7 Steps to Midnight by Richard Matheson Read Free Book Online Page A

out what was going on but he said he couldn’t tell me, it was secret.”
    “Sure.” He slipped the card into his shirt pocket, then kneaded at his neck, grimacing. “I wish I hadn’t fallen asleep in that position.”
    “Turn to the right,” she told him.
    He did and felt her strong fingers begin to massage gently at the back of his neck. At first, the pressure made him hiss with pain but, little by little, it began to fade.
    “The thing I don’t understand at all,” she said, “is Louise’s reaction to your phone call. It doesn’t make any sense.”
    “I know.”
    “She actually said you and
Maureen
?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’m going to have to talk with her.”
    His eyes were closed now, his neck feeling better. “What should I do, Mom?” he asked her.
    “I’m not sure,” she said.
    “I mean, should I give myself up? Let the police figure it out?”
    “Well…” She sounded uncertain. “The man said that, above all, you shouldn’t contact any authorities. He said it was the worst thing you could do.”
    “Considering what he did to me, that makes giving myself up to the authorities look pretty good.”
    She kept working on his neck. “What happened to your hand?” she asked.
    “My porch siding is redwood,” he told her. “I leaned against it.”
    “We’ll get them out before you go,” she said.
    He swallowed. “Go where, Mom?”
    She didn’t reply for several moments. Then she said, “I wouldn’t go to the authorities.”
    He turned in surprise to look at her. “You
wouldn’t
?”
    She gazed at him inquiringly. “You think it has something to do with your work?” she asked.
    “There’s no other answer I can come up with,” he answered. “That makes any sense, I mean.”
    She got up and went to get her sewing box and a bottle of Bactine. Returning with them, she started removing the redwood splinters from his palm and fingers. Chris gritted his teeth as she did.
    “Is what you do so crucial that…?” She didn’t finish.
    “That people would like to know about it? Yes,” he answered. He hissed with pain. Then he made an amused sound. “Except if they knew how far I was from an answer, they’d be sorry they started all this.”
    He watched his mother’s face. He knew that expression. She was analyzing.
    “There’s no other factor in this?” she asked.
    “No,” he said. He hesitated. “Unless…”
    “What?” she asked.
    Chris sighed. He was sorry he’d brought it up. What if Mom put too much credence in it?
    “
What
, Chris?” she persisted.
    “Well…”
    He told her about Veering and their conversation. When he was finished, his mother grunted softly. “Curiouser and curiouser,” she said.
    “You don’t really believe—”
    “I believe he could be part of this,” she said.
    Chris looked startled. He’d never thought of that. He’d vacillated back and forth between two possibilities—a plot against him versus Veering’s wager. How very shrewd of his mother to join them together.
    “But
how
?” he asked. “I mean, how would the two fit together?”
    “Both of them have made you doubt your sanity,” she answered.
    “Of course,” he said. It was so obvious. He repressed his overriding feeling that none of it actually made sense. On a lower scale of logic, however, it
did
make sense that all of it was part of one conspiracy—whatever that conspiracy might be and however senseless it seemed at the moment.
    “Who would want to
do
all this?” he asked. “And why make it all—”
    “
Chris.
” She clutched at his wrist.
    Twisting around, he saw that the car had returned.
    For a moment, he didn’t know what to do. His mother decidedfor him, pulling him to his feet and walking him rapidly to the kitchen. “Go out the back way,” she said. “I’ll talk to them and give you time. Where are you parked?”
    “Around the corner.”
    “Good.” She kissed him quickly on the cheek. “Go right away,” she said.
    “You don’t