WATCHERS by Dean R. Koontz

Sitting on the edge of the girl’s bed, Lem said, “Tracy, you don’t have to worry

that I’ll think you’re scrambled. I believe I know what you saw, and all I want

from you is confirmation.”

She stared at him disbelievingly.

Walt stood at the foot of her bed, smiling down at her as if he were a big,

affectionate teddy bear come to life. He said, “Before you passed out, you told

your dad you’d been attacked by the boogeyman who used to live in your closet.”

“It was sure ugly enough,” the girl said quietly. “But that’s not what it, was,

I guess.”

“Tell me,” Lem said.

She stared at Walt, at Lem, then sighed. “You tell me what you think I

should’ve seen, and if you’re close, I’ll tell you what I can remember. But I’m

not going to start it ‘cause I know you’ll think I’m looney tunes.”

Lem regarded Walt with unconcealed frustration, realizing there was no way to

avoid divulging some of the facts of the case.

Walt grinned.

To the girl, Lem said, “Yellow eyes.”

She gasped and went rigid. “Yes! You do know, don’t you? You know what was out

there.” She started to sit up, winced in pain as she pulled the stitches in her

wound, and slumped back against the bed. “What was it, what was it?”

“Tracy,” Lem said, “I can’t tell you what it was. I’ve signed a secrecy oath. If

I violated it, I could be put in jail, but more important . . . I wouldn’t have

much respect for myself.”

She frowned, finally nodded. “I guess I can understand that.”

“Good. Now tell me everything you can about your assailant.”

As it turned out, she had not seen much because the night was dark and her

flashlight had illuminated The Outsider for only an instant. “Pretty big for an

animal . . . maybe as big as me. The yellow eyes.” She shuddered. “And its face

was . . . strange.”

“In what way?”

“Lumpy . . . deformed,” the girl said. Though she had been very pale at the

start, she grew paler now, and fine beads of sweat appeared along her hairline,

dampening her brow.

Walt was leaning on the footrail of the bed, straining forward, intensely

interested, not wanting to miss a word.

A sudden Santa Ana wind buffeted the building, startling the girl. She looked

fearfully at the rattling window, where the wind moaned, as if she was afraid

something would come smashing through the glass.

Which was, Lem reminded himself, exactly how The Outsider had gotten to Wes

Dalberg.

The girl swallowed hard. “Its mouth was huge . . . and the teeth . .

She could not stop shaking, and Lem put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It’s

okay, honey. It’s over now. It’s all behind you.”

After a pause to regain control of herself, but still shivering, Tracy said, “I

think it was kind of hairy . . . or furry . . . I’m not sure, but it was very

Strong.”

“What kind of animal did it resemble?” Lem asked.

She shook her head. “It wasn’t like anything else.”

“But if you had to say it was like some other animal, would you say it was more

like a cougar than anything else?”

“No. Not a cougar.”

“Like a dog?”

She hesitated. “Maybe . . . a little bit like a dog.”

“Maybe a little bit like a bear, too?”

“No.”

“Like a panther?”

“No. Not like any cat.”

“Like a monkey?”

She hesitated again, frowned, thinking. “I don’t know why . . . but, yeah, maybe

a little like a monkey. Except, no dog and no monkey has teeth like that.”

The door opened from the hall, and Dr. Selbok appeared. “You’re already past

five minutes.”

Walt started to wave the doctor out.

Lem said, “No, it’s okay. We’re finished. Half a minute yet.”

“I’m counting the seconds,” Selbok said, retreating.

To the girl Lem said, “Can I rely on you?”

She matched his gaze and said, “To keep quiet?”

Lem nodded.

She said, “Yeah. I sure don’t want to tell anybody. My folks think I’m mature

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *