door.

"Hey, pal, how's our room?"

"What're you doing here?"

"Look what I've got." John held up a bag. "Mr. Cucumber got done with the pictures early, so I saved us both some time and picked 'em up." He stepped into the room. "They cost me down to my last nickle, pretty near. But I figure you'll reimburse me. Too bad you couldn't get a room in the old wing."

"They were all full."

"Yeah, bet they go fast. Everybody wants to be in the section where stuff really happened. Guess we were lucky to get anything." this was the last room available," Owen said.

"I know, I know. I saw 'em turn on the No Vacancy sign right after you went in the office."

"What the hell did you do, follow me?"

"Shit, no. You told me you were coming here. I just hopped into my buggy and sailed on over. Wanted to see if you'd get us a room." A grin suddenly spread across John's face. "And which one," he added.

"Real nice."

"But please note, I did not disturb you. I allowed you your space."

"Yeah. Thanks a lot."

John spread the curtains wide, and afternoon sunlight flooded the room.

"Not bad, not bad. A queen and a single, huh? Who gets the queen?" He sat down on the queen-sized mattress and bounced.

"I do."

"I'm bigger than you. Don't you think I should get the bigger bed?"

"No. I'm paying. And what makes you think I'm going to let you stay?"

"What're you gonna do, throw me out? If you throw me out, I take these with me." He reached into the bag and pulled out an envelope thick with photographs. "I've already taken a peek. They're hot. That Dana, she's a babe and a half."

"Let me see."

"Who gets the queen?"

"Oh, for the..."

"I can always leave."

"You really are a jerk."

"I'm the jerk with guts enough to take photos of your secret honey."

"Okay. Fine. You win. Take the queen."

"Thank you."

Chapter Thirty-five.

WARREN'S PLACE "You're out of uniform," Warren said as he met Dana in front of the ticket booth.

"Had a little mishap."

"So I heard." He smiled at her. For a moment, she thought he might reach out and take her hand. But he didn't. "Sounds like the gal deserved what she got," he said.

"Well, I didn't exactly premeditate the attack. Talk about embarrassing . I wanted to crawl in a hole. And then the gift shop was out of my size. They were out of most sizes, for that matter." She looked down at her huge, flapping T-shirt. It drooped over her shoulders. It hung down low enough to cover her shorts when the wind wasn't flinging and lifting it. "I know I'm big, but this thing would fit Jabba the Hutt."

"Looks good," Warren said.

"Well, thanks."

"Ready to go?"

"Sure."

Staying by Warren's side, she stepped to the edge of Front Street. Traffic was coming from both directions. Warren's head turned from side to side as if he were watching a tennis match.

Glancing Dana's way, he caught her looking at him. He smiled.

Then came a break in the traffic and they hurried across.

They stopped just short of the high, chain link fence in front of the Kutch property.

Dana stared at the house.

"Have you ever been in there?" she asked.

"Not in the house itself. I've trespassed on the grounds, though. I was hoping to get a look inside."

"No windows."

"I knocked on the door."

"You knocked?

"Oh, yeah. I thought maybe I'd introduce myself to Agnes. I brought her a bouquet of flowers."

"That was nice."

"Well, you know. All women are supposed to love flowers. Agnes Kutch is apparently nuts, but she's still a woman. Thought I'd try to win her over and maybe she'd give me a tour of her house. But she wouldn't open the door. She doesn't open it for anyone."

"I've heard she's sort of a recluse."

"Sort of. It's like she's hiding in there. She has a remote system for opening the gate of her driveway. Whatever she needs, she orders it by phone and has it delivered. See how the porch is all enclosed? They leave the stuff inside and she gets it after they've gone."

Warren turned away. Dana stayed with him. Together, they walked along the sandy patch between Front Street and the fence. "She can't stay in the house all the time, can she?"

"Looks like she does."

"She must pay her bills somehow."

"Janice pays them. Everything is billed to Janice."

"So, does Janice ever see her?"

Warren shook his head. "Not in the past four or five years. Nodody has."

"How creepy."

"Well, you can't really expect someone like Agnes to be normal. When you think about what she's been through."

"You're probably right about that," Dana said.

"Amazing she survived," Warren said. "Here. Up this way."

They headed to the left up a narrow lane of asphalt. The road was cracked and pitted. Grass and dandelions grew in some of the fissures.

"Going nuts was probably her way of coping with it," Dana said.

"I guess you either go nuts or kill yourself."

As they walked along, Dana looked over at the Kutch house.

She imagined a withered, hunched old crone lurching through its blue-lit rooms. "What kind of life could she have in there? What does she do all day?"

"God knows," Warren said.

"Glad Idon't."

"An advantage of not being God."