Read Online Holy Terror by Graham Masterton - Free Book Online Page A

brought it out again and popped his fingers, right in front of the bad Batman’s face. A puff of smoke blew out of his fingertips, and Conor said, ‘
Bang!
Got you!’
    The boy stared at him in amazement. ‘How did you
do
that? That’s so cool! Wait till I tell my dad!’
    Conor stood up and scruffed the boy’s hair. ‘Sure,’ he said, sadly.
    He pressed the doorbell marked
S. Morales
, then stepped back. Maria Morales leaned out of her living-room window, a dark curly-haired woman in a bright red blouse, with a glittery rhinestone crucifix around her neck.
    â€˜Mr O’Neil? What are you doing here?’
    He didn’t reply. She hesitated for a moment and then she said tensely, ‘
Wait
.’
    She came flying down the stairs with bare feet. He could see her red blouse through the frosted glass. She opened the door and there was a stricken look on her face.
    â€˜What’s happened? Where’s Sal?’
    â€˜Maria, I think we’d better go inside.’
    â€˜Is he hurt? Tell me! Is he in hospital?’
    Conor took hold of both of her hands. He felt as if somebody had wedged an apple down his throat. ‘I’m sorry, Maria. There was a robbery. He couldn’t have known what hit him.’
    Tears started to flow down Maria’s cheeks and the boy on the step stopped playing with his Batman figures and stared at his mother in sympathetic awe.
    * * *
    He didn’t arrive home until well after ten o’clock. He went straight to the icebox and took out a Bud. He pressed the freezing cold can against his forehead as if he wanted to numb his brain. Lacey stood beside him and didn’t say anything.
    After a while he opened the can, drank a mouthful, and looked at her.
    â€˜I’m so sorry,’ she said, touching his cheek.
    â€˜He’s dead. There’s nothing anybody can do to bring him back. I just feel so bad about him. He resented me so much but he was always so polite.’
    â€˜How was Maria?’
    â€˜How do you think? Her sister came around, and she’ll get a lot of help from the neighbors. But God … she has four school-age kids to take care of.’
    He dragged out one of the yellow-painted kitchen chairs and sat down. The whole apartment smelled of fresh varnish and paint and she was still wearing her blue OshKosh dungarees with the yellow and white splashes on them. Since they had moved up to East 50th Street, five months ago, she had been turning a collection of stuffy, brownish 1950s rooms into a Swedish country cottage – with stenciled walls and bare sanded floorboards and decorative tiles.
    â€˜I saw you on TV,’ she said. ‘What you did… that was so brave. It was
amazing
.’
    He shook his head. ‘No it wasn’t. It was arrogant. I should have let Slyman handle it.’
    â€˜But you caught the thief, didn’t you? You got all of those safety deposit boxes back.’
    â€˜Oh sure. And Sal’s in the morgue with a ticket on his toe.’
    She stood close to him, one hand held out as if she wanted to touch him, but couldn’t. She couldn’t share what he was feeling, no matter how much she wanted to. He looked up at her and gave her a quick, wry smile.
    â€˜I’m sorry,’ he said. It’s just beginning to hit me, is all’
    â€˜You must be exhausted. Do you want anything to eat?’
    â€˜Maybe later. It’s so damned hot. Is that air conditioning still on the fritz?’
    â€˜The air-conditioning guy was supposed to call but his wife went into labor.’
    Conor swallowed more beer. ‘I thought when I took this job at Spurr’s … well, I didn’t think that I’d be visiting other men’s widows any more.’
    She sat beside him and ran her fingers through his thick black hair. ‘Two gray ones,’ she said, plucking them out. ‘Maybe you should try something different.’
    â€˜Oh, yes? Like what? What