The Frenzy Way

by Gregory Lamberson

  “Just remember,” Kramer said to Mace, “we’ll be able to see what’s happening from here, but you’ll be restricted to audio surveillance.”

  Nodding, Mace said to Patty, “Kramer, Candice, and these uniforms will all be stationed in the bedroom. When you come in, go over to the window and close the curtains. They’ll be all over him.”

  Glancing at the window, Patty saw the ghostly reflections of her fellow cops staring back at her. “What if he doesn’t give us enough to move on?”

  “I don’t care. If you bring him back here, you must at least have an inkling that he’s our perp. That’s all we need. By the time he can lawyer up, or our twenty-four hours expires, we’ll have whatever else we need to charge him. I don’t want you taking any unnecessary risks. Understand?”

  “Copy that.”

  “There’s a good chance our boy won’t even come out tonight, if he’s following a full moon cycle.”

  “I need a cigarette,” Patty said.

  Mace and Willy sat in the front seat of the unmarked Cavalier half a block away from Carfax Abbey II. A block farther up on the oppositeside of the street they saw the carpet van Landry and Morrissey occupied. A dozen bar hoppers stood outside the nightclub, all of them dressed in black, with cigarette smoke lingering around them. Patty appeared around the corner on the far side of the club, walking toward them.

  “There she is,” Willy said.

  Patty located Mace and Willy, and she gave them a slight nod. Stopping at the bottom of the steps leading to the club’s front door, she took a final drag on a half-smoked cigarette, flicked it away, and melted into the crowd.

  “This is Mother Goose,” Mace said into his hand radio. “Sound check. Over.”

  Candice’s voice crackled over the speaker. “This is Grandma’s house. Over.”

  Patty ascended the stairs, swinging her hips just enough to draw attention to them.

  Landry’s voice came over the speaker next. “The Brothers Grimm are standing by. Over.”

  Patty disappeared into the club’s maw.

  “Little Red Riding Hood has entered the woods,” Mace said. “Stay alert.” He glanced at his watch: 10:40 PM.

  In the vestibule of Carfax Abbey II, a tall black man whose short-sleeved T-shirt allowed him to show off his biceps when he folded his arms returned Patty’s nod. She paid the ten-dollar cover charge to a young woman with flame orange hair who stamped the back of her hand with an inky image she could not discern. Even in the vestibule, the sound system’s throbbing beat vibrated her legs.

  The club’s interior had been painted flat black. Dingy colored light seeped through the darkness, and the floor and walls shook. Pale faces hovered in the darkness around the dance floor, and candles flickeredon the tabletops. Scanning the dozens of black-clad figures swaying to the electronic funeral dirge blasting over the speakers, Patty felt age creeping up on her. She sensed eyes watching her as she circumnavigated the dance floor, but the countenances she glimpsed seemed too self-absorbed to care about her. Two emaciated people occupied the DJ booth, but she couldn’t tell their sex.

  She stood at the bar with a dozen other people and tried not to pay undue attention to the body piercings and bizarre hairstyles around her. The club reeked of sweat and alcohol. She had stood in this same spot less than twenty-four hours earlier, yet the melancholy atmosphere made it feel like an entirely different location. She nodded to the music’s beat, feigning a connection to it.

  When Lloyd, the bartender, came over, her heart skipped a beat. His eyes flicked to hers, perhaps because she was a new face, yet showed no sign of recognition. “What can I get you?”

  “Whiskey sour,” she said over the music.

  Lloyd nodded and stepped away.

  In the Cavalier, Mace and Willy heard Kramer’s voice. “This is Grandma’s house. Over.”

  Mace picked up the hand radio. “Go ahead, Grandma. Over.”

  “Patty’s level is weak. The bartender’s is worse. Over.”

  Mace recalled the bar’s layout. “She’s close to the speakers. It should get better. Over.”

  “Copy that. Over.”

  Mace hung up and glanced at the sky. The moon, no longer full, shone down on the Village.

