“Only her hairdresser knows for sure,” Barbara said.

Larry took a sip of his wine. He felt more than a little light-headed. We’ve all been drinking too much, he thought. Joking around too much. Doesn’t anyone realize?..

Going out to fool with a dead person.

“Let me say something,” he said. They all looked at him except Lane. She was sitting beside Hal, frowning at her empty plate. “Bonnie Saxon was a sweet and beautiful young woman, murdered. She was just a little older than Lane, and she would’ve had a whole life ahead of her if some goddamn nut hadn’t...” Larry’s voice started to tremble, and tears filled his eyes. “It shouldn’t have happened. It was a cruel...” He sobbed. He shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.

“You’d better lay off the stuff,” Jean warned.

“Eighty-six Lar,” Barbara blurted.

“I think what Dad said is right.” Lane sounded upset. She looked angry. “This isn’t a movie, you know. That corpse out in the garage wasn’t put together by a special effects department. She was a real girl. Some damn bastard...”

“Lane!”

“I’m sorry, Mom, but really. You’re all kidding around about this thing like it’s fun and games. Will she or won’t she sit up and say boo! Well, it’s real, and she’s really dead. Just because she’s got a stake in her chest, it’s a Halloween party. How do you think her parents would feel if they were here listening to all this shit?”

“Watch your language, young lady.”

“What if that was meout there? Would you all party it up and go out with a video camera?..”

“Stop it!” Jean snapped.

Lane lowered her head. “I just think you should leave the poor girl alone. It’s not right.”

“Nothing good can come of it,” Larry muttered.

“Well, I’m in agreement with that,” Jean said. “I just want the body gone.”

“Now, hold on a minute,” Pete said. “None of us are ghouls, here. Me and Larry know this is serious business. God knows, we faced down her murderer Saturday and damn near got ourselves wasted. So maybe we’re all a little edgy about this business, and maybe we’re carrying on a bit too much. But that’s no reason to call things off. Somebody’s gonna take that stake out of her. If it isn’t us, it’ll be people from the cops, or the coroner’s, or someone. It might as well be us. Our book depends on it, right, Lar?”

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“We’ve gone this far. We’ve gotta see it through.” Looking at Lane, he added, “It’s not like we’ll be desecrating the body. The girl’s already been desecrated by that lunatic Uriah. We pull out the stake, we’ll be un-desecrating her. It’ll be doing her a favor.”

“Especially if she’s a vampire,” Barbara said.

Jean, groaning, rolled her eyes upward.

“What do you think, Hal?” Barbara asked.

Solemnly, he shook his head. “I’m just here as an impartial observer. But I have to say that Larry and Pete won’t have much of a book if they don’t go ahead with pulling out the stake.”

“My man,” Pete said.

“I think we should eat before the roast gets cold,” Jean said.

Nobody spoke much during the meal. Larry felt ravenous. As he forked beef and mashed potatoes into his mouth, he noticed that the others were also gobbling their food as if they’d been starved. Everyone except Lane. When the others were done, her plate looked as if it had hardly been touched.

“Are we ready, pardner?” Pete asked.

“As we’ll ever be,” Larry said, his heart suddenly thumping so hard he felt dizzy.

“Hang on, I’ll get my camera.”

“Think I’ll pay a visit to Mr. Toilet,” Barbara said.

They both left the room.

“That was a delicious dinner, Jean,” Hal said.

“Well, thank you. I made some Black Forest pie for dessert, but I think we should wait and have it afterward. Let the boys get this nonsense out of their systems first.”

Pete returned with the camcorder he’d left in the living room. “Let’s hope this one survives the night,” he said.

“Just don’t pull any cute tricks like last time,” Jean told him.

“Not a chance.”

When Barbara came back, she said, “All set.”

They went to the kitchen door. As Larry slid it open, Jean said, “I think I’d better pay a visit, too. Go on ahead. I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Right,” Pete said. “Let’s not have any more accidents.”

The others followed Larry outside. He started to shudder as he strode toward the garage. Hunching over, he hugged his chest. He clenched his teeth.

Oh Bonnie, he thought. Here we come, ready or not.

Stopping at the garage door, he dug into a front pocket of his pants. He brought out the keys. The padlock felt like ice in his hand as he tried to hold it steady. The key shook, but finally he got it in. He twisted it and the lock dropped open. He removed it, flipped away the latch, and tugged the door sideways a few feet. He dropped the padlock into his pocket, where it pressed heavy and cold against his thigh.

Jean entered ahead of them. Seconds later the overhead bulb came on and the others stepped into the garage.

Larry was surprised to see the ladder down. Had someone been in here?

Then he remembered that they hadn’t put it up again after the last try.

He stared at the dark opening to the attic.

“What’s this?” Hal nudged Pete’s bow, which lay on the concrete floor beside the quiver of arrows.

“Our insurance,” Pete told him. “Just in case she gets lively after we take out the stake. Hey, maybe you’d like to keep her covered with that. I’ll be busy filming. Any good at archery?”

“I used to be pretty fair,” he said, as he picked up the bow. “I’m no William Tell but...”

“It’ll be point-blank.”

“It won’t be necessary,” Jean said to Hal. “Just more of their foolishness.”

“Well, I’ll be happy to play along.” He left the quiver on the floor, but slipped an arrow out.

“Good man,” Pete said. “Just go for the heart if she turns out to be Dracula’s daughter.”

Hal chuckled softly and nodded.

Pete took a step toward his wife and raised the camera toward her.

“No way, Jose.”

“Hey, come on.”

“And break this one?”

“Don’t be such a pussy.”

“Screw you.”

“Come on, Barb! This is no time to be...”

“I’ll do it,” Jean offered. “Show me how it works.”

“Great. Just get us coming down with the coffin. Then I’ll take over and get Larry when he unsticks the babe.” He gave the camera to Jean, showed her how to hold it, and pointed out the viewfinder. “It’s all set,” he said. “Automatic focus, the whole ball of wax. Just push this button here, and you’re rolling.”

He turned away from her. He grinned at Larry and rubbed his hands together. “Anything you want to say for our home viewers?”

“Let’s just do it,” he said. His voice came out shaky.

Pete slapped his upper arm, then hurried past him to the ladder. As he started to climb, he glanced back at Jean. “You getting this?”

“Yeah.”

Larry waited until Pete crawled onto the attic floor. Then he began climbing. Though he didn’t feel especially cold, he couldn’t stop shaking. His bowels ached. His legs seemed so weak that he feared they might give out.

In a few minutes, he told himself, it’ll all be over.

I’ll be yours forever, Bonnie seemed to whisper in his mind.

What if it’s true? he thought.

It’s not. She’s dead. Her “voice” is nothing more than my damned imagination trying to mess with me.

What if she doescome back to life?

As Larry’s head rose into the gloom of the attic, he saw himself in bed, Bonnie straddling him, naked and more beautiful than any woman he’d ever had.

What if it could be that way?

He paused, his mind full of her. He could feel her warm hands roaming over his skin, feel the moist softness of her lips, her breasts brushing against his chest, and then her slick tightness sliding down as she slowly impaled herself.