[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Zeke winced at her choice of words. Gary didn't need another stalker, that was for sure. "Well,
maybe he'll serve the coffee himself." Though he sincerely doubted it.
In fact, he needed to get out to the kitchen now and see how Gary was doing with all these
people crawling over the grounds of the house. He nodded and headed back in, following the
lines of boxes up to the white kitchen where there was a full pot of coffee and a tray of cups. No
Gary.
Damn it. Zeke shouldn't have left him alone so long.
"Gary?" He headed for the stairs and called up them. "Gary!"
The bedroom door was closed, but he didn't find Gary in there, either. He could hear something
in the office -- that stark, blood red room, and he headed that direction. That door was closed,
too, a note taped on the door.
A note.
Taped on the outside of the door.
Fuck him. He put his hand on the butt of his pistol, thumb popping the holster as he stepped
forward and looked. The paper looked old, torn from a piece of newspaper, Gary's picture there,
covered in blood, the twisted remains of a Toyota behind them. And&
Jesus. That was him in his beat clothes, working the fucking scene.
Him.
Across the picture was a note, deliberately written in odd, block-shaped letters.
He's Working, Officer.
"Fuck."
Witness - 92
He spun around, eyes feeling dry in his head, searching the blank, empty hallway. How? How
could the son of a bitch be here. There wasn't anything. Nothing. Nowhere to fucking hide.
Not unless that bastard was in there with Gary.
Not unless Gary had let the Penny Man in.
Zeke growled, shook his head at the thought. No. No, goddamn it. Gary had problems, but the
man was&
Was what? Scared? Stoned? Fucked up? Possibly harboring a killer?
Maybe it was Gary's idea of a sick fucking joke. God knew the man hadn't had the most normal
socialization. Yeah. Yeah, maybe that was it. There were cops everywhere. Gary'd just put the
note up for him and he'd just let the man know that wasn't fucking funny.
Yeah.
When he reached for the doorknob, his palm slapped against the painted penny balanced there.
Jesus Christ! That motherfucker. Playing fucking games with them while they'd all been milling
about the front yard.
He grabbed the doorknob again, pushing it open. "Gary? You okay?"
Gary looked up from the laptop, fingers still typing. "Yeah. Yeah, I needed to work."
"Yeah, I get that." He prowled around the room, trying to keep it casual as he checked the place
out, his fingers itching to grab his gun, but he wasn t going to freak Gary out.
Gary turned back to the computer, shoulders hunched.
"Okay, sorry to bug you -- I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Thanks for the coffee. I'll
get out of your hair." No way in hell he was telling Gary that the Penny Man had been inside.
Was possibly still inside.
"Be careful. I feel him."
"You, too, baby." He took one last look at Gary hunched over his laptop and closed the door.
Fishing a tissue out of his pocket, he carefully took the sign off the door. There could be
fingerprints on it.
Zeke hightailed it back to the front, handing the paper over. "See if you can find anything useful
on that." Then he turned to one of the uniforms by the front gate. "Williams! I want you to go
around the outside of the house, see if you can find anyone creeping around or watching the
place."
Witness - 93
"You got it, man."
"Zeke. Man. What's up? Jesus, this place is creepy." Rog came up, nose almost twitching.
"Yeah, very. Those fucking things on the lawn? The guy Gary calls the Penny Man brought
them. Left them here." He pulled Roger over to the side. "The man was in the fucking house
while we were out here." He handed over the penny. "I went in, Gary was in his office, the door
closed, and that was on the door knob along with a note on the door that said 'he's working'. A
dozen fucking cops all over the front of the house and he was inside."
"How? How, man. You've got people all over. Are you sure there's some guy?"
"There's no way Gary got that penny to balance on the doorknob himself. And he was with me
all weekend, man. Not out of my sight. Someone else left that dog. There's a real guy and he's
been stalking Gary for twenty-five years."
"Jesus." Roger shook his head, stared. "Twenty-five years?"
"You remember how Gary's folks were killed? The bodies looked just like those two women we
found in the alley. And when he left the mental hospital he claimed he had a friend called the
Penny Man. It's the same fucking guy, Rog. He's been stalking Gary for twenty-five years.
Anytime Gary does anything to try to get away from the guy he does stuff like that dog. Like the
women."
"So... let's take him out of here."
"I'm working on it, man. He's been living with this for twenty-five years -- he doesn't know
what's real anymore, and just taking him away is going to mess with what coping strategies he
does have."
"No. No, I mean right now. Get him out and into a place the guy can't hide in. Somewhere where
our perp has to try for attention."
"It's going to make him crazy, man." Even as he said it, he realized that if he wasn't involved
with Gary, if he didn't have personal feelings, he'd have just done it the minute Rog suggested it.
Hell, he might have come up with it himself. He rubbed his face and nodded. "All right. Where?"
"Hotel? Maybe the Hilton downtown? Somewhere public, but not enough that we make it easy."
Zeke nodded. "What happens if he goes after a couple more women instead of Gary?"
"What makes you think having the guy with you all weekend wasn't going to do it? We'll have
cars here, cars there. We'll catch him."
Jesus, he was off his game on this one. He just couldn't pull himself off the case, though, not
Witness - 94
until he was sure everyone believed this guy existed, that he was stalking Gary big time. If he
was the only one who was truly on that page, then he had to be on the case. It was as simple as
that.
"All right, you set it up. I'll go get him."
"Have him pack and everything. We want this son of a bitch to see."
Zeke nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, we need to get this guy."
He headed back in, wondering just how much Gary was going to resist this. It was a good plan,
though. Hell, maybe he'd even be able to keep Gary off the Basic a little longer.
Witness - 95
Chapter Thirteen
"What? No. No, just go. You have to work." Gary shook his head and headed for the bathroom,
his fix, his peace of mind.
No.
No. This was his place.
The Penny Man would get him.
The Penny Man would get Zeke.
No.
No.
"This is my work, Gary. We need to expose the Penny Man. Once he's out in the open, we can
get him." Zeke caught him on the landing, hugging him to the solid body. "Besides, you and me
in a nice hotel. It could be fun."
"I need to. I can't. I. I. I." He stopped, shorting out a little. Too much. This had all been too
much.
"Shh. Shh." Zeke's hands slid up his back and over his shoulders. The touch was warm and
gentle. Then Zeke cupped his face and tilted it up. "I won't let anything bad happen to you,
baby." The words were whispered against his mouth, sliding over his lips.
"It's not me. It's not me."
"I'm not letting anything happen to me either. Okay?"
"I wish you were right, love. I wish you could be. He's not from this world..."
"We'll see about that. Come on. We'll get a bag and pack up a couple days worth of clothes, your
toothbrush. Maybe a dildo, yeah? We can play a little while Roger and the others watch."
"I don't want them to watch."
Witness - 96
"They won't watch us, baby. They'll keep watch for the Penny Man."
Gary blinked at him, confused. "Oh! But... you told people? About him?" Oh, God. Oh, God.
"He's going to be so mad."
"Let him be mad. It's not right, Gary, the way he makes you do stuff. Now it's our turn. We're
going to make him come out from hiding." Zeke wrapped him up in a hug, holding him against
that so-solid body. Zeke felt so real.
"More people will die. He wants me to see it." The whispers got louder and louder, every day.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]