The Lamplighters by Frazer Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

the door, “Jessie! Christ, you shared the shit out of me!”
    “I’m sorry, toots. I’ll wait for you on the porch,” she held up a freshly rolled joint. “Okay?”
    Minutes later, dressed in clean jeans and t-shirt, Marla stepped out into the evening air and sat down next to Jessie on the porch. The joint was already lit, the fiery orange tip dancing like a firefly as Jessie passed it to her. Marla inhaled the smoke gently—it smelled pretty potent. She coughed, hard. This was the strongest skunk she’d ever tasted. Jessie laughed at her joyously. Marla started to giggle too, through her coughing rasps.
    “Where the hell did you get this stuff?”
    “I could tell you,” smiled Jessie, taking the joint back from Marla.
    “But then you’d have to kill me, right?”
    “Exactamundo.”
    What sounded like an owl sang in the distance. Night had arrived.
    “How long have you worked here, Jessie?”
    “Oh, too long really. I came here just over six months ago. Was bumming around in San Fran with nothing to do, saw the job ad and a coupla weeks later here I was.” She paused for a moment, as if winding down. “Do you like it here, Marla?”
    “Yes. Yes I really do.”
    “Good. Hold onto that feeling for as long as possible toots.”
    “What do you mean? Don’t you like it here?”
    “I do… I mean I did, I guess. But after a while, this place just seems to…” She paused. “I’m sorry, it’s your first day. Not fair to put a dampener on things on your first day. My bad.”
    “No, it’s okay. Go on.”
    “It’s no big deal really. You do any job for a while and it becomes…just a job, y’know?”
    Marla nodded quietly. After a while, this place just seems to get to you. Marla felt certain that’s what Jessie had meant to say.
     
    The trees creaked in the balmy air. From the shadows of their trunks, he watched the girls with hungry eyes. They were smoking and talking together, blissfully unaware of his presence. He sniffed at the smell of their smoke, absorbing their pollutants. He would know all of their scents soon enough. And they would know him.

Chapter Ten
    Breathing frantically, Marla was running for her life. The path down to the jetty was treacherous, and she almost fell a couple of times as the gravel slid beneath her feet. Her pursuer was gaining on her. He knew the terrain. She could almost feel him on her back as she hurtled down the gangway and onto the wooden jetty. Her heavy footfalls echoed off the rocks as she sprinted, full pelt, towards the security hut. Then, fuck , she lurched to a halt as Adam stepped out of the hut in front of her, brandishing a pistol. No , she tried to cry as he lifted the weapon and pointed it at her head but no sound would come.
    Bang.
    The bullet pierced her forehead, burned into her brain and rested there, molten hot. Her knees became fluid and she toppled over the side of the jetty, hitting the water with a splash.
    Splash . Marla awoke violently and turned off the alarm clock, blinking away her nightmare. Sunlight was creeping in through the window blinds. Her bedding was in violent disarray. That was the last time she’d eat cheese and smoke a joint before bedtime, she told herself. Idiot.
    Showered and full of coffee and breakfast, Marla set out across the lawn to work. Her first day’s work on the island. She took the key from her pocket and stepped inside the palatial house, again marveling at its size. A majestic staircase, which looked as though some visionary Swedish architect had designed it, swept upwards from the lobby inviting her to explore upstairs. Marla took a first tentative step on the stairs, as though not wanting to wake anyone who was up there, sleeping. Of course, no one was—but the feeling of being an intruder in someone else’s house was pervasive, and it would take Marla some time to get used to it. Wandering around the upper floor, she looked inside each of the five bedrooms, each with its own luxurious en suite bathroom.