Monster by Christopher Pike Read Free Book Online

mind had snapped. Case closed.
    “Angie,” Jim said. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
    Jim was what was known as a tota lly r ad dude. God had desig ned his body and fitted him snugly into it. Jim was tall, six two , and built like a hardy redwood. Hi s hair was brown, always neat, and his face was chiselled. He had the broad shoulders and strong arms of an exp e ri enced quarterback . Yet his brown eyes were somehow clu msy or shy, as was his smile. He moved awkwardly for an a thlete. He didn't look particularly intelligent, and that was because if he ’ d had brains along with that body there would have been no resisting him.
    Angela had always been attracted t o Jim and was happy when he'd invited her to his party. She tried not to think about it now.
    “ Sure, we can talk ,” Angela said, s t anding beside her open car door. More than half the people weren't goi ng to the grave sites. Her car was trapped in the chapel p arking lot by at least three other cars. She wasn't going anyw here for a minute anywa y. “ How ’ s the leg? ” she asked.
    “Better,” Jim said, glancing down. “ She just winged me.” He looked up again, his eyes shifting to t he chapel, then back t o her . He seemed embarrassed . “ I just wan ted to thank you f or what you did Friday nigh t. You saved my life.”
    Angela chuckled softly. “L ieutenant Nguyen saved your life. He's the one you should thank.”
    “ I wouldn't have been alive for Nguyen to do an ything if you hadn't slowed Mary down at the house and i n the woods, ” Jim said. “ If there's anything I can do for you, ever, don't hesitate to ask. I mean that – seriously.”
    Angela blushed . “ Maybe some lonely night I'll take you up on that. No, just kidding. Thanks. I mean, it ’s OK.” Her tone b ecame serious, and she sighed. “I just wish I'd been able to do more – that we weren't having these fun erals today.”
    “ Ain't that the truth, ” Jim said. Twin black hearses waited in front of the chapel. Soon the coffins would be l oaded into them. Thankfully they'd remained closed during the ceremony. Word was that the mortician hadn't been able to do a thing with Kathy's head.
    “How are the families?” Angela asked.
    “ Real bad .” J im gestured helplessly. “ This is all so sudden. They want t o st ri ke back, bu t they can't.”
    “ Mary will be convicted. There's no chance she'll get off.”
    “I suppose, ” Jim said miserably. He s t uf f ed his hands in the pocket s of his underside grey suit and focused on his feet.
    Angela touched his arm. She could feel him shaking beneath her fingers. “ What happened? ” she asked . “Do you know?”
    Jim looked at her . “ Didn't you talk to her on Saturday? ”
    “Yeah. But I couldn't get anything out of her. ”
    “ Didn't she say anything? ”
    “Just a bunch of gibberish.”
    “Like what?”
    Angela shrugged. “ I can't even remember most of it.”
    Jim shook his head. “ What happened is I told her I wanted to break up with her and go out with other girls. She got real upset – actually it caught me by surprise. You know how strong Mary always is. So when she told me I couldn't leave her, that I belonged to her, I didn't know what to do. I avoided her at first, but she kept coming to ou r practices and wouldn't leave me alone. She cal led Todd and told him to tell her if I went out with any other girls . She cornered Kathy at school and told her if she so much as looked at me she'd kill her .”
    Angela frowned. “I can't believe Mary'd act that way.”
    “ You can't believe it? She was my girl – I thought I knew her better than anybody. ”
    “W h y did you want to break up with her? ” she asked .
    Jim glanced once more at the hearses, the steps of the chapel. The front l ine of pallbearers had appeared. Jim was prob ably supposed to be with them. “ This is a lousy plac e to be having this discussion,” he said.
    “We can talk about it later,” she said quickly.
    “