Sweet Dreams by William W. Johnstone Read Free Book Online Page A

come from?” Heather asked, holding onto Marc’s arm.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œMarc, that was not here a minute ago.”
    â€œOh, come on, Heather!”
    â€œNo, you come on, Marc. We all walked all the way around this place. Don’t you think one of us would have seen something that ugly hanging from the fence?”
    â€œYeah . . . I guess so. Then somebody is hiding around here. Somebody is trying to scare us.”
    â€œWell, somebody sure did.” Heather took a deep breath. “Hey!” she shouted, her voice carrying shrilly around the dig site. “Who are you and what do you want?”
    There was no reply – only the silence of the dig site. No birds sang, the wind did not blow. Hot stillness greeted them.
    Marc peered down into the darkness of the chambered pit. “Maybe somebody’s down there,” he said, pointing. “Hiding.”
    Heather did not reply. She was too intent on studying the mask.
    The wooden, ornately feathered mask was about two and a half feet in length. Its nose was crooked. Its open, painted mouth was cruel, as were its red eyes. The eyes seemed almost real.
    â€œIt’s . . . ugly,” Marc said.
    â€œIt’s evil,” Heather countered. She backed up a few feet and stepped to one side. The shadows created by the canvas above them almost completely hid the shape of the mask. It seemed to blend into the murkiness.
    Marc experienced a vast sense of relief. “Now we know why we didn’t see it before.”
    â€œYeah,” the girl said. “Maybe.” But she wasn’t entirely convinced. She looked more closely at the mask. It was even more hideous up close. The hair appeared to be real. She wondered where it came from. Its face was long and narrow, with a wide mouth. Its fanglike teeth were widely spaced and long – needle-pointed, both top and bottom, and its eyes were huge and red, with tiny black dots for pupils. They were the cruelest eyes Heather had ever seen.
    She shook her head and stepped away from the thing. She backed into Marc and both of them jumped in fright.
    â€œHeather,” Marc gave way to his emotions, not caring whether she thought him chicken, or not. “Let’s get out of here.”
    She led the way.
    Had either of the young people turned around, they would have seen the eyes come to life, shifting, following them. The mouth of the mask curved ever so slightly, exposing jagged shark’s teeth. Moisture formed on the lips of the mask and dripped down, plopping into the dust of the earth. Red moisture. Blood.
    Then a faint white light enveloped the mask, and it slowly dissolved into the light, once more becoming that which it was.

5
    â€œHe’s a son of a bitch,” Lisa slurred the words drunkenly. “And I’m gonna take him for every dime he’s got.” She looked at her diamond-encrusted watch. Eight-thirty.
    â€œYou’d better not attempt to drive back to Good Hope,” the man with her said. He put a hand on her leg and slipped it under her dress, caressing the softness of her thigh.
    Lisa pushed the hand from her. “I’m fine,” she said. “And keep your goddamn hands to yourself. Don’t you ever get enough?”
    The man laughed. “Not of you, baby,” he told her. “I’m gettin’ another hard on.”
    â€œThen go stick it in your wife,” Lisa told him. “I’m leaving.”
    She pushed away from the bar and lurched toward the door. Ignoring the concerned calls of those who had left the party and gone to the bar, Lisa stumbled toward her car. Outside, she leaned against a Mercedes for a moment, then staggered to her own car. She managed to unlock the door and fell into the Cadillac. After several attempts, she got the key into the ignition and cranked the engine, racing the motor. She dropped the transmission into D and spun around on the gravel, spraying stones over a dozen parked