Night Things: A Novel of Supernatural Terror by Michael Talbot Read Free Book Online Page A

conversation remained desultory. When they finished she tried a different approach.
    “You know, it’s an awfully pretty night out,” she said, looking out the window. “What do you say we all go out and sit on the veranda for a while?”
    The suggestion seemed to appall Garrett, but it was Stephen who spoke first. “Great idea, honey! But first I gotta make a call. When I talked to Marty today he told me that one of the junior execs at the record company okayed an ad design for a teen magazine without running it by me first. I promised Marty I’d call him back tonight so we could figure out what to do about it.”
    “But that won’t take long, will it?”
    He grinned sheepishly. “I hope not. But you know how Marty is.”

Once the plan no longer included Stephen, Garrett became more amenable to Lauren’s suggestion, and after she finished cleaning up they went out onto the veranda to sit. To Lauren’s delight the night was now alive with the stridulations of insects and the cool mountain air was even more redolent with the smell of pines than before, but all of this seemed lost on Garrett. He remained as withdrawn as ever, so much so that by the time she tucked him in that night, leaving him to contend with the darkness of the house armed with no more than a First Alert flashlight, she had grown quite concerned.
    When she entered the master bedroom, her own flashlight clenched tightly in her hand, she saw Stephen had left only one large candelabrum burning on a nightstand and was already in bed.
    “So how did your phone call go?” she asked.
    “Fine.”
    “Did you get the ad withdrawn?”
    “No, I got the junior exec fired.”
    She looked at him with surprise. “Over one mistake? Isn’t that a bit drastic?”
    He smiled at her gently. “Honey, that’s the way the game is played. Part of the reason I’ve gotten where I am today is that I’ve controlled my image very carefully. The only way I can maintain that sort of control is to run a tight ship. I just can’t afford to allow slipups like that.” She understood his reasoning, but the severity of his action seemed a little extreme. Finally, realizing she had much more pressing concerns than worrying about the fate of the junior exec, she returned her attention to the matter at hand.
    “Stephen, I’m worried about Garrett,” she said as she slipped off her shoes.
    He rolled over in the sheets, his face half eclipsed in the circle of light cast by the candelabrum. “Why?”
    She clicked off the flashlight and started to unbutton her blouse.
    “I don’t know... after the way the evening ended I just felt a little funny leaving him all alone in a strange house without electricity.”
    “He’s not all alone.”
    “You know what I mean,” she said as she slipped out of her dress.
    Stephen snorted and then reached out to pull her into the bed. As he did so he pulled free from the sheets. The golden sheen of the candlelight on his naked and wellmuscled torso was arousing, but she avoided his grasp.
    He seemed to get the point and sat up in the bed. “Okay, so did Garrett say he was afraid?”
    “Nooo,” she drawled as she took off the last of her clothing and put on a light silk robe.
    “Then what’s the problem?”
    “The problem is that I’m not so sure he would tell me if he was afraid. He can be a very proud little boy. Sometimes its like trying to pry secrets out of the devil to get him to talk.”
    Stephen exhaled loudly. “So what do you suggest we do?”
    She looked at him, a trifle irritated, then suddenly it hit her that perhaps he had been more unnerved by what Garrett had said than she had realized. “Garrett’s little talk about getting aboard UFOs really got to you, didn’t it?”
    “Sort of,” he conceded. “Didn’t it bother you a bit?”
    “A bit, but it’s all part of being a little boy.”
    “I understand,” he said too quickly, and something in the tone of his voice seemed unconvincing. “Well, why did you get