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sent me the fake letter telling me the football physicals were being given at the hospital emergency room.” That classic prank had Paul arguing with an ER nurse for a half hour while the rest of them rolled in the parking lot laughing. No one was laughing now.
    “Do we look like we’re kidding?” Ken said. He turned to Marc. “Did you ever see him again there?”
    “No,” Marc said. “I went back the next day and the day after. Nothing. I couldn’t very well ask the people working there about it. The woman obviously couldn’t see the Woodsman.”
    “And neither could the other kids at the day care,” Dave added. “Just the…target.”
    “And both times, the kid couldn’t have seen the Woodsman as he really looked,” Ken said. “He’s too creepy to ever have a kid trust him.”
    “Assuming all this is real,” Bob said, “what do we do about it?”
    “The thing seems invisible,” Ken said. “But I say we pair up and hunt this thing. Intercept it before it makes another Josie Mulfetta.”
    “And another Vinnie Santini,” Jeff said. “If it looks for groups of kids, so should we. Ken and I can see it, so we make two groups with one of us in each one.”
    “Well, boys,” Bob said. “Love to help, but I’ve got a shift to pull. I’ve got a break at five. Drop by and tell me how it’s going.”
    As Bob turned to leave, he almost bowled over Katy coming up to the bleachers.
    “Katy! Jesus! I nearly creamed you. Wear a bell or something.”
    Katy stepped around Bob and tapped her watch.
    “Late, Jeff?” she said. “I figured when the only the cars in the lot were from the Half Dozen, you’d all be back here.”
    “Katy,” Jeff said, with a combination of embarrassment and regret. “I’m sorry.” He pulled her around the corner out of earshot. He held her hand. “I know we were going to shop for prom corsages. I forgot. I’m sorry.”
    “Well there’s still time,” Katy said. “I don’t need to be home for an hour.”
    Jeff winced and braced for impact. “I can’t make it. We’ll do it tomorrow, OK?”
    Katy dropped his hand like a dead fish.
    “That’s twice you’ve cancelled this,” she said. “I’m the one who wants to go to prom. If you don’t want to go, say so. Don’t play around like this.”
    “That’s not it, Katy,” Jeff said. He glanced back at his friends under the bleachers. “I just can’t do it now. We’ll go tomorrow. I promise.”
    “Well, great,” Katy said. She gave the rest of the Half Dozen a rueful shake of her head. “And how the hell am I supposed to get home since the busses left half an hour ago?”
    “Bob can take you,” Jeff said. Bob was halfway to his car. “Bob!” he shouted across the parking lot. “Give a Katy a ride home, will ya?”
    “Are you nuts?” Katy whispered. Bob drove his mother’s old ’72 Duster. Bob had replaced the six-cylinder drive train with the innards of a 340 Barracuda. The exterior was an experiment in Bondo and two colors of primer. Major components tended to fail without notice.
    “What am I, a fucking taxi?” Bob shouted. “C’mon, Katy. I’m already running late.”
    “I’ll take you, Katy,” Dave offered. He hopped off the bleacher. “I’ve got to go anyhow.”
    “Thank you,” Katy said.
    “Fill me in on the ghost story later, man,” Dave said to Ken.
    Katy gave Jeff a look that could freeze a roaring fire. Then she followed Dave across the parking lot.
    “I’ve seen that look,” Paul said to Jeff. “She wants your nuts in a vise.”
    “We’ll work it out,” Jeff said.
    “Let’s get going,” Ken said. “Those who see the Woodsman with those who don’t. Paul and Jeff in one car. Marc and me in another.”
    “Ken,” Marc said, “drop me at the library instead. I want to check if Josie was the first ‘accident’ a kid has met up with.”
    And with an optimism fueled by youth, two-thirds of the Half Dozen went out to find a needle in a haystack.

Chapter Eighteen
    Katy