by B. B. Hamel
She took the gun from me. “Stay here.” She shoved into the kitchen, running after Gregory.
I staggered after them. Judy lay on her side sobbing, her wrists taped together. “You’ll be okay,” I said as I passed her, feeling dizzy. My nose hurt, my shoulder was on fire, and I felt every spot he’d hit. I heard another gunshot and a scream, and I managed to stumble out onto the front porch.
Rose stood there alone. Gregory was gone.
“What the hell happened?” I leaned up against the railing, close to collapsing.
“He ran into the trees.” She squinted and shook her head. “He’s fast, damn it. I missed.”
“Shit.” I kicked the railing. She started down the steps. “Wait, Rose.”
She looked back at me. “I have to go.”
“Don’t,” I said. “He’ll kill you out there, gun or not. Please.”
I could tell she wanted to go. For Delia, she wanted to hunt him down and take him out, once and for all. Even if it meant getting herself killed, I thought she wouldn’t mind that so much, so long as CGK went with her.
But I couldn’t let her do that. I wouldn’t, not after everything between us. I reached for her, tried to lift my bad arm, and failed.
Her eyes softened. She dropped the gun and came to me.
“Here,” she said, helping me sit. “I’ll call an ambulance.” She took off her sweatshirt, leaving only a tank top, and bundled it up. She pressed it against my wound. “Hold it there.”
I did my best to press it down. “Don’t chase him,” I said, feeling dizzy. “He’ll come back.”
“I’m not sure he will.” She stood and ran into the house.
The last thing I remembered before I passed out was the reflection of something in the window—maybe a man, standing over by our car, or maybe just a flock of birds taking flight from the maple tree.
23
Rose
Nick sat staring out the hospital window at nothing. He had a black eye, a broken nose, and the stab wound on his shoulder nearly killed him.
Head paced back and forth at the end of the bed. I looked at my hands and thought about chasing after CGK. I had him in my sights as he dashed across the gravel parking lot toward the trees, and I still didn’t understand how I’d missed him. I fired off a shot, and I thought it was aimed true—but it went wide, and he got away.
“The doctors tell me you’re lucky,” Head said.
“Lucky,” Nick echoed. “I don’t feel lucky.”
“Well, perhaps not.” Head stopped pacing and looked at him. “You haven’t said a word about what happened.”
“What’s there to say?” He turned his attention to Head, the little, strange man that seemed oddly uncomfortable. “He got the drop on me.”
“Well.” Head began pacing again. “We looked through the records. There are many men named Gregory in the area, and some match the description. We’re following up on most of those, and I think we’ll have our man soon.”
“Won’t matter.” Nick leaned his head back against the pillow. “He’s in the wind now.”
“He’ll come back,” Head said. “He can’t stay out in the cold for long. You know that. It’s hell, running.”
“He likes hell,” Nick said. “I have a feeling he’ll like being on the run too.”
Head gave a frustrated sigh and looked at me. “Tell him CGK will be back. He can’t believe that it’s over.”
I looked away, not sure what to say.
Head threw up his hands. “Fine then. You two talk it out. I’ll be in the hall.” He left, probably to speak with the detectives out there.
When he was gone, I reached out and took Nick’s hand. He smiled at me, though I saw a ghost of something there—regret, maybe, or something worse.
“What do you think?” he asked. “Head’s wrong, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Do serial killers disappear very often?”
“Many do. Zodiac Killer, Golden State Strangler, tons more you never hear about. They never get caught, and at some point they give up murdering. The deaths taper off and then, gone.”
“Wasn’t Golden State caught recently?”
“Years later, well after he’d quit.”
“I won’t let that be the end of it. He was so close. He was right there.”
Nick gave me another tight smile, but said nothing.
He’d been in the hospital for three days. Starch had visited on the second, and they had a nice, wry conversation about fighting CGK. Both said he was a small man, but surprisingly strong. Nick was large, easily over six feet, but with a stab wound in the shoulder, his advantage had been taken away.
The fingers of his inured arm flexed. He looked at them like they were foreign. “I wonder if these will ever feel the same.”
“Doctors said there could be nerve damage, but that you’d heal in time.”
“Time and therapy.” He snorted. “Won’t help the job much.”
“Nick—”
“It’s fine,” he said, and looked at me again. “I’m sorry, you know? I should’ve gotten him. But after he stabbed me—”
“I know,” I said, squeezing his hand. He’d explained again and again and I knew it weighed heavy on him, the failure, the anger and bitterness. “You got stabbed. Doctors said it was amazing you were able to fight him off at all.”
“Little bastard.” He laughed and it sounded painful, like a rattle in his lungs. “I should’ve broken his neck.”
“At least Judy’s okay.”
“Aside from the scare of her life.”
Head came back in a moment later. “Doctors say you can be released tomorrow,” he said. “Of course, you can return back to the office, if you’d like. Rose here will be taken into custody—”
“No,” Nick said.
