Suckers - J.A. Konrath

got that creeped-out feeling, along with the already present feelings of anger and worry.
"Roger, you're taking this way too far," I announced in a loud voice. "Theresa's in the car
crying. Come on out."
No response.
"If you don't come out, I'm going to have to assume that something happened to you, and I'll
have to call the police. I'm pretty sure you don't want to explain to the cops that you were hiding
out in an abandoned house just to play a joke on some kids. Get out here."
Still nothing.
Fine. I'd do one last quick search of the house, and then contact the police. What a lousy
Halloween. No candy, no creative use of the candy after the kids were asleep, possible
trespassing charges...Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws was looking better and better.
I went back upstairs and waved my flashlight in every possible place that Roger could fit, all
the while sharing a loud running commentary about what I was going to do to him when I found
him, which included a list of the top five locations on his body that might serve as the flashlight's
final resting place.
He wasn't anywhere upstairs. And there was simply no way he'd let the joke go on this long.
Something had happened to him. It was officially time to go for help.
I went back to the staircase. As I headed downstairs, my flashlight beam shone across the
face of an old man standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at me. I recognized the face
from the newspaper photos. Jarvis Taywood.
I tried to say "What the—," "Holy—," and "AAAIIIIEEEE!!!" all at the same time. It came
out as an incoherent gurgle. I dropped the flashlight, which bounced down the stairs and rolled
away. The figure was gone.
It took me a good fifteen seconds to realize that I needed to breathe, and another fifteen
seconds after that to actually regain the ability to do so. One track of my mind kept insisting that
there was a perfectly logical explanation, while another kept saying, "I do believe in spooks! I do
believe in spooks! I do I do I do!"
No, I didn't. There was a perfectly logical explanation for this. Roger wearing a Jarvis
Taywood mask, for example. Everything would be explained as soon as I walked down the stairs
to investigate.
The dark stairs.
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