Uncollected Stories 2003 Read Online Free Page B

great-uncle Charlie. They were all
healthy as far as I knew. You could have knocked me over with a
feather when I picked up the telephone and heard Rankin's voice.
He spoke rapidly and a raw note of fear was in his voice. "Get out
here, right now! We need – "
There were sounds of a scuffle, a muffled scream, then a click and the
empty dial tone.
I hung, up and hurried back for Vicki. "Come on," I said.
She followed without questioning me. At first I wanted to drive her
back to the motel but the muffled scream made me decide that this was
an emergency. I didn't like either Rankin or Weinbaum, but I knew I
would have to help them.
We took off.
"What is it?" Vicki asked anxiously as I stamped on the go-pedal and
let the car unwind.
"Look," I said, "something tells me that you've got your secrets about
your guardian. I've got some of my own. Please, don't ask."
She didn't say another word.
I took possession of the passing lane. The speedometer climbed from
seventy-five to eighty-five, kept rising and trembled on the verge of
ninety. I pulled into the turnoff on two wheels and the car bounced,
clung and exploded up the road. Grim and gaunt against the overcast
sky, I could see the house. I pulled the car to a stop and was out in a
second.
"Wait here," I cried over my shoulder to Vicki. There was a light on in
the laboratory and I flung the door open. It was empty but ransacked.
The place was a mess of broken test tubes, smashed apparatus, and, yes,
bloodstains that trailed through the half-open door that led to the
darkened garage. Then I noticed the green liquid that was flowing over
the floor in sticky rivulets. For the first time I noticed that one of the
several sheeted tanks had been broken. I walked over to the other three.
The lights inside them were off and the sheets that draped them let by
no hint of what might have been under them – or, for that matter, what
was still under them. I had no time to see. I didn't like the looks of
blood, still fresh and uncoagulated, that led out of the front door into the
garage. I swung open the door and entered the garage. It was dark and I
didn't know where the light switch was. I cursed myself for not bringing
the flashlight that was in the glove compartment. I advanced a few steps
and realized that there was a cold draft blowing against my face. I
advanced toward it. The light from the lab threw a golden shaft of light
along the garage floor, but it was next to nothing in the Stygian
blackness of the garage. All my childish fears of the dark returned. Once
again I entered the realms of terror that only a child can know. I realized
that the shadow that leered at me from out of the dark might not be
dispelled by bright light.
Suddenly, my right foot went down. I realized that the draft was
coming from a stairway I had almost fallen down. For a moment I
debated, then turned and hurried back through the lab and out to the car.
Chapter Six
     
Vicki pounced on me as soon as I opened the door. "Danny, what are
you doing here?"
    Her tone of voice made me look at her. In the sickly yellow glow of
the light her face was terrified.
"I'm working here," I said shortly.
''At first I didn't realize where we were," she said softly. “I was only
here once before.”
"You've been here?" I exclaimed. "When? Why?"
"One night," she said quietly "I brought Uncle David his lunch. He
forgot it."
The name rang a bell. She saw me grasping for it. "My guardian," she
said. "Perhaps I'd better tell you the whole story. Probably, you know
that people don't get appointed guardians when they drink. Well, Uncle
David didn't always do those things. When my mother and father were
killed in a train-wreck four years ago, my Uncle David was the kindest
person you could imagine. The court appointed him my guardian until I
came of age, with my complete support."
For a moment she was quiet, living in memories and the expression
that flitted rapidly through her eyes was not