IN THE DARK, page 41
Nothing else happened on their way to her car.
Early the next morning, clean and bandaged and nicely dressed, Brace presented himself to the emergency room of Donnerville’s hospital.
He explained that he had tripped in his garage while carrying a window. He had plunged through the window, its shattered glass slicing off his ear. Then he had fallen on a board that had a jutting nail.
Two hours later, he returned to Jane’s house with a new puncture from a tetanus shot, fresh bandages, and two prescriptions that would require a trip to a pharmacy.
According to the news reports that day, Satanists were believed to be responsible for the brutal slayings of two unidentified males found in and near the Calvary Baptist Church.
Nothing was mentioned about the missing head.
They buried Mog’s head at midnight in the weed-choked back yard of the creephouse next to Paradise Gardens Memorial Park.
“That oughta keep him down,” Jane said, stomping the ground flat.
At dawn the next morning, they buried Brace’s ear in Jane’s back yard.
It was still frozen.
Jane wanted to leave it in the Tupperware bowl for the ceremony, but Brace objected. “We don’t wanta do that,” he said, peeling off the lid of the bowl. He handed the lid to Jane. Crouching, he placed his ear into the small hole. “Ain’t biodegradable.”
“You’re right.”
“Besides, you might wanta use it again.”
Jane wrinkled her nose. “You’ve gotta be kidding. Not that I’ve got anything against your rotten old ear, but I don’t think I wanta put food in the bowl.”
“You women are all so squeamish.”
She laughed softly. “That’s me.”
With the edge of his shoe, Brace pushed dirt into the hole. “So long, ear.”
“So long,” Jane said to it.
Gently, Brace rubbed her back. Already, he seemed to know where the worst of her wounds were—and he stayed away from them as he caressed her.
In a somber voice, he said, “Nothing will ever be able to take us by surprise again.”
She grinned at him. “Don’t tell me.”
“Don’t tell you what?” He raised his eyebrows, oh so innocent.
“Because,” Jane said, “you’ll always have your ear to the ground?”
Brace laughed. “I didn’t say it,” he protested.
“You were gonna.”
“If I’m so damned predictable, what am I going to say next?”
“That’s not fair. If I get it right, you’ll just deny it.”
“I never lie, remember?”
“You lied to the doctor, and…”
“Never to you.”
“Oh, okay.” Jane grinned. “So, what is it that you were planning to say next?”
“You’re supposed to tell me,” he reminded her.
“Oh. Okay. Here’s what you’re going to say.”
“What?”
“ ‘Jane, you’re the most gorgeous babe in the world and I can’t get enough of you.’”
Brace laughed and shook his head.
Then he looked her in the eyes. His smile vanished. “Jane, you’re the most gorgeous, babe in the world and I can’t get enough of you.” Suddenly, his eyes bulged. His mouth fell open. “My God!” he blurted. “How did you know I was about to say that?”
“I can read you like a book,” Jane said.
Then he kissed her.
Richard Laymon, IN THE DARK
