The Prom Queen by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online

same psycho. I snapped the radio off.
    Something was bothering me. Something stuck in my mind. Something I had begun to remember, but then forgot.
    Lucas . . . Justin . . . Simone going to baseball practice.
    Baseball! The team!
    Yes.
    The dark blur.
    The running figure, carrying the gray sack.
    The picture suddenly came a little clearer.
    I pulled the car to the curb and tried to catch my breath.
    I had just remembered something very important about the man I saw running away through Simone’s backyard.
    And what I remembered scared me to death.

Chapter

7
    â€œG uess who called me last night and asked me to the prom?” I said. “Lucas Brown!”
    â€œ No! ” shrieked Dawn and Rachel.
    We were in my green Toyota Tercel, heading for the Division Street Mall. It was a quarter to five on Wednesday night. Two long weeks had passed since Simone had disappeared. Two weeks with no call from any kidnapper. Two weeks that must have seemed like ten years to Mr. and Mrs. Perry.
    I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her for a minute. No matter what I talked about now, she was there, like a dark shadow, following me everywhere.
    â€œTell me what he said, word for word,” insisted Dawn.
    â€œHe said, ‘Guess who you’re going to the prom with? Me!’ ”
    Dawn and Rachel both laughed at my imitation of his voice and abrupt manner. I wasn’t laughing, though. The phone call had given me a chill.
    â€œWhat did you say to him?” Rachel asked.
    â€œI was very polite. I pretended he wasn’t a creep. I said thanks, but I was still hoping Kevin would get permission to come. Which is the truth.”
    â€œAnd not only that, you think Lucas is a psycho killer,” Rachel added. “Just what any girl wants for a prom date.”
    â€œYou don’t really think that,” Dawn said to me. “Oh, come on,” she said. “Lucas?”
    â€œHey,” I said, “I just think he’s weird, that’s all. Everybody thinks so. And then, there’s the jacket.”
    That’s what I had remembered as I left Simone’s house. The guy I saw running away from the Perry house was wearing a maroon satin jacket. Same as the Shadyside High baseball jackets.
    Dawn’s legs appeared in my rearview mirror. She was lying in the backseat, doing leg lifts. “Can’t you two talk about anything else?” she said.
    â€œNo,” I answered simply. “As a matter of fact, we can’t.”
    â€œOkay,” Dawn said, “so he was wearing a maroon jacket. That doesn’t mean he was on the baseball team. Psychos are allowed to wear maroon too, you know.”
    â€œYeah, but don’t you see?” I removed one handfrom the wheel and sawed the air with it to emphasize my point. “Lucas is on the baseball team. It’s the one thing he has to be proud of, even though he almost never plays. He almost always wears that jacket.”
    â€œOh, come on,” Dawn said. “Why would Lucas Brown kill Simone?”
    â€œRevenge. He’s hated Simone’s guts ever since she dumped him.”
    â€œGet serious,” Dawn said. “People don’t go around murdering people who’ve dumped them!”
    â€œLucas isn’t just anybody,” I reminded her. “He’s a first-class lunatic.”
    â€œAnd his eyes are a little crossed,” Rachel chimed in.
    Dawn snickered. “Having an eye problem doesn’t make him a murderer.”
    â€œWell, he’s definitely on the weird side, that’s for sure,” Rachel said. “I heard when his parents decided to put his dog to sleep, Lucas went out and hanged it from a maple tree in his backyard.”
    â€œOh, puh-lease,” groaned Dawn. “Where’d you hear that garbage?”
    â€œGideon,” admitted Rachel, blushing. I took my eyes off the road and glanced at her. It occurred to me that Gideon was on