Night Shift (Book 1, the Night Shift series)

Chapter Eight

Ice water poured into Daniel's veins. He imagined ghoulish fingers were inches away, ready to drag him to the elevator shaft, intent on finishing him off for good this time. The faces from the black and white picture flashed in his mind, distorted and threatening. The ghost of James D. Willard was roaming the aisles, looking for peeping perverts.

Without warning, he was hit from behind and fell to his knees. Something bounced away. He tried to stand, but not before another blow ricocheted off his head. Daniel put down a hand for balance, and touched one of the projectiles. I'm being assaulted by basketballs, he thought incredulously. The air rushed by his ear as another ball narrowly missed his head. He turned and lobed one of the basketballs at his invisible attacker.

"Ow!" a voice called out.

Daniel ran and braced for impact, but he was suddenly air born. Marbles rolled noisily around him. His elbow whacked down hard on the tile. There was a mangled grunt from under him. Wrestling blindly, he grabbed at a bit of fabric. Daniel managed to tackle the ghost.

"Let me go!" a boy screamed.

Daniel felt him thrash around like a swordfish caught on a line. The lights came on and he stared into the red, scrunched up face of a kid. "Quit it," Daniel said, trying to contain the little offender.

"Get off me!"

"Petey!" a familiar voice shouted. The pair stopped fighting, and turned her way.

"You," Daniel said.

She stood in a denim mini skirt, glaring down at them disapprovingly. Her black sweatshirt was off the shoulder. Daniel saw a hint of lace on the white tank top underneath. Her cowboy boot tapped impatiently on the floor.

"What's going on?" Her tone made them both spring to attention.

Daniel brushed off his pants, trying to fix himself up.

Her gaze fell to the boy. "Petey! I told you to be more careful. Is this your mess?"

"He attacked me!" the boy said, pointing at Daniel.

"He turned off the lights, and started throwing basketballs at my head," Daniel said, pleading his case.

"Don't forget about the marbles," the boy added.

Daniel rubbed his elbow and said, "I won't."

"Is that true?" she asked the boy.

"He was touching my car," he said. "I thought he was going to take it!"

She pointed her finger. "First of all, it's not your car, it belongs to the store. Second, you can't attack someone in the dark, especially the new night guard. Now clean this up."

He nodded timidly, and began to crawl along the floor, gathering up the marbles.

She took a few steps toward Daniel. "You're not going to tell Mr. Oliver are you?" she asked quietly. "I mean, about Petey being here."

"Oh," Daniel said. He was still recovering from his attack and hadn't thought about how weird it was to find a boy in the Toy Department after hours. "So...why is he here?"

"His mom lives in my apartment building and works nights. He's only eleven. Sometimes her sitter is sick, so I bring him here with me." She looked up at Daniel hopefully. "He's usually pretty good."

"Uh-huh." He watched Petey walk over to the car, then use his t-shirt to shine the hood, wiping off any fingerprints Daniel had left behind. "I guess he likes the car."

"Will you keep our secret?"

"Hmm." Daniel concentrated on smoothing out his tie, stalling, pretending he might turn them in. He liked that she was waiting on him, and that she needed his help. He pursed his lips, then said, "Sure."