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“Yourrights.”The sheriff scoffs like that’s a dirty word. It probably is, to him. “Let me tell you about your rights, little missy. From the moment you strolled into town, you’ve been nothing but trouble to me. And now it sounds like your ex-boyfriend is missing…so what you got arightto do is rot in a jail cell for the rest of your natural life if he doesn’t show up safe and sound by tomorrow.”
“Who needs a judge, jury, or trial, right?”
The sheriff sets his hat a little straighter on his sweaty head.
“I’m sure I’ll be seein’ you real soon.”
* * *
29
REMI
??Fangs - Younger Hunger
Downtown Grimstone looks like the inside of a haunted house—bedsheet ghosts float from lampposts, drifts of leaves have been allowed to pile up in the streets, and hundreds of jack-o’-lanterns flicker from every window frame and doorway along Main Street.
Most of the shops have brought their wares out onto the sidewalks, so the sweet scents of caramel apples and fudge mingle with popcorn and grilled franks and the pumpkin cider pumped fresh from kegs stacked up outside the brew house.
The streets are packed with people in costumes, including dozens of variations of the town mascot, Mr. Bones. A twenty-foot-tall papier-mâché Mr. Bones towers at the end of Main Street, his skeletal arms outstretched and his jaw hanging open to show all his bone teeth.
Emma’s dressed like sexy Pennywise, and I’m the Scarlett Witch, after spending most of the day making my own headdress. I search for Jude amongst the many Mr. Boneses, but I don’t see his glow-in-the-dark paint.
Tom came as a lumberjack, probably so he can wear one of his innumerable plaid shirts. He’s glued a paper axe to the side of one of his crutches and a paper pine tree to the other.
Aldous and Amy are dressed as the twins from The Shining.
“How come you’ve got better legs than me?” Amy demands, scowling at her brother’s shapely calves.
“‘Cause I go for a walk once in a while,” Aldous says.
“I walk all over that damn resort! Lugging a mop, too.”
“Then I guess it’s just better genetics.” He blows her a kiss.
I’ve got an apple donut in one hand and a scalding cup of hot cocoa in the other, so I’m the happiest I’ve been in ages, even after a pack of three Mr. Boneses almost run me off the sidewalk. Hot cocoa sloshes on my sneakers.
“Watch it!” Emma snaps.
The Mr. Boneses turn and stare at us silently through the dark holes in their skeleton masks.
“Creeps.” Emma passes me a wad of napkins to wipe my shoes.
The three skeletons mutter to each other, one of them giving a low, ugly laugh as they carry on down the sidewalk.
Across the street, a plague doctor watches the entire encounter, his black, raven-like beak turned in my direction, his long cloak sweeping the ground.
It occurs to me that anybody could be walking around inside these costumes—Dane, or maybe even Gideon…
It’s kind of freaking me out that Gideon found me here in Grimstone. I didn’t tell anyone where we were going. How long has he been looking for me?
Gideon never seemed like the unstable type—if anything, his need to over-plan everything used to drive me crazy. He didn’t even like to buy movie tickets last minute.
But I wouldn’t have expected him to cheat on me, either. And he never actually admitted it—he kept lying to my face like a psychopath even when there was no denying it anymore.
Did he really drive all the way out here to try to convince me to take him back?
Or is he here for an even more fucked up reason…
