Vampire Lodge by Edward Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

black dresses and all.”
    Kevin lowered his voice to a sharp
whisper. “That’s not what I mean. Don’t you think it was weird that
she didn’t eat anything during dinner?”
    Jimmy paused, drying a plate. “You
know, you’re right. She didn’t eat. It was just us.”
    “ And did you see the weird
way she looked up when Becky told her I was interested in
vampires?”
    Jimmy paused yet again, thinking.
“Well, yeah, I guess you’re right. I guess she did look pretty
weird now that you mention it.”
    But before Kevin could say anything
more, a gust of wind blew in, and then the back door to the kitchen
slammed.
    And Wally walked in.
    “ Hey, guys,” he said. His
long hair was wet from the rain, and he had a bunch of firewood in
his arms. “Carolyn told me to bring in some firewood, said she was
running low.”
    “ Oh,” Kevin said, and he
couldn’t think of much else to say. All he could remember was how
they’d seen Wally in the woods earlier…
    “ Uh, uh,” Kevin said, “I
think Becky was looking for you. She’s around here
someplace.”
    “ Any idea
where?”
    “ Probably out in the hearth
room, near the fireplace,” Kevin told him.
    “ Okay, thanks,” Wally said.
Then he walked off toward the hearth room with his armload of fire
wood.
    “ Maybe we should’ve asked
him,” Jimmy speculated. “Asked him what he was doing digging in the
woods today.”
    “ I don’t know,” Kevin said,
rinsing off the last plate under the running faucet. “That would
just tip him off that we saw him. Then he might tell Bill and get
us in trouble.”
    “ Yeah, I guess you’re
right. The last thing either of us need is that old creep giving us
a hard time.”
    But that gave Kevin an idea. He
quickly peeked out into the hearth room and saw Becky talking to
Wally as he loaded the wood into the holder next to the fireplace.
Then Kevin peeked around the corner into the dining room and
foyer.
    No one was there.
    “ Look, you stay here,” he
told Jimmy, “and put the dishes away. I’m going back down that
hallway we were in this morning. If anyone comes, slam one of the
cabinets real hard so I’ll hear it and know to come
back.”
    “ Well, okay,” Jimmy said.
“But do you think it’s a good idea to go back there. Bill already
caught you there once.”
    “ I know, but he’s probably
not there now. What would he be doing at the lodge this late? I
want to check some things out real fast.”
    “ All right,” Jimmy agreed.
“But be careful.”
    Kevin quickly turned the corner at the
back of the kitchen and was at once standing in the long dim rear
hallway. Only a single, small light fixture glowed from high on the
back wall; Kevin could barely see. But he did notice more paintings
hanging on the paneling, dark, swirly paintings set into heavy,
ornate frames, just like the paintings in the den and foyer and
upstairs hallways. He stopped a moment to look at one…
    It was a large sailing ship, crashing
through waves on the high seas, its many huge white sails puffed
out from the wind. And like the painting in the foyer, this one had
a title. In tiny letters along the bottom, the artist had painted
the words:
    The Count’s Mighty Sailing
Ship, the Scrimm, on its Way to the Coast .
    The Count, Kevin thought, staring long-faced at the painting.
This was the second painting he’d seen that referred to “The
Count.”
    The Count, he thought again, with the faintest of shivers.
The word rang in his head like a bell.
    Count Dracula? he wondered. The most
powerful of all the vampires?
    It had to be. What other
Count could the painting be referring to? This really is weird, Kevin thought,
taking one last glance at the dark painting.
    But he’d come back here for
a reason, and looking at paintings wasn’t it. This was the same
hallway where they’d heard that click earlier this morning, and then
they’d seen Bill Bitner holding a shovel, and—
    It looked like he’d walked
right through the wall, Kevin