I stared at him, surprised. “What do you mean?” I asked. “I need to go into protective custody. If CGK’s still out there—”
“Not yet,” he said, and he looked at me like he was realizing for the first time that he might lose me. “We’re not doing that, not yet.”
“Nick,” Head said, like he spoke to an irrational child. “If you think CGK won’t return, then we need to treat this as if it’s an ongoing investigation.”
“I want to go back to Rose’s house. Back to her grandmother’s place.”
“We can’t just—” I started, but he interrupted me.
“This can’t be finished. If I feel this way, then he has to feel it, too. There’s got to be a way to get a message out to him.”
Head watched thoughtfully. “I might have an idea.”
I looked at him. He had a strange, gleeful look in his eye, and I realized that he was planning this all along. He didn’t want to send me into protective custody, but he must have realized how Nick felt, and was ready to do whatever was necessary to keep him in the game.
Including using me.
I was the fish on the hook, dangling in a deep pool.
“What’s the play, Head?” Nick sounded gruff, almost mad at himself.
“Your streaming service. How about you record something and post it there on Twitch? I’m sure he’s been watching and he’ll check it again. Invite him over. Tell him you didn’t finish your conversation.”
Nick looked at me. “Will it work?”
I chewed on my lip for a moment, glancing between him and Head. I knew it might work, or at least there was a chance. CGK was obsessive enough that he’d check Nick’s stream, assuming he knew about it at all. I was sure he’d see the message and watch it, but whether or not he’d come—that was up in the air.
“If I’m in the video with you, he will,” I said.
Head smiled huge.
“You don’t have to,” Nick whispered. “I know you don’t want to.”
I looked down at the crisp white bedsheets, covered in starch and old stains from use and use and use. I felt like those sheets, pushed through the washer, tumbled over.
“It’ll work,
” I said. “If I invite him over to my grandmother’s house, he’ll come. He’ll have to come.”
“Rose,” he said.
But I held up a hand. “I’m doing it. If I don’t, he’ll go out and kill again one day maybe, and I’ll have that death on my conscience. All because I couldn’t go on a camera, like my sister did. Del’s dead and gone, right? It won’t matter.”
“You’re right,” Head said. “You’re absolutely right. I’ll get the computer.” He left the room again.
“Bastard had it waiting,” Nick said, watching as the door slid closed. “He set this up, didn’t he?”
“We walked right into his trap.”
“Clever fucking bastard.” He squeezed his eyes shut then leaned toward me. “There’s always a way out, you know. I’ll always give you a way out.”
“I know.” I kissed him gently. “But I don’t want to take it.”
He nodded, a sad, faraway look in his eyes.
Head returned a few minutes later with the laptop. He opened it and got it settled on the small rolling side table. I shifted onto the bed with Nick and we cuddled close together. Nick put his arms around me like a lover, and I leaned my head on his shoulder.
“Perfect,” Head said, then walked over to the window, and pushed the curtains open wider. “Very good. He’ll lose it over this, I’m sure of it.”
“Do you mind if we do this alone?” Nick asked.
“Of course.” Head left again without another word.
I touched his cheek. “Ready?”
“Ready.” He reached out and hit record.
We sat in silence for three seconds. Then I spoke up.
“It was nice meeting you the other day, Gregory.” I plastered a smile on my face, trying to muster as much sincerity as I could. I wondered if that was what Del had felt, during her streams, when she was so tired it, felt like she was dragging herself through mud. She had to perform for her men, for her clients, smiling, laughing, charming—and it didn’t matter if she was tired, on her period, sick, in a bad mood, she always had to perform.
I was performing for her killer, just like that.
“We miss you,” Nick said. “Rose more than me. I’m a lot less fond of you than she is.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t get to talk,” I said. “You seem very interesting. Judy had nice things to say. You’re a very handsome and polite man. I was wondering… if maybe I could ask you about my sister? About where she is right now. And maybe you could take me to her.”
Another long silence. I let that sink in. Nick didn’t move.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t run away,” I said. “I know you’re probably worried after what happened, but please don’t be. It doesn’t have to be like that between us. We saw your Shangri-La and I think you have some very interesting ideas. You might have some things to show me. I want to hear about your collection, and your harem, and everything else. So please, Gregory. Will you come back? You know where to find us.”
I reached forward and stopped the recording.
Twenty seconds. That was all. And I guessed that was all we’d need.
Nick saved it and closed the laptop lid.
“Head will take care of the rest,” he said. “Are you sure about this?”
“I am if you are.” I put my hand on his chest. “It doesn’t have to be over.”
“Then we won’t let it be.” He leaned forward and kissed me.
We held that pose for a few moments. I’d crawled into bed with him in order to appear like his lover—but the truth was far more complicated than that.
I’d been pushing forward through this, getting through the day without investigating my feelings for him too closely. Every time I tried, I realized how much they scared me, and I forced myself to pull back.
But seeing him there on that porch, bleeding out, his skin pale white, I realized I couldn’t keep doing that to myself.
I kissed him again. He kissed me back.
The door slid open and Head stepped inside. He cleared his throat.
I looked over at him. “Message is recorded,” I said, nodding toward the computer. “Do you mind taking care of it?”
“Of course,” he said, giving Nick an odd look. “Are you sure you’re up for this? I could send someone else, maybe someone a little less—”
“No,” Nick said. “I can handle it.”
“Of course you can.” Head took the laptop. “Well then. Tomorrow you go home. And after, who knows.”
He left again.
I stayed in bed with Nick, curled up against his side. He hugged me tight against him, and we didn’t talk for a while. There was so much to say and nothing seemed worth saying, and so I let myself enjoy him, enjoy being so near him.
24
Nick
I spent my whole stay in the hospital thinking about what I could’ve done differently.
Maybe if I hadn’t turned my back. Or maybe if I hadn’t missed that first shot. Or managed to hit CGK one more time. Or hadn’t gone off on some stupid errand to some bullshit spot in the woods. Or hadn’t called forensics right away.
It was endless. There was an infinite number of things I could’ve done differently, but obsessing didn’t change the fact of what happened.
I screwed up. I failed to catch him.
I had nobody else to blame. CGK was there, right there in front of me, and I couldn’t bring him home. Without that stab wound, I would’ve been able to beat him, and frankly, I was lucky to be alive, but still. I let Rose down, I let my unit down.
Nothing could change that.
She was the only thing keeping me going.
Rose, there every day, sitting by my side, holding my hand, whispering to me, sitting in bed with me. Rose was what kept me sane.
The video on our Twitch page got some views. Not many, and if CGK saw it, I had no way of knowing. Head didn’t share any more information with us, and he went back to New York the first opportunity he got. I was actually kind of touched he managed to come down at all though, since the crusty bastard rarely went anywhere.
Two Head visits in one week. That was probably a record.
Not a good record, but still.
Rose drove us back to her grandmother’s house after a week in the hospital. It was a hellish week, but the doctors thought I’d heal fine, and I was starting to be able to use my arm again. Not well enough to do much more than basic tasks, and I was in constant pain, but still. I could move around. I could run and yell.
I could fire a weapon.
Rose was upbeat the whole way. She made jokes, kept conversation light. “Did you see the way that one nurse kept looking at you?” She glanced at me, grinning.
“Which one?”
“The one that was always drinking Pepsi.”
“Oh, her. The Pepsi rules her out. I’m a Coke man.”
“I’m a Coke lady. Look at that. We have so much in common.”
“I’m really going to miss that place, you know.”
“Sweet of Judy to come visit.”
I smiled and tilted my head back. Judy came the day before we left, looking bashful and almost apologetic. She thanked me for saving her, which wasn’t necessary—we were the ones that got her in trouble in the first place. She seemed both angry and grateful, and I wasn’t sure where we stood when she left, not that it mattered much.
I wanted to think that what I did mattered. That saving a life, any life, was important.
Although then again, I probably didn’t get credit when it was my fault that life was in danger to begin with.
“I bet her business will boom now,” I said.
“Serial Killer Bed and Breakfast.”
“Bed and Breakfast Killer.” I laughed a little. “Dark, but I bet it would work.”
Her grandmother’s house was quiet when we made it there. Rose fussed over me, but I got inside and unpacked without any issues. She turned the lights on and started making dinner while I spread out everything on the coffee table, turned the
laptop on, and stared down at the papers.
I went over everything, repeatedly. We had a strong list of possible matches for CGK’s identity now, based on the first name, the general time in which he was born, and a few other clues he’d left scattered around. We couldn’t be entirely certain, but once Head got me a list of photographs to go with the names, I’d know for sure.
There was no doubt in my mind that I’d be able to pick him out of a lineup. CGK’s face was seared in my memory, that snarl, the way he snapped his jaw like an animal. I closed my eyes and could smell his breath, taste his blood on my tongue. I wanted to go back to that moment, over and over again, the terror and the anger of it, but couldn’t.
I felt stuck in a moment no longer than a few minutes.
I heard Rose whistling to herself in the kitchen when the laptop chimed. I turned my head and squinted at a message that appeared on Twitch.
Hello, lovely. Enjoyed our meeting the other day.
I felt my heart do flips. I stared at the message, from someone with the name HeyThereDelia. My surprise turned to anger as I clenched my jaw and typed back.
Where did you run off to? We never finished our game.
He typed back, Don’t be coy, lovely. Come play with me.
And sent me the address to a Blockcraft server. It was one of those private things I could join, and I’d be alone with CGK, in a little virtual world.
I took the laptop, placed it on the coffee table in front of me, and turned on the game.
The landscape populated around me. Grass, mountains, some trees, all built in the typical blocky Blockcraft style. I began to walk forward, climbing upward, heading toward a small copse of trees.
Rose poked her head out from the kitchen. “Want something to drink?”
“Whiskey.”
She gave me a look, but turned and disappeared again.
I knew I should’ve told her what was happening, but I felt too dizzy with the moment, and was afraid that if I said anything, it would all go away.
Glad you came, darling, CGK typed through the game world. Take a look at what I’ve built.