  10:55 PM

  A wiry man with jet-black hair cut like Adolf Hitler’s sidled up to the bar and drummed his spidery fingers on it. In the mirror over the back bar, Patty saw him appraising her.

  “I love your hair,” he said in an almost effeminate voice.

  Patty shifted her gaze to him. “Thanks.”

  “Buy you a drink?” She knew that he flicked his tongue as he spoke so she’d see the stud centered in it.

  “I’ve already ordered. Thanks.”

  “So I’ll pay for it.”

  She looked away. “I’m good.”

  “You can buy me one, then?”

  Patty turned back, amused more than annoyed. “I don’t think so.”

  Under the guise of a pirouette, he stared at her breasts. “Okay, forget the drink. Why don’t we just get out of here?”

  Patty resisted the urge to laugh in his face. “Forget it.” Lloyd set her drink down and she paid him, leaving him a dollar tip.

  “How come?”

  Patty sipped her drink. “You’re not my type.”

  “What type are you? Type O? B negative?”

  Holding his gaze, Patty said, “I like men, not boys.”

  His cocky expression collapsed like a demolished building.

  “Ouch,” Willy said in the car and Mace grunted.

  11:20 PM

  With her drink finished, Patty gyrated on the dance floor. She had been a club hopper in her early twenties, even though she had never listened to music like this. Closing her eyes, she turned in small circles with her arms extended, as she had observed a girl doing when she entered. Whenever a man or a woman tried to join her, she sashayed away, leaving them even more interested in her. One persistent man who wore more mascara than she did pursued her for several minutes before giving up. She moved faster, feeling sweat forming on her hairline. For a moment, she actually felt good in this theatrical environment.

  11:35 PM

  “Check Grandma’s house,” Mace said, cracking his knuckles.

  Willy picked up his hand radio. “Mother Goose calling Grandma’s house. Over.”

  “Go ahead, Mother Goose. Over.”

  “Your big ears open? Over.”

  “Roger that. Just waiting for Little Red Riding Hood to bring us some goodies. Over.”

  “Copy that. Over.” Willy hung up and stared at the nightclub’s entrance.

  11:50 PM

  Patty followed walls covered with papier-mâché and Day-Glo graffiti through the darkness to the ladies’ room. The illumination provided by a single black light almost made it more difficult to see than if there had been none at all. She saw a couple snorting something in an alcove. They looked at her with dulled eyes, and she continued into the unkempt bathroom, cold, clammy, and industrial.

  Entering a stall with a broken lock she whispered between her breasts, “Take five, boys.” She had to raise her top up to her chin toswitch off the radio transmitter. Then she hiked up her miniskirt and made herself comfortable.

  “Time?” Mace said.

  Willy glanced at his watch. “Four minutes.”

  Come on. Come on, Mace thought.

  “We’re back in business,” Patty said at last.

  Mace loosed a low sigh.

  11:55 PM

  When Patty emerged from the bathroom, she nearly collided with a bald man heading toward the men’s room. He glared at her, tight jawed and taut muscled. The black light made his dome resemble some alien appendage, and his bulging eyes did not blink.

  “Are you into blood?” the bald-headed bug man said.

  Patty stared into his dilated pupils. “No.”

  Turning to Willy, who had tensed up, Mace shook his head.

  “Then why are you here?” they heard
the man say.

  “I’m looking for someone,” Patty said.

  Pause.

  “Good luck.”

  They heard a door close.

  12:01 AM

  When Patty returned to the bar Lloyd was busy, and a young goth who had attempted to dance with her seemed to materialize out of thin air. He wore a long black coat.

  “You were really hot out there before,” the goth said. “I mean, you really set the place on fire. You want to get out of here and maybe go for a walk or something?”

  Patty felt sorry for the boy, who didn’t even seem legal drinking age. “You’re a little young for me.”

  “I’m a gothic vampire.”

  “Maybe next year.”

