Page 36 (1/2)
"Wait!" said Krissy "There’s so a mask Or it looked like it, all black But he must have taken it off because when he pulled up it was off But I know I saw it That’s weird, isn’t it?"
"Could you see any of his face? When he had the mask on?"
"No, butit was dark Why would he do that? Is Molly okay? Do you think they’ll take her to the pound?"
"Uh, if you go around and talk to the police, they’ll explain everything"
As I walked away, John thanked Krissy for her cooperation and let her know that ould contact her if any more leads developed He hurried to catch up withshadow peopleperson"
"The what people?"
"You know goddaas They’re here Or at least one of them is I’ve seen them, Dave I’ve seen them around"
"No, they’re not and no, you haven’t"
When our butts landed in arette and asked, "Okay, what now?"
THE THING ABOUT video game basketball is that the cooes in when you shoot So say you’re playing against the computer team, you’re down by one and let’s say you take a last-second shot to win the gaainst that decides whether or not the digital ball goes through the digital hoop on that final shot So it can arbitrarilyis bullshit
But ere playing anyway, on o Bulls, led by Pierre Manslapper (you can name your own players if you want) It was an hour after the thing with Molly and the dead weather guy
"So," John said, glancing at his watch "You think the cops talked to Wexler?"
"Who?"
"Danny Wexler, the sports guy? Because of the thing with the weather guy getting killed?"
"The weather guy was killed by Molly That’s how it’ll go down, dog attack Case closed And Molly is dead so"
"You’re being stupid, you know that? You think we should call Marconi?"
I shrugged "You do what you want Hey, did you know that the number-one all-time rated show in Korea was the premiere of that ’80s show Joanie Loves Chachi? It turns out that in Korean, ‘chachi’ ame
"It’s after ten I wanna flip over, see if the news has got anything about it"
He did, before I could object, and I was immediately rethy tribute to the departed Ken Phillipe, showing old video clips of the idiot standing knee-deep in rushing floodwater while wind pu to track a tornado on the horizon while Ken shouted his report
They transitioned fro home where dishwashers rinsed bedpans and dinner plates in the same load, then to a house fire that wouldn’t have made the newscast at all had their crew not arrived in tiot to sports and I ad that was strange hen they cut to the two-shot of Danny Wexler and the anchor, Danny’s face was black I saw i a lance it would look like he had on a black ski mask, one without the eyeholes
But when they cut to the closer one-shot of his head, you could see the effect ay beyond that; Danny Wexler appeared to be a statue carved from solid shadow Only John and I saw this, of course, because the other anchors didn’t react in horror Or at least, not until Danny Wexler opened his mouth:
"I’m Danny Wexler and this is Channel Five sports! The [Undisclosed] football teaain, booted from the first round of the playoffs as they failed to carry their inflatable turd past a chalk line in the grass as often as their opponents did Here’s Hornets quarterback Mikey Wolford, flopping that right arm around like a retard while he tries to pass to a teammate that apparently only he can see Aaaaand, it’s intercepted Nice pass, ’tard! Now here’s Spartans fullback Derrick Sihs down the field like pistons on aOoh, nice tackle attempt there, Freddy Mason! I bet you could tackle that fullback if he was made of dick, couldn’t you, Freddy? But, he’s not, so final score, forty-one to seventeen May every Spartan die with a turd on his lips All hail Korrok"
Danny didn’t get to read any hts, as the newscast abruptly switched back to a visibly shaken anchorwoht back Co, resigned sigh Without a word, we put on our jackets and walked out the door We stopped by uard at the Channel 5 building told us Wexler had left early We ale break in the case when John thought to look up Wexler’s ho lost, briefly, we pulled into the lot of Wexler’s building and found a Buick with the license plate 5 SPRTS, which, after some debate, we decided must stand for Channel 5 sports and that it ot the mints?" John asked as we strode up to the four-story apart "You knock on the door and when Wexler answers, you cra nor Just find out what he knows About Molly and, you know, everything else that’s happening If it’s so we can fix with a mint then fine If not, then we leave Dr Marconi a voiceup in books with titles like True Tales of the Bizarre Marconi can come down and do a whole show on it for all I care Write another book"