The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

start thinking about my deal with the D.A."
    Burtonshot him in the face,then broke for the far side of the rocks to his Eldorado before the others had time to figure out what had happened.
    Theo Theo came up behind Molly and touched her lightly on the shoulder. When she turned, he could see tears streaming down her cheeks. Then she returned to staring out to sea with the others. She said, "All I ever wanted is to feel special. To feel like something set me apart."
    Theo put his arm around her. "Everyone wants that."
    "But I had it, Theo.More by having Steve in my life than when I was making movies. These people felt it, but not like me."
    The two helicopters were coming in close now and Theo had to speak right into her ear to be heard over the thumping blades. "No one's like you."
    There was a stirring in the water just past the surf line, and something was rising in the kelp bed. Theo could see the purple gill trees standing out on the Sea Beast's neck. He was heading toward shore. Theo tried to pull Molly closer, but she broke loose from him, jumped off the bluff, and ran into the surf, scooping up two baseball-sized rocks as she went.
    Theo went after her and was halfway across the beach when she turned and looked at him with eyes filled with such pleading and desperation that it stopped him in his tracks. The helicopters were hovering only a hundred feet over the beach now. The wash from the blades kicked up sand in the faces of the onlookers.
    As the Sea Beast approached shore, only his eyes and gills above the water, Molly threw one of the stones. "No, go away! Go!" The second stone hit the Sea Beast'seye, and he stopped. "Don't come back!" Molly screamed.
    Slowly the Sea Beast sank below the surface.
    The Sheriff The speedometer on the Eldorado was approaching sixty whenBurton topped the last hill before the cattle guard. He had to get to the airport and use the open ticket in his briefcase to join his money in the Caymans before anyone could figure out where he had gone. He'd planned for this all along, knowing he might have to make a run for it at some point, but what he hadn't planned was that there would be two Suburbans and a Mercedes parked just over the top of the hill.
    Before he could stop himself, he hit the brakes and wrenched the wheel to the left. The tires dug into the pasture and sent the Eldorado up on two wheels, then over. There was none of the slowing of time or compression of events that often happens in accidents. He saw light and dark, felt his body being beaten around the Caddy, and then the crash of smashing metal and breaking glass. Then there was a pause.
    He lay on the ceiling of the overturned Eldorado, peppered with pieces of safety glass, trying to feel if any of his limbs were broken. He seemed okay, he could feel his feet, and it didn't hurt when he breathed. But he smelled gas. It was enough to remind him to move.
    He grabbed the briefcase with his escape kit and slithered out the broken back window to find the Eldorado half-perched, half-smashed over the front of a white Suburban. He climbed to his feet and ran to the truck. It was locked.Sheridan, you prick, you would lock your truck, he thought. He didn't notice the people handcuffed inside the K-9 cage in the back.
    The Mercedes was his last chance. He ran around it and yanked opened the driver's side door. The keys were in the ignition. He climbed in and took a deep breath. He had to calm down now. No more mistakes, he told himself. He started the Mercedes and was turning to back it down the hill when the dog hit him. thirty-two
    Catfish and Estelle "That was a good guitar," Catfish said. He had his arms around Estelle, who had pressed her face to his chest when the monster attacked Winston Krauss.
    "I didn't realize," Estelle said. "I didn't think it would do that."
    Catfish stroked her hair. "That was a good car too. That car never broke."
    Estelle pushed Catfish away and looked in his eyes. "You knew, didn't you?"
    "What I knew is that boy wanted to get up close to a sea monster and that's what he got. Case you didn't notice, he was happy when it happened."
    "What now?"
    "I think we ought to get you home, girl. You got some paintings gonna come out of this."
    "Home?Are you coming with me?"
    "I ain't gotno car to go anywhere. I guess I am."
    "You're going to stay? You're not afraid of losing the Blues and getting content?"
    Catfish grinned, and there was that gold tooth with the eighth note cut in it glistening in the