  Willy spat up the coffee he had just retrieved. “He did not just say that!”

  This time Mace had to laugh too.

  They heard Patty answer, “I love your nail polish,” with no response from the gothic vampire, who had apparently given up on seducing the newcomer to Carfax Abbey II.

  12:06 AM

  When Lloyd walked over to Patty again, she ordered a seltzer with a slice of lime in it for appearance’s sake. While waiting for her drink, she scanned the crowd, searching for loners. She saw groups and couples, but most of the available men had already hit on her. Then she saw him, sitting alone at a table in the far corner, gazing at her with intense eyes. Her first instinct was to look away, but she did not want any of her actions to seem obvious. So she held his gaze.

  Contact.

  She felt a tingling sensation at the nape of her neck: Perp Fever. Lloyd set her drink down behind her. As she turned to pay him, she searched the mirror over the back bar for her suspect. She pinpointed his face, which seemed to bleed out of the darkness. Then a dancing couple blocked her view, and she said out loud behind the glass she had raised to her lips, “Got a possibility here.” She sipped the seltzer, and as the couple moved out of her way, she saw the man still staring at her.

  Mace did not have to look at Willy to know that his subordinate was studying his reaction. “Doesn’t mean a thing. The moon isn’t full.”

  “Ever hear of a comic book called Werewolf by Night?” Mace shook his head. “I never collected comics as a kid, just baseball cards.” But he understood Willy’s point.

  12:11 AM

  Patty felt naked standing at the bar waiting for the man to approach her. If he’s not going to come to me, I’ll just have to go to him. Drink in hand, she circled the dance floor. The man’s eyes followed her, and as she drew closer to him she sensed arrogance radiating from his handsome features. His short, wavy hair, slacks, and long-sleeved shirt matched the darkness around him. He looked almost thirty, just as Dr. Lockhart had calculated. Stopping at the table, she looked down at him.

  He stared back at her, silent and expectant, the drink before him half finished.

  He’s enjoying this, Patty thought. “Is this seat taken?”

  His eyes abandoned hers long enough to glance at the empty seat beside him. Then he raised his eyebrows in mock innocence. “Does it look taken?”

  Oh, you smug prick, Patty thought. But she smiled anyway. “No, it doesn’t. Mind if I join you?”

  Without taking his eyes off her, he gestured at the chair. “I never refuse the company of a lovely woman.”

  Patty slid onto the seat and held out her hand. “I’m Patty.”

  The man took her hand in his. His skin felt warm and dry. “Jason,” he said, releasing his firm grip on her. “I’ve never seen you here before.”

  “This is my first time. How often do you come here?”

  His smile tightened. “What difference does it make?”

  I’m going to put the cuffs on you myself if you’re the right guy. “It doesn’t. I’m just trying to get to know you.”

  Jason leaned closer, dark eyes gleaming. “Why do you want to get to know me?”

  “He’s playing with her,” Willy said.

  Mace nodded. “That just makes him cocky. It doesn’t make him our perp.”

  Now Patty leaned closer, accepting his unspoken challenge. “I find you attractive.”

  Jason seemed even more amused. “So you ask me pointless questions?”

  She brushed her fingernails against the back of the hand he had set on the table’s surface. “Isn’t that how it’s done?” Turn on the charm.

  “You don’t belong here.”

  The comment disarmed her. “Where do I belong?”

  “Uptown. Midtown. Another borough. In some Irish pub. But not here, with these fey and pretentious children of the night.”

  “You’re wrong. I only live a few blocks from here.”

  Jason cocked his head. “Really?” Bingo.

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Let’s go there.”

  Time to rein him in and gain control of the situation. “I’m not sure I want to.”

  “Of course you do.” Jason stood. “That’s how it’s done.” He held out his hand.

  Looking at his haughty smile, Patty slid her hand into his, and he helped her stand.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  “Look alive,” Mace said into his hand radio as he started the Cavalier’s engine.

  “Here they come,” Willy said, raising a camera with a long lens to one eye.

  Patty exited the club with a tall man with dark hair, dressed in dark clothing, and they descended the concrete steps.

  Willy snapped several photos, then lowered the camera. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t think Patty’s dating on the clock.”

  “Which way?” they heard Jason say over the speaker, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his slacks.

  Facing him on the sidewalk, Patty pointed to her left. “My car’s right around the corner.”

  Jason’s voice turned cold. “You said you only lived a few blocks away.”

  “Canny motherfucker,” Willy said.

  “It’s not far,” Patty said. “Just eight or nine blocks. On Grove.”

  “Okay,” Jason said.

  Patty led him toward the corner, and Mace pulled into traffic, inching the Cavalier forward.

  “Can you see them?” he said into his mic. “Over.”

  “Affirmative,” Landry said. “Over.”

  At the corner, Mace and Willy looked to their right, where they saw Patty and Jason get into a red Rabbit.

  “This is Grandma’s house,” Kramer said over the speaker. “We have a good image. Over.”

  “Copy that,” Mace said.

  As Patty sagged into the Rabbit’s front seat, she felt the cold metal barrel of the snub-nosed .38 strapped to her inner right thigh press between her legs. Candice had made sure the tight skirt Patty wore wasn’t so short that the gun would become visible by accident. Patty turned the ignition, and the Rabbit’s engine came to life. Although she had never driven this particular vehicle before tonight, she was careful to appear familiar with it. Glancing in the rearview mirror, she saw Mace and Willy’s Cavalier at the corner. She shifted her gaze to the passenger beside her.

  Jason studied her with intense eyes, making her nervous. Then, without warning, he leaned forward and kissed her lips. Caught off guard, she felt compelled to respond in character. With her heart beating faster, she parted her lips, allowing his tongue to enter her mouth and flick against hers. Then he sat back with a satisfied smile on his face. For a second, she believed he could not possibly be the killer they sought.

  “I have an idea,” he said. “Let’s go to my place instead.”

  “What the hell is he doing?” Willy said.

  It’s him, Patty thought, gazing into her companion’s gleaming, dark brown eyes. It has to be him. When his lips parted to speak again, she realized she had waited too long to answer him. “Which way?” she said before he could comment on her hesitance.

  “Just go straight for now. I’ll tell you when to turn.”

  Patty shifted the car into gear.

  Mace and Willy watched the Rabb
it pull into traffic.

  “What the hell is she doing?” Willy said.

  Following at a distance, Mace checked his rearview mirror and saw Landry and Morrissey bringing up the rear.

  The Rabbit sped along Broadway, flanked on either side by office buildings with dark windows. Traffic had decreased at this hour, but the sidewalks and pavement were far from deserted. As they approached a traffic light, Patty felt a twinge of apprehension. She wanted to reach Jason’s apartment and bring this charade to a close, but she also dreaded deviating from the plan. Candice, Kramer, and the four uniforms waited at the decoy apartment for nothing. She knew she could handle Jason on her own. The question was when to spring the trap.

  “Are we almost there yet?”

  “Relax.”

  Patty checked the rearview mirror again. Mace and Willy were half a dozen car lengths behind her, Landry and Morrissey following them in the next lane.

  Jason glanced in his side mirror. “You can go faster, you know. Idon’t see any police around.” He smiled at her. “I like to go fast.”

  Patty smiled back and accelerated the car three miles an hour. The traffic light ahead turned yellow, and her stomach tightened.

  “Don’t slow down,” Jason said.

  She did as he said, passing beneath the light. When she looked into the rearview mirror, she saw the Cavalier and the carpet van stranded at the light.

  “Damn it!” Mace said.

  “Don’t worry,” Willy said. “They’re headed toward Astor Place. There are plenty of traffic lights ahead. We’ll catch up to them.”

  Mace drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. The Rabbit shrank ahead of them. “Screw this.” He stepped on the gas, surging forward.