Abe finished folding the thick blue blanket from his bed.
Jack slung the strap of Hardy’s camera case over his shoulder.
“Go on out,” Abe told him. “I’ll be right with you.”
When they were alone, Tyler stepped into his arms. He held her gently against him. “Just try not to think about it too much,” he said.
“Oh, sure.”
“Go over and have a couple of cocktails with Nora. Tell her about our plans for tomorrow. If you don’t gulp your drinks, we’ll be on our way back by the time you finish your second.”
“You’d better be.”
“Count on it.” He kissed Tyler, and she pressed herself fiercely against him. Slipping his hands under her sweater, he caressed the warm smoothness of her back. “I love you so much,” he whispered.
“I love you, Abe.” She looked up at him. Her eyes were glossy with tears.
“Don’t let some guy pick you up while you’re waiting, or I’ll be really ticked.”
She almost smiled.
With a last, brief kiss, he eased out of her arms. He picked up the blanket and opened the door. Jack was standing by the Mustang, his hands on Nora’s hips.
“Let’s get,” Abe said. He opened the driver’s door, dropped the blanket onto the backseat and turned to Tyler. “See you in a while,” he said.
She nodded. With the back of one hand, she rubbed her nose. Nora went over to her. They stood side by side, silhouetted by the porch light behind them.
“If you’re not back in an hour,” Nora said, “we’ll call in the Marines.”
“Dipshit,” Jack called. “We are the Marines.”
She gave them a thumbs-up and Tyler waved as Abe backed the car away. He waved out the window, then turned on the headlights and steered up the center of the courtyard.
“This is gonna be good,” Jack said.
“I just wish we could’ve done it without the girls knowing.”
“No chance of that with Gory-babes popping the question in front of everyone.”
“He’s such an asshole.”
“Gutless, too. Shit, if I was gonna write a book about that joint, I’d want to get in there at night and see what it’s like. Catch the ambience, you know?”
“He’ll probably want to interview us about that,” Abe said, and turned left onto the road.
“If he does, let’s charge him for it. He throws around money like confetti.” Jack rolled down a window and stuck his elbow out. “His check better be good.”
“He wouldn’t dare stiff you.”
“I oughta hang onto him till I can get to a bank tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“You’d better. It’s half yours, you know.”
“I’m just along for the ride.”
“Bullshit. It’s fifty-fifty.”
“Just buy me a drink when we get back to the inn, and we’ll call it even.”
“You’re an easy guy to please.”
He slowed down as they entered the business area. The coffee shop where they’d eaten lunch was still open. So was a liquor store across the road from it, and a bar on the next block. Otherwise, the town seemed closed up for the night. The road was deserted except for a few cars and pickup trucks parked along its curbs.
“By the way,” Abe said, “how do you feel about the girls coming along with us tomorrow?”
“To the lodge, you mean?”
“That’s what I mean.”
“Well, all right!”
“No objections?”
“You kidding me?”
“Tyler’ll check with Nora about it tonight.”
“Nora will come. She’s hot for my bod. Who can blame her? It’s magnificent. So’s hers, by the way.”
“I’ve noticed.”
He laughed. “Yeah? How’d you manage that? You haven’t taken your eyes off Tyler since we got here. You two are really in it deep. Man, I’ve seen the way you look at each other. When’s the wedding?”
“We haven’t quite gone that far yet.”
“Really? That’s a surprise.”
“I want to spend a few more days with her before…”
“That’s it. Let her stew. Don’t wait too long, though, or she’ll propose to you.”
“I might enjoy that. What about you and Nora?”
“That gal’s a real kick in the ass, but I’m not gonna even think about getting tied down. Shit, I been married to the Corps for twelve years. I need to hang loose, you know? But I sure don’t mind hanging loose with her for a while. I’ve never had it so good, I’ll tell you that right now.”
Abe slowed down and turned his head to the left as they passed Beast House. The ticket booth was shuttered, the lawn beyond the fence dark. No light came from any of the windows. “Looks deserted,” he said.
“Wonder if Bobo’s in there.”
“I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”
The road curved and slanted upward into the wooded hills. Abe eased off the gas pedal. He searched the roadsides for a place to pull off, soon found a wide shoulder and swung over. He killed the headlights and engine.
In the silence, Jack said, “Do you think there is such a thing?”
“As Bobo?”
“Yeah.”
“Doesn’t seem likely. But you never know.” He reached in front of Jack, opened the glove compartment, and took out his .44 caliber Ruger Blackhawk. He removed a box of cartridges and stuffed it into a pocket of his nylon windbreaker. On the floor under his seat, he found his flashlight.
They climbed from the car.
Abe lifted the blanket off the backseat and clamped it under one arm. He pushed the barrel of his revolver down the back of his jeans. He held onto the flashlight, but didn’t turn it on.
They walked straight across the road, stepped through undergrowth on the far side, and leaped over a ditch. They made their way up the slope until Abe could no longer see the road through the trees. Then they traversed the hillside, following it downward. The foliage and dead pine needles crunched loudly under their shoes.
In a hushed voice, Jack said. “You know me, I’m not your superstitious type.”
“Except you carried a rabbit’s foot through three tours in Nam.”
“Well, that’s different. What I’m saying is, I’m the last guy who’s gonna believe in shit like ghosts and monsters, right?”
“So you say.”
“But, you know, this Bobo’s supposed to come from that island near Australia. Look at Australia. They’ve got animals there that look like jokes: kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, platypuses. Who’s to say Captain Frank’s old man couldn’t have run into some weirdo species and brought one back with him?”
“He could’ve.”
“We oughta keep an eye out for it.”
“I intend to.”
“We oughta try and bag the fucker.”
“We oughta try and get in, take the pictures as fast as we can, and get back to the girls. I don’t know about Nora, but Tyler’s so worried she can hardly keep herself together.”
“Gory’s paying a thousand for a few snapshots of the place, figure what he’d pay for that thing’s carcass.” Jack laughed quietly. “He’d probably get the damn thing stuffed and take it on Johnny with him.”
“Why don’t we get it stuffed and stand it up in the lobby of the lodge?” Abe suggested.
“Yeah! We can say it’s Bigfoot.”
“On second thought, Tyler wouldn’t go for that.”
“See? She’s already got you by the short hairs, and you’re not even married yet.”
Abe elbowed him. Then, through the trees ahead, he saw the side fence of Beast House. He pointed to the right. They started across the hillside, well above the fence and parallel to it.
“We’ll just sell the thing to Gory,” Jack whispered. “For a bundle. We’ll buy a beauty of a Chriscraft for the lodge.”