Read Online Hocus Croakus by Mary Daheim - Free Book Online Page A

Judith exclaimed. “Doesn’t your money go kind of fast?”
    â€œIt does, at that,” Renie replied with a frown as herinitial investment of twenty dollars decreased to ten. “Maybe we should move.”
    Judith nodded in the direction of the Corvette. “You know, I wouldn’t mind trying to win that car for Joe.”
    â€œDream on,” Renie said. “Those things never pay off. You don’t even get decent jackpots along the way. They’re progressive machines, and I almost never play them.”
    â€œStill…” Judith gazed at the ’Vette’s sleek rear end. “I think I’ll try it anyway. At least I can tell Joe I was thinking of him when I lost our money.”
    â€œOhhh…” Renie cashed out the few quarters that were left in her machine. “I’ll play, too. But not for long. Those cars and trucks and boats and motorcycles they display as jackpot prizes are real sucker bait. Not to mention that if you win, you have to pay big tax bucks out of your own pocket.”
    The Corvette console was so busy that the cousins couldn’t find two seats together. Renie spotted one toward the front of the car.
    â€œYou take that one,” she said. “I’ll go around to the other side and see if there’s a seat open.”
    Judith was shaking her head in wonder. “I can’t get over how intense most of these people are. Look at them, you’d think they were performing brain surgery.”
    Renie glanced at the line of gamblers who were hunched over their machines. “Yeah, well, it is kind of absorbing.”
    Judith smiled wryly at her cousin. “Yes, so I’ve noticed. I’ve never seen you concentrate so much, not even when you’re working.”
    â€œThis is working,” Renie replied. “I mean, it’s a wayof making money. If you’re lucky. See you.” She scooted off to the opposite side of the console.
    Judith sat down and studied the jackpots. To win the car, she would have to get three red Corvettes in a row. Cringing a bit, she removed a twenty-dollar bill from her wallet. With a grimace, she slipped the money into the slot and watched it disappear as if eaten by some voracious computer component.
    Three coins were required. Judith saw her credits swiftly mount to eighty coins. Bracing herself, she pressed the button that read Play Maximum Credits.
    The barrels registered a blank row. Judith pushed the button again. The numeral 7 appeared, flanked by a tire and the Corvette crossed-racing-flags symbol. On the third try, she got a mag wheel, a speedometer, and a cherry. A horn sounded, indicating that she’d won three quarters.
    Encouraged, she hit the button again. And again and again and again until she was down to twenty-seven coins. Judith paused, gazing around her. No one seemed to be winning much, judging from the lack of horn honks. She sat up straight, shaking out the kinks. Her eyes wandered upward, to the car itself.
    For some reason, it looked different than it had in the afternoon. Maybe it was the light. But the light didn’t change inside the casino. Maybe it was the car. She stared harder, looking at the mannequin behind the wheel.
    The mannequin definitely looked different. Instead of leaning back with a big smile on her face, the blonde was slumped slightly against the seat. And she definitely wasn’t smiling.
    That was when Judith realized that the Corvette’s occupant wasn’t a mannequin. It was a real person who looked like the mannequin, but who even more closely resembled the Great Mandolini’s assistant, Salome.
    But the most incredible thing Judith noticed was that Salome looked like she was dead.

FOUR
    T HE FLASHING LIGHTS and honking horns and ringing bells seemed to be going off inside Judith’s head instead of around her. Was it possible to ignore the corpse in the Corvette? Maybe Salome wasn’t dead. Maybe she’d passed out.