Dave snapped on the headlights as they careened around a sharp turn in the road that meandered through the cemetery. Christina recovered enough to start crying.
“Who the hell were they?” Dave shouted.
“There were two of them,” Christina managed through her tears.
They reached the street and Dave turned toward town, laying a patch of rubber on the street. Christina’s crying lessened to whimpering with an occasional sob. Turning the rearview mirror in her direction, she inspected the damage to her hair. “My cut’s been ruined,” she cried.
Dave readjusted the mirror and glanced behind them to be certain no one was following. He wiped his neck with his hand and looked at the blood with disbelief.
“What the devil were they wearing?” Dave asked angrily.
“What difference does it make?” Christina cried.
“They were wearing white clothes or something,” Dave said. “Like a couple of ghosts.”
“We never should have gone there,” Christina bawled. “I knew it from the start.”
“Give me a break,” Dave said. “You didn’t know anything.”
“I did,” she said. “You just didn’t ask me.”
“Bull,” Dave said.
“Whoever they were, they must be sick,” Christina said.
“You’re probably right,” Dave said. “Maybe they’re from Danvers State Hospital. But if they are, how do they get all the way down here to Greenlawn Cemetery?”
Christina put her hand to her mouth and mumbled, “I’m going to be sick.”
Dave jammed on his brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. Christina cracked her door and vomited in the street. Dave said a silent prayer that it all went out of the car.
Christina pushed herself back to a sitting position. She laid her head against the headrest and closed her eyes.
“I want to go home,” she said miserably.
“We’ll be there in a sec,” Dave said. He drove away from the curb. He could smell the sour aroma of vomit, and he worried that his lovely car had been ruined.
“We can’t tell anybody about this,” Christina said. “If my parents find out I’ll be grounded for six months.”
“All right,” Dave said.
“You promise?”
“Sure, no problem.”
Dave hit the lights when he turned onto Christina’s street. He stopped several doors down from her house. He hoped she didn’t expect him to kiss her and was glad when she got right out.
“You promised,” she said.
“Don’t worry,” Dave said.
He watched her run across the lawns and disappear into the same hedge from which she’d emerged.
Under a nearby streetlight, Dave got out and inspected his car. In the back there was a dent on the bumper where he’d knocked over the headstone, but it wasn’t bad. Going around to the passenger side, he opened the door and cautiously sniffed. He was relieved when he didn’t smell any vomit. Closing the door, he walked around the front of the car. That was when he noticed the windshield wiper on the passenger side was gone.
Dave gritted his teeth and swore under his breath. What a night, and he didn’t even get anything. Climbing back into his car, he wondered if he’d be able to rouse George, his best friend, from sleep. Dave couldn’t wait to tell him about what had happened. It was so weird it was like some old horror movie. In a way, Dave was thankful about the broken wiper. If it hadn’t happened George probably wouldn’t believe the story.
Having taken the Xanax around one-thirty that morning, Kim slept much later than usual, and when she got up she felt mildly drugged. She didn’t like the feeling, but she was convinced it was a small price to pay forgetting some sleep.
Kim spent the first part of the day getting her uniform ready for Monday, when she was scheduled to start back to work. It amazed her how much she was looking forward to it. And it wasn’t just because of the mounting anxieties about the lab and what was happening in it. During the last two weeks she’d become progressively weary of the isolated and lonely life she’d been leading in Salem, especially once she’d finished decorating the cottage.
The main problem on both counts was Edward, despite the better mood he was in while taking Ultra. Living with him had hardly been what she’d expected, although when she thought about it, she wasn’t sure what she did expect since she’d invited him to come and live with her on impulse. But she certainly had expected to see more of him and share more with him than she had. And she certainly hadn’t expected to be worrying about him taking an experimental drug. All in all, it was a ridiculous situation.