“Why are we going to this block party, Mary Ann? Only a sadist and masochist would have a party in 101-degree weather and 1000% humidity.”

       “I admit it’s very hot, but Bobby, we just moved to this neighborhood two months ago, and everyone has been so nice, especially Blake. This will be a chance for us to get to know our neighbors, fit in.”

       “I don’t want to fit in with all our neighbors, especially Blake. That guy’s house is one thunderstorm away from his backyard revealing body parts. Hell, you’re an FBI agent, for God’s sake. How can you not see this?”

       “Don’t say things like that, especially after you have, God knows, how many beers tonight.”

       “Mary Ann, are you seriously telling me you don’t think that guy is creepy looking? White hair and eyes that look more like mirrors than eyes.”

       “His eyes are gray. He exudes obsession in a strange, provocative kind of way.”

       “Shit! You’re not serious? Those are the eyes of a psychopath. I get a Jack the Ripper vibe off him, just when I jog past his yard and see him working out there, stabbing the dirt with his trowel. He might say he lives alone, but I guarantee you, at least three or four others are hiding in some dark corner of his mind, having conversations, and planning their next murder.”

       “I am sorry. Have you been getting your profiling license from one of my online courses from Quantico, without telling me?”

       “Funny, Mary Ann. But you wait. You’ll see I’m right.”

       “By the way, Blake is having cheese trays, nuts, fruit, and sushi for dinner tonight. Sheri, our next-door neighbor, tells me his sushi is to die for. It’s some exotic fish he gets when he goes overseas on his computer company business trips.”

       “Ah, shit. What the hell am I supposed to eat, nuts and berries like some furry rat? You know I don’t like sushi.”

       “They are called squirrels, Bobby. And there will be enough beer there for you to occupy yourself. You love Swiss cheese, cashews, and watermelon. Eat that with your beer until we are ready to leave, and I promise you, if you act like a normal human being, we will have lots of dessert when we get home.”

 

       To emphasize her comment about dessert, Mary Ann walked over and seductively kissed him, suggesting desire and pleasure.

​

       “Okay. Okay. You always know how to win an argument, Mary Ann, I’ll give you that,”
Bobby said as he took a deep breath and nodded his head in agreement.

 

********************************************

       At the party, after going around with Mary Ann and meeting everyone there, Bobby found the cooler filled with beer and camped out next to a chair with a table umbrella of shade.

       The heat and humidity were almost intolerable, and he was glad he wore the black shirt. Mary Ann told him he looked sexy in the black shirt, so he sat there and drank beer and ate a lot of fruit. He entertained himself by looking at his wife and thinking about all that they were going to do later, when one of the neighbors sat down at his table.

       “It’s Bobby, right, Mary Ann’s husband?”

       “Yep, but sorry, I don’t remember yours.”

       “Quite all right. I doubt we travel in the same circles. It’s Amon, and I’m a long-time friend of Blake. We went to college together at Salem State University.”

       

       Jesus Christ. Did he just say Salem?

       “Was that Salem, as in Salem, Massachusetts?” Bobby asked, wondering why there was no sweat on Amon’s bald head. He has creepy eyes like Blake, too, only his are so dark brown that they are almost black. And is that an upside-down cross in one of his earlobes?

       “Yes. Founded in 1854. Great school for nursing, psychology, and biology.”

       

       Funny, I didn’t hear you mention computer science, Bobby thought.

       Amon smiled at Bobby as if he were either high or hiding something.

       “Don’t you just love this sushi? I could eat an armful.”

       “I don’t eat sushi, Amon.”

       “Oh, you must try it. It’s Darwin Fish. Blake is the only one I know who can get it. We are always so excited when he throws a party and has sushi. He says he has clients who give him the fish as gifts when he goes overseas. He is a computer expert and fixes problems for people. I know, you would think, as a computer expert, you could do it all from home, but he says there are too many computer firewalls and anti-hacking software that he can’t get into their systems from home. It’s a terrible world where people try to do that to others, stealing their information and such. Neighbors doing all kinds of naughty stuff. You just never know who to trust these days, do you?

       “Nope.” And that was the nail in the casket, Amon. I’m getting Mary Ann and leaving this future crime scene.

       “Mary Ann said you were a man of few words.”

​

       “She’s right. Excuse me, Amon. I need to find the restroom.”

       Bobby got up and went into the house, not sure where he was headed, but found himself in a study filled with all kinds of exotic masks, spears, blowguns, bows, and quite a few graphic totems. As he wandered around, he bumped into one of the totems, which had a very large display of manhood, and instead of knocking it off its pedestal, it activated a switch that opened a panel next to it. Behind the wall, there were jars of human feet in some kind of pickle-colored liquid.

       He muttered “Holy shit,” and heard Blake’s voice whispering in his ear.

       “Don’t you want to know what the sushi tastes like now, Bobby?” Blake asked as each word crawled from his mouth and up Bobby’s spine.

       He then saw a spear exit Blake’s abdomen and heard his wife’s voice.

       “We may need to move again.”