Fishing in Brains for an Eye with Teeth (Thirteen Tales of Terror) Read Online Free Page A

strained from holding back sobs.  “This has to be done.”
    “Please, please, please!” said Laura, getting louder with each repetition.  She heard the thunk-scuttle of two shoes (boots?) being kicked off.  “Nooooo!”
    “Why do you fight me, Baby?” asked the monster, sounding terribly sad.  “Don't you know how much I love you?” 
    The sound of a belt buckle being unhitched— a zipper being pulled down— the soft fluttle of clothes hitting the floor—
    “Don't you see how much I love you?”
    “Please, Daddy!  No!”
    (The-Jack-inside-Laura was so shocked, he nearly became himself again.)
    “Daddy has to, Laura.  Daddy needs you.”  (There was no mistaking the voice this time.  Once again, Jack's mind popped to the top of their pooled identity, like a hot fishing bobber on a cold lake.)
    In a very clear voice, Laura said, “I can't feel anything anymore!”
    Doctor Edward Eaton DDS sighed heavily.  “Perhaps that's for the best.”
    Bed springs squeaked as additional weight was added to them.
    Laura quietly wept.
    In a husky voice, very close to her (his) ear, Ed declared, “I adore you, Sweetheart.”
    Sheriff Jack Carver had heard more than enough.
    ******
    He bounded off the table, nearly knocking both Evata and Flora over.  “Oh my God!” he shouted.  “Oh my God, no!”
    “What—?” began Clara.
    He cut her off, wailing, “Ed is the Cornfield Killer!”
    Jack dug into his pockets for his cell-phone and realized he didn't have it on him.  “You have to go,” he said to Clara.  “I'm sorry but I need to go.”
    Clara looked over at Ivona, who was slack-faced and sluggish.  “It will be a few minutes before my sister regains her composure.  Do what you have to do, Sheriff.  We can lock up behind us.  I take it you know this 'Ed' person?”
    Jack laughed shrilly, tears springing up in his eyes.  “He's my best friend.”  He dashed to his china cabinet, where he had put both his gun and his cell-phone.  He picked up his weapon first, checking to make sure it was loaded.  Pushing a lump of emotion deeper down his throat, he told Clara, “He lives next door!”
    Flora exclaimed, “How horrible!”
    “Exactly,” Jack agreed with her. 
    He flipped his cell open and called the station.  Connecting to Deputy Shawhan, his man on the night watch, Jack gushed, “I know who Our Boy is.”
    Of course, Shawhan wanted to know, “Who is it?”
    Unable to say Ed's name, Jack rasped, “It's my neighbor.”
    After soliciting a promise from Shawhan to send backup, Jack ended the call.
    Vividly, he remembered Laura saying, “ Please, Daddy, no !”
    As he dashed out of the dining room into his front hall, he told the sisters, “No need to lock up!  Just let yourselves out!”  He rushed out his front door, shouting, “And thanks!”
    Jack lived on East 5 th Street, in a residential neighborhood twelve blocks east of downtown Middleridge.  Mailboxes and old maple trees lined the sidewalk next to the street, casting short and tall shadows.  Lamp poles bathed the rows of two-story houses in pale orange light. 
    His gun leading the way, Jack hurried off his own property, onto the Eaton's front lawn.
    Tasting chicken from The Red Brick House, Jack remembered all that sweaty weight on top of him— Ed's weight.
    Thoughts zipped through his head at twice their usual speed.  He knew Ed had a large basement, which included an enclosed workshop where he kept all his tools.  Jack imagined Laura locked up down there, not twenty yards from where Jack sleeps.
    Worried for Joanie too, he suddenly remembered what Ed said earlier about his wife being doped up on Valium all the time.  He wondered, Is that what he's got Laura on?
    After hurrying up the five steps onto Ed's front porch, Jack hesitated.  He knew he should wait for backup.  Obviously, Ed was not only deranged, he was dangerous.
    Fearing for Laura, Jack kicked in the Eaton's front door.
    He didn't bother calling out any