There's Blood on the Moon Tonight Read Online Free Page B

unpack this time before you find a buyer?” she teased him.
                  Frank Tolson looked down at his wife and son, sitting on the sofa where they gathered together every afternoon at 4:30 to watch the sitcoms together. A Tolson family ritual. Leave it to Beaver, My Three Sons, and their favorite, Andy Griffith . Ralph loved those old-school sitcoms. Simpler times and all that. He even talked like the kids on those shows. Jeepers! Golly! And Gee Whiz!
    Frank smiled. He had worked hard to get to this point in his life, and his family had suffered every step of the way: Ralph at school, and Emma through his penny-pinching ways. Emma, like his son, almost never complained. Overweight to be sure, but that never mattered to Frank. Emma was the kindest human being he’d ever known, with a work ethic that matched his own. He valued her sweet disposition and gentle soul far more than any superficial qualities she might’ve lacked—although Frank had always considered his wife pretty. They’d been married for seventeen years and poor Emma was still living out of cardboard boxes! Her only vice, other than overeating, was buying Home Improvement magazines, like House Beautiful and Home and Garden . Thus it was no mystery as to Emma’s dearest dream. Today Frank Tolson was going to make that lifelong dream a reality.
                  “Actually, I’ve already found a buyer,” he grinned mysteriously. He was enjoying the moment too much, to just blurt it out. “Like I said, it’s this sweet little Drive-In theater on Moon Island, South Carolina. One of the few remaining islands off either of the Carolina coastlines that hasn’t been overdeveloped.”
                  It took all of Emma’s willpower to keep from groaning; if Frank had already sold it, then that meant another quick turnaround for the Tolson family. “Moon Island? Is it one of those barrier islands, dear?” she said, putting on a happy face. At least they could spend some time at the beach; something they hadn’t done as a family since Ralph was six years old.
                  “No, it’s too far from the mainland to qualify for that. Five or so nautical miles, I think. You have to take a ferry or boat to get to it. There are no connecting bridges.”
                  “Ooooo! Sounds exotic,” she said.
                  “It really isn’t,” Frank replied with a shrug. “Which is why I love the place”. And how I could afford it , he thought to himself. “The island is round and rather large, about twelve miles across, and from what I hear, looks like a full moon when viewed from high above. It has a small town charm to it, kinda like Mayberry out to sea.” He laughed, thinking that might help sell the idea. His wife and son returned the smile, if not his enthusiasm. “The people there make their living by the sea, one way or another. Either by fishing or selling goods and services to those who do. Although there are a few wealthy families who’ve moved there simply to get away from it all, they’re the exception to the rule. Oh, I almost forgot! Mr. Grimes, the old fellow who sold me the theater, claims the island is free of rats and mice—though I’m sure that’s probably an exaggeration. I just thought you’d like to know, dear.”
    Emma, who had a fear of rodents, brightened at this. As Frank knew she would. The theater they were finishing up had had a terrible rat infestation.
    “It has a population of about thirteen hundred. Admittedly, not so much. The only other entertainment venue on the island, though, is a wax museum, and while I’ve heard it’s pretty spectacular, as wax museums go, it can’t really be considered competition.”
                  After working alongside Frank for seventeen years, Emma knew a thing or two about the movie theater biz. “It sounds like a good buy for someone. That far out to sea, they’d literally have a captive