The Chase Page 0,11

captured and you have to go back to the monster lair. And you have to stay there until another lamb comes and lets you out-"

"Or until the monster eats you," Cam put in harshly.

Kiah's eyes flashed. "But he can't eat you until he's got all the lambs there. Ev-er-y sin-gle one."

Cops and robbers, Jenny thought. With only one cop and lots of robbers. The new name seemed a little savage, though, and so did the look in Cam-the-monster's eyes. God, I wonder what it must be like for him at home, she thought.

"Cam," she said. His hard blue eyes fixed on her. "Cam, did your parents tell you what we said happened to Summer?"

He nodded tightly.

"Well-" Jenny had a feeling that Aba might not approve of what she was going to do next. But all these kids knew Cam, they cared. Jenny felt more of a connection here than she had anywhere else.

"Well-I know it sounds crazy. I know your mom and dad don't believe it. But, Cam, it was the truth. We didn't hurt Summer, and we didn't mean to let anybody else hurt her. You just don't know how sorry-" The tears spilled suddenly, embarrassingly. Cam looked away and Jenny tried to get a grip on herself.

"And what we're doing now is trying to stop the person who hurt her from hurting anybody else," she whispered, feeling stupidly like somebody on TV- "America's Most Wanted."

Joey had joined the group and was flushed to his yellow hair roots with the humiliation of having a teenage sister bawling on the sidewalk. But Cam's tight look eased slightly.

"You mean all that stuff kids are saying about you guys looking for a cardboard house is true?"

"Are they saying that? Good." It's working, Jenny thought. The junior grapevine. There was something heartening in these kids' expressions. They weren't closed off like adults, but open, interested, speculative. "Listen," she said. "We're still looking for that house, and now we're looking for something else. A girl who was friends with P.C. Serrani." For the hundredth time that day she described the Crying Girl.

The kids listened.

"We really, really want to talk to her," Jenny said.

Then she explained why. Why they needed the girl and why they needed the house. She explained, more or less, about Julian. A watered-down version, but the truth.

When she finished, she let out a long breath-and saw something like determination coalescing in the steady young gazes. They'd weighed her claims, and they were willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Even Joey, who'd been running away from her for the last two weeks, looked halfway convinced.

"We'll look for the girl tomorrow," he said briefly. "We'll talk to kids who've got, like, brothers or sisters in junior high. Because they might know her."

"Exactly!" Jenny said, pleased. She spared him the humiliation of being kissed by his sister in public. "Just be careful. If you see the paper house, do not touch it."

The last traces of doubt were wiped from the young faces, and there were grim nods. Her urgency had gotten through. She felt as if she'd recruited a team of small private detectives.

"Thanks," she said, and, feeling it was time for a judicious retreat, she gestured Audrey toward the next house.

"One more game," somebody behind her said, and somebody else said, "But who's going to be It?"

"Cam, unless he can guess who puts the eye in," Kiah's sweet voice fluted. On the doorstep Jenny glanced toward the street.

Cam was turned around, undergoing some elaborate ritual for picking the next It. "I draw a snake upon your back," Kiah chanted, tracing a wiggly shape. "Who will put in the eye?"

Somebody lunged forward and poked Cam between the shoulder blades. "Courtney!" Cam shouted.

"Wrong! You're the monster again!"

The door opened to Audrey's knocking. "Yes?"

Jenny tried to tear her attention from the game. Something about it... and about that snake thing ... were all children's games that gruesome? And their stories? The better to eat you with, my dear....

Maybe kids know something adults don't know, Jenny thought, chilled, as a lady asked them into the house.

When they came out, the sky was periwinkle blue and losing its color to the east. The light was fading. The street was empty.

Good, Jenny thought, glad that Joey was on his way home-maybe even home by now.

"Want to finish this block?" Audrey said, surprising her.

"I-sure. Why not?"

They worked their way down one side of the street and up the other. Jenny could feel herself getting